THE ROYAL TREE BEAVER

The Royal Tree Beaver thought we’d ease our way into...

Wed, 22 May 2013 19:16:09 -0400

The Royal Tree Beaver thought we’d ease our way into summer by taking part in the Toronto Underground Market’s most audacious joint yet - the Field Trip Arts & Crafts festival - with, oh you know, 10,000 close friends and acquaintances enjoying great music and fabulous food at historic Fort York, Saturday, June 9th.

“The inaugural one-day event will feature two stages curated entirely from Arts & Crafts’ diverse artist roster, co-headlined by a one-night-only return from hiatus for flagship collective Broken Social Scene and 11-time JUNO Award and 2012 Polaris Music Prize winner Feist.”

Oh yeah, Field Trip also features the Royal Tree Beaver’s butter chicken and waffles, as well as a few other meaty surprises.

To purchase tickets, click here.

(FIELD TRIP POSTER BY ROSS PROULX)

The Royal Tree Beaver is proud to be taking part in the...

Wed, 22 May 2013 18:55:31 -0400

The Royal Tree Beaver is proud to be taking part in the Stop’s 2nd Annual Night Market (Night 2 - Wednesday, June 19th) in the Honest Ed’s Alley Way. The event sold out - 1,600 tickets at $50 a pop - in just two hours today.

The Night Market benefits the Stop Community Food Centre, which “strives to increase access to healthy food in a manner that maintains dignity, builds health & community & challenges inequality.”

The Royal Tree Beaver is pumped to be working with Nicole Bruun-Meyer & Claire Lubell of lb_projects on the design of our display.

We’ll be serving butter chicken & potato pancakes to the first 750 folks who enjoy Indian-Polish-Canadian fusion from 16h00 ‘til late.

The Royal Tree Beaver had an absolute blast hawking butter...

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:23:34 -0400

The Royal Tree Beaver had an absolute blast hawking butter chicken & waffles at Steam Whistle’s Toronto Blue Jays Home Opener Party on Tuesday. Three thoughts on our night:

1. The Steam Whistle team is awesome and we want to offer our shared thanks to Josh. It might be because we were feeding your staff butter chicken and waffles, but before your crew even knew our food was good, we couldn’t have been made to feel more welcome. Congratulations. Custom service is a rare commodity in Toronto and you guys really nail it.

2. Steam Whistle would serve as a great first venue for aspiring pop-up food artists. You won’t make a tonne of money, but you also won’t lose much if your food doesn’t sell. The Royal Tree Beaver was next to SmashCake Desserts, and Fidel Gastro was outside. All we had to do to take part was ask. And have we told you how amazing it is to work with their staff?

3. Nothing the Royal Tree Beaver does happens without the support, love, and let’s be honest, hard work, of generous people like Shivaan De Silva, Janada Hawthorne and Sandra Poczobut. We just want to say thank you for going to bat so tenaciously for Canadian-Canadian cuisine.

The next official Royal Tree Beaver event is in an alleyway just off of Bathurst St. in June.

The Royal Tree Beaver is pumped to be joining Fidel Gastro and...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:59:37 -0400

The Royal Tree Beaver is pumped to be joining Fidel Gastro and SmashCake Desserts at Steam Whistle Brewery`s Home Opener Party to cheer on the Toronto Blue Jays this Tuesday, April 2nd.

We`ll be officially going by 2 p.m. with some butter chicken & waffles. It`s the best place to take in Opening Day next to the dome. Come for the game if you don`t have tickets; come before the game if you do.

There`s also this awesomeness according to Steam Whistle:

- Book Launch with author Steve Clarke in attendance: 100 Things Blue Jays Fans Should Know and Do Before They Die

- A baseball-themed art show will be on exhibit for Home Opener in the brewery gallery, and will remain on display for the month of April. “Season Opener” will showcase customized baseball bats (from Garrison Creek Bat Co.) and art from over 30 different artists, illustrators and craftspeople. Click here for more information.

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Tuesday, April 02, 2013

Event Type: Party

Location: Steam Whistle Brewing

Time: 12:00 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.

Ticket: free!

BBQ Nation - SAVEUR - Issue 39

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:57:00 -0500

BBQ Nation - SAVEUR - Issue 39:

My gal Sandra and I didn’t make it into the SAVEUR print edition celebrating American BBQ, but we were featured online at SAVEUR.com last year. Check us out at Scott’s Bar-B-Que in Stucky, SC, at the 58 seconds remaining mark.

Competition Backyard BBQ raises more than $2,500 for...

Mon, 15 Oct 2012 20:46:52 -0400

Competition Backyard BBQ raises more than $2,500 for charity

Lemon & Allspice, a social purpose business owned and operated by adults with developmental disabilities, finished first in the Desserts Division of the second annual Competition Backyard BBQ.

The 2012 Intergalactic Championships raised more than $2,500 for Common Ground, the charity that provides business support to Lemon and Allspice and four other Toronto small purpose enterprises.

More than 80 friends, family and random strangers joined together in an Annex backyard and feasted on food that showcased the incredible skills of more than a dozen home chefs.

Common Ground is a Toronto based non-profit that both trains and provides ongoing support and counsel to adults with developmental disabilities in the field of small business ownership.

Meats Division 1^st Place – Shiv de Silva – jerk pulled pork tacos

Meats Division Runner Up – Mogg & Jones – short rib stew

Sides Division 1^st Place – Jer Holmes & Dianne Despot – butternut squash ale soup with aged cheddar and crispy pancetta

Sides Division Runner Up – Erin Stein – world’s greatest cheeseball

Desserts Division 1^st Place – Lemon & Allspice - pumpkin cheesecake squares

Desserts Division Runner Up – Sandra Poczobut – mini apple harvest cheesecakes

Photos - Rick Weiss

What goes into a Thanksgiving Puck? Matthew Harris of Foodea has...

Tue, 09 Oct 2012 12:25:34 -0400

What goes into a Thanksgiving Puck? Matthew Harris of Foodea has your answer in this video from September’s Toronto Underground Market. Foodea.com - “a social food platform that allows people to create, find and share their favourite food ideas!”

TORONTO UNDERGROUND MARKET - 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY STYLE I want to...

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 19:10:57 -0400

Volunteer stalwarts Shiv & Jan - ready for the day shift.

Sandra in the Lemon and Allspice Cookery kitchen. It's used by the social purpose enterprise we donate money to.

My man, Ben, in the background. He peeled the onions.

Birds - done, done, done, done, done & done.

Turkey & Stuffing.

Behind the scenes look at the makings of Thanksgiving Pucks.

Great crowds for the Toronto Underground Market's 1 Year Anniversary.

Thanksgiving Pucks.

Butter Chicken & Waffles.

We donate 5% of our gross profit to charity.

TORONTO UNDERGROUND MARKET - 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY STYLE

I want to give a hearty fist bump to all those folks who have helped bring the Royal Tree Beaver to life. Canadian-Canadian cuisine would not be possible without your love. Thanks for helping a kid out.

I also want to wish the Toronto Underground Market a Happy Birthday. You’re going to be the coolest two year old ever.

"Our citizenship is based on an idea of sharing, of the acceptance and accommodation of difference,..."

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 01:57:04 -0400

“Our citizenship is based on an idea of sharing, of the acceptance and accommodation of difference, and of trying to diminish antagonisms…. Our citizenship is not a buffet table. Our citizenship is a fixed menu.”

- Adrienne Clarkson, governal general, address at a citizenship ceremony, Calgary, March 2003, in Christoper Guly, “Class Act at Rideau Hall,” Forever Young, July 2003. The Penguin Dictionary of Popular Canadian Quotations - edited by John Robert Colombo, 2006.

"In exactly one month, in my Annex backyard, kitchen gladiators will once again battle for the..."

Thu, 13 Sep 2012 22:33:31 -0400

“

In exactly one month, in my Annex backyard, kitchen gladiators will once again battle for the prestigious title of Intergalactic Champion at the 2nd Annual Competition Backyard BBQ.

This feat of food in three delicious acts - meats, sides and desserts - raises more than $2,500 for Common Ground - a charity that helps adults with developmental disabilities enjoy the dignity of meaningful employment.

I want you to Compete, Eat or both. And remember, even if you can’t participate, you can still donate. 25 bones. Get ‘er done.

”

- www.CBBBQ.com

The 2nd Annual Competition Backyard BBQ is a feat of food in...

Wed, 15 Aug 2012 13:24:00 -0400

The 2nd Annual Competition Backyard BBQ is a feat of food in three acts – meats, sides and desserts – taking place in an Annex Backyard Saturday, October 13th. As many as 30 home chefs will compete for the coveted title of 2012 Intergalactic Champion while also raising money for an impactful local charity. There are no tickets for the event. Instead, anyone interested in taking part is asked to make a donation of $25 to Common Ground Co-opeartive at CBBBQ.com.

EVENT | Competition Backyard BBQ

THEME | 2012 Intergalactic Championships

DATE |Saturday, October 13th, 2012

TIME | 14h00 to 18h00

LOCATION | Dupont Station – the exact backyard will be posted event day

FACEBOOK | Updates are posted here

PHOTOS | Available for viewing here

COST | $25 for 18 plus; free for 17 and under. Donate at CBBBQ.com

COMPETITORS | Still needed. Send an email to Eat@RoyalTreeBeaver.ca to get involved and see the competition particulars below

JUDGES | Still needed. Donate at CBBBQ.com.

SUPPORTING | Common Ground Co-operative

TO COMPETE | Send an email to Eat@RoyalTreeBeaver.ca with the name of your dish and a complete list of ingredients. Each competitor is required to make 50 small portions, bring all necessary cooking, display, and serving supplies, as well as purchase one event ticket. You can compete in one, two or all three categories - Meats, Sides and Desserts.

ABOUT COMMON GROUND | CGC is an award-winning non-profit that helps adults with developmental disabilities run their own small businesses. CGC supports 65 entrepreneurs at five social good businesses throughout Toronto. Each year, CGC delivers over 6,000 hours of business coaching to the Partners it serves and offers targeted business instruction in conjunction with Frontier College, George Brown College and the University of Toronto. CommonGroundCo-op.ca.

The Foodies - How pop-up chefs became the new indie...

Sun, 12 Aug 2012 13:08:00 -0400

The Foodies - How pop-up chefs became the new indie rockers

Broken Pencil - Issue 56 - By Ryan Bigge

“Paul Jenkins, meanwhile, is an indie foodster who likes to add a pinch of social commentary to the food he serves at TUM. He works under the name The Royal Tree Beaver, creating meals that comment on Canadian identity, such as butter chicken on waffles. He calls this Canadian-Canadian food, a concept that is about a “strange and unorthidox fusion of cultures as much as the food itself.”

The Royal Tree Beaver was a vendor at July’s Toronto...

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:28:09 -0400

The Royal Tree Beaver was a vendor at July’s Toronto Underground Market, more colloquially known as TUM. We sold butter chicken & waffles, as well as brisket, baked beans & waffles. And, if do say so myself, which I do, the food and our display were fantastic.

I also handed out invitations to the second annual Competition Backyard BBQ - coming to life this year with the moniker 2012 Intergalactic Championship, on Saturday, September 1, in the Backyard at the End of the Universe in the Annex. We are again raising money for Common Ground Co-op. www.CBBBQ.com

This local co-opeartive empowers adults with developmental disabilities to enjoy the dignity of meaningful employment through small business ownership. There’s no where else in the world that this happens, and like my event, it take place in our shared Toronto backyard.

After I finished university I went to Korea. There, my gal and...

Mon, 02 Jul 2012 20:48:29 -0400

After I finished university I went to Korea. There, my gal and I met a couple named Chase & Colin. They broke up, we got married, and last spring we visited them in Asheville, North Carolina, and Charleston, South Carolina respectively. We ate our way and told our story on Facebook. Here’s part of it tumbled.

I wrote the below four years ago. It’s a story about what...

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 20:23:00 -0400

I wrote the below four years ago. It’s a story about what I did four years earlier than that. While eight years out I’m still uncertain of the project’s true meaning, I’m quite right in how I describe Le Poopsicle as a dashing 28 year old. Check it…

“In the summer of 2004, I pushed a small outhouse on three wheelbarrow wheels, with an inside to hold a cooler, through eight Canadian cities selling poopsicles – frozen, fair trade, organic bananas coated with dark chocolate – for three dollars each.

I used the poopsicle project to say to as many people as possible, “excuse me, I’d like to be heard.”

It worked. I made front page in a regional version of a national newspaper, was pitied in a Montreal editorial and told to grow up and get a real job by a writer of an Edmonton daily. I was on TV – the news in Edmonton and Calgary, and MuchMusic’s Speaker’s Corner.

My key message was simple, consume crap.

Nobody understood what I meant, though. I forget to say what’s in it for you.

The poopsicle project had so little stickiness in our collective conscious, I’d be surprised to find anything except for this blog entry on Google about the topic. Believe me, I’ve checked.

What I had wanted to say is your consumption of media, materials and meat controls the fate of this planet we’re all flying on. Tough shit, my friends, you have to monitor your consumption:

1. Learn the bias of mainstream media, whatever it is – the responsibility of opinion is that inevitably, it’s all propaganda. So, be aware of those who hold your attention.

2. Learn who sews the underwear ridding up your bum. As earnest as it sounds, you have a responsibility to those making the pieces of our material world.

3. Learn where the food’s coming from on its way to your belly. This includes: food miles, farm practices and family partnerships.

I made fifty poopsicles each time I pushed my prone to tipping poopmobile through the streets. I sold out my first day in Ottawa – the only time on tour – during gay pride.

I drove to Montreal and slept in my van in an area popular with crack addicts, adjacent to where I once lived. I was police-escorted off Mont Royal the next day to chants of poopsicle! poopsicle!’

I wheeled around Toronto’s city hall, the Queen’s park and street, but no one was there – except for my family.

I went to my hometown, St. Thomas, and was interviewed by the National Post.

The poopsicle project made appearances at Portage and Main in Winnipeg, Whyte Avenue in Edmonton and the Red Mile in Calgary. I finished in Vancouver with high expectations, but made little connection with the city.

I then stopped, packed the poopmobile in the back of my minivan, my home for the summer, drove across the Rockies with failing breaks to Edmonton, and put it in the corner of my apartment for two years. Its current home is a suburban garage.

Of course, I had grand designs for a poopsicle world tour, but the project simply didn’t have the legs to go viral.

I’ve often wondered, why? What prevented people from whispering poopsicle to each other? Why didn’t they bother to spread the implications of my message and its call to action?

The answer is three-fold:

• I had a lousy web presence,

• Not enough money,

• And, never fully explained the idea until now.

The Poopsicle does America, 2008? One million dollars and I’m in.

You can support the poopsicle project in three ways:

Become a Poopsicle Pal.

Tell your friends about the poopsicle project (talk, call, e-mail, update, link)

Monitor your consumption.”

I spent Monday morning working in the Lemon and Allspice Cookery...

Sat, 02 Jun 2012 13:29:34 -0400

I spent Monday morning working in the Lemon and Allspice Cookery with my niece Laura. We made two dozen oatmeal cookies, two trays of brownies and 18 of the biggest chocolate chip cookies in all of Toronto.

While ostensibly Lemon and Allspice is a social good business owned and operated by adults with developmental disabilities, it’s also a damn fine food workshop that uses real ingredients and makes everything from scratch.

Laura is in grade 10 in St. Thomas – a small town famous for a dead elephant, Rachel McAdams and Joe Thornton. She was born three months premature and has lived with cerebral palsy since she fit in the palm of my hand.

One day, if she wants to, I want Laura to own her own business. In the summer, Lemon and Allspice sets up shop in the centre of the Bloor-Borden Farmers’ Market to sell its artisan baked goods made using locally sourced ingredients. The Cookery also supplies three Coffee Sheds with sweets to accompany their fair trade, organic coffee. These Coffee Sheds are owned by adults with developmental disabilities.

If you counted, that’s a lot of wins. A win for the environment. A win for labour. A win for artists. And, most importantly, a win for capable adults who need nothing more than a few accommodations to have the dignity and pride of meaningful employment.

Click here and place an order from the Lemon and Allspice Cookery today.

Click here to support Common Ground, the charity that makes all of this possible.

Eating Ohio – Cleveland, specifically I grew up on the Canadian...

Wed, 09 May 2012 20:48:00 -0400

Eating Ohio – Cleveland, specifically

I grew up on the Canadian side of Lake Erie so it’s strange to look north across its greatness.

Yet there I was, on Easter, surrounded by 1,000s of other Canadians, in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Blue Jays’ opening series against the Indians.

My wife, two good friends, their eight-month old baby and me - took in the Saturday game – a 12-inning Jays win against Cleveland’s cursed team.

My hometown, St. Thomas, more familiarly known to folks from Toronto as the destination of our metropolis’ trash, is 150 clicks northeast of Cleveland, about 90 or so miles as the crow flies.

I watched Double Dare, contests I wasn’t eligible for, and the American Dream unfold on its Fox station. I swam in the same lake as its citizens, ate the very perch it deep-fried and like many of its teenagers, got drunk had bonfires, and lost a friend or two at its shores.

Until three weeks ago, however, none of our party of five had ever been to the world’s rock ‘n’ roll capital. We had been affected by its broadcast culture, but had no connection with its citizens.

While I ostensibly drove 10 hours roundtrip to watch America’s past-time, the idea of greasy, over-sized, well-priced grub also served as a compelling reason for the trip.

I might have taken this latter idea with an inappropriate amount of tenacity, bringing with me, a 12 page folder of restaurant listings and maps culled from the infallible inter-web - reviewed and amended, I must add, by a local chef.

We were prepared, we were receptive and we gorged. Yet, for the most part, our respective palettes left Canada’s pants underwhelmed.

We also decided that we don’t know where the myth of Canadian politeness comes from because compared to Americans, we’re jerks.

Americans are far more welcoming than us Canadians

While we might more suavely dot the I’s and cross the T’s of polite company, sincere interactions are more common in the States.

Americans are so much more trusting, gregarious and open in their relationships than Canadians that it’s easy to see how much more guarded, distant and formal us Canucks really are.

By and large.

The notable exception to our food disappointment was a trip to a place called Melt Bar & Grilled. I had the Parmageddon – two “potato & cheese pierogi, fresh napa vodka kraut, grilled onions” and cheddar for $10.50.

Sandra had the Westside Monte Cristo – “honey ham, smoked turkey, Swiss, American, crispy beer battered and deep fried” with mixed berry preserves for $11.

For Sandra`s meal, they actually forget to say that it was also topped with icing sugar and like my Polish-themed sandwich came with an unnecessarily hearty side of fries.

We could only finish half of our sandwiches, but they were both suitably ridiculous and only outmatched by the incredible beer selection (and service).

Each sandwich was greasy and good and appropriately American. In the morning, after a night stored in our rental car’s trunk, Sandra’s deep fried sensation was like an oily sponge. We attacked it in the parking lot, unapologetically and with abandon, it was gluttonous and good.

The beer I had with my grilled cheese was brewed specifically for the first day of the Indians’ season. As a Blue Jays fan, even unadorned, I took special glee in drinking the Great Lakes Rally Drum Red because, as it turned out, it was the best of at 12 different beers I sampled while on vacation, and because the BJs won the game that night in 16 innings and I was surrounded by morose Cleveland Indians’ fans.

Otherwise, the food we experienced was decidedly meh. We had dinner at the Greenhouse Tavern, brunch at Grumpy’s and Sweet Betty’s respectively and didn’t leave unhappy as much as un-wowed.

I`ll leave you with these two specific pieces of advice.

If you can get it for the same 109 bones I did, the Hyatt, which is basically an indoor street and an architectural triumph, is a bloody steal. Our room had 16 foot ceilings and overlooked the Cleveland Public Library. The hotel itself needs a renovation within the next few years, but it was truly a grandiose place.

As for Jays` tickets – don`t skimp. The Jake is a fantastic venue for baseball and is very affordable. We started the game about 20 rows behind home plate and finished two behind the Jays` dugout.

Wow! Media hits for the Royal Tree Beaver keep on coming....

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 19:04:12 -0400

Wow! Media hits for the Royal Tree Beaver keep on coming. First it was a nondescript photo of my March TUM experience on Global TV. And now, it’s an indirect reference to Toronto’s only popup restaurant serving authentic Canadian-Canadian cuisine in May’s Toronto Life. I mean, I didn’t get as much ink as Mayor Ford, but I’m also just a humble food entrepreneur, not Canada’s worst politician.

“The scene at the Brick Works, where the gatherings happen roughly seven times a year, is electric, with hundreds of gourmands comparing notes on their butter chicken and waffles, wild mushroom arancini or huit-lacoche taquitos.”

Let’s get street food on the municipal agenda. Take 60...

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 12:59:52 -0400

Let’s get street food on the municipal agenda. Take 60 seconds to email your councillor & demand access to delicious and diverse street food in Toronto. Visit www.streetfoodto.com and send your message today. Also, check out the video linked above. There’s a brief shot of the Royal Tree Beaver’s butter chicken and waffles at the 58 second mark.

A few more photos of my Toronto Underground Market experience....

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 23:21:16 -0400

A few more photos of my Toronto Underground Market experience. Thanks to Janada for sharing these images and for being an exemplary volunteer. The recent heat wave makes it really difficult to appreciate just how cold it was that night, but take a look at the steam coming off the butter chicken.