October: Pulses
You can sprout your pulses!
Spices for lentil curry
Spice mix
Fragrant curry
Go backcountry hiking with this meal
Recipe & chopping fun
How do you deseed a pomegranate?
Cut in half, give a good many whacks
September: Coffee
A delicious September potluck
Coffee Talk with Vania
Vania shares what coffee is
First you measure out your beans
Beans are measured!
This batch was too coarse
Then you grind the beans
Then it's time to brew!
July: Zero Waste
Lots to learn!
Beyond cloth bags...
Rethink!
Kale & black bean salad
Black fungus & zucchini
Deluxe coleslaw
Corn & beets, topped with nasturtium
A few zero-waste benefits
June: Herbal Vinegar + Oil
New & old friends mingle
Amelie's strawberry/basil lemonade!
Cherries in the salad
Zucchini noodle salad
Welcome to The Food Connection
Smiley introductions
Let's get some food
Another beautiful potluck
May: Lebanese Cooking
30 old and new friends gathering
Baba Ganouj
Pork, squash and Asian greens
Lebanese cookbooks and flag
Majid our great workshop leader
Having fun with folks of all ages
Collaboration = community!
Authentic humus: more tahini!
April: Wildcrafting
Wildcrafting aids
Wildcrafter's library
Turkey tails and other treasures
Dried mushrooms, nettles
Yay The Food Connection!!
Ayira's Fatoush dish
Another great spread
Yummy corn bread
March: Community Growing Social
DIY Buddha Bowls!
Wheat berries
Sprouts
Fermented chickpeas
Glory Bowl Dressing
Muhammara Dip
Raspberry brownies!
Full house and table
February: Indonesian Cooking
Great spread of food and friends!
As usual people outdo themselves
Friendly introductions
Indonesian lontong (rice cake snack)
Emil & Idris share cooking tips
Idris warns the sambal is HOT!
Time to put the teens to work!
Everyone helps out, of course
January: Emergency Preparedness
Disaster simulation: no lights!
Almost a romantic yoga studio vibe
We kept the potluck healthy at least
Don't expect this in a real disaster
Serving and eating in half-light
Sitting on sleeping bags & blankets
Creating a campfire mood
Lots of laughter in the dark!
November: International Holiday Feast
Edible festive decorations!
Friends are welcomed with hot cocoa
Food Feast: Cheese cookies,
Edwin's Bacalao tuna dish,
healthy roasted veggies,
Sondi's vegan latkes,
Jesse & Brett's festive barley salad
Patrick's yummy cheese biscuits,
October: Slow Cookers
Delicious slow-cooked and fresh food
Crystal's chicken stew
Slow cooked bean chilli
Sharon's slow cooked lentil soup
Main feature: pulled pork
Rice pudding for dessert
Workshop Station 1:
Create your own slow cooker recipe!
September: Freezer Jam
Let's start jammin'!
66 lbs of grapes to work with
A lot of sugar to work with too!
Gettin' grapey
The big immersion blender comes out!
Blending the grape seeds & skin
Everyone gets a try
Immersing ourselves in grapes (haha)
Photos by Johnny Liu
August: Summer Drinks
We begin with a mocktail bar!
Ken adds apple bitters to the drink
Ginger beer, bitters, lemon, mint!
The Food Connection bar :)
Gloria's polenta potluck dish
Nicola's broccoli hazelnut salad
Our bitters library!
Tom leads with his bitters workshop
Photos by Johnny Liu
July: Creative Kitchen Challenge
Get ready for the Kitchen Challenge!
Meghan presents her Kitchen Rules
Friends begin to arrive (with hugs)
Eyeing the pantry goodies
Revealing the 3 secret ingredients!
Squash, onion and black beans
Head Chef Bridget gets an apron
Ayira & Nancy grab pantry items
The room erupts in chopping chaos
Photos by Jenny van Enckevort
June: Veggie Burgers
Great turnout for veggie burgers!
Ida & Anissa
Kimberly & little Noah
Meghan's delish squash noodles
Whitewater Burgers to taste
Cute little veggie slider
Now it's time to make some together
Lourdes & Ron teaming up
Photos by Jenny van Enckevort
May: Chicken
Whole roasted chickens, ready to go!
Andrew starts by talking soup stock
Handling carcasses like nobody's biz
The first brave warriors
Chicken trussing party!
Friends start trussing left & right
Chicken teamwork
Awesome skills being learned
Photos by Johnny Liu
April: Bread
Get ready for carbs!
Yannick's no-knead bread
Alison's Gluten-free Bread
Matt's olive no-knead bread
L-R Gluts-free, Danish rye, No Knead
These ladies are excited for bread!
Many bread spreads
The baker at work
Photos by Johnny Liu & Jenny van Enckevort
March: Tea Exploration
Sample of looseleaf contributions
Another delicious potluck
Show + Tea: Sharing what we brought
Preparing ingredients for brewing
Chocolate mint, vanilla, orange peel
Fun & easy experimentation!
Blending up a storm
Perfect way to spend a rainy evening
Photos by Shirley Soo & Katherine Allen
February: Japanese Home Cooking
The whole gang
We want you!
Dashi is delicious!
Greens are good for you!
Four cooks in the kitchen
Chopping away
Cleanup is key
Laughter's the best medicine
January: Dumplings
Megan & Kevin from Hua Foundation
Big hungry crowd
Local pork from Windsor Meat
Tenderizing master!
Chopping fun
Easy filling: cabbage, onion, pork
Make sure it's all finely chopped
Next step, seasonings
November: Pickling
Starting the last event of the year!
Another successful potluck
Jenny gets down to business: pickles
Prepping veg for pickled antipasto
Let's get this in the oven
Roasting veg!
Another amazing face captured
Sniffing spices
October: Kimchi
Part 1: Community Food Dialogue
What makes a healthy food community?
Input for Mt Pleasant food map
Part II: Amazing potluck!
Part III: Kimchi Workshop!
Salted napa cabbage
Cooking show style
Jennifer shows red pepper powder
September: Harvest Feast!
Our new tablecloth finished in time!
Best way to celebrate the harvest!
Grabbing ingredients for stations
Everyone gets busy with chopping
Fresh local lemon cucumber!
Many flavor combos at the Salad Bar
Soup is simmering
Flatbread pizza station!
August: Bees & Honey
Another spectacular bounty!
Robin's gorgeous salad
Amazing flatbread
Cassie & Sarah of Hives For Humanity
Sharing the world of bees with us
Cassie talks honeycomb
Honeycomb & Handout
Brushing bees off to harvest honey
July: Foraging Tour
Herbalist Lori Snyder
Overview of the herbal world
Mix of homemade herbal products
Her trusty resources
A gorgeous & informational handout
Embarking on our tour outside MPNH
Red Clover
Narrow leaf plantain
June: Istanbul Cuisine
Intros in a hot and steamy room
Nil shares Istanbul cooking with us
Ingredients for Kisir
Looking stylish while cutting onions
Happy chopping party!
An easy recipe to prepare at home
Mixing bulgur and tomato pastes
Kisir (spin on tabouleh salad)
May: Mexican Salsa
Edwin teaching us salsa basics
Time to roll up our sleeves!
Serrano peppers for Salsa Verde
Can't be a cilantro hater with salsa
Tomatillos!
Gili adding salt to the concoction
Shaunette using the blender bot
Big shwack of salsa verde!
April: Gardening
Pre-potluck mingling
Ken's beautiful bread!
Volunteer made brownies
Free gardening magazines!
We get to garden talk
Check out those tomato plants
More garden talk
Seeds!
March: Spice Blending
A spicy mélange
Assembling our ingredients
Five spice beginnings
Playing with food - what we do best
Chili powder in progress
Toasting whole spices
Into the grinder
I want one at home!
February: Gluten-Free Desserts
© Photos courtesy of Johnny Liu
Sondi & Tami talk gluten-free vegan
Chocolate avocado pudding first up!
Adding coconut milk to pudding
Fig & Tahini Truffles
Mashed up
Then rolled into balls
And decorated with coconut!
Giving the truffles a try
January: Cheese
The cooking demo begins
Lots of milks involved!
Aaron talks about the easy process
All you need is 20 min. of patience
Prepping savory & sweet toppings
Making cashew cheese: dead easy
Just throw it all into a blender
The ricotta emerges
November: Soap
Safety first!
Athenaise warns us about lye
Mixing oils
Adding beeswax
Adding palm & coconut oil
The mixture simmers to 160 degrees
Soap is a very measured process
Waiting for the perfect temp
October: Canning
Big donation from Whole Foods!
Jenny starts with applesauce basics
Apples, vinegar, sugar, spices....
Demo migrates to the kitchen
Things get steamy
Ready for FUN
Now the manual labor starts
Trying different ways of straining
September: Pizza
Friends arrive and start prepping
Layout of our potluck toppings
Overnight dough & battle equipment
Showing everyone a new dance
Chef Ken begins his cooking demo
2 different masters & rolling styles
Alison talks buckwheat crust
Buckwheat crust ingredients
August: Condiments
Getting ready for battle
Horseradish in progress
Pre-pesto stage
Oiling up the pesto
Preparing the mustard
Arm workout
Delicious mayo
All four finished condiments!
July: Sprouting Seeds
Beautiful spread!
First you need some nuts
Grab your flavours, blend
Squeeze out the milk
Blend again with flavours, pour
Taste
Cashew Blueberry
Choco hazelnut milk, here we come
June: Fermentation
The first community potluck!
Yum
Intro's
Kombucha talk
Coconut kefir
Getting dirty
Fermenting together is much more fun