Grill 'em all

The last time I did any real grilling was probably six years ago when I was lucky enough to have a place with a balcony that actually allowed barbeques. Since parting ways with my Broil King, summer has been a frustrating time as seemingly the rest of the world takes advantage of the warm months to get their grill on, leaving me with a mounting sense of envy whenever I catch a scent of grilling burgers wafting through the summer air.

This year, though, it’s gonna be different. We have a place with actual outdoor space. And I decided to capitalize and so I went out and bought myself a little charcoal picnic grill from Bodum.

A story

I was just wondering to myself how other people with food blogs find interesting things to say about their recipes. Fact is not every meal has a story. Sometimes dinner is just dinner. Take this one for instance.

Drifting away

I've written a couple of times about food trucks, mostly about Vancouver's attempts to build up their street food scene. They seem to have it sorted out: there's now more than 100 food carts in Van-city.

Here in Toronto, we're not so lucky. There's a number of folks trying to make a go of it, but Toronto being Toronto, they are governed by complex bylaws and a hidebound bureaucracy. By contrast, my hometown of Edmonton seems to have a nice little scene sprouting up. It's nice to see a city that's not exactly known for being on the cutting edge of food trends pull one over on the Centre of the Universe.Which is why I was pretty annoyed to read this, as it highlights some of the attitudes and arguments that are holding street food back here. Colby Cosh at Maclean's pretty much nails my feelings on this story here. The only thing I would add is that I really don't see how a food truck is real competition for bricks and mortar restos. The two models offer up completely different experiences. And, where there is overlap, such as in the grab-and-go lunch market, it should come down to quality. As far as I'm concerned, the state's role should be limited to providing and enforcing health and safety guidelines that everyone must follow, and not concern itself with matters of competition.

N.B.: regular food posting to resume shortly before stopping abruptly again for my summer vacation.

5'o'clock somewhere

It's late afternoon on Friday, so naturally I'm thinking of the drink I'm going to have when I get home in a couple of hours. And I ain't talking about tea. So, for your happy hour pleasure, here is a pretty great selection of simple cocktails, courtesy Mark Bittman of the New York Times. Prost!