Join us on Saturday June 8th and Sunday June 9th for the 3rd annual Full Table Fair in Holland Centre, Ontario

This is a local grass roots foodie event celebrating everything that goes around the kitchen/dining table and the custom of sharing meals with family and friends.

This will be our first year participating in the Full table Fair event and we are excited! We invite you to come on out and see the incredible selection of local artisan ware in this beautiful rural garden setting.

We know many of the artisan vendors who will be there, and know that you won’t be disappointed in the quality and variety of the handcrafted merchandise on display (and of course for sale).

We hope to see you there.

For more information about this event visit the Full Table Fair blog at www.thefulltablefair.blogspot.ca.

The Full Table Fair show and sale will be held at: 495579 Veterans Rd. South, RR 2, Holland Centre, Ontario, N0H 1R0

Click on image below for list of vendors and map

spicemills.ca is delighted to be part of the 36th annual Markham Village Music Festival (Markham Village, Ontario) on Saturday June 15, 2013.

We will be there again this year with a great selection of our one-of-a-kind handcrafted spice mills (pepper, salt & spice mills) and spice bowls, as well as some wonderfully fragrant and flavourful hand blended peppercorns.

“Nothing beats the taste and texture of freshly milled peppercorns, spices, or sea-salt. Whether used in the preparation of a fine meal, or as a table grinder for everyday use, our spice mills are the perfect touch. The ultimate combination of art and function . . . a hand turned wood spice mill spices up any culinary experience and adds elegance to your kitchen and dining room.”

About the 2013 Markham Village Music Festival:

• Date: June 14 & 15, 2013 (We’ll be there Saturday June 15th only)
• Times: Friday evening from 6 pm until 10 pm & Saturday from 9 am until 6 pm
• Location: Main Street Markham (a.k.a. Markham Road or Highway 48) is closed to traffic from Highway 7 north to Parkway/Bullock for this annual event
• Admission: FREE

Music and Entertainment for all ages

From rock and roll to classical, from country to hip hop, you’ll find a sound to please your ears. As well as music, the Markham Village Music Festival features amateur and professional entertainers from Markham, York Region and the GTA. See dancers, jugglers, clowns and much more! Check out their entertainment page for the latest news at www.markham-festival.org.

Friday 6 pm – 10:30 pm and Saturday 9 am – 6 pm (Saturday entertainment starts at 10 am)

Arts and Crafts local and international

You’ll find great crafts and art, produced by local artists and artisans, and from around the world. Paintings and sculptures, to flower pots and jewellery. Each year brings new artistic delights for your enjoyment. See who’s going to be there this year on the festival Crafts page.  Spicemills.ca will be there on the Saturday only (June 15th).

As always, entry to the Markham Village Music Festival is FREE!

That’s right, they have again managed to keep the festival absolutely free. No admission charge thanks to the Main Street merchants and professionals, the contributors to our Silent Auction and our generous Sponsors.

The team at Foodie Pages pulled together some of our favourite small batch, handcrafted foods to help you bring the BBQ to your backyard this summer. The Backyard BBQ Cooking Box is filled with 5 delicious barbecue condiments from the best indie food producers across Canada, all of which are available individually at FoodiePages.ca:

1. Craft Beer Jam by Vista D’oro Farms

The perfect glaze for chicken wings or try pairing with a sharp cheddar for the ultimate grilled cheese sandwich. All Vista D’oro’s preserves are made in small batches in copper pots and they release 6 new flavours seasonally.

2. Chipotle Lime Mustard by Mrs. McGarrigle’s

Have you tasted an award winning mustard? A winner at the Worldwide Mustard Competition in Napa, California, this small batch chipotle lime mustard has a beautiful smoky heat highlighted with fresh lime!

3. Kiss Me Tomato Chili Salsa by Richard’s Hintonburg Kitchen

Chef Richard says Kiss Me is like a first date, a starting point in experiencing the preserved flavours of the summer. Use it on almost anything, from scrambled eggs to a BLT, with nachos, grilled cheese or smoked chicken or turkey. No salt added.

4. Barbecue Spice Rub by La pincée

One of 6 all natural spice rubs made in small batches in Québec, this is the perfect dry rub for grilling beef, pork and chicken. Slightly coat your meat for caramelized flavours. Your mouth will be watering.

5. Peppercorn Steak Spice Blend by spicemills.ca

This one is a standout on the grill. It’s inspired by a traditional Montreal style steak spice, however this hand-blended mix adds a more peppery flavour and less salt.

Click here to discover the Backyard BBQ Cooking Box on FoodiePages.ca

Artfest Toronto launches the summer with a celebration of the top 80 artists & artisans from across Canada.

Artists are exhibiting at the Historic Distillery District for three days only. Come stroll the cobble stone lanes and take in the beauty of Toronto’s Distillery District.

Featuring pottery, glass, jewellery, paintings, wood turning, gourmet foods, live music and so much more, you are sure to love this kick off the summer event. Admission is free!

We have been busy preparing for this exciting show and have a great new selection of handcrafted spiceware for you to browse.

Drop by the show this Victoria Day long weekend and check out our new collection which among others includes handturned wood grinders, funnels and bowls made from: birdseye maple, curly maple, spalted maple, red elm, black walnut, curly ash, maple burl, bubinga, black cherry, kentucky coffeewood, purpleheart, rosewood, and more.  We will also have our hand blended Trio, Silhouette, Szechuan, Steak Spice, and Special Blend peppercorns on hand too.

Come see us in Toronto for Artfest at the Distillery on the Victoria Day long weekend. Hope to see you there!

About the Show

• Artfest at the Distillery Spring Art & Craft Show
• Saturday May 18th to Monday May 20th, 2013
• 11am-6pm daily
• 80 artist/artisan vendors
• Gourmet Food
• Live music
• Free admission
• 55 Mill St Toronto (click here for map)

Here is another favourite… This one is based on a classic Scottish Finnan Haddie (smoked haddock).

Ingredients:

• 4 small to medium sized haddock fillets
• 8 cups water
• 1/4 cup kosher salt (plus pinch of salt for sauce)
• 1 tbsp Spicemills.ca whole Silhouette Peppercorns (black & white peppercorns)
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 1/2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp low fat margarine*
• 1/2 small onion finely chopped
• 1 cup skim milk*
• 1 tbsp white flour
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• freshly ground Silhouette Peppercorns (black & white peppercorns) to taste

(* We were pleasantly surprised that this healthy lower fat recipe stood up so well to its full fat butter and cream cousin.)

Preparing and brining the haddock:

1. In a large pot, combine the water, 1/4 cup kosher salt, silhouette peppercorns, brown sugar, and bay leaves.  Bring to a boil and cook brine until salt is fully dissolved.
2. Remove pot from heat and allow brine mixture to completely cool to room temperature.  (This can take an hour or more on it’s own or you can speed up the process by cooling the pot in an ice bath.)
3. Place the haddock in a non-reactive container (a large glass baking dish or large zip lock bag works well), and pour the fully cooled (room temperature) brine over the fish.
4. Cover the dish or seal the zip lock bag and refrigerate for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
5. Remove the haddock fillets from the brine and pat dry with paper towel to remove excess water. Discard the brine.
6. Place fish fillets in/on flat non-reactive container (glass or plastic), cover and refrigerate for approximately 3 hours.  (You can also complete steps 1-5 a day ahead and do the final refrigeration overnight.)

Smoking the haddock:

1. Prepare your smoker following the manufacturers directions.  We use a Traeger Smoker/Grill which calls for a 5 minute smoke preheat.
2. Place the haddock fillets on the smoker.  If the fillets have the skin on, place them skin side down.
3. Smoke the haddock fillets on low smoke setting for 2 to 3 hours depending on thickness.  (Longer smoking time will produce a dryer texture and more robust smoke flavour.)
4. In an oven-safe glass baking dish, pour white sauce (see below) over smoked fillets, and bake in pre-heated 300ºF oven for 12-15 minutes.
5. Serve hot

Preparing the white sauce:

About 20-30 minutes before the haddock fillets are finished smoking you can begin preparing the sauce.

1. Melt margarine in sauce pan over medium heat
2. Saute onion until translucent
3. Sprinkle flour evenly over mixture stirring constantly until flour is fully incorporated
4. Slowly add milk stirring constantly and continue to cook at medium-low heat until mixture thickens to desired consistency
5. Add paprika, pinch of salt, fresh ground pepper to taste

Serving suggestions:

• Serve with parsley boiled new potatoes and your vegetable of choice.  (I like fresh steamed green beans and red peppers with this meal).

Enjoy !

Click here to browse the new selection which among others includes spice mills made from: birdseye maple, curly red maple, sugar maple, black walnut, pau rosa, ash, and more…

Great care goes into each of our hand crafted wood spice funnels. Each piece is individually turned using only the finest domestic and exotic hardwoods, and hand buffed to a soft sheen using the best quality earth friendly wood finishes. They make a great addition to any of our artisan spice mills.

Artfest Toronto launches the summer with a celebration of the top 85 artists & artisans from across Canada.

Artists are exhibiting at the Historic Distillery District for three days only. Come stroll the cobble stone lanes and take in the beauty of the Distillery District. Featuring pottery, glass, jewellery, paintings, wood turning, gourmet foods, live music and more. FREE admission.

Spicemills.ca will be there with a great variety of our functional and artistic handcrafted spice mills, spice bowls, and our hand blended peppercorns.

Come see us in Toronto for Artfest at the Distillery on the Victoria Day long weekend.  Hope to see you there!

About the Show

• Artfest at the Distillery Spring Art & Craft Show
• Saturday May 18th to Monday May 20th, 2013
• 11am-6pm daily
• Free admission
• 55 Mill St Toronto (click here for map)

I been on the lookout for some great quality birdseye maple for a long times and believe me, it can be hard to find.  This is especially true when you are really fussy!  In addition to to right visual appeal (tight grain and intense figure), the wood needs to be exceptionally stable (properly dried, straight, and check free) and the right size (at least 3″ square and 10″ or more in length) before it can become a handcradted Spicemills.ca spice mill.

I recently purchased a small supply of outstanding birdseye maple and am delighted with the results.  Check out the first of these special birdseye maple spice mills here in our eStore.

Our supply of this enigmatic wood is very limited and while we expect to make a few more later this year, we do not anticipate finding more wood of this quality in the foreseeable future.

By the way… as with all of our spice mills, these spectacular birdseye maple mills feature an authentic CrushGrind® ceramic mechanism which makes them ideal for grinding peppercorns, salt and spices.

What is Birdseye Maple?

Let’s turn to Wikipedia for an explanation:

Bird’s eye is a type of figure that occurs within several kinds of wood, most notably in hard maple. It has a distinctive pattern that resembles tiny, swirling eyes disrupting the smooth lines of grain. It is somewhat reminiscent of a burl, but it is quite different: the small knots that make the burl are missing.

It is not known what causes the phenomenon. Research into the cultivation of bird’s eye maple has so far discounted the theories that it is caused by pecking birds deforming the wood grain or that an infecting fungus makes it twist. However, no one has demonstrated a complete understanding of any combination of climate, soil, tree variety, insects, viruses or genetic mutation that may produce the effect.

Bird’s eye maple is most often found in Acer saccharum (sugar maple), but millers also find bird’s eye figure in red maple, white ash, Cuban mahogany, American beech, black walnut, and yellow birch. Trees that grow in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States yield the greatest supply, along with some varieties in the Rocky Mountains. It is not uncommon in Huon Pine, which grows only in Tasmania. Although there are a few clues in a tree’s bark that indicate the lumber might have bird’s eye figure, it is usually necessary to fell the tree and cut it apart to know for sure.

In most characteristics, wood with bird’s eye figure is no different from the rest of the wood from the same tree. Depending on the frequency of the birdseye swirls, the wood may be extremely valuable. While woodworkers prize the timber primarily for its use in veneers, it also turns well on a lathe, allowing it to be shaped into decorative canes, chair legs, and handles.

Bird’s eye maple may be expensive, up to several times the cost of ordinary hardwood. It is used in refined specialty products, such as in automobile trim, both in solid form and veneer, boxes and bowls for jewelry, thin veneer, humidors, canes, furniture inlays, handles, guitars, bowed instruments and pool cues are popular uses. Items made with this wood tend to be more expensive not only because the wood is more costly but because it is harder to work.

Click here to browse the new selection which among others includes spice grinders made from: birdseye maple, red elm, black walnut, maple burl, bubinga, black cherry, kentucky coffeewood, purpleheart and more…

Great care goes into each of our hand crafted wood spice mills. Each piece is individually turned using only the finest domestic and exotic hardwoods, and hand buffed to a soft sheen using the best quality earth friendly wood finishes. Featuring our signature minaret style design, variations in wood grain, colour and texture make each of our spice mills truly unique.

Beyond the beautiful design and excellent craftsmanship is an authentic CrushGrind® ceramic mechanisms.  This harder than steel mechanism makes all of our mills perfect for grinding peppercorns, salt or spices.

In this artisan spotlight we feature Owen Sound Artist’s Co-op photograper Jenn Klemm.

Jennifer Klemm was born in Owen Sound, where she first began to take an interest in capturing the wonders around her through various artistic outlets, such as poetry, photography, drawing, painting, and sculpture.

After graduating from the OSCVI in 2000, she travelled abroad and then enrolled at the Ontario College of Art and Design as a Drawing & Painting Major. During her studies, she completed her thesis in Florence, Italy, earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts. Jennifer then attended Nipissing University in North Bay, where she completed her Bachelor of Education in 2008.

Jennifer currently works as a secondary teacher and as college faculty in the Owen Sound area, and hopes one day to be able to enjoy her summers producing art, exploring various creative processes, and “soaking up the rich atmosphere this area has to offer”.

This collection of photographs was taken on location in Italy, France, Toronto, Welland, and Grey Bruce, and focus on the beauty of exploration and the nostalgia found in pavement stains and such every-day wonders.

For more information about her work you can contact Jenn at klemm.jen@gmail.com, and you can find her work at the Owen Sound Artists’ Co-op in downtown Owen Sound.