Al McFarland
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Top 10 Chef Tips
Although I’m still reluctant to call myself a “chef”, I feel that I have learned some very valuable cooking lessons from my time in the kitchen. Whether it be in a cooking role, or back when I worked as waiter, there are a few crucial things that every home cook should know.
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Langdon Hall – Cambridge – March 2021
Remember when I said that the definition of a foodie is someone who doesn’t hesitate to travel for hours just to try a new restaurant? Well, this was one of those situations. In early March 2021 we made a long-awaited pilgrimage to Cambridge, Ontario (a mere 5 hours and 500 kilometers from our front door),…
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Whalesbone – Ottawa – February 2021
Experience Rating 4.5/5 Our return to normal began on a cold and snowy February night with a trip to Whalesbone on Elgin Street in downtown Ottawa. This was our first in-restaurant dining experience since the Fall of 2020 and there was no way that a few inches of snow was going to stop us.…
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Les Fougères – Chelsea – August 2020
Experience Rating: 4.8/5 Way back in August (seems like forever ago) we had the privilege to attend a 7-course collaboration dinner at Les Fougères restaurant hosted by two of the hottest chefs in the Ottawa Region – Yannick LaSalle and Imrun Texeira. Chef LaSalle is the resident chef at Les Fougères and was the…
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Tales from our Backyard Garden: Part 1
With Spring just around the corner (despite having 2 feet of snow on the ground), I thought it would be fun to talk about backyard gardens. Last summer one of the home DIY projects that we took on was the construction of a vegetable garden. We had been wanted to do something like this for…
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sEb L’Artisan Culinaire – Mont Tremblant – July 2020
Experience Rating: 4.5/5 Back in July we had the opportunity to visit sEb L’Artisan Culinaire in the small village of Mont Tremblant (not the ski resort) in Quebec. The namesake of talented Chef Sébastien Houle was opened in 2006 has been gained momentum and accolades ever since. The restaurant now boasts a CAA Four-Diamond…
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The Importance of Mise en Place
At the best of times the kitchen can be a confusing, chaotic place. Among the many things that I’ve learned from Anthony Bourdain, the importance of being prepared to cook is the one that has resonated the most. As I look back on my cooking journey I can recall several “oops” moments where I was…
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Riviera – Ottawa – July 2020
Experience Rating: 4.7/5 Voted as Ottawa’s top restaurant according to the Canada’s Best Restaurant list for 2020 (#26 on the list), Riviera is a restaurant that we’ve had at the top of our “must visit” list for some time now. As with most, previous plans to reserve were put on hold during the pandemic,…
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Meet Jolene, My Sourdough Starter
I first became interested in bread and bread making in the Fall of 2019. You see, I had always liked to cook, but the baking side of things never really took hold with me. It wasn’t until I returned home from a trip to Ireland that I began to see what all the fuss was…
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Joe Beef – Montreal – February 2020
Experience Rating 4.3/5 We had tried unsuccessfully for two years to get a reservation at Joe Beef, one of Montreal’s top-rated dining establishments and #2 on the Canada’s Top 100 list. Now, this said, it wasn’t like I was sitting by my tablet each month when the new reservation periods opened up. Rather, I…