What's New 2 ...........

The second semester has begun and a new crew of students have made the Screaming Avocado their home for the morning for the next ninety odd days of school.  Energy, enthusiasm and a spirit to learn beams from this collective.  Can't wait to see what incredible dishes they'll come up with

Come Skype with me

Following on the success of our daily Skype connections to elementary school classes during our trip to Nunavut, we've begun a new initiative called Come Skype with Me.  These 'chats' will involve professionals in different fields connecting to classes for a question and answer session using Skype.  One minute will be for the host to introduce themselves the other to field questions from the students.
Savvy community members with techno wizard skills have volunteered to help bring this from an idea to a working model. 

We've being using the 'six degrees of separation' approach to line up our speakers if you know anyone you think would be of interest to any classroom elementary to secondary and is keen to participate, please let us know and we'll search out a class to host.  Our guest speakers to date include:

Chef Michael Smith - Chef at Large, Chef at Home
Evan Solomon - CBC News
Al Rae - Comic, Writer/ Little Mosque on the Prairies, Director CBC Winnipeg Comedy Festival

March 2011

The Screaming Gang is off to Toronto to spend the morning at George Brown College exploring the new kitchen classrooms and checking out the school as a possible home for post secondary studies.  Post the tour we'll all be dining at the GB's incredible The Chefs House

April 12, 2011

The Screaming Avocado's will be hosting the incredible David Suzuki as he visits Stratford Northwestern for the day.  Not everything is planned as of yet, but thanks to the National Film Board the students will begin the day with a viewing of David's film, Force of Nature.  The rest of the day will be fantastic, we know that.


May 14th, 2011

The Screaming Avocado are to to New York City to cook at James Beard House.  We'll bringing the incredible Arctic menu that followed our trip to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.  While there we'll be connecting with students from the Food and Finance High School in Manhattan.  Great food, incredible experience for all students involved.  Of course the experience wouldn't be possible without our incredible friends Twyla Campbell http://weirdwildandwonderful.blogspot.com/  ..... Steve Cooper and of course Louis.


May 3-4, 2011

The Screaming Avocado's will host the inaugural Slow Food Canadian Youth Terra Madre.  Check out the page for monthly updates.  http://screamingavocado.blogspot.com/p/youth-terra-madre.html

June 2011

The Screaming Avocado's will be returning to Ottawa to learn from Chef Louis Charet and his incredible team at Rideau Hall.  It was so great last year, we have no choice but to go back.


That's what we have for now, but don't worry we have more to come.

The Screaming Avocados

Slow Food Canadian Youth Terra Madre

The Screaming Avocado is hosting the inaugural

Slow Food Canadian Youth Terra Madre

May 3-4 / 2011 

 

Check out the

Slow Food Canadian Youth Terra Madre  

page on this site for details and the link to the application.

Greenhouse - wee yummy sprouts

The holiday break from school doesn't slow the growth of the seedlings planted in our Seeds of Change greenhouse.  Students Devon, Barry and Lizzie worked hard with Steve Stacey (The Local Come Lately) to clean and organize the greenhouse and plant sixty-four trays prior to the winter break.  On one of the days Shawn Hartwell  (Simple Fish and Chips ) dropped by to lend a hand.  This brought a great connection for the students as Shawn will be using some of the greens in his restaurant.  Of the remainder, some will be used in the Screaming Avocado Canteen and others will be sold to those interested in delicious organic greens that support a great cause.  Check out the photos Shawn snapped today in the greenhouse - they're growing!  This project is made possible through the generous contribution from Libro Financial's Community Builders Grant. 



The Screaming Avocados

Devon, Barry and Lizzie

Half the trays

Wee yummy sprouts

Charlie’s Burgers: Arctic Diplomatic Incident Dinner

Sunday, December 19th the Charlies Burgers dinner went down.  So much to digest - both literally and figuratively.  Three days of prep and an outstanding evening that rocked the house and left the guests wanting more.  Chef Louis the Great designed a menu that showcased northern fare and married it with the finest ingredients we could find in the south.

Why would we try to put into words the events of the evening when our friends Twyla Campbell and Steve Stacey have done it so eloquently on their blog sites.  Check it out and be amazed at the transformation of the raw ingredients to finished product.  Please find below some images on the ingredients in the raw.... then go to Twyla and Steve's blogs. 

Twyla's Blog on the Arctic Dinner

Steve's Blog on the Artic Dinner

Check out the article it the Stratford Beacon Herald:

Stratford Beacon Herald - Dinner Comes From the North


The Screaming Avocados


Walrus

Muskox

 Foie Gras

Seal

Arctic Char

Whale 

Screaming Avocados and Charlies Burgers

On December 19th the Screaming Avocados will team up with the uber-talented Chef Louis Charest to helping in the preparation of a challenging menu for the guests of Charlies Burgers in Toronto http://www.charliesburgers.ca/.  'Charlie' describes the menu as  The Arctic Culinary Diplomatic Incident.  We see it as an opportunity for the fledgling avocados to learn from Louis and to connect to incredible ingredients that have fed the Inuit peoples for a thousand years. Since an experience like this needs to be shared, we invited some Stratford Chef School students to help in the prep. 

For the foraging of the northern fare we turned to our foodie friends Steve Cooper and Twyla Campbell ( weirdwildandwonderful.blogspot.com/ ).  Steve grew up in the north and spends much time up there with work. His connections are far reaching, which allows him to have access to ingredients we've only read about.  Thank-you Steve and Twyla.

Everything is in motion for a truly memorable night.  We'll be back with details and more photos on December 20th.  Check out the menu below and be amazed.  For more on Charlies Burgers visit http://www.thestar.com/living/article/610726

The Screaming Avocados

Menu & Wine Pairing
Prosecco Asolo Montello DOCG - Veneto, Italy

Clams and Muskox
Qikitartuaq clams, Mipkuzola fennel fire roasted muskox, narwhal bannock
2008 Chardonnay, Baglio del Sole, Feudi Del Pisciotto, Sicily, Italy

Blubber Pie
Sanikiluak sea urchin, star fish, whipped beluga
2004 Muskat, Josmeyer, Alsace France

Davis Strait Shrimp Bisque
Matsutake mushroom, shrimp ceviche
lemon grass sabayon
2009 Bergerie du Capucin, Pic Saint Loup, Dame Geannie, Languedoc, France

Seal and Walrus Crackling
Sumac grilled rack of seal, star anise walrus crackling, foie gras
candied candy cane beet, mango sambal
1999 Vinsobres, Domaine Chaume Arnaud, Cotes Du Rhone Villages, France

Cape Dorset Kelp Sorbet
ponzu gastric, fresh kelp, kelp chips

Wild Ginger BBQ Duck Flavoured Sea Cucumber and Veal Marrow Pot au Feu
Cambridge Bay Arctic Char Tataki, Batawana Bay Herring Roe
Bok Choy, Root Vegetables, Buckwheat Tempura
2007 Barbera Asti DOC, Scagliola, Piemonte, Italy

Inuksuk
ice wine Akutak profiteroles
blue berry, spun sugar
2000 Ice Wine, Vidal, Pilliteri Canada

Screaming Avocado's on Jamie Oliver Website

 The local food bag fundraiser is on the Jamie Oliver website.  Check out the link below:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/news/screaming-avacado-fundraiser


If you're curious check out a past post on the site as well.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/news/screaming-avacado-a-recipe-for-success

The Screaming Avocados

SKYPE Gardens

The trip to Nunavut offered many great experiences for the students that participated - check out the photos on the Flickr Photostream on the right.  We knew this would be the case before we departed, so we were determined to find a way to share it with elementary students who couldn't join us on the trip.  To bring them along (without sneaking them into our luggage of course) we proposed a SKYPE broadcast where our students would share their experiences with classes down south.  This proved to be an easy sell and soon enough we had eight schools signed up.

Every morning our students rose early, rubbed the sleep from their eyes and readied for an onslaught of questions from excited elementary kids.  Many were curious on the food we ate (lots of caribou), what the weather was like (snowy and cold), what the people were like (fantastic and friendly), what the trip was like getting there (long and full of delays) and what sports they play in the north (hockey, soccer, basketball and everything we play in the south plus Arctic Games - more on that later).   SKYPE worked incredibly well.  The picture and sound was clear and made the elementary kids feel they were in Cambridge Bay.

The added bonus to the broadcasts was when the students from Cambridge Bay joined Stratford Northwestern kids.  The students from north brought to the SKYPE experience real knowledge from the north.  They spoke of their lives and demonstrated their Arctic Games skills.  Thank-you to all the elementary classes, Nunavut and Stratford students who participated in the broadcasts.

After such a successful SKYPE experience, we didn’t want to leave Nunavut without setting up further.  Since we’re all about food, we decided to marry the two.  Beginning in the New Year we’ll have SKYPE Gardens running.  Two classes, one south and one north will have windowsill vegetable gardens that will be their link.  They will share the experience, stories and recipes all the while developing friendships from afar.  The northern schools will have some help from a grow light. 

We have a couple of schools ready to go.  If anyone else is interested please let us know.  We’ll help fund the project and organize twins. 

The Screaming Avocados