new west – Page 3

November 5th Market Day

November 3, 2016 By newwestfarmers

Back on Belmont!

The wait is over, the Winter edition of the Royal City Farmers Market is upon us! We have a full market for you to peruse and a wonderful array of new vendors for you to discover!

Join us on Saturday November 5th from 11am to 3pm on Belmont Street between 6th Street and 7th Street. Our location is nestled in the heart of Uptown New Westminster and is accessible by transit, car, bike and for those of you walking from nearby neighborhoods.

We are so pleased to announce that Roland Kaulfuss will continue to be our Music Stage sponsor throughout the winter season 2016-2017, and our Music Stage this week will feature Jeff Neufeld!

Be sure to visit the vendors situated in our big Marquee Tent sponsored by the wonderful folks of the Uptown Business Association. You’ll find many of your favourite vendors under the tent as well as some new faces.

Driving to the market? FREE PARKING is available at Westminster Centre, directly across the street from Belmont Street. If you are taking transit the #106 bus stops at 5th avenue and 6th street.

Join us on Belmont Street for lunch! Enjoy a nice relax Chai tea on one of the UpTown Parklet adirondack chairs!

A list of our vendors for November 5th can be found below. Please check out Facebook Page or Twitter for any last minute cancellations or updates.

What’s happening at the Market?

Farm Fresh Produce

Ripple Creek Organics –swiss chard, kale, beets, kennebec potatoes, zucchini, fresh garlic, leeks, cucumber, baby lettuce mix, eggplant, arugula, specialty mix, cherry tomatoes. (Certified Organic)
Ossome Acres -Winter squash, Kale, kalettes, Brussel sprouts, Micro greens, Spinach, Salad mix, lettuce, Herbs, Hand milled soap, Walnuts
Bose & Sons Family Farm –Broccoli, Carrots, Cauliflower, Potatoes
Country Village Market -Frozen berries, greens, pakoras
Nutrigreens – microgreens, potatoes, zucchini, cucumber
Your Wildest Foods – foraged mushrooms, dried teas and fresh mushrooms
Sweet Earth Organics – carrots

Cheese & Dairy

The Local Churn – hand churned gourmet butter

Beef, Eggs, Poultry and Seafood

Rockweld Farm – BC SPCA Certified frozen chicken and chicken products including eggs, dog and cat food
Wild West Coast Seafoods – flash frozen fillets of Rock Sole, Petrale Sole, Rockfish, Ling Cod, Pacific Cod, Sablefish, Chinook/Spring Salmon, Coho Salmon, Sidestripe Shrimp, Halibut, Albacore Tuna Loin.
Wheelhouse Seafoods – seafood pasta and crab cakes, frozen salmon and spot prawns
Local Beef & Eggs – purslane, onions, chives, rhubarb, eggs, kale

Artisan Breads

A Bread Affair – breads, baguettes, ciabattas, rolls, scones (Certified Organic)

Gluten Free Breads & Baking

Delish Gluten Free – bread, scones, muffins, brownies and cookies
Marie’s Guilt Free Baking – bread, cookies, pizza dough and snacks

Bakery

Sweet Thea Cakes – tarts, pies, cookies and cakes
Simply Scones – traditional English style scones
Sable Shortbread – tasty yummy specialty shortbread
Half Pint Pies – frozen mini pies to take home and bake
Samaya Delights – turmeric muffins, baklava

Snacks

Gary’s Kettlecorn – kettle corn (traditional and caramel)
Aslan Chai – Delicious, warm chai lattes

Food Trucks & Eat On Site

Disco Cheetah – Korean fusion tacos and rice bowls
Wheelhouse Seafoods – salmon burgers
Country Village Market – yummy pakoras!

Prepared Foods (Pantry Staples)

Jam Shack Preservery – savoury spreads and jams
Old Country Pierogi –frozen pierogies (gluten free and vegan options available)
Muy Rico – salsas, mayonaise, mole sauces, tortilla chips and corn tortillas
James Lewis Foods – granola bars packed full of good stuff
Livi & K – Raw Granola clusters packed full of flavours
Sidney’s Smokehouse – locally made jerky
KICS Lemonade – refreshing lemonade syrups and marmalades
BobAli – tasty dips and hummus spreads
Honey Bee Zen Apiary – New West honey and honey infused products
Anne’s Gallery -jams, chutneys and preserves and Spiced Peach Jam!

Jewelry & Artisan Crafts

New World Felting -beautifully made felted scarves & hats
Ildiko Jewelry – handforged sterling silver jewelry
Bits & Keys – funky jewelry and fun crosstiches
Quality Oak Accents – hand crafted cutting boards by Louie

Health, Beauty & Services

Purely Clean – an all natural way to clean your home

Wine, Beer & Spirits

Dragon Mist Distillery – locally made vodka and gin

Special Thanks to our Music Stage Sponsor Roland Kaulfuss:

Farmers Market Challenge Week 15: The Finale!

October 16, 2016 By newwestfarmers

Oh. My. Goodness.

Wow!

Is that real?

It can’t possibly be bread, it must be cake!

They assured us it was bread.

Chocolate bread!!!

Last week was the final week of the summer market bringing the $40 market-spending challenge to a close. And in proper, good Katie form, I went all out.

Early in the challenge, I would never have purchased an $8 loaf of bread, chocolate or not. My spending was based on a strict budget where veggies took precedent. But, as the summer market started preparing for fall, the veggie selection became less vast, and, well, sometimes you really do need a reward for doing a great job.

I think I did a great job; chocolate bread was my reward.

Sadly, I did not read the ingredients. I did not realize there was orange infused into that bread. I do not eat orange-infused sweet treats; haven’t since I was about five years old and some totally evil person decided to underhandedly slip marmalade onto my toast – blech! In my mind, orange does NOT belong in chocolate.

Sigh.

fm16-chocolate-bread — Plus, we may have overdone the sweet factor: Chocolate French toast, syrup and all. Holy decadence!

FINAL WEEK’S LOOT:

Zaklan Heritage Farm: • 2 bunches of mustard greens: $5

1 mini lettuce: $2
2 purple onions: $2.65
1 bunch parsley: $2

Ossome Acres: • 1 zucchini: $2

Ripple Creek Organic Farm: • 1 garlic: $3

A Bread Affair: • Chocolate bread: $8

Wild West Coast Seafoods: • 1 lb tuna: $16

Total spent was $40.65.

When I started this challenge 16 weeks ago, I didn’t know what exactly it would present. I considered our family on the upper scale of health prior to going in, but admittedly we were a bit stale and stagnant in meal planning, eating the same-old, same-old week after week.

The market changed that.

It gave us new foods, new recipes, new cooking adventures, new menus, new tastes, new perspectives.

This is what the market gave my family:

fm16-collage — A collage of tasty goodness

In my first post of this challenge, I asked if the market was true to its negative stereotype of being “too expensive,” a sentiment I have heard echoed several times by my fellow Food, Nutrition and Health peers at UBC. After 16 weeks, I can handedly say that yes, some of the product is pricier than you’d get at grocery stores. But, and this is a huge but, the quality, flavour and freshness is bar none far superior to that of the chains.

When you know your food was picked that day, when you know your food hasn’t undergone chemical procedures to stall the ripening process, when you know every bite is going to be infused with an intense flavour that tickles your differing taste buds, when you know it’s going to last longer than a few days, as long as a FEW weeks even, that has to be factored into the budget.

When you know how to shop the market, as I quickly learned, when you know how to search out the best deals (two for $5 mustard greens made my list EVERY week), when you know how to plan, when you build relationships with the farmers, when you know how to use so-called wastes to your advantage (onion stems was a favourite discovery), you DO see a savings.

We did.

We stopped going to the veggie stand three times a week; our foods were lasting. We stopped buying salad dressings; the intensity of the greens didn’t require added flavouring. In meal planning, we started looking at multiple ways of using the entire vegetable – limited waste, so an environmental savings as well.

There were challenges. A vegetable one week was not guaranteed the next; something you had hoped would be there, didn’t make the cut that week; if you weren’t there early, chances were the items you wanted were all gone.

fmnopierogies — The week of no perogies!

Our final market meal was a trusty favourite we discovered the third week of the challenge – tuna loin. Unfortunately it had jumped in price since the beginning of the summer; what cost $12 in June, cost $16 in October due to a “crummy” season. It meant fennel was scratched from the list. It meant none of the maybes on the list would get into our bag. But man, that tuna – a drool-worthy, dream-worthy delicacy! Worth every sacrifice. Worth every penny.

fm16-final-shop — Challenge complete. Where oh where to get my mustard greens now?

Dear summer market, so much of you I shall miss.

Luckily, winter is coming!

Winter market starts November 5, and runs the first and third Saturday of the month, uptown on Belmont street.

See you there.

The inaugural Long Table Dinner

October 9, 2016 By newwestfarmers

On September 29, we hosted our first ever Long Table Dinner as part of Tourism New West’s Feast on the Fraser celebration. Forty-five hungry RCFM supporters came out to dine under an open tent in Tipperary Park. The menu was filled with delectable items from our vendors.

We were lucky to have a beautiful autumn day and the tables looked a treat thanks to a donation by the Bloom Bloom Room, a local florist based out of Sapperton. The centrepiece garlands added the perfect ambiance for a harvest feast. The Uptown Business Association kindly allowed us to use their giant tents which set the stage.

Diners were greeted with a glass of local Pacific Breeze wine and shrubs donated by Vancouver-based Mixers & Elixers. Shrubs are drinking vinegars—slightly sweet and slightly tart, we mixed them with soda water. They were served by marvelous volunteers from the New Westminster Youth Ambassadors Society.

The table held an abundance of bread donated by A Bread Affair and butter that was almost too pretty to eat. The Local Churn donated some unique combinations including tart cherry and sherry.

The opening course comprised a Caprese Salad that featured locally grown vine ripened tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and a balsamic reduction. There was also a Hundred Mile Salad with kale, spinach, beets, goat cheese, candied pecans and what I sincerely hope were edible flowers.

Salads consumed, we then moved onto the entrees which included char-grilled, wild-caught BC salmon that was served with a roasted pineapple salsa. If you haven’t yet tried Wild West Coast Seafood’s products we can attest to their top-notch quality. The diners also feasted on mushroom-hunter grilled Rockweld Farm chicken breasts, another generous donation from one of our popular local vendors. This wasn’t one of those either/or situations—everyone got both salmon and chicken as well as mozzarella-ricotta stuffed agnolotti as a side. We also had roasted in-season local vegetables (because it was a Farmers Market event after all) and grilled corn on the cob from the Fraser Valley. We were lucky to be able to purchase ingredients from some favourite market vendors including Zaklan Heritage Farms, Bose + Sons Family Farm, Ossome Acres, and Greendale Herb & Vine.

Unbelievably, diners still seemed to have room for the exquisite goodies donated by Sweet Thea and Delish Gluten Free Bakery. There was a choice of assorted tarts and gluten-free brownies and I do believe more than one person tried both a tart and a brownie (no judgement here!). Unfortunately no photos remain because anyone standing in the way of the dessert table would have been taking their life in their hands.

The Long Table Dinner was an incredible community feast! The generosity of local RCFM vendors + the company of good friends and neighbours + the deliciousness of eating local = the best kind of evenings in our books.

Farmers Market Challenge: Fish, stew, cheese… oh my!

October 7, 2016 By newwestfarmers

Last week’s post was all about summer; this week’s is all about fall.

The air is crisp, the orange, red and yellow leaves are blowing in the wind, children screeching with glee as they scatter through the organized piles, hoodies and winter leggings taking over shorts and tanks, hot chocolate fast replacing ice cream.

Tis the season for belly warming, hearty recipes.

The Bartel menu has officially embraced fall – tortilla soup; quinoa, kale and squash stew; stir fry; and cheesy, cheesy quiche were staples of the week – made all the more comforting by market-fresh goodness.

To be honest, I didn’t know we were going all in with fall, in fact, our market shopping list this week was quite lacking. We had our usual meal-planning session, but both husband and I were stumped as to what to put on it. Meals were suggested, but ultimately rejected – we were not inspired.

So we went in with a list of our staples: greens and a few veggies, and that was it. We left it to the market to decide.

This week’s loot:

Zaklan Heritage Farm:

1 mini purple cabbage: $1
1 leek: $3
1 purple onion: $1.60
1 bag arugula: $4
2 bunches mustard greens: $5

Greendale Herb and Vine:

1 eggplant: $2.50

Country Village Market:

1 basket Brussels sprouts: $3

Golden Ears Cheese Crafters

1 medium-sized chunk of smoked gouda $8

Wild West Coast Seafoods

1 pound petrale sole: $12

Total spent was $40.10.

Of the loot not on the original must-have list were the Brussels sprouts (screams fall), red cabbage, leeks, eggplant, onion, smoked gouda, and petrale sole.

We knew we wanted a fish, tuna to be exact, but unfortunately, due to a “crummy” season, what was $12 for a pound a month or so ago is now $18 to $20. Sadly, out of our price range. Ron “the fish guy” suggested we try the petrale. We were hesitant at first because every time we’ve purchased sole from the grocery store it has significantly shrunk upon grilling.

That’s filler, Ron told us, all water. Apparently most fish sold in chains have added water filler to beef up their appearances!!! Ron assured us it was a tasty fish that would retain its size, and at $12 a pound, it was within our family friendly budget.

Because it’s a lighter fish, we didn’t want to overload it with seasoning – keep it simple, Ron advised.

We splashed it with olive oil, added dill, salt and pepper, wrapped it in tinfoil and threw it on the barbecue, along with tinfoil wrapped veggies, including the eggplant and zucchini from last week.

My only concern with the fish, which by the way, my four-year-old devoured without any prodding, is the bone content – there were a lot of small, fine bones littered throughout. Good thing the boy doesn’t care about appearances of his foods just yet; it was quite mangled by the time I was through with it.

The Brussels sprouts and eggplant were grilled on the barbecue – sooo yummy! A portion of the leeks and cheese were used in the quiche; the remainder of the leek was used in a quinoa stew that also used the delicata squash, tomatoes and tatsoi from last week, as well as the Russian garlic from two weeks ago, and the onion, and purple cabbage. Pretty much I threw everything I had in there!

thumbnail_fm14stew — Essentially, a kitchen-sink stew

The stir fry incorporated the green beans, red pepper and garlic from last week, as well as this week’s onion. And with one more day to go, a little bit of onion and cheese remaining, I am heavily considering making a single-serving French onion soup.

Fall, it’s a beautiful, tasty time of year, don’t you think.

October 6th Market Day!

October 4, 2016 By newwestfarmers

Pumpkins

It’s our last summer market day of 2016 at Tipperary Park! Please join us from 3pm to 7pm this Thursday to shop from our vendors, some of whom you won’t be seeing until next spring. Thanksgiving Day is on the other side of the weekend and we have all your favourite foods ready to be snapped up to round up your holiday feast!

Did you know? Our winter market is moving! Starting November 5th we’ll be taking over Uptown and closing Belmont Street for our market. You’ll have over 40 vendors to shop from including food trucks and local farms. Take advantage of the easy access to transit and the FREE parking available at Westminster Centre building directly across the street and stop by for our 2nd year on Belmont Street!

The New Westminster Film Society and the Royal City Gogos will be at the market this week to engage you in their community programs!

Driving to the market? FREE PARKING is available on Royal Avenue, Queens Avenue and in the City Hall Parking lot after 4:30pm. There is a parking area in front of City Hall open to market shoppers after 4:30.