Photo: Nanaimo Bars / iVillage Made in Canada slideshow

Warning: This is not a healthy post, but I won’t take responsibility for that. Blame Canada. (Heh heh.)
No, I’m not in Canada this week. Truth be told, I haven’t even been bitten by Olympic fever. I’ve been too busy to watch and now, the last week of the games, I’m hanging in New Orleans, one of the most exciting places in this country for regional food. But, who knew—Canada has amazing regional food, too! And if there’s one thing that will finally cause me Olympic fever, it’s good eats.
I don’t much think about regional Canadian food. And I bet you don’t either. (Save for my Canadian readers, why would we?) But three fortuitously timed things happened since the start of the Olympics that have got me thinking about the foods of our friends up North.
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Happy Halloween!! Photo: Ecorations

Food News, Things I Crave, Green Your Eats, Tips, Tools & Techniques, and the Weekly Roundtable (a roundup of the most recent ChowMama posts).
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Photo: ex.libris

Our plans for our California vacation included a few days at a small ranch town. A really small one. As our old and dear friends described it: “the kind of small where it isn’t unusual to see a guy in his underwear walking down the road with a pistol tucked in his waistband.”

Really. There was no internet. No cell phone service. Just a chance to totally unplug in a way that’s rare these days. And, since you know that Stacie and I are always on the lookout for teachable food moments, this travel destination offered a big one! A chance to plug my ChowBaby into the reality of where his food comes from.

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Photo: kelly sue

By the time you read this, we’ll be blissfully entrenched in the Bay Area thanks to our old friends Emily and Ian (and their 4-legged-babies Buddy and Maggie). I’ve never spent any real time in San Francisco, so it’ll all be new to me.

Of course, I had to do a little food research before I left. Looking for hole-in-the-wall restaurants, kid-friendly cafes, and classic local cuisine. That’s how I landed on today’s recipe for Cioppino. It’s a fish stew developed by Italian fisherman in the 1800s that’s made with the catch of the day. And it is typically served over long pasta like spaghetti or linguini—and what ChowBaby doesn’t like that?

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Photo: pink_fish13

The first big vacation the whole ChowFamily and I took was to Rome when Atticus had just turned 1 year old. That was a big culinary adventure for all of us. And a reminder that some of the most familiar foods can become new again with simple changes. Take pizza, for example. I normally think of it as junk food. But in Rome, pizza became breakfast, lunch, or dinner. With different ingredients, it was healthy, fresh, and light. Something I gladly served Atticus.

In California (yes, when you read this, I’m still there) the pizza can be like that, too. It’s called California Style. A simple thin crust topped with fresh local ingredients. And a reminder that travel can make you (and your little ones) see old foods in a whole new way. Mmm.

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Photo: hyperbolation

By the time you read this, I will be in California for a wedding and just a few days into my 2-week stay. My posts are going to be short. I’m sure you’ll understand. With no vacation in more than a year, I promised my hubbie, my son, and—perhaps most importantly—myself that I was going to really try to relax.

As I front load my posts in an attempt to do zero work (and I mean zero, since I’m not even bringing my computer!), I’m picturing all of the things I’m going to be enjoying with the ChowFamily. Driving from LA to the bay area, being overstimulated by Disneyland, watching Atticus mesmerized by rays at the Monterey aquarium, gaping at redwoods for the first time, and eating. A lot. One of the first things I’m going to do is hit Malibu to revisit the site of my very first fish taco.
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