Halloween Harvest

Lucas as the Super Zombie Pumpkin he is known to be,

and here he is with a bat face

Nate went as a T rex vampire...

Our table at the market adorned with funky popcorn  and black beans

Monstrous Hubbard squash and Kakai pumpkins(which produce the best pepitas for roasting)

Rhutabega, leeks, kale, turnips and cabbage- soup anyone?

From the country...

The nights have been cold and the days are short. Everything is settling down for the long winter's sleep. I watch the turkeys and chickens instinctively gobble up the whole corn first and the grain second. The corn adds more fat to their bones which helps them keep warm over the cold months. It also makes them tastier- that golden fat bastes their crisp flesh nicely in the oven- just don't tell them that. We have hunkered down to venison stew, leek and potato soup, two doses of chicken noodle soup (because we have currently have a family cold), and had our first taste of this years lamb (from our Amish friends). This is the time of year when we bid adieu to the tender produce and say hello to meat. We still eat our fare share of storage vegetables, and whatever greens I can still grow in the greenhouse or sprout in the house but meat becomes a little more of a staple. We like the farm animals, need a little more protein to last those long winter nights.

DELI Duel

From the City...

On Sunday Caplansky's defended their title of best smoked meat here in Toronto. I definitely don't consider myself a smoked meat expert or anything but I like sandwiches, meat and mustard and supporting incredible non profits like The Stop so I went and ate I did.

Caplanksy's (located at college and brunswick) was good, salty but good. The bread was a little lackluster and the meat portion was much smaller than the others making this one easily my least favorite of the three.

Goldin's was definitely the dark horse of the competition. I preferred their bread which was a thinner but larger piece of rye with a large stack of salty, greasy, soft meat and a wonderfully pickley pickle on the side. You can get the good stuff only at the Free Times Cafe here in Toronto, at College and Robert.

The winner for me was Stockyards. It reminded me of really good bacon. Soft in the middle with a crunchy edge. Each sandwich ( I had two) had the most perfect amount of mustard per meat per bread ratio which is crucial for any good sandwich, deli or not.

The winner for everyone else though was Goldin's. They took it handsdown. Good for them.