Iconic Canadian Drunk-Food

Hello my little cream puffs,

So you may have seen my little preamble video about donairs in Halifax. The video of me actually EATING the donair got chopped into bits (too big to email!), so I took it down. Technical issues seem to be plaguing me right now - it's a fairly consistent theme. BUT onwards and upwards as my mother would say.

THE DONAIR IN REVIEW
You can read a little more about the donair in my previous post on the subject. Upon sampling, I felt the donair was pretty odd to be honest, but I can imagine it would have been fantastic had I been maybe two whiskeys drunker. The garlic sauce was so sweet it almost constituted dessert, and the meat had this sausagey aftertaste that I wasn't overly keen on. I couldn't actually finish it, but luckily I had two *lovely* ladies to help me out. On a ratings scale of one plum to five plums, I would give it two plums.

BUT!
Much better on the Iconic Canadian Drunk-Food front is poutine. Poutine! It's just fries, gravy and cheese curds but holy moley, it is delicious. See picture above. I arrived in Toronto almost two weeks ago, and I've had two variations on the poutine theme; plain poutine from a pub called Clinton's (excellent, surprisingly good gravy for a vegetarian dish), and a duck poutine from Prohibition on Queen St East (slightly blander, soupier gravy, but the duck on top was very good indeed).

Toronto is pretty much foodie heaven, so I'm pretty excited about eating my way around it. And this weekend I'm going to Kensington Markets, which is supposed to be pretty wonderful. I've been so excited about eating out that I haven't cooked at home very much, so I promise to post some exotic new recipe soon...

Much love,

Doris

The Donair! Part One.

The news in brief...

Montreal bagels! Shazam! My friend here in Halifax had some stashed away in the freezer and they are fantastic. Thin, chewy, liberally sprinkled with sesame seeds and love. Served up with cream cheese and homemade rasberry jelly, this is a Canadian WIN on the culinary front.

That is all.

xxxxLove, Doris

Halifax is a bit nippy, eh.

My dear little peach pies,

Well, I made it into Canada. I had a wretched time saying goodbye to everyone I met during my last nine months living in the backwoods of Massachusetts (my Halifaxian friend Abby rather helpfully pointed out that I could have had a baby in that time). However, fresh beginnings are exciting. Yes indeed! New city, new flatmates, new job, and new food.

The first night I was here, Abby cooked me fresh linguine with lemon zest, basil, smoked ham, and cream. We drank red wine and had a haphazard catch up on the last six years. It was a pretty simple dish but it was exactly what I needed in a time of transition - and somehow that magical alchemy of a familiar face, carbs and alcohol made me feel right at home. Brilliant.

I'm only here in Halifax until Saturday, so I asked Abby what dishes might be considered uniquely Halifaxian so I could sample some new things while I'm here. Unfortunately she wasn't able to volunteer many options, as not many exist. One thing she did mention was the famous (infamous?) Donair. According to good old Wikipedia, a donair is a variation on the doner kebab. It was originally introduced in Halifax, Nova Scotia in the early 1970s. A restaurant called King of Donair claims to have been the first to serve this version in 1973. The owners of King of Donair had originally tried selling Greek Gyro sandwiches, but had a hard time selling them so replaced the lamb with beef and the tzatziki with a sweet garlic sauce, thus inventing the Donair.

Well how 'bout that? I have a feeling I might need to have a few beers before attempting to consume this Canuk delicacy. Any thoughts, my little sausages? I'll let you know whether this culinary adventure eventuates or not... If you care to cast a vote or simply volunteer an opinion, you can comment on this post or email me: dorisplum(at)gmail.com.

Love, Doris