Marion Kane: Food Sleuth®

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Sleuthing

My Croqueta Quest in Miami

April 21, 2020

Croquetas are a breaded and fried snack food with various fillings that are extremely popular  in Miami

Carlos Frias, the food editor at the Miami Herald, is my buddy and guide to all things delicious in his Florida home. Read more…

Filed Under: Baking, Chefs, Restaurant, Sleuthing, South Beach Miami Tagged With: carlos frias, croquetas, Dos Croquetas, Frankarlo Hernandez, Miami, Palomilla Grill

It’s the Real Cup of Joe – Going Strong for More Than 100 Years

May 23, 2016

Martinson coffee and sour cream coffee cake

Martinson coffee, founded by my great-uncle Joe Martinson, and a coffee cake to go with it

This appeared in the Toronto Star in 2002. I was reminded of it when I was at a Wegmans supermarket in New York State and bought a can of Martinson’s coffee.

A cup of joe.

Who would have thought I am related – albeit distantly – to the “Joe” of that famous culinary phrase.

It all began, as is often the case, almost by accident. Read more…

Filed Under: Dessert, Latvia, New York City, Recipe, Riga, Sleuthing Tagged With: coffee, coffee cake, Joe, Martinson, New York, recipe

The Sleuthing Begins in my Brand New Digs at the Centre for Social Innovation

October 28, 2011

My nifty new office — not as big as it looks — at CSI

It took me a while to figure out an answer to the question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” (By the way, I’m not sure if I have grown up in spite of being what is politely called “middle-aged.” When people claim I don’t look – or act – my age, I have this answer: “Hair dye and immaturity keep me young.”) Read more…

Filed Under: Centre for Social Innovation, Personal Change, Sleuthing, Story, Toronto Tagged With: centre for social innovation, sleuthing, Toronto

Sleuthing Chicken Nuggets and Dr. Robert Baker in Ithaca, NY

August 21, 2011

Here is a link to my audio podcast “Nugget Man.”

Dr. Robert C. Baker: The Edison of Poultry

Recently, Ross and I mulled over ideas of where to take a much-needed one-week vacation.

In May, we’d been to London (U.K.) to visit my mum — a fantastic two weeks spent wandering, sleuthing and noshing our way around the wondrous city where I spent formative years. Read more…

Filed Under: Barbecue Chicken Recipe, Chicken, Chicken, Dr. Robert Baker, Ithaca, Recipe, Sleuthing Tagged With: Chicken, Chicken Recipe, Cornell Chicken, Cornell University, Dr. Robert Baker, Food Science, Ithaca, Poultry Science, Robert Baker

Melissa Leithwood Names This Year’s “It” Meat – No Kidding

July 31, 2011

Melissa with a terrific book by Mark Scarbrough and Bruce Weinstein featuring goat meat

 

As I write, my kitchen is filled with the luscious aroma of goat curry warming in the oven. And I have Melissa Leithwood to thank for that.

I met this lovely young woman several years ago when she interviewed me over tea at the Royal York Hotel for her master’s thesis on how chefs grow their businesses sustainably and support local food. Her case study is a leader in this field: well known Toronto chef Jamie Kennedy. Read more…

Filed Under: goat, Recipe, Sleuthing Tagged With: bruce weinstein, charming personality, diploma in business, e mail, food columnist, foodie, funding proposal, goat, goat curry, goat meat, goaterie, graduate diploma in business, ivey school of business, jamie kennedy, local food, luscious aroma, marion kane, mark scarbrough, mark sisson, melissa leithwood, pie in the sky, royal york hotel, s pie, sanagans, social media, terrific book, toronto star, twitter, university of western ontario, wealth of knowledge

Avocado and Cactus in Kensington

March 3, 2011

Mexican chef Francisco Alejandri at his eatery Agave y Aguacate in Kensington Market.

I don’t need another reason to rave about my favourite Toronto ‘nabe and longtime home: feisty, gritty and never-dull Kensington Market. But hey, now I have one. Read more…

Filed Under: Restaurant, Sleuthing, Toronto Tagged With: aguacate, arepas, augusta ave, central mexico, chef instructor, cooking up a storm, food station, george brown, george brown college, kensington market, little food, mexican chef, nabe, perth county, rundles, sassafraz, scaramouche, stratford chefs school, sweet buns, walmart

Save the date (March 8, 2011) for Kitchen Sisters: A Fundraiser Feast

January 30, 2011

For 18 years, as food editor and food columnist for the Toronto Star, I shared my passion for things culinary. Most important and gratifying was the joyous connection it gave me to people who enjoy and prepare food – from the Filipino taxi driver who enthusiastically described how his mother makes Chicken Adobo to the firefighters with whom I cooked and then ate a luscious, convivial meal of grilled chicken and rhubarb crumble at their downtown Toronto firehall one lovely evening. In addition to writing about the latest balsamic vinegar and the best way to deep-fry calamari, I used my platform with Canada’s largest newspaper to discuss social, cultural and even political issues associated with food. This includes the disturbing issue of those who go hungry in a land where there should be plenty to go around. When I resigned from my job in 2007 having written Julia Child’s obituary, after interviewing Joe “Dogs” Iannuzzi about his role as cook for New York mobsters while he was under the witness protection plan and feeling that I had new fish to fry, I turned my hand to radio, blogging and working with non-profit groups – always with the focus on food. And thus was born Kitchen Sisters: a fundraiser feast at which some of Toronto’s top women chefs will join forces at Mildred’s Temple Kitchen on March 8, 2011, the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, to raise money for much-needed expansion and renovation of the kitchen at Sistering, a drop-in for homeless women. Read more…

Filed Under: San Francisco, Sleuthing, Women Tagged With: 100th anniversary, balsamic vinegar, calamari, chicken adobo, firehall, food columnist, food editor, homeless women, international women, julia child, kitchen sisters, lovely evening, mobsters, profit groups, taxi driver, temple kitchen, top women, toronto star, witness protection plan, women chefs

Pomegranate Seeds and Other Salad Secrets

January 20, 2011

I know the name Ruby Watchco keeps popping up in this blog – and it’s for good reason.

The meal Ross and I enjoyed there one Saturday night a couple of months ago was simply stellar, “simply” being the operative word. The uncomplicated, vibrant flavour and texture combos of each and every dish from the sensational salad with still warm buttermilk biscuits to a wondrous baked apple bathed in silky sabayon were all that good food should be.

It was the salad which was visibly being tossed to order by co-owner Lynn Crawford and brilliant co-chef Lora Kirk as they stood together at the kitchen pass that left a lasting impression. And I’ve been creating versions of it ever since. Read more…

Filed Under: Restaurant, Salad, Sleuthing, Toronto Tagged With: baked apple, bell pepper, bitter greens, endive, final touches, finished salad, janu, kensington market, leaf lettuce, lynn crawford, operative word, pomegranate seeds, produce store, rice vinegar, sabayon, smidge, sunflower seeds, sweet note, warm buttermilk biscuits, watchco

Eggless Latkes a Hit at Chanukah Feast

December 12, 2010

When asked by me some years ago why our nutty nuclear family always celebrated Christmas, my mother gave the usual explanation for her and my late dad’s often bizarre parenting decisions: “Well dear, we did it for you,” meaning me and my two younger brothers Eric and Jonny.

The reason I call this bizarre is that both my parents are Jewish. My mother Ruth Schachter is a holocaust refugee whose oil tycoon father Aaron Nisse led the family’s escape from Riga, Latvia, when she was 16 years old in the fall of 1939. A year later, she, her sister Dita and my grandparents finally settled in Montreal after taking the trans-Siberian railway through Russia, crossing the Pacific on a Japanese liner, being sprung from jail in Seattle for not having the right papers and then living in New York for six months. Quite a story and more of it when I eventually write my memoir. Read more…

Filed Under: Bakery, Chanukah, Jewish, Sleuthing, Story, Vegan Tagged With: bar mitzvahs, byng schools, chanukah, high achievers, irving layton, Jewish Cooking, Latkes, LPK's Culinary Groove, medical researcher, mordecai richler, mother ruth, mumbo, nuclear family, oil tycoon, Organic, parenting decisions, reisman, rosh hoshanah, schachter, slaughter animals, st urbain, ted allen, trans siberian railway, Vegan, Vegan Baked Goods, younger brothers

Having a (Meat) Ball at New York Food Fest

October 18, 2010

NEW YORK: Okay, so the title of this entry is an understatement, a serious understatement.

This city – my favourite place to be and one that truly feels like home – has gone bananas over meatballs. And no, I did not eat “a meatball” as the title of this entry implies – it was more like 15 but who’s counting.

The occasion was an evening event called Meatball Madness: a glitzy kick-off party that launched the recent New York City Wine & Food Festival held the same day – what are the chances? – as my meatball lunch and the simultaneous lost-and-found wallet incident described in my previous blog entry. Read more…

Filed Under: New York City, Sleuthing Tagged With: back alley, bananas, best food, eateries, evening event, favourite food, favourite place, food festival, giada de laurentiis, having a ball, hot ticket, mavens, meatball, meatballs, mineral water, san pellegrino, shape size, slider, understatement, warehouse space

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Marion Kane, Food Sleuth®

Marion Kane, Food Sleuth®

Get Tasty Updates on the Latest Podcast and Recipes

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Marion Kane, Food Sleuth®

Marion Kane has been a leader in the world of food journalism for a few decades. She is an intrepid populist whose work combines social commentary with a consuming passion for all things culinary. For 18 years, she was food editor/columnist for Canada's largest newspaper: the Toronto Star. She lives in Toronto's colourful Kensington Market and is currently a free-wheeling freelance food sleuth®, podcaster, writer and cook.

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