Winter Riverdale Farm !

It is really hard to find the farm in winter time and especially in downtown Toronto. Luckily, thanks to my roommate, I have been to Riverdale Farm today which is located in a park setting in the heart of the downtown community of Cabbagetown and see how farm going in Toronto. This is not the first time I have been to farm but not in this extremely cold weather which gave me valuable experiences as well.

Riverdale Farm officially opened on September 9, 1978. Originally owned by John Scadding, the City of Toronto purchased what was to be Riverdale Park in 1856. In 1894, the Riverdale Zoo opened to become Toronto’s first zoo, but eventually it was closed in 1974 with the animals relocated to the new Toronto Zoo in Scarborough. From 1974 to 1978, many of the Riverdale Zoo buildings were removed and the site leveled. The Residence, the Donnybrook, and the Island House buildings are the only zoo buildings left remaining on the Riverdale site.

This park features: Historic working farm, scenic pathways, programs and seasonal events which I found and interesting event will be held on March Break from March 16th to Mach 21st, pig and poultry barn, historic Francey Barn, Simpson House, Meeting House, the “Residence”, Old Zoo Ruins

The Francey Barn

This barn is located inside the main gates. Originally built in 1858 on a farm in the Markham Township, it was donated by Mrs. Garnett Francey to the City of Toronto in 1977. The Francey Barn is a rare type of architecture, known as a Pennsylvania Bank Barn. Bank Barns are built on the side of hills or river banks. This has the advantage of having an upper and lower floor accessible from ground level. The animals are housed on the lower level, while upstairs the Francey Barn holds tonnes of hay, straw and feed.

The Simpson House

The Victorian-style farmhouse, named after the restoration architect ( Napier Simpson Jr.) who built it, is to the left of the main entrance. It is a reproduction of the original Francey farmhouse to complement the Francey Barn. Public washrooms are located on the ground floor. Wheelchair access is on the north side of the Simpson House.

The Pig and Poultry Barn

This Barn is located to the east of the Simpson House. Domesticated waterfowl, chickens, turkeys and pigs are found in and around this barn. During the day our waterfowl can be found visiting the Duck Pond located across from the Meeting House. The Farm regularly replenishes the flock of chickens and turkeys.

The Driveshed

At Riverdale Farm, this building serves a number of purposes and the lower level is open to the public for special events and seasonal education / interpretive programs.

The Meeting House

The three-storey building, completed in 1993 is located at the east-end of Riverdale Farm by the duck pond. Recreational and interpretive activities are offered to the public inside the Meeting House. The farm’s lost and found, first aid, public washrooms and baby changing facilities are all found on the main floor. Pottery and spinning/weaving rooms are located downstairs. Classes are offered seasonally from September to June. The Meeting House is the home base of the Farm’s Summer Camp Programs.

The Old Zoo Ruins

From 1894 to 1974, the Riverdale Zoo was located on this site. When the Metro Zoo opened in Scarborough in 1974, the site was restored as a farm to provide city children the chance to see how a farm works.

Three buildings remain from the old Riverdale Zoo:

1. Donnybrook Ruin stands beside the cow paddock. It was originally a two-storey building, but a tower and a main floor is all that remains today.

2. Island House sits in the middle of the lower pond. It housed many different kinds of birds and animals during the eighty years of the zoo.

3. Resident Zookeeper’s House is located beside the Meeting House. It was built in 1902 by prisoners of the Toronto Don Jail and functioned as a residence, a staff building, zoo hospital, and temporary morgue for the Necropolis Cemetery. Today, the “Residence” (as it is now called) is used for a variety of farm-related and community-based programs.

I loved my time at Riverdale Farm, despite the cold Toronto weather! Was excellent seeing all the farm animals which all seemed happy and in a fun mood. It helped create a fun, country feel which was a nice change of pace to the rest of Toronto. It is free of charge, although donations are welcome (and worth it in my opinion).

I chose not to do any of the Discovery Walks due to poor weather an some parts of farm was closed but will return in warmer months as I imagine they're fantastic when in full bloom. Is a fantastic attraction to take kids to as they get to see all the farm animals without having to venture too far from the city. My favorite parts were the chooks, hyperactive pigs and clydesdale horses.

Plenty of animals here in various barns and all fairly organized, the upper part of the farm is where the animals are and two very beautiful ponds are in the lower part.

they have all kinds of farm animals here chickens, ducks, goats, cows, pigs and a bunch of other stuff.

It's a great place to see some animals and go for a walk.

Riverdale Farm is picturesque. The path that winds throughout the park area of the Farm is a nice place to take a brief stroll.

Tongue - One of the best rest part of animal !

The world of tongues is vast. Duck tongues, popular in Asian cuisines, are tiny and have a small bone that makes them fiddly. If you have access to game animals, don’t hesitate to use their tongues in these recipes.Tongue stands above the other organ meats in many regards. It's not really gamey or organy, and it has a great texture. If you like ham, or if you love pulled pork, you should definitely try tongue. The bigger the tongue, the coarser its texture. While veal tongues are the most prized, beef, lamb, and pork tongues are all worth eating. Tongues can be bought fresh, frozen, brined, and sometimes smoked. Often your only choice will be a frozen one, especially with lamb, duck or veal tongue. But with pork and beef tongue, you can easily find that in local supermarket or more option is Chinatown or Asian market. The color of a tongue can vary from pink with a gray cast to almost all gray. Sometimes the skin of the tongue is quite mottled, often with odd dark spots. The color and the dark patches are no indication of quality; they are just a result of the animal’s breed.

Tongues have a thick, bumpy skin, and often there is fat and gristle still attached at the base of the tongue, none of which is very appealing and all of which is easily removed after the tongue is poached. Besides availability, taste and size will influence your choice. Veal and lamb tongues are the mildest in taste, followed by beef and pork tongue. Pork tongue often comes with the head, and I prefer it in headcheese rather than by itself. Smaller lamb tongues take less time to cook, but it’s more work to peel them. In this blog, I limit myself to pork tongues because it costs much less, much smaller but there is more preparation involved. Unlike beef tongue, however the skin of the pig's tongue cannot be peeled off. Rather, it has to be scraped off.

There are many recipes (and just as many cooks) that recommend blanching tongues for a few minutes and then peeling them before cooking. Tongue must be poached until it is very tender, and you really can’t overcook it. 

Transfer the tongue from the poaching liquid to a plate. Have a bowl of ice water at the ready to dip your fingers into. This makes handling the hot tongue easier. Tackle it as soon as your fingers, rubber gloved or not, can handle it. Once it’s cold you’ll have to massacre the tongue to get the skin off. Start at the back or throat end of the tongue and use a small knife to lift up the first piece of skin. Then, using your fingers, peel the skin off as though you were taking a glove off the tongue. Be careful when you reach the tip of the tongue that you don’t tear it off. Discard the skin. Even with the skin removed, you will notice there is still a bumpy impression, mainly at the back of the tongue. You can scrape off any bumps with the back of your knife. Now trim the fat and gristle from the base and underside of the tongue and discard it. 

There are 2 distinct cooking methods:

1. Place the pig tongue in high-pressure cooking pot and boil with cold water. Bring it to boil and soak in for another 5 mins over low heat.

2. Put the pig tongue into an ordinary cooking pot and boil with cold water for 15-20 minutes. If you could put the chopstick through easily, that means the tongue is ready to serve for the meal.

Serving the sliced blanched pig tongue onto the plate coming along with divine sauce like sharp ravigote sauce or just simple parsley with sweet chilies sauce to compliment the meat in this glorious part of meat.

Resources:

http://casaveneracion.com/how-to-clean-trim-and-prepare-pigs-tongue/

http://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/pigs-tongue-recipe

Korean Banchan !

Sometimes I wonder. Do they feel is that too much dishes for washing?

Paparotti

Favorite #memade Mexican Coffee Buns
Love to work with yeast dough

Chawanmushi

That is how I use fish stock from class.

Vietnamese Chicken & Corn Egg Drop Soup (Súp Bắp Gà)

I am not big fan of soup because it needs to be cooked with large portion, have to finish it in a day and take more time to make a base or stock. Back to my childhood, there is a soup which is my favorite all the time. This is  a very popular appetizer for wedding banquets and large group parties in Vietnam which is diet and child-friendly. With some simple ingredients within 15 minutes, I can have one pot of tasted soup ever. 

The base for soup is chicken stock I made in Essential Class last week which I found it make the soup have a really great flavor. 

The ingredients are:

1L of Chicken Stock

1 Can of Miniature Corn, strained, cut in bite size

2 whole eggs, beaten well

1 cooked chicken breast, shredded

2 king oyster mushrooms, washed, trimmed, cut in bite size

2 kinds of dried mushroom, put in warm-hot water for 15 minutes

6 whole, quail eggs, hard-boiled, peeled.

2 tbs of cornstarch, mixed well with some cold water, set aside, mix well before pour in soup for thickening.

Half bunch of cilantro,cleaned, chopped, save some leaves for decorating

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Instructions:

1. Boiled water for quail eggs. Prepare dried mushrooms. Cutting all ingredients in bite size. Bring chicken stock to boil and let simmer.

2. When the soup base is ready, put in shredded cooked chicken breast, mushrooms, corn. Mixed well, seasoned with salt and pepper, let simmer in medium low heat until soft and all flavor come together.

3. While the soup is simmering, slowly add the starch slurry and stir gently. Cook for 1 minute. Then very slowly add the beaten eggs while gently stirring the soup in one direction. The eggs will be cooked within second and form tiny ribbons. Turn off the heat. Add in chopped Cilantro and hard-boiled quail eggs.

4. Transfer to a serving bowl. Season with some cilantro leaves, peppers, chili oil (optional). Serve hot. 

It taste exactly the soup I used to have when I was attended in my parents' friends wedding. That reminds me a lot about my childhood. The best thing is, I can use all the leftover ingredients in my fridge for this soup but it is tasty, healthy, and fast ! My roommate taste it and have some ideas, she prefer to put a lot of peppers to taste. 

Next time if I make this soup again, I might cut the veggie in smaller cut, it is quite big and crowded the soup and I should make this soup more, it sounds good for winter and holiday.

Simple Bean Sprout Pickle with Carrot and Garlic Chive !

When starting with Pickles, Preserves and Ferments project I didn't have much ideas except something like kimchi which might cost me alot and it take long time to be fermented and taste. Fortunately, thanks to my greatest Mom's idea, she reminded me about the one of my favorite side dish I would love to have with five-spice braised pork belly is Bean Sprout Pickle. That is so easy to make, cheapest ingredients ever, don't have to wait for tasting, never fail and absolutely delicious !

So start with the brine ingredients:

Mix 1 cup of white vinegar with 3 cups of water, in that, put in 1-1 1/2 tbs of pickle salt and 3-4 tbs of sugar, stir until dry ingredients dissolve, taste for more season

Next is the main ingredients:

Bean sprout after wash and drain well, for good presenting I took the yellow stem and the brown root of bean sprout just leave the white part for pickling. 

Garlic chive, rinse well then cut into same size with bean sprout and carrots, that will add more taste and color for the dish and really fit with braised pork belly either

Peeled carrot and cut to same size with bean sprout, another option is shaping that into flower or butterfly, that would be nice when eating that after too.

2 - 3 cloves of garlic, thinly slice.

Then put all the main ingredients to the bowl of prepared brine, mix well.

Pour everything in to mason jar and tightly close the jar and leave it for best using time is after 1 to 2 days. After 2 days I found my pickle look really night and balance with brine but might a little sour because the white vinegar here is quite too strong compare with Asian one. In the next time, I will add some spicy kick with chili and ginger and less amount of white vinegar but overall, my bean sprout pickle is 8 out of 10 and now I can enjoy it with my favorite dish ever.