Jenn and I find ourselves consistently awe-struck by the connections we make by food blogging and the relationships that have developed from them.

It intrigued us when Joe Bougner (@joeboughner), one of Ottawa's pre-eminent practitioners of effectively applying social media to business, put out a blog challenge, Monday. His challenge: What if you could only write one more post? What would you want to say?

After some thought, mine would start with a list of individual thank-yous to the people we have connected with. I would thank Jenn, my better half and foodiePrints' editor, for the countless hours we spent, working together, sometimes amicably. I would end it with a gracious farewell to you, our wonderful readers, urging you to continue to think critically and eat responsibly.

One of the thank-yous would go to Claire. This lovely woman is a friend. She is a food and wine enthusiast. She is someone who has accepted the unenviable task of addressing a subject Jenn and I have been silent about. She will contribute posts to foodiePrints on wine.

Despite foodiePrints having few wine posts to date, we received a "fun little award thingy" recently from generous Lynne (@thetwistedchef) of The Twisted Chef blog. Like other blog awards, the "Versatile Blogger" one comes with rules:

• Thank the person giving it to you
• Say 7 things about yourself
• Nominate blogs you have recently discovered and love

Jenn and I have spoken about ourselves enough.

We take this opportunity to introduce Claire.

First, thank-you Lynne. Suffice it to say, I bend the rule about comments on your blog because you write so many great posts I feel compelled to comment. I will do my best not to comment on every one! I reserve the right to tweet and update Facebook though...

Here are seven things foodiePrints' new wine blogger offered up when I asked her:

• I have so many pairs of shoes my daughter once said “Mummy, can I start a collection of dolls or boxes…. like you have of shoes”?
• I buy nail polish. I buy lots of nail polish. I don’t actually wear nail polish. But I aspire to the life that allows a person to have the time to wait for it to dry.
• I attended four different schools in four different countries on three different continents in the same school year.
• I love acting (something about being the center of attention) and have done plays at the Ottawa Little Theater
• My nine year gets five dollars for her allowance but consistently orders the most expensive item on the menu: the adult menu.
• I have a degree in Law and Political Science but work in neither.
• I love all things Apple: Mac rules!

Claire also adores the colour pink. She even managed to turn her iPhone pink!

Blog-wise, here are three blogs Claire nominates for the "Versatile Blogger" award:

• Theappleblog
• The Shoe Girl's Blog
• Billy Munnely's "Billy's Best Bottles

Coming up from Claire, her thoughts from attending Debbie Trenholm's recent "A Taste of BC Wines" event, which was held at Thyme and Again's Exposure Gallery.

On August 17, 2010, residents of Gatineau gathered at various locations in Vieux Hull to watch Hollywood movie crews transform some city streets for a large ($28 million) production, the screen adaptation of author Jack Kerouac's On the Road. According to the CBC, director Francis Ford Coppola's company, American Zoetrope, worked with Ottawa/Gatineau's Film Corp to choose the locations.

One happened to be the Vite Vite pataterie (poutinerie) on rue Wellington (61).

Vite Vite
It is an eatery my colleagues frequent almost weekly. Accordingly, its chili cheese fries are a must try. I have never been.

That morning, the section of rue Wellington in front of Vite Vite was blocked off by Gatineau police. The building, which existed during the "Beat Generation" era (1950's), was temporarily re-finished. Then, period cars were brought in. Crews dulled their paint and carefully positioned them along the street.

Here is how the completed transformation looked before filming started.

Transformed
This photo was taken by Catherine (@MsCatou) during her lunch break. I didn't have a camera with me that Tuesday.

I did however bring my camera the following day.

50's Vite Vite

Pataterie turned Coffee Shop

and Snacks

Removed Sign

Everything was restored two days later.

Present Day Vite Vite

If you want to know what characteristics distinguish a food blogger, while crowds gathered to catch glimpses of the film's A-list stars (Kristen Stewart, Viggo Mortenson, Amy Adams, and Kirsten Dunst), I only wanted photos of the set.

Particulars:
Vite Vite Patate
61, rue Wellington, Gatineau
(819) 770-9888

The weekend of Food Day Canada, a friend from the publishing world visited Ottawa for the long weekend, Bonita (@boneats). An Ottawa native, who now makes her home in Toronto, she is also a fellow food blogger. She happened to shake hands with Chef Thomas Keller at a book event last year.

Where do you think we had brunch that Sunday?

Did we go to big-box restaurant chain Milestones (1080 Baxter Road) where a signature "Traditional breakfast" of 3 scrambled eggs, double smoked bacon, breakfast potatoes, seasonal fruit and multi-grain toast costs $8.99

Milestones

Milestones Traditional Breakfast
Think slightly over-scrambled eggs, greasy potatoes with jarred tomato sauce, super market fruit, cool to cold toast, and thinly cut and under-crisped bacon.

Also on the menu, a breakfast hash of "slow roasted and thinly sliced" prime rib, tossed with crispy potatoes (remarkably similar to breakfast potatoes), bell peppers, sweet onion, roast corn and their specialty (mystery) "hash" seasoning. Everything, topped with two poached eggs, "real" hollandaise, roma tomatoes and toasted herb "Filone" for $12.99.

Prime Rib Hash

Poached Eggs

Prime Rib
Think hunk of oily baguette, deep fried potatoes (re-heated on the griddle with the white onions, red pepper, and the night before's prime rib leftovers), cool-ish hollandaise, pre-poached and re-heated eggs, and watery tomatoes. The mystery seasoning was intensely acidic, tasting oddly of barbecue sauce.

I'm not getting into the dated decor that was once cutting edge for big box restaurants 10 years ago. Milestone's service, however, was attentive and friendly.

More after the jump...

The following guest post is the first in a series of "Meet a Gold Medal Plates Competing Chef" interviews you will see on foodiePrints and our partnered blogs for Gold Medal Plates Ottawa. It comes from one of our favourite food bloggers Rachelle of Rachelle Eats Food.

And without further ado...

Last week I paired up with Ottawa-based food bloggers Shari from Whisk: A food blog, and Don and Jen from foodiePrints to see what we could do to get everyone talking about the Gold Medal Plates event set for November 16th. Being the ultimate celebration of Canadian Excellence in cuisine and wine, not to mention athletic achievement (net proceeds from Gold Medal Plates are given to the Canadian Olympic Foundation), it seemed like a natural fit - and of course, a very exciting one. Our goal is to feature one of the competing chefs, or any other interesting fact about the event, on every Friday leading up to the event. Here is our first one.


Chef Marc Lepine of Atelier

You know how some people are just so nice you want to scream out to the world about them? That's how I felt today after meeting Chef Marc Lepine from Atelier restaurant. This soft spoken, modest and genuinely friendly man made this first-time interviewer feel at ease. I imagine working for him must be the same. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.

What's your philosophy when it comes to food and your restaurant?
"I'm not much of a philosopher. I don't take it that seriously I guess. But if I had to answer that, I guess I'd like to not take myself too seriously and not have our diners take the restaurant too seriously. I like using high quality ingredients but having fun with it."

What inspires you? How do you come up with ideas for the dishes that you create?
"We get asked that a lot and I think they're all random things. It's always something different. I have a 5-year-old daughter and, sometimes I'll be at home on my day off playing and an idea will strike for a dish. I get inspirations from that - just from something she's playing with...Sometimes from other chefs, going out and eating and just the slightest thing that someone has done... It can be a movie, we've had dishes based around movies... Seasons definitely, like the produce that's coming out - the amazing cherries that we had this year. That's the easiest inspiration, you get that and your dish makes itself..."

I know your menu changes often. With the current one you have right now, what's your favourite dish on the menu and
why?
"Probably the tomato salad. It's something we call Tomatrix Revolution. Visually I love it and there's something going on there that really appeals to me. I think because it feels really seasonal and being tomato season it just brings me outside. That's corny but I really like that, and because of how intricate it is and I don't think it's something you could find in many restaurants."

"I also like a dish called Subterranean Homesick Alien that we have on at the moment. Which is the name of a Radiohead song, but it's a dessert based on star anise and cherries. I like the visual, the artistic side of plating something."


Tomatrix plating

What's the ingredient you can't live without? (other than basics)
"I don't think I have one honestly. Whatever the ingredient is we use it. I guess part of the larger philosophy of this style of cooking is that there's no ingredient that has superior culinary value over another ingredient. I mean, you can take any ingredient and turn it into something quite amazing if it's treated right."

"We could never have a menu that doesn't have a minimum amount of fish and meat on it because Ottawa wouldn't go for that... if we had no restrictions we could do a menu that had no meat on it or minimal meat and still be as happy with it just because whatever the season, the ingredients that are coming in are all amazing."

Is there anything you won't eat?
"McDonald's or Burger King. I don't eat foie gras... (but) there's nothing I don't eat because I don't like the taste, I just choose not to eat certain things."

Guilty pleasure?
"Potato chips."

What was your most memorable meal and why?
"Hands down it would be the 24-course dinner at Alinea in Chicago. It was very inspiring. It made my head spin. Overwhelming in an enjoyable kind of way. To this day I still think about some of the things that went on."

What would your last meal be?
"Big bowl of grapefruit. Simple. I would love it - grapefruit is one of my favourite things to eat."

If you could travel to just one place in the world for food, where would you go and why?
"Spain. Because I haven't been there yet and there's so many amazing restaurants that I'd like to try there. Particularly Roca."

Describe your perfect Sunday.
"Spending time with my kids. That's pretty perfect. And a nice dinner out that night would be good. With or without the kids."

If you've never been to Atelier, it's definitely one of those places you must add to your go-to list. The entire experience is like no other. I was there earlier this year and had an amazing time. I'm so looking forward to my next visit!



Facebook Page: Gold Medal Plates Ottawa

To purchase tickets for Gold Medal Plates, contact Sue Holloway (contact information below) or click here.

Particulars:
Gold Medal Plates Ottawa
Tuesday, November 16, 2010 6:00 pm
National Arts Centre
53 Elgin Street

Sue Holloway
818 Nesbitt Place
(613)274-3107 phone
(613)274-0851 fax
hollowayjoy@rogers.com

Well, the Ottawa Magazine finally posted its 101 Tastes To Try Before You Die list on its re-vamped website. The list was original published in its September 2009 issue. Though some amendments to the online list were made to account for products no longer available.

Local food bloggers have taken notice, setting up checklists on their blogs. Kaitlin (@kaitli) of Heartful Mouthful put hers up yesterday. Lana (@lana_stewart) of Apron Strings followed suit shortly thereafter.

When in Rome :)

1. Beau's Lug Tread Beer (yes and met the brewmaster)
2. Pascale's ice cream (love Pascale's)
3. Bryson Farm's baby salad greens (do tomatoes count?)
4. Memories' triple berry pie
5. Lamb tourtière from Les Fougères
6. Coriander pesto from Pastina
7. The Red Sea coffee beans from Ideal Coffee
8. Milk (in a bottle) from Cochrane's Dairy
9. Thyme & Again's cranberry peach jam
10. Piggy Market pea-meal bacon (do sausages and heritage bacon count?)
11. Art-Is-In 12-grain and fennel seed Dynamite baguette (love art-is-in bread, but haven't tried fennel seed baguette)
12. Kefir from Herb & Spice Shop
13. Red Apron's peanut butter and banana handcrafted gourmet granola (umm...I'm allergic to peanut butter)
14. Free-range eggs from Beking Poultry farm (used Beking's eggs to make scotch eggs)
15. Spicy fennel sausages from Luciano Foods
16. Whalesbone (Sustainable Oyster & Fish Supply) brown bag lunch (absolutely!)
17. Tower-O-Greasy-Rings from The Works (unfortunately!)
18. Chicken tikka wrap from Shafali's Bazaar in the Byward Market Square (makes crazy good naan, but haven't had the tikka wrap)
19. Restaurant Barbe's roast pork sandwich
20. Meatball sandwich at Parma Ravioli (aboslutely!)
21. Knish from Saslove's Meat Market
22. Sweet potato and cinnamon bread from True Food Ecostere (photo from trip to Ottawa Farmer's Market)
23. Glengyle Garlic's feta garlic spread
24. Rustic, hand-formed miniature pies from Savoury Pursuits
25. Heritage tomatoes from Ferme Orient
26. Christophe's organic mushrooms from Le Coprin (photo from C'est Bon Cooking ByWard Market tour)
27. Asian fruit salad from Saigon Meats and Vegetables
28. Paczki Glazed from Wedel
29. Lobos apples from Cannamore Orchards (do lobo's from Hall's Apple Orchard count?)
30. Raspberry mini-cheesecakes from Second Avenue Sweets
31. Bewitching baking from The Scone Witch (write-up, but no pics)
32. Lover's Leap Ceylon tea from Tea & Ginseng
33. Queen Elizabeth cake from the Bread & Rose Bakery
34. Shortbread La Gaillarde from Pastina
35. Lavender from Fines Herbes
36. Baklava filled with walnuts from Middle East Bakery
37. Black Irish plain porter from Scotch Irish Brewing (yes and met the brewmaster)
38. Sterling's porterhouse steak
39. Burfi from Desh Typically
40. Tiramisù Made by Maria Nicastro herself (no, but walkthrough of La Bottega Nicastro)
41. Island Flava's Caribbean hot sauce (no, but they make a killer good jerk chicken poutine)
42. Shrimp rice noodles from Wa Kiu Foods (no photo, and we suggest going to a dim sum restaurant to order these)
43. Rabbit from Luciano Foods (does rabbit from Saslove's count?)
44. Aubrey's merguez sausage
45. Ground pork from Saigon Meets and Vegetables
46. Organic frisée from Ferme Orient
47. Serrano ham from Misto
48. Glengarry Fine Cheeses (used Glengarry's Fleur-en-Lait for a clafouti)
49. Lemon and salt pistachios from Shiraz (prefer the lemon pistachios from Shiraz)
50. True Loaf's decadent bun
51. Berg en dal honey from the Piggy Market
52. Zaatar from Aladdin Convenience (have eaten the Zaatar Lahem bi Ajeen from Alladin Bakery)
53. Rosélianne from Verger Lacroix (does the Croquee nordique count?)
54. Cocoa Camino's dark chocolate bar with orange
55. The Table's chocolate cheesecake (well we've had the beet root chocolate cake)
56. Florentines from Le Moulin de Provence
57. Giant Handmade Peanut Butter Cups from Truffle Treasures (do Peanut Butter Easter Eggs, made the same way count?)
58. Stubbe's caramelized hazelnuts No, but I’ve tried many things from Stubbe Half point
59. Banoffee pie from Allium (yes, but we feel Allium's creme brulee is a better dessert)
60. Pure cranberry juice from La Vallee des canneberges
61. Cambodian satay hot sauce from Phnom Penh Noodle Hosue
62. Coconut Lagoon's Travancore-style fish curry
63. Poivre long from the Ottawa Bagelshop
64. Argan oil from the Byward Fruit Market (yes, on a dish from the Courtyard Restaurant)
65. El Meson's Castelo dourado
66. Clover coffee from Bridgehead
67. Fraser Café's homemade doughnuts (yup, they're good!)
68. Almond croissants (almandines) from Les Plaisirs Gourmands Sont Simples
69. Braised veal sweetbreads in a sauce of apple and calvados from La Table de Pierre Delahaye
70. Strawberry pie from Bella Vista
71. Mariposa duck (yes, at many restaurants)
72. Mohammara sauce from Coin du Chiche (no, but have eaten at coin du chiche)
73. Bison from Pykeview Meadows
74. Canadian high tea at Zoe's (absolutely! Makes a great birthday present)
75. Sufganiyot (aka jelly doughnuts) from Rideau Bakery (no, but have been to the Rideau Bakery)
76. Edamame from Oz Kafé
77. The pickled turnip from the Garlic King
78. Soul food from Jean Albert's (yes, but need to revisit)
79. Ottawa River sturgeon from th Chelsea Smokehouse
80. Amber Garden pirogies
81. Rice pudding from Boushey's Fruit Market
82. Bison egg rolls from La Trappe a Fromage
83. Absinthe steak frites (absolutely! favourite in Ottawa)
84. Ricotta blueberry pancakes from Stoneface Dolly's (we've had them, but prefer the non-ricotta blueberry pancakes)
85. Jellies from La Trappe à Fromage
86. Salmon sausages from The Red Apron
87. Tapioca pudding with pineapple and coconut milk from Fuschian
88. Grass-fed beef (if you've had hamburger from Chez Lucien or Hintonburger, you've eaten grass-fed simmental beef, finished with grain)
89. Cinnamon twists from Rideau Bakery (no, but have been to the Rideau Bakery)
90. Acorn Creek Farms melons
91. Beef Rendang from Chahaya Malaysia
92. Cupcakes from the Ottawa Cupcakery
93. Mekong's Hu Nan dumplings (seriously?!!? Been told the dumplings from the Northern Han are tops in Ottawa)
94. Pumpkin pie fudge from Fitzroy Harbour
95. Laksa fromt he Singapore Restaurant
96. Fine Cheese Company's "accompaniments" from Jacobson's Gourmet Concpets
97. Hot-smoked salmon from the Pelican Fishery & Grill (pulease! Buy the hot-smoked salmon from Whalesbone (Sustainable Oyster & Fish Supply))
98. Elgin Street Diner's chocolate-banana milkshake
99. House of Georgie's legendary pizza with gravy (absolutely! It is required eating after a skate on the canal. We recommend gravy-ing the combination)
100. Lebanese cucumbers
101. The BeaverTail (every February!)

We've not done too badly over the past year the list has been around...