Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Wedding Edition

So The Waffle tied the knot.  

My apologies to the many Broken Hearts out there who are devastated for not being the lucky one.

Many readers, notably Andrea C. and Kayle H.,  called on The Waffle to review his own wedding dinner.
 
Although he irritated the bride slightly by taking pictures of the food, The Waffle is happy to oblige. One doesn’t marry The Waffle without marrying his thousands of fans.

The wedding was celebrated on the shore of Lac Leamy, in the Hull sector of Gatineau, a stone’s throw from the Casino.  The reception was held on site, in a neat little French place called Bistro Le St-Eloi.

The friendly staff kicked off the dinner part by serving a soup, a potage of vegetables.
The concoction was heavy on tomatoes, but you could definitely taste red peppers as well.  Nicely spicy, they finished it off with a few bits of chives. It was quite smooth, not bland at all.  Delicious.

Next came their salad, called Méli-Mélo because it involved a mix of greens and lettuces, with some garden vegetables.

As with most restaurants, it was a bit heavy on the dressing, but nothing overwhelming since the dressing was not powerful in flavour.

3 mains’ were offered by the Bride and Groom:

34 went for the Bride’s pick, a Chicken Breast stuffed with Merguez, accompanied by Bell Peppers.

The chicken was tender and juicy, and the merguez was mild in order not to offend the delicate palates.

32 selected the Groom’s choice, a Veal Cutlet with Asparagus.

The veal was very tender, the asparagus adding some crunchy-moisture, a combination that worked very well.  The sauce finished the dish perfectly, adding an extra touch of depth to it all.  Quite satisfying.

25 decided to go with the Sole and Shrimp combination, served with rice.

The sole was cooked perfectly. I mean perfectly.  There was a hint of spice which worked great with the fish.  There could have been more shrimp, but overall the balance wasn’t bad.  The sauce was present as a very subtle finishing touch, to add some moisture to the dish.

Every main was served with a piece of corn on the cob on the side.  The corn was fresh, juicy and quite a nice addition to the meal.

2 had vegetarian restrictions and were served some vegetarian stuff that the Waffle didn’t and wouldn’t try.  

3 were young enough to be able to pick from the kids’ menu.

And for dessert, we had a magnificient wedding cake made by Judy Randall as a favour to the newly weds.  One of the best researchers the NDP has ever had on staff, she put a lot of effort and energy into creating a delicious chocolaty masterpiece.

Overall, a great dinner.  Kudos to Gilles, Camille and all the staff at Le St-Eloi for their part in making the evening memorable.

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Posted by The Waffle at 02:00:44 | Permalink | No Comments »

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Communications cupcakes

In Ottawa, people often try to use food to promote their cause, their organization or their business. Food and politics do mix well, apparently.  So much so that Maclean’s has a full time guy covering the scene (candy Martini, anyone?) , and so does the Hill Times.

It happens all the time, and politicians, staff and especially interns are always happy to indulge and enjoy free food. And booze.

Which brings me to the most recent food-related marketing operation that I witnessed, which was certainly different and interesting.  And it made a lot of people smile, which is a plus when you invest time and money to promote your business.

After working in politics for close to a decade, Ian Capstick left the NDP after the last election, and he set up his own communications consulting shop, MediaStyle.  Ian’s proposal is to bring in tailor-made progressive communications & training. Talking of tailor-made, he gives fashion advice too, so that progressive politicians, advocates and other proponents of social change are no longer seen as a bunch of hippies. Basically, he wants them to drop the “pies”.

Capstick is a foodie in his own right, and people always look forward to the parties he throws with the help of his partner Shawn.

So no wonder then that, as part of MediaStyle’s promotional strategy, Capstick has been distributing fancy cupcakes around the Capital in the past few days.

The cupcakes came in boxes of 12.  One was dropped at the NDP Caucus Services’ office on Queen Street.  It came coifed with an orange tag and purple and orange ribbons.  MediaStyle’s trademark, apparently, is an old-style reporter’s hat, complete with a media card tucked in the band.  I say apparently because the orange hat is not immediately apparent on their website.  

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing, topped with gold nuggets,  they were inserted in a aluminium foil wrapper on top of their regular paper one.  As I said, fancy. 

The base was very, very rich.  Lots of butter seemed to be the trick, the texture was very moist and the cake held together quite well.  The chocolate flavour was strong yet smooth.  The icing was not as rich, and the flavour not as strong - a nice complement.  It was on the verge of getting dry, giving it an almost imperceptible crunchiness.  It might be due to age and exposure to air, and wasn’t a major flaw.  The gold nuggets topping it all didn’t really have any effect on the taste of the cupcake.

If people do take the cupcakes as a proof of what MediaStyle can deliver, then they’ll make good money because those were good cupcakes.  ”It was the best cupcake I’ve ever had,” said Scott.  Now, of course, Scott specialize in ATI requests, and he admitted that cupcakes were not his “cup” of tea.  Still, a winner for MediaStyle.
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Posted by The Waffle at 22:23:38 | Permalink | No Comments »