NEAROF

I’ve sampled quite a few of Unibroue’s Ephemere fruit beers over the years, and they’ve always been worth the price of admission. I have vague memories of a raspberry Ephemere and a peach Ephemere, but the main one I know and love is the apple variety, which has been available in Alberta for at least [...]

It’s blueberry season, in case you haven’t noticed. The grocery store flyers are starting to arrive on Edmonton doorsteps, announcing spectacular deals on massive quantities of blueberries. They look so tempting, and they’re so stupidly cheap – how could you possibly say no? But you’ve done this before, haven’t you? You bought a five-pound case [...]

I know the name Morinaga for one simple reason: it’s the company behind Hi-Chew, a marvellous line of gummy yogurt fruit candies that can be found in the sugary snacks aisle of well-stocked Asian grocery stores. I adore Hi-Chew, so seeing the Morinaga brand on these two tins of candy, found at a small Asian [...]

If there’s a juice that looks more disgusting than Bolthouse Farms’ Green Goodness, I haven’t met it yet. It’s a vile colour of swamp-water green, like liquid from an algae-filled fish pond blended with lawn clippings. If you were going by looks alone, any sensible person would run screaming from this stuff. The lesson, of [...]

Somewhere along the way, yogurt went from delicious, nutritious food to processed pseudo-food, a scientific experiment that spiralled out of control. See, bad things happen when you start counting calories obsessively. When faced with two yogurts on a dairy-case shelf, one that’s 250 calories per serving and another that’s 100, health-minded label-readers often pick the [...]

I quite like the St. Ambroise pale ale made by Montreal’s McAuslan Brewing, a beer that grew on me during repeated visits to Quebec. From watching shows in makeshift venues at Pop Montreal to reading the paper at Ziggy’s on Crescent Street, a cold St. Ambroise pale ale helped complete the Montreal experience on more [...]

Gelatin makes vegetarians cry. It’s everywhere you don’t want it to be, especially if you like candy. In ingredient list after ingredient list, it pops up and spoils the party. It’s in some gums, just about every marshmallow ever made, and in a variety of gummy candies. If you’re a vegetarian, you’re sure has hell [...]

It’s Canada Day, and it’s also a long weekend. Instead of passing out and doing nothing until the fireworks start, why not start your day with some very Canadian blueberry pancakes? This recipe is my own personal tried-and-tested variation of a family favourite pancake recipe from the old-school Canadian classic Five Roses: A Guide to [...]