G2G Food Challenge - Week 1!

International Literacy Day 2014

Not Everything is a Piece of Cake

 

Sept 8  International Literacy Day 

Sept 9  FASD Awareness Day

 

 

This years theme... Not Everything is a Piece of Cake

How much fun can be had celebrating literacy and sharing FASD awareness?... A lot when you add in a cake walk with many treats and live music.  Thank to all our sponsors for supporting the cake walk on Main Street in Smithers... Katrina at Sawyers So Good Cupcakes made 150 mini cupcakes for us on her day off!  Yummy contributions were provided by 2 Sisters Café, Heavenly Grinds, Schimmels, Nature's Pantry, Rustica Bakery and Sweet & Savory Culinary Creations.  Thank you to all the volunteers and locals who came and walked the streets handing out cupcakes and the community for having fun in the cake walk.  Tracy won the grand prize.. a full carrot cake.

Beyond the kitchen...

Imagine heading to elementary school and kick-starting your brain into action with cinnamon apples, watermelon, tasty bagels and cheese, yoghurt, hardboiled eggs, friends, books, family and music. 

Healthy eating is lifestyle literacy, and the young students of Walnut Park Elementary School embraced the monthly Breakfast & Books program with passion and appreciation. 

 

 

Initiated by Lynn, the librarian at Walnut Park, and Jody from Smithers Community Services, and with support of many volunteers, this was the first year of Breakfast & Books.

 

It will be back next year by the students’ popular demand!

 

 

 

 

Spring Spinach Harvest

The Grendel Group in Smithers http://www.grendelgroup.ca/ planted the seeds of spinach on March 18th in the green house and by May 6th it was ready for harvest!  The Ground 2 Griddle kitchen crew packed lunches and headed down the street to help with the harvest, washing and bagging of the spinach for the Harvest Boxes, Nature's Pantry and the Farmer's Market.  Many hands make light work and after the harvest everyone enjoyed a picnic on the garden grass in the warm sun.

 

Feasts & Cookbooks... serving up culture!

Feasts & Cookbooks... serving up culture!

Winter was busy and inspiring at the Ground to Griddle Neighbourhood Kitchen.  A dynamic group of participants shared learning, cooking, language, stories and culture within the local community.

Christmas at the neighbourhood kitchen was creative and festive! Community members arrived at the Anglican Church kitchen early on the morning of the 3rd, to prepare the dishes then transport it to the Northwest Community College for the Cultural Christmas feast at noon.  The flavours, smells, and colours of food from Quebec, First Nations, Albania, Brazil, Canada, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Europe, Ukraine and India were celebrated and enjoyed by more than 65 people.

The fun of cooking and planning together every Tuesday gained momentum and a cookbook was born!  The Taste of Culture cookbook celebrates the lives, stories and recipes of 24 individuals from First Nations, Quebec, Northern BC, England, Sri Lanca, Mali, Japan, Albania, Cambodia, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Mexico, India, Indonesia, Ukraine, Brazil, and Chile.  Call us (250)847-9515 if you would like a copy ($10).

In March the Welcoming Communities Program in collaboration with the Ground to Griddle Neighbourhood Kitchen, NWCC, and the Smithers Bridging Committee coordinated a great feast at the Legion.  Over 100 people were served 14 recipes from the cookbook with the help of dozens of volunteers. Head cooks of individual recipes guided SSS Leadership Students in the food preparation and servers, entertainers, dishwashers, set up crews, and cleanup crews all made the night run smoothly. It was a spectacular evening!

Spring is arriving!  Join us Tuesday mornings at 9:30am at the St. James AnglicanChurch and explore cooking, field trips to local gardens and a hunt for medicinal herbs.

Cultural Creativity!

First Nations Art with James Madam

November 2013

It has been awhile since we've posted to the blog!  I  just thought I'd let you know some of the great things we got up to at the kitchen in the Fall of 2013.

We are fortunate in our small community to have many talented artists.  One of our local First Nations artists, James Madam, came to the kitchen over several sessions to provide background and instruction in traditional techniques that he honed while attending the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coastal Art at Northwest Community College. 

An integral element of shape to the local First Nations art is the "Ovoid".  James was a fun teacher and the kitchen participants learned how to draw the ovoid and other elements of shape.  Once our drawings were complete, we began painting using some of the traditional colours, of which, black and red dominate.  James provided instruction in basic brush and application techniques and how to prepare the paints for use.  The art sessions provided participants opportunity to work in a creative medium that to most of us was unfamiliar and somewhat uncomfortable.  Many of us do not think of ourselves as "artists" and as a result rarely create art.   The kitchen thanks James for providing opportunity to explore our inner artists!    

Oolichan Run Field Trip 2013

Oolichan Field Trip-March 2013-Ground 2 Griddle Kitchen Writings

On Friday, March 8^th, the Ground 2 Griddle kitchen participants began an exciting journey to find out about the Oolichan Run in the Nass River Valley.  Oolichan is a small, oily fish from the Smelt family who were and are an important food of the First Nations people in BC.  Oolichan is rendered  into “grease” and is used for eating and as a valuable trade item.

We travelled from Smithers to Terrace and from Terrace towards our destination along the Nass River.  It is a winding and beautiful journey around Kalum Lake, Sand Lake and eventually Lava Lake on the way to Gikwinksilhk (Canyon City).  A local, Nisga’a elder accompanied us from Gikwinksilhk towards Kincolith and the Oolichan camps along Fishery Bay.  Follow the link below to find out more about Oolichan and about one of the camps we saw on our trip.

http://www.blue-moon.ca/gingolx/o-grease.html

Here is what some of the kitchen participants had to say about their experience!

Sue

My favourite part of our trip to the Nass, the oolichan camps on the Nass River

This was my first opportunity to finally get to see the where, who, how and why of the oolichan run!  This was my opportunity to see where my life-long neighbours, relative and our friends go to every year to harvest and fish.  This fish is our much needed and loved staple in our traditional, west-coast diet and this was a unique chance to see how it is all done.  How it has been done since our ancestors began harvesting this precious staple.

I took a few pictures for my collection of memories of this awesome trip.  I might otherwise never have had this incredible trip.

Dana

The Favourite Part of The Trip

My favourite part of the trip was being outside in the woods and seeing the fish.  I could not believe all of the oolichan I saw it was just unbelievable.  The fish went on forever and ever.  The field trip itself was cool, I had been wanting for some time to go on this trip.  Learning about the Oolichan was fun and how these little fish can be used and the process it takes to get the oil.

Simon 

A Reconnection to My Past

Our trip back to Nisga’a Territory was very enlightening and refreshing.  It has been about ten years since I was back up to the Nisga’a for a visit.  The Oolichan run this trip was very gratifying, in that it was my first experience to watch and learn the technique of making oil from those tasty little fish.  Being Aboriginal, fishing and processing is part of my heritage so I enjoyed all the time with our knowledgeable elders who were  willing to share their information with us before it is all gone in the same way of the Dodo bird!

 Nicki

My favourite part of the trip was when we came to the Nass and I felt like I had stepped back into time.  Where nature was in control and respected;  not like today where man is busy taking what they need or want because they can.

The people we met on our trip honoured their ancestors and shared their sacred knowledge with us.  It was an amazing experience where I was able to allow myself to breathe and take in the beauty that surrounded me.  I was able to reconnect with the land, the animals and learn many traditional ways of the Nass people who still to this day, guard their land, their ways for the future generations and honour their ancestors.