Eat Your Greens with Kids & Open Workshops

Burnaby Food First is pleased to announce a new workshop: Eat Your Greens With Kids!



Also, there is still space in our Sharing Backyards (May 26) information event and a Bee Workshop on June 1!



Growing Food in Containers

Wednesday, May 20

6:30 pm - 8:15 pm

Edmonds Community School (7651 18th Avenue / Burnaby - map)



Join gardener and permaculturalist Kayla Gagne for a workshop in container food gardening!



Learn how to grow food in small spaces and choose the right container and soil for your plants.



Participants will leave with supplies to start their own container garden.



**REGISTRATION CLOSED**



Sharing Backyards Information Evening



Tuesday, May 26

7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

North Burnaby Neighbourhood House (4464 Hastings Street / Burnaby - map)



Join program coordinator Leanne Zmud to find out about Sharing Backyards!



Learn how you can find gardening spots or share your own backyard with landless gardeners. Come meet other program participants and connect with people who have or are looking for garden space!



There will be light refreshments and prizes.



**REGISTRATION CLOSED**



Eat Your Greens With Kids



Wednesday, June 3

6:30 pm - 8:15 pm

Brentwood Community Resource Centre (2055 Rosser Avenue / Burnaby - map)



Join Maya Thau-Eleff for this family cooking workshop on seasonal greens and healthy dishes!



Kids, join your mom or dad in this fun, hands-on cooking lesson.





**REGISTRATION CLOSED**

Recent Interviews

Here are two recent interviews I'd like to share with readers:

Danny Lennon of Sigma Nutrition

Danny Lennon is an evidence-based nutrition coach who publishes a podcast called Sigma Nutriton Radio.  We had a nice conversation about why we overeat, including energy homeostasis and the personal economics of food choice.  The podcast has a high production value.  You can listen to the interview here.

Angelo Coppola of Latest in Paleo

Angelo Coppola and I hit it off recently due to our mutual interests in gardening and self-reliance.  We recently had a nice conversation about hunter-gatherer dietary patterns, the personal economics of food choice, US diet history, legumes and the Paleo diet, and how much meat we should eat.  You also get to hear a personal story about the only existing video of me as a child (that I'm aware of).  This one also has a high production value.  You can listen to it here.

Burnaby Village Market Mondays and Bee Workshop

Burnaby Food First has two FREE events coming up!



Market Mondays at Burnaby Village Museum



Monday, May 18

11:00 am - 4:30 pm

Burnaby Village Museum (6501 Deer Lake Avenue / Burnaby - map)



Join Burnaby Food First at the Burnaby Village Museum on Victoria Day! Drop by for some of our activities, find out more about our free events and workshops, and learn about food security in Burnaby.



Market Mondays at Burnaby Village Museum feature unique vendors featuring locally made products. It is a gathering place for the communities where people can learn about Burnaby's history and explore a variety of artisan and handmade items.



For more information on Market Mondays, visit the Burnaby Village Museum page here.



Bee Workshop

Monday, June 1

6:30 pm - 8:15 pm

Tommy Douglas Library (7311 Kingsway / Burnaby - map)



Join been enthusiasts Jaycee Clarkson and Marika van Reeuwyk and learn how to welcome bees into gardening spaces of all types!



**REGISTRATION CLOSED**

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Enjoy Burnaby Food First workshops? Want to get involved as a
volunteer?

Check out all the great ways you can get involved. All are welcome, and we'd love to have you on
board! For more information, send us an email.

Thanks Mom!

Pancakes and coffee in bed, flowers and wine. Tiki parties. These things are good, but nothing like that can begin to express the admiration, gratitude, and love I have for my mom.


When my dad passed away, Amanda and I spent about three weeks at our childhood home with my mom. That time is a blur of visitors, pain, tears, donuts, confusion, and a few exceptionally beautiful moments that shine through brighter than anything else. 

My dad passed away at the end of August. It was hot at the house, nearly 100 degrees. A day or two after he was gone, in a mixture of grief and exhaustion, compounded by the heat, I completely shut down. I was literally too tired, weak, and sad to move. Grief and stress had a lot of physical effects on me, actually�from weird rashes and breakouts to weight loss to my back going out so bad that I literally couldn't stand up straight or walk normally for a couple of days. But on this particular evening, I hit a breaking point. I couldn't stop crying, I just wanted to sleep, and my body felt physically weighed down by sadness. I could barely lift my arms.

�Come on.� My mom said, grabbing my arm, trying to pull me out of bed. �I can�t.� I cried. �I can�t move, just leave me alone.� I turned away from her, and buried my face in the pillow. �Come on,� she said again, pulling me out of bed. She grabbed Amanda, and, against my protests, led us out to the pool�one of those 3 footer above ground types.

�Let�s go� she said, pulling me in. Tears were streaming down my face, my legs felt like cement. I just wanted to crawl back in bed. 

The water was cool and refreshing, and as soon as I stepped in, the heat of the day instantly started to melt away. I started to feel a little bit better. I don�t know who started it, but the next thing I remember is the three of us running in a circle making a whirlpool, laughing hysterically, cheering and holding hands. After a little while, Evan joined us. We ran as fast as we could, around and around, in that little pool that barely held the four of us. My grandma and aunt came out to watch, smiling and laughing. My arms and legs felt weightless for the first time in days.

We still had a lot of healing to do, we still have a lot of healing to do. But at that moment, in that very moment of total selflessness, when we were all grieving and in pain, when my mom could have crawled into bed forever like I wanted to do, she didn't. She pulled me out of bed and out my head, and showed me how deep and selfless and exactly-what-you-need a mother�s love can be. At that moment, I knew we would get through it together. I knew that there would be more tears, but that there would also be laughter and even joy. 

Love you ma, and thank you, times a million. Happy Mother�s Day!

PS. We got you a juicer.

Call for Volunteers: Fraser Health and Sprouting Chefs!

Check out these volunteer opportunities coming up with Fraser Health Authority and Sprouting Chefs!



Fraser Health Authority



Don't know what it costs to eat healthy in your community? The Fraser Health Authority and the Dieticians in the Fraser Valley needs your help in finding out that information. You can help contribute to the 2015 Cost of Eating project.



To volunteer, you will need to:



1) Watch a webinar on how to collect this data, and

2) Choose which Health Regions to volunteer within. You can work in pairs or by yourself.



The information needs to be collected between Monday, May 25, 2015 to Friday June 5, 2015.



The total number of hours can vary depending on the number of stores you choose to visit. Recording of prices takes an average of 1.5 to 2.0 hours. Your efforts will help Fraser Health better understand how much it costs to eat across the various regions in BC.



For more information, visit the Cost of Eating project:

http://www.dietitians.ca/Secondary-Pages/Public/The-Cost-of-Eating-in-British-Columbia.aspx



Download the volunteer description (PDF).



Contact:

Elizabeth Thomas, Registered Dietician

Abbotsford Public Health Unit

Phone: (604) 864-3447

Email: elizabeth.thomas@fraserhealth.ca



Sprouting Chefs



Looking to help transform how kids look at food and the world they live in?



Sprouting Chefs is looking for volunteers (19 and older) with an interest in food security, gardening, and kids for the Forest Grove After School Garden Club!



Sprouting Chefs offers schools, community centres, daycares, preschools, and other groups in the Lower Mainland the opportunity to create sustainable school garden projects.



For more information, visit the Sprouting Chef website.



Contact:

Barb Koyanagi McMahon

Email: barb@sproutingchefs.com

Fiddlehead and morel mushroom omelettes for Mother's Day

This morning I presented a lovely seasonal omelette for CBC's Weekend Morning Show with host Terry MacLeod.  In season now are fiddleheads and morel mushrooms, perfect in a fluffy omelette made with Nature's Farm eggs.  If you don't want to hunt in the woods for them, you can buy them at DeLuca's on Portage Ave. in Winnipeg.

This was served with Brandied Farmer's Sausage.

Fiddleheads and Morels Omelette
1/2 cup fresh fiddleheads (available at DeLuca�s)
1 cup whole or sliced fresh morels (available at DeLuca�s)
1 tbsp. butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 eggs
quick drizzle cold water or cream
3 tbsp. grated Parmesan (padano or reggiano - optional)
pinch grated nutmeg

INSTRUCTIONS

1.Blanch trimmed fiddleheads for 1 minute in boiling water and cool immediately in ice water.  (http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/eating-nutrition/safety-salubrite/fruits-vegetables-legumes-fruits/fiddlehead-fougere-eng.php)
2. Saut� fiddleheads in browned butter and set aside.  Saut� morel mushrooms in brown butter.  Season and add nutmeg.  Can deglaze with wine or vermouth.  Set aside.
3. Whisk eggs, salt, cream and pepper in a bowl. Heat butter in a 12" nonstick skillet over medium heat; cook until milky foam settles at the bottom of the skillet and turns nut brown. Add eggs; cook, without stirring, until large curds form, 3-4 minutes, then gently stir until eggs are almost set. Using a rubber spatula, pat eggs into an even layer. Place fiddleheads and mushrooms and cheese over eggs. Remove from heat and using spatula, roll omelette up and over filling; slide omelette onto a plate and garnish with remaining extra fiddleheads and cheese or chives.

Serve immediately. 
Enjoy!

Tiki Week: Frozen Key Lime Pie Cups

Tomorrow is Mother�s Day, and that means we�ve hit the end of tiki week. Hopefully this little series has inspired you to do something fun and different for your ma this year. Put away the bubbles and scones and shove a rum drink and rumaki in your mom�s hand, for once! 


Although I�m a big proponent of #dessertfirst, I�ve saved the dessert for last this time. This is actually as much for your tiki mom�s day party as it is for your anytime summer party, especially if you live with someone who�s as obsessed with key lime as Evan is. 

All of my tiki week recipes have been pretty simple (minus that several ingredient cocktail), and this dessert is no exception: a three ingredient, no-bake key lime filling, quick graham cracker crumb layer, and simple vanilla ice cream topping. Frozen key lime pie cups! 

I actually didn�t intend for these to be frozen. They were supposed to have whipped cream on top, not ice cream. But then the day of my photo shoot, just as I was finishing up my garnishes and stuff, my mixer bowl was in the running dishwasher. I�ve made whipped cream by hand with a whisk, and it�s a muther-effer to do, so I decided to try the shake-a-jar whipped cream method. You guys, I shook that stupid jar for like 10 minutes, and Evan took a few turns, and my weak baby arms were jello, and I still just had runny liquid cream. HOW DO YOU DO IT!? 

So anyway, I was ready to do my photo shoot and didn�t want to run back to the store for pre-whipped cream, so decided to fake it for the photos, with vanilla ice cream. Sorry, it�s true. Sometimes we fake it. But then afterward, I stuck the assembled cups in the freezer (since you know, they were topped with ice cream), and later, once everything was frozen, I took a bite, and holy-sweet-tropical-limes, it was better than the original! A tropical, frozen dessert to tie up tiki week!

And there you have it. A happy accident, which is really the reason so many people celebrate Mother�s Day to begin with�amiright!? 

Frozen Key Lime Pie Cups
Makes 4-6 cups, depending on size

Filling:
1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened to room temp
1 14-oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (key limes if you can find them)
Zest of 1 lime

Graham Crumble:
1 sleeve graham crackers
3 tablespoons melted butter
Zest of 1 lime

Vanilla ice cream

Beat cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and lime zest together until smooth and combined. Divide evenly among serving glasses.

In a food processor, pulse graham crackers until they're a fine crumb, then add melted butter and lime zest, and pulse until combined. Layer on top of lime mixture, and gently press down (not too firmly).

Top with ice cream, and freeze for a couple of hours until ready to serve. Top with lime zest or slices for decoration.