Meet the ladies behind the Capital’s fashionable cycling blog: Ottawa Velo Vogue

Hilary Duff (blog/Twitter) is a recent Carleton journalism grad who loves cycling, food blogging and baking. She has recently moved to northern Ontario to work as a reporter for CBC Sudbury, but is continuing to foster her passionate love for Ottawa from afar.

I would like to introduce you to the ladies behind one of my new favourite blogs: Ottawa Velo Vogue.

Meet Zara Ansar and Michelle President.

Zara and Michelle

These ladies are two examples of what I love about this city. Like many of the incredible people I have met in the Capital, they’re government workers by day, and spend their off hours documenting fashionable city cyclists through a blog that I can only describe as The Satorialist with bikes (and smiling).

I first discovered the blog over Twitter, and photos of planking peddlers and silly cyclers quickly caught my eye. As someone who spends far too much time considering and re-considering her cycling outfit, I knew I wanted to meet the masterminds behind the site.

And meet we did, on a rainy evening at the end of April. We chatted over samosas and tea at the ByWard Market’s The Tea Party Café. It didn’t take long for the gloom of the day to evaporate as Zara and Michelle, both 30, shared stories of their high school student council campaigns and cycling-filled pasts.

Then we talked blogging. The concept for Ottawa Velo Vogue was thought up at a trampoline class (yes, that’s a thing) the two took, and got off the ground last July.

When it started, the blog featured pictures of mostly people Zara and Michelle knew – friends, landlords, etc. Nowadays, the two get regular emails where people recommend themselves or a friend for a shoot.

Looking at Ottawa Velo Vogue, it’s the candidness of photos that appeals to me the most. People are silly, confident and fun loving – everything that I believe cyclists should be. My favourite profiles feature Jenn, a pregnant woman with a beautiful, unique bicycle, and Rob, whose bike emerges from the shrubs like a monster in the night.

Zara takes all the photos with her Canon 7D. In fact, every picture that you see in this blog post was taken by her. She has also been a freelance cycling photographer (ask her about the time she rode backwards on a motorcycle in a skirt).

The two first met in grade 12 at Gloucester High School, and more than a decade later decided to start Ottawa Velo Vogue to showcase local, fashion-forward bikers and get their take on what the city should be doing to become more cyclist-friendly.

For Zara and Michelle, those improvements would come in the form of an expansion of the city’s public bike system, Capital Bixi, and creating more segregated bike lanes around town.

“It’s very scary to be next to people who don’t know what to do with a biker,” Michelle says.

Photo by Zara

Meanwhile, the Ottawa bike scene continues to evolve.

“I had this idea that if I biked, I had to be decked out and sporty,” Michelle says. “Then I started to realize that I’m not the only one that has the mentality of not going so fast.”

More and more people are starting to have this revelation – the idea that a two-wheeled commute can be not only relaxing, but also done with a sense of personal style.

And Zara and Michelle are at the forefront of that movement.

The first stop is Capital Vélo Fest, where Ottawa Velo Vogue will be running a fashion show to display clothing and accessories that allow cyclists to be both pretty and practical.

“The culture of biking in this city is changing,” Zara says. “There’s more of a market for bike-friendly items.”

Post-fashion show, it’s this niche area of function and fashion that Zara and Michelle want to continue to explore.

“We want to launch another website with more of a magazine feel,” Michelle says. “We plan on incorporating some of the pictures from our site now, but we’re also looking at doing reviews and interviews. We really want to become a brand.”

But for now, Ottawa Velo Vogue remains an on-the-side project for Zara and Michelle, a light-hearted escape from their everyday public service jobs.

“It’s all about finding something you enjoy doing,” Zara says. “Something that we love and that’s fun.”

Stay updated with Ottawa Velo Vogue on Facebook and Twitter. 

As part of Ottawa Velo Vogue’s profiles, Zara and Michelle ask each cyclist a series of questions on cycling in the city. I posed a few of those to them.

NAME: Zara Ansar

FAVOURITE SPOT TO BIKE: Behind Parliament Hill and along the Ottawa River Pathway
WHY DO YOU RIDE: It’s good for staying in shape and I like being outside. It’s great for getting around so you don’t have to drive downtown.
FAVOURITE SPOT TO STOP AFTER A RIDE: Oz Kafé

NAME: Michelle President

FAVOURITE SPOT TO BIKE: Home from work (from downtown to New Edinburgh)
WHY DO YOU RIDE: As a commuter, it’s fun to be able to pass everyone stuck in traffic. You’re a lot more connected to nature and you can stop and appreciate things.
FAVOURITE SPOT TO STOP AFTER A RIDE: Fraser Café

Do you love biking as much as we do? Got a favourite route or cycling outfit? Let us know!

Hilary goes to the Celebrity Chefs of Canada event!

Hilary Duff is a quirky 22-year-old who loves multimedia journalism, cycling, food blogging, and churning massive amounts of baked goods out of her cramped student kitchen. When she’s not living the chaotically busy life of a Carleton journalism student, she also enjoys winter jogging and exploring the ins and outs of her Ottawa neighbourhood. She’s also a contributing editor for LT Ottawa.

This post was originally written for her blog, Hilary Makes.

What an amazing day of food, friends and fun.

Oh gosh, where to begin.

Well, as you know from previous blog posts, I was asked to be one of the official bloggers for the second-annual Celebrity Chefs of Canada event happening on March 25 at the National Arts Centre here in Ottawa.

I had a blast.

Since there are too many things that happened throughout the day for me to write any sort of cohesive blog post, I’m mostly going to post a few pictures with a short description underneath each of them. Hopefully that will help you get a snapshot of the day’s festivities.

But wait! First, I’d like to give a HUGE shout-out to Chef Michael Blackie who did a tremendous job of organizing the entire day. Everything ran so smoothly and I thought the tasting reception after the demos was laid out well and satisfying.

The first chef team up was Chef Marc Lepine of Atelier and Chef Quang Dang of West Restaurant in Vancouver. Since they were my team (rah rah!) I knew what to expect from their citrus marinated B.C. geoduck with Ocean emulsion dish. For those of you who have never seen a geoduck clam (which I’m guessing is pretty much everyone), it is a hilarious-looking piece of seafood that resembles a cross between a snuffaluffagus nose and a rather large male appendage. Here is a photo that someone posted on Twitter, just to illustrate.

The impressive thing about this dish was that regardless of how many ingredients went into it (lots), you could still remarkably taste the flavours independently. I also really liked the pomelo ash and piece of beet paper jello that it was served with.

Ah yes, the famous Chef Susur Lee! I think we were all in awe as this statuesque chef took the stage for his demo with Restaurant Ei8hteen’s Chef Matthew Carmichael. This was a really interesting chef pairing, I thought, since the two chefs used to work together. It was the reunion of the apprentice and the master.

Their dish was a “chorizo style” St. Canut suckling pig, Parmesan crusted fennel and lobster salad with saffron mayonnaise. Get this – my first time ever trying lobster, it was prepared by one of the Ten Chefs of the Millennium. Will future lobster experiences ever be able to top that?

Last but CERTAINLY not least was the braised elk ribs-cream polenta-tasty crispy bits dish that was created by Chef Jason Duffy of ARC Lounge and Chef Jason Bangerter of Luma in Toronto. This was definitely my favourite dish of the day.

When it was presented after the demo session, the elk rib was sitting atop a long wooden plank – it was a beautiful serving method and looked rustic and warm. When I actually got around to tasting their creation, I could have died and gone to heaven. The elk meat melted off the bone and the crispy bits (as Chef Duffy said while serving the plate) were an essential part of the overall dish. It was so, so good.

There were also some cool displays of magical kitchen mastery, and the scenes above made me feel like I was back in chemistry class. In the picture on the left, Chef Jason Parsons of Peller Estates Winery Restaurant in Niagara-on-the-Lake used what looked like a hookah to smoke the duck breast using peach essence. It smelled amazing.

In the picture on the right, Chef Marc Lepine (king of kitchen gizmos and gadgets, not to mention molecular gastronomy), used liquid nitrogen to insta-freeze the pomelo. The cameramen loved filming that – anything with smoke makes for good footage.

As bloggers, we also got kick ass, second-row seats for the afternoon demo session. That meant that I could take cool, close-up pictures like these without rushing up to the front every two seconds. That’s Chef Jason Bangerter on the left and Chef Jonathan Korecki from Side Door on the right. Recognize Chef Korecki? That’s because he (and his homemade silk-screen-printed bandanas) is a contestant on season two of Top Chef Canada!!! It’s kind of one of my favourite tv shows…

To end off, it was such a great opportunity to see all the chefs doing what they do best! They all came out at the end for the grand finale – here’s a few of them up at the front.

I am SO happy I got to chance to go to this event, meet some great people and (of course) eat some beyond-delicious food. Happy stomach. I already wait in anticipation of next year’s event.

A true Canadian experience: Ottawa’s first-ever winter bike parade!

Hilary Duff is a quirky 21-year-old who loves multimedia journalism, cycling, food blogging, and churning massive amounts of baked goods out of her cramped student kitchen. When she’s not living the chaotically busy life of a Carleton journalism student, she also enjoys winter jogging and exploring the ins and outs of her Ottawa neighbourhood. She’s also a contributing editor for LT Ottawa.

Ottawans love biking and so do I.

For three seasons of the year, I bike absolutely everywhere: to school, to work, to visit friends, to do interviews, etc. etc. As I’ve mentioned on Local Tourist before, I even bike while balancing half a dozen cupcakes on my handlebars. I’m fairly proud of that last one.

Still, on Sunday I went where my roughed up Schwinn bicycle has never been before. I went winter cycling.

As someone who does everything in her power to be more like an action star, winter biking seemed like a natural next step. But motivation was lacking, until I discovered the perfect event to debut my winter transportation plans: Ottawa’s first-ever winter bike parade.

What could be more fantastic than that? The event was organized by the good people at Citizens for Safe Cycling and sounded like the best excuse to garner stares and honks from annoyed and encouraging drivers.

But before I could take part in the parade, I had to get there first. And so, at 11:30 a.m., I carried my intrepid, wheeled friend out of its hibernation cave in the garage and geared up for my first below-freezing bike ride. I made my way downtown without too much huffing and puffing, and turned a few scary skids into a vision where I was drifting like a cast member of Fast and the Furious.

Along the way, my bike ride became less lonely, too, and a handful of cyclists joined me on the commute, donning weathered rain boots and scuffed up backpacks. One woman in front of me was towing a special cycling stroller behind her, and I watched anxiously as the tiny cart bopped roughly as it travelled over speed bumps and into potholes.

Part of the group gathered in the Percy/Laurier Avenue parking lot

We knew we were near our destination when we saw a collection of bikers sitting in the parking lot at the corner of Percy Street and Laurier Avenue. Approaching, someone was playing tunes from a bike radio. People are chitter-chattering and laughter flows freely.

The clock struck noon – it was go time.

To the sound of dozens of chiming bells and boots slamming kickstands, we travel as a group across the street and into the Laurier Avenue bike lane. Up until now I’d been collecting sounds at the scene, my recorder cradled warmly in my mitten as the cord of my microphone grew solid and inflexible with the cold air. In hindsight, I should have MacGyvered a way to strap my microphone onto my handlebars, but I wasn’t that perceptive on a Sunday morning. For anyone who has ever wondered, reporting in the winter while riding a bicycle is a difficult task.

Along the way, a few groups of people lined the street cheering and clapping with their gloved hands. “We looooooove winter biking!” one shouted. The woman on the bike behind me had a line of bells dangling from her handlebars, making me smile and feel as though I’m being followed by Santa’s sleigh. We waved back at the enthusiastic watchers, and I kicked myself for not changing my rusty bike bell in time for the ride.

Eventually, I got off my bike and joined the street-liners, not wanting to miss any more of what was happening around me.

I did a few interviews and recorded some sound from the bike parade – want to get a better idea of how Sunday’s event was? Listen below.

The parade ended at City Hall where we took a big group picture (after good sport Coun. Mathieu Fleury arrived on his brown bicycle) and took over the bike racks in front of the building.

More than 50 riders took part in the parade

The last stop was a heated reception of Bridgehead-donated apple cider and cookies provided by Coun. Katherine Hobbs. It was a satisfying (and more importantly) warm end to a terrific hour out.

CfSC director and parade organizer Risa Sargent says they want to continue the parade in years to come, and I certainly hope they do. A city can never have too many wannabe action stars.

Ottawans love winter biking and now, so do I.

Did any of you attend the bike parade or see it in action? What is your favourite part of winter biking? See you on the streets!

The second-annual Ottawa Foodie Challenge: A day of bicycle-powered fun

Hilary Duff (blog/Twitter) is a quirky 21-year-old who loves multimedia journalism, cycling, food blogging, and churning massive amounts of baked goods out of her cramped student kitchen. She is also a contributing editor for Local Tourist Ottawa.

Take a typical day in the life of Hilary and multiply it by a trillion. Welcome to my Sunday.

My days are normally composed of food, biking and roommate love, and this past weekend all three were exaggerated exponentially. To my great pleasure, I might add.

Sunday was the date of the second-annual Ottawa Foodie Challenge.

Perplexed? For those that don’t know, OFC is an event held to help combat community hunger and raise money for the Ottawa Food Bank. The day operates like a scavenger hunt: participants are given a list of tasks at the beginning of the day that they need to complete and photograph over the next several hours. This year’s challenge saw 30 teams competing for the grand prize: a load of wine, gift certificates for local restaurants and food shops, and bragging rights for the next year.

As soon as I heard about the hunt, I knew it was right up my alley. I asked my roommate Brittany if she wanted to be my partner and, just like that, Team YUKON DO IT! was born. I was more that a little pleased to become a honourary Yukoner for the day.

Brittany and I with our Yukon ski team jackets (well, with her Yukon ski team jackets..)

Being students, Britt and I faced a tricky dilemma: we don’t have a car. This concerned us. We knew the hunt would send us across the city, and that time and speedy transportation would be of the essence. A combination of determination and a desire to be active (mixed with our no-other-option circumstances) led to our decision to do the OFC on our bikes.

And so, on Sunday morning, Britt and I rolled up to the Urban Element in Wellington West for the morning kick-off. After the grand prize was announced and several delicious Life of Pie freebie scones were consumed, we received THE LIST. Our route was promptly plotted, and we left in a flurry, leaving behind a screeching of tires and a blur of saddlebags.

Task 17: You at any bagel shop with a bagel on your fingers

For the next six hours, Britt and I made our way across the city, fueled only by our competitive will to win and a bag of a dozen day-old bagels that we had bought to complete an earlier challenge. I swear, doughy carbohydrates have never tasted so good.

As far as neighbourhood hopping went, we planned the day to minimize backtracking, a goal that I think we accomplished fairly well. Being on bikes, we managed to illegally enter parking lots, dodge/carefully peddle through construction, park on sidewalks and nearly run over a few people in the Market.

This year’s tasks were fun and creative, some more challenging than others. Here are the stories that accompany a few of our favourites…

1. Task #20: You and a Kraft single beside the most expensive piece of cheese you can find

Who knew that journalism student persistence would pay off in the form of processed cheese? For this challenge, Britt and I were left stranded outside of La Bottega in the Market, at a loss for where to find a piece of cheese to juxtapose the $74.99/kg chunk we eventually found. The answer was McDonalds. Surely the golden arches didn’t use real cheese on their Big Macs, I thought. After rushing to the cash at the downtown location and pestering a couple of employees, I eventually managed to convince one of them to wrap up a piece of their processed cheese for me. Disobeying social norms and asking strange requests while pouting really pays off. 

2. Task #23: You holding a live “Sebastien” from the Little Mermaid

Come on, you can’t honestly tell me that you wouldn’t love to hang out with a lobster. Maybe it’s because I’m a Pisces and one with the water, or something, but holding a wriggling sea creature was one of the highlights of my day. 

3. Task #36: You shaving chicken off any shawarma skewer

Britt and I biked past shawarma shops all day long, telling ourselves as we whizzed past each that we were reserving this task completion for Cedar Springs, the tiny grocery shop and shawarma deli in our neighbourhood, Old Ottawa South. It was the end of the day when Britt and I finally burst into the shop and begged the men behind the counter to let us wield sharp knives and pose with their chicken spits. After some persuasive talk and a promise to plug their groceria to everyone we know (plug, plug, plug) they let us take our picture. Bonus: they even lent us a chef’s coat and hat so we could check that task off our list. Britt still has the hat and can be seen wearing it around the house on occasion. 

4. Task #9: Crawl down Preston with a plate on your head! (Make sure we can see the Little Italy street sign!)

In which we convinced the fine folk at Pub Italia to lend us a plate as we biked one-handed down Preston Street holding said dish. Bikes tossed aside, we paid tribute to the next Dishcrawl Ottawa neighbourhood.

 5.  Task #32: You rolling a sushi roll anywhere but at home

This was actually the most difficult challenge to accomplish. We were close to giving up on this one after several sushi restaurant visits filled with rejection and sadness (they all claimed something ridiculous about health regulations…). Finally, one sushi joint on the corner of Murray Street and Dalhousie let me behind the counter. I think they could see the desperation in my eyes.

To see all our pictures from the other challenges, check out the Flickr set Britt and I submitted to be judged. Please ignore my helmet hair and general dishevelment.

That night at the closing ceremonies, people didn’t even recognize us. We promptly reminded them that we were the girls on bikes wearing spandex and Yukon ski team windbreakers. This helped.

When the lead organizer Carolynn got up to announce the winners, Britt and I held our breath. We had completed all the tasks except one, but were unsure how well our score would stand up to the 29 other teams.

And then we won.

It was a FANTASTIC moment, and we ecstatically jumped out of our seats to accept our prize, golden crowns and dog-toy-on-a-plate sandwich trophy, the latter of which now sits on our fireplace mantle.

The place of pride

It was the perfect end to an already great day. Thanks again to Carolynn, Larissa Beznaczuk-Smyrnew, Kyle Braatz and Matt Richling for doing such a great job planning things.

Now, would someone like to massage my calves? I’m feeling a little sore…

To check out the other albums from the Ottawa Foodie Challenge, visit their blog where they’ll eventually be posting the links to all the Flickr photo sets. Did any of you participate in the OFC? Tell us about your day! 

On the menu for Hintonburg: A flurry of new restaurant openings, with a side of gentrification

Burnt Butter (1100 Wellington) is just one of several new restaurants moving into Ottawa's Hintonburg neighbourhood

Hilary Duff (blog/Twitter) is a quirky 21-year-old who loves multimedia journalism, cycling, food blogging, and churning massive amounts of baked goods out of her cramped student kitchen. She is also a contributing editor for Local Tourist Ottawa.

The Hintonburg restaurant scene is on the rise.

The neighbourhood is the latest in Ottawa to facedown with the issue of gentrification. The sweeping of new eateries has caused some businesses, like the old KFC location, to shut down, worrying some lower income families in the area that relied on the diner’s weekly specials. Now, the folks at the Hintonburger (who are moving into the old KFC location in 2012) are looking to help fill that gap.

And so, here’s what the Hintonburg food scene is looking like now. The trend is generally a positive one, and we recommend you check out the up-and-coming restaurants while they’re still young.

This radio piece was first produced for the current affairs radio show Midweek, broadcast every Wednesday from noon until 1:30 p.m. on the Carleton University radio station CKCU-FM 93.1.

Need a visual to illustrate the last few restaurant openings? Here’s a look at the new places that have opened (or plan on opening) in the neighbourhood. Click on the map pointer to find out more.

View Larger Map

What do you think of the new restaurants in Hintonburg? Which is your favourite so far?  

Cleaning up the craft scene with Chinatown’s newest business: Purple Urchin soap

This multimedia piece is the second in a series of small business profiles that Local Tourist will be doing over the next few months. If you are an entrepreneur who is just getting started and want to be featured, email us at ltottawa@gmail.com

Hilary Duff is a fourth-year journalism student at Carleton University and a contributing editor for Local Tourist Ottawa.

Sarah Stewart and Rebecca Pereira have come a long way from milk carton soap moulds.

Rebecca Pereira and Sarah Stewart outside of Purple Urchin, 882 Somerset St. W.

The two are the owners of Chinatown’s newest business: Purple Urchin, a handmade soap company set to open this Saturday, November 12.

Cruising up to 882 Somerset St. W., your eye might be drawn in by the front door, which has been painted a bright shade of – you guessed it – purple. The grey brick building stands out amidst the road construction, and a fresh coat of paint keeps the location looking bright and tidy.

For Sarah and Rebecca, it has been long journey to get Purple Urchin to where it is today. How long? Well about 792 kilometers, give or take a little. That’s the distance between Ottawa and Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., the place where Purple Urchin got its start.

The two women have wanted to start a business since they first met in high school.

While soap may not be the most common product choice, Sarah and Rebecca said that for them, the decision was a clean sweep.

“We wanted to create a business that was both environmentally friendly and also creative,” said Rebecca. “Sarah has a fine arts degree and I took art classes, so we like to do creative and artsy things.”

They made their first batch of soap in November 2005 in cardboard boxes lined with wax paper. In addition to mould issues, getting the actual soap ingredients presented an interesting challenge.

Want to know what's found in a bar of Purple Urchin soap? Click here to expand.

“We had no idea where to get anything, so we ended up buying our coconut oil at the Independent Grocer, which is pretty expensive. We got our lye (a special chemical used in soap-making) from a little hardware store. I think the guys thought we were going to start blowing up the city,” Rebecca said. “Like Fight Club,” Sarah added with a laugh.

The idea for Purple Urchin was concocted a few months after that initial batch, which, though completely usable, was still funny looking, Sarah claims. It was given away to family for Christmas that year.

The original idea was that Purple Urchin would be a primarily online business. To supplement their eBay account, Sarah and Rebecca sold at craft shows, but were frustrated by the response.

“We did a few craft shows in Sault St. Marie, but the craft community there is not at all like the Ottawa one,” Sarah said. “It’s a lot of old ladies who just do it as a part-time hobby and they didn’t appreciate how smelly our stuff was.”

At the time, neither Sarah nor Rebecca was able to fully commit to the business. Sarah’s boyfriend got a job in Ottawa, and Purple Urchin was split across the province.

In 2008, after nearly a year off from soap making, it was time for the two women to decide whether they wanted to continue with Purple Urchin or let their business dreams go down the drain.

A decision was made, and the two continued selling. Sales started to pick up in Ottawa, and Purple Urchin began to gain a following from the booth at the Main Street Farmer’s Market and various craft sale appearances.

Purple Urchin finally found its niche market.

Rebecca's favourite soap scene is mosswood, Sarah's is Turkish fig

Sales grew even more, and the two knew it was time to open their own shop.

“We knew we had to do something to let the business grow,” Rebecca said. “We were outgrowing our basements and couldn’t possibly do it at home anymore. It was really a now or never sort of thing.”

The two rented the Somerset property on a whim and have been moved in since September. Rebecca relocated to Ottawa and now lives in Sarah’s basement.

For now, Purple Urchin’s focus is to get their shop up and running and sell at the upcoming holiday craft shows. Eventually, Sarah and Rebecca plan on opening their Purple Urchin Etsy store, so people back in their hometown and all over the country can buy their soap.

Curious as to how soap is made from scratch? Check out the audio slideshow from when Sarah gave us a step-by-step walkthrough.

Today, the business is expanding quickly, and it’s not unusual for Purple Urchin to unveil a dozen new products at one craft sale. While soap remains the number one priority, Sarah and Rebecca also create handmade body butters, hand balms and more. Their newest product is an anti-aging face serum and a line of scented candles.

When reflecting on their future goals for Purple Urchin, Sarah and Rebecca say the ultimate goal isn’t a global soap empire, by any means.

“If we could sell enough stuff to make a comfortable living, then that would be great. We’d like to be able to get some stuff in bigger stores,” Rebecca said.

The new Purple Urchin location is a huge step towards that dream, and the two women admit that the store opening is one big adventure.

“This is all new to us. We just jumped into this from the craft show world,” Rebecca said. “It’s exciting.”

Thanks for sharing your story with us and giving us an exclusive look into your opening, Sarah and Rebecca. We’re excited for your launch and can’t to buy some of your soap for Christmas. Editor’s note: the 80′s revival and cedar soap smell AMAZING.

Connect with Purple Urchin online: Twitter, Facebook, website, Etsy shop.

Chocolates that will leave you wanting mo: koko chocolates’ sweet Movember fundraiser

Hilary Duff (blog/Twitter) is a quirky 21-year-old who loves multimedia journalism, cycling, food blogging, and churning massive amounts of baked goods out of her cramped student kitchen. She is also a contributing editor for Local Tourist Ottawa.

If you’re trying to find Jen Winter at craft sales this month, just look for the woman with a moustache.

Jen Winter

Jen is the owner of kōkō chocolates, the latest – and arguably most delicious – business to enter the Movember campaign to raise money for prostate cancer research.

The campaign hits close to home for Jen. Her father is a prostate cancer survivor, after being diagnosed with the disease last year. Jen says these chocolates are a way to honour his fight.

Deprived of the moustache growing-genes gifted upon men, Jen decided to raise money in the best way she could: by making a line of manly-flavoured chocolates, proceeds of which go directly to Prostate Cancer Canada.

Movember flavour listing

The flavours for her special Movember box have been in development for the past year.

After a much brainstorming and some consultation with her moustache-bearing husband, Jen settled on her four Movember flavours: a double-smoked bacon with a hint of maple, a milk chocolate ganache infused with Glenmorangie scotch, espresso and “the koko” – a 75 per cent Venezuelan dark chocolate ganache.

“I wanted them to be male-oriented flavours,” Jen said, when reflecting on her choices. “Not that the chocolate I make isn’t normally, but this is just taking it to the next level. I wanted to create flavours that really appealed to the male palette.”

Jen said she also wanted to focus on incorporating local ingredients into the chocolate. The double-smoked bacon came from ByWard Market butcher store, Aubrey’s Meats, where the fat was extracted for flavour and the bacon was ground to add texture to the chocolate.

The Movember box contains 8 truffles – two of each flavour – and costs $18. Five dollars from every box sold will be added on to Jen’s Movember fundraising page. Her goal is to raise $2,000 by the end of the month.

“A neat way to collaborate with a great restaurant in town”
Looking for something to go along with the chocolate? You’re in luck.

To round off the month, Jen is collaborating with chef Marc Lepine to host a special Movember dinner on November 29 at Marc’s acclaimed Ottawa restaurant, Atelier.

The final course of the evening’s tasting menu will be a pairing of Jen’s four Movember chocolates with donated Cave Spring Cellars wine. Tickets for the six-course dinner are $150 a head and Jen says proceeds of the event will go towards making a significant donation to the Movember fundraiser.

Moustaches are also mandatory. Jen says men are encouraged to grow their facial hair and women will be receiving a stick-on moustache at the door.

A special tasting
After drooling through my interview with Jen, I was dying to try the flavours for myself.

Jen had kindly given me a sample box of the four flavours to try at home. In the comfort of my living room, my roommate Brittany and I settled in and, to the sound of Paul McCartney crooning in the background, had our minds blown. Normally I find dark chocolate too bitter, but these truffles were all smooth to the taste. Our personal favourites were the scotch and double-smoked bacon. The milk chocolate was the perfect match to the scotch, which didn’t taste too much like alcohol (meaning that you could slip this over to your most conservative friend). The double-smoked bacon was amazing. After eating it, we both felt like we had genuinely just eaten a piece of bacon. It was bacon in chocolate form, as Britt remarked. The ground bacon infused in the ganache added a texture that only confused us more. And if that’s confusion, I never want things to make sense ever again.

-

If this post has given you uncontrollable sugar cravings, you can navigate to the kōkō chocolates website where you can order however many boxes your heart desires. Otherwise, Jen will be sporting her moustache at events all over town this month, selling her Movember line and more. Here’s where you can find her:

• Urban Craft on November 5 (that’s tomorrow!) from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Great Canadian Theatre Company;
• Glebe craft and artisan fair from November 18-20 at the Glebe Community Centre;
• Idle Hands holiday craft sale on November 26 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at St. Luke’s Anglican Church on Somerset;
• Hintonburg Artisan Craft Fair on November 27 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Hintonburg Community Centre

So what kind of ‘stache will Jen be sporting this Saturday?

“I think I’m going with a handlebar moustache,” she laughs. “I can’t decide.”

Thanks for talking to us about your Movember chocolates, Jen. The sample wasn’t too horrible either…

Are any of you mo sistas or mo brothers? Link us up to your fundraising page! Happy moustache growing. 

Being rendered unmovable by the moveable feast (a delicious night of food, wine and Little Italy exploration)

Hilary Duff (blog/Twitter) is a quirky 21-year-old who loves multimedia journalism, cycling, food blogging, and churning massive amounts of baked goods out of her cramped student kitchen. She is also a contributing editor for Local Tourist Ottawa.

My Thursday evening ended with me lying in a crumpled mess on the couch with a blanket covering my stomach.

Click the image to go to the La Vendemmia website

No, I wasn’t stricken by some horrible disease, nor was I worn down from a four-day alcohol-induced bender. Rather, my state was the result of six courses of delicious food consumed within a short, four hours. It was the result of the La Vendemmia festival’s moveable feast.

Full, I may have been, but miserable, I was not. Now that you’ve heard how my evening ended, let me tell you how it began.

It’s 5:30 p.m. I rush out of class and jump on my bike, peddling towards Little Italy faster than the speed of light. My destination: moveable feast, the opening event of the neighbourhood’s La Vendemmia festival. The name of the festival – now in its fifteenth year – translates to mean “the harvest.” It is the perfect title for a weekend that is to be filled with food and fun.

For those still gawking at the name “moveable feast,” well, it’s exactly what it sounds like. If anyone has been to any of the Ottawa Dishcrawl events or read my posts about them, they are what I liken last night’s event to be. Except with wine. Lots and lots of gourmet wine, all perfectly paired thanks to the talented sommeliers at Savvy Grapes. This was the seventh year for the moveable feast.

The night was a chance for the 100 attendees to try the culinary gems of the Little Italy neighbourhood. It was also the opportunity to celebrate the diversity of the area – both the Italian and international cuisine housed off Preston Street. Since all 100 of us couldn’t very well storm each and every restaurant one at a time, we were split into a dozen groups, each led by one very qualified Little Italy expert.

Appetizers at Sala San Marco

I wasn’t sure what to expect from the night, but was completely sold by the idea of stuffing my face full of absolutely everything. The evening started at Sala San Marco, a banquet and conference centre just past Preston and Gladstone. Here, I was excited to meet up with Katy Watts, another Ottawa blogger who had decided to write about the event. Someone else who had a mutual desire to eat lots of food. Perfect.

At Sala San Marco were met with appetizers and flutes of (delicious) sparkling wine. It was these initial appetizers that paved the way for my night of gluttony. It’s bad, but I think I use my age and the fact that I’m a student as an excuse to eat way too much food. Be it seconds, thirds or, heaven forbid, fourths, I shamelessly stuffed my face full of smoked salmon-topped bread and deep fried risotto balls. Katy joined me on all counts, and we circled the appetizer table like hungry piranhas.

Giovanni's Ristorante was our first formal stop of the night

After enjoying the fare at Sala San Marco, my group headed over to Giovanni’s Ristorante, a Little Italy gem that was apparently once a local haunt for Mr. Trudeau. Under low light, the nine of us were ushered to our table and promptly served glasses of our second wine of the evening, a 2010 MURELLE Trebbiano D’Abruzzo D.O.C. Our meal arrived in the form of a too-neat-to-eat piece of chicken stuffed with mozzarella and prosciutto and served with a white wine sauce. My wine glass was refilled and I used crispy, warm-on-the-inside bread to soak up the savoury sauce. It was bliss.

Our second stop of the night was our international location. Each group on the moveable feast went to two traditional Italian restaurants and one international place. We went to The Lindenhof a 37-year-old restaurant serving German cuisine. Here we met Alison, the women who bought the restaurant two years ago. Alison was very hospitable and sat with us through our entire meal, chatting about the food, wine and atmosphere of the location.

The Lindenhof: (top left) Alison explains the wine choice, (top bottom) a piece of the flammkuchen

On the subject of food, our dish at The Lindenhof was definitely my favourite of the night.

Here, we had flammkuchen, a harvest pizza that literally translates to mean “flame cake or flame tarte.” The Alsatian (technically French) dish was a thin crust pizza covered with a special smoked cheese, caramelized onions and bacon. It was to die for and there was so much of it. To accompany the flammkuchen was another white wine, a 2010 Riesling from the Niagara Peninsula. Alison told us that “prost” was the German word for toast, and so we all shouted the phrase and clinked glasses. Danke schön (thank you very much, in German) to Alison for the delicious course.

My three courses at La Favorita

Our last stop was La Favorita restaurant. At this point in the night, I was already half keeled over while walking, and felt like my stomach was being pulled towards the ground by the sheer power of gravity. Things were not looking up. Despite my lack of appetite, La Favorita had plenty of food to offer us, and three out of my six courses came from this final location. To start, we had an artichoke, tomato, red onion and hazelnut salad. For the record, artichokes in salads are a revelation. For the main dish, we got a seafood linguine that I was shamefully not able to even nearly finish. For dessert, we had a variety of pastries, bites of which got passed around the table so everyone could share their unique tastes. Two types of wine accompanied the meal – one red (2009 Italian Bar Bera Q) and one white (2010 unoaked chardonnay, again from the Niagara Peninsula).

My moveable feast group at La Favorita

After doing my best to pick away at the three courses (which were good, although painfully filling), it was time to go. Kicking myself for biking, I peddled my bloated, insanely full self home and collapsed on the couch. The night ended with a big glass of water, stretchy pajama pants and sleep.

The moveable feast had accomplished its ironic goal, and made me incapable of moving by the end of the night.

A huge thank you goes out to my group leader, Preston Street BIA executive director Lori Mellor for leading a successful tour. The La Vendemmia festival is happening all weekend in Little Italy and there’s something for everyone, from the classic wine and food events to art displays aplenty. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Did any of you attend the moveable feast? Could you still walk afterwards? Local Tourist’s very own Jessey and Amy will be heading to the wine show on Sunday – we hope to see you there!

Talking gelato with Stella Luna Gelato Café owner Tammy Giuliani

This multimedia piece is the first in a series of small business profiles that Local Tourist will be doing over the next few months. Stella Luna Gelato Café is located at 1103 Bank St. between Sunnyside and Hopewell Avenue.

Hilary Duff is a fourth-year journalism student at Carleton University and a contributing editor for Local Tourist Ottawa.

Old Ottawa South’s newest business, Stella Luna Gelato Café, is difficult to describe.

Yes, as the name alludes, the shop sells gelato, but as owner Tammy Giuliani says, her café is about so much more than just serving up the classic Italian dessert.

Owner Tammy Giuliani

Rather, Stella Luna thrives on fostering a sense of community. Tammy says her aim is to create an environment more similar to that of a neighbourhood get-together than a café, a place where people of all ages can go to relax and unwind from the workday.

The community
Since opening at the end of July, Stella Luna has experienced an incredible start-up boom. In the first few weeks of opening, Tammy says they saw 700 to 900 customers pass through their doors everyday.

That’s a lot of gelato.

“The numbers were just tremendous,” Tammy says. “I think people had been anticipating us for a while. We had time to start a blog and I think it became almost something personal for people, where they could read and follow along.”

This being said, there are already café regulars, such as the couple from India who swear by Tammy’s mango sorbet, claiming it’s almost a perfect duplicate of the quality and flavour they used to get back home.

It’s this high quality of product that Tammy wants to focus on.

Inside Stella Luna’s brightly lit kitchen, a group of certificates is clustered in the corner of one wall, a token to the time spent by Tammy mastering the art of gelato making.

Before the café opened, Tammy traveled to Bologna, Italy to attend a six-week intensive gelato-making course at Carpigiani Gelato University, the first school of its kind in the world.

Here, she was taught all the skills needed to become a true artisan gelato maker.

Unlike many gelato shops that use powder mixes and artificial flavours, when making the gelato for Stella Luna, Tammy says she relies on the real deal: bucketfuls of fruits, chopped nuts and made-in-house syrups.

Listen to Tammy talk about why she chose to make gelato and where she gets her flavour inspiration:

Stella Luna's gelato display case can hold 24 different flavours at once

The history
Sitting inconspicuously at the back of the café in a black Stella Luna smock, Tammy doesn’t strike you as the type who would be making gelato.

Tammy enjoys eating gelato as much as she likes making it

Her involvement with Italian custom and the traditional dessert started off as a bit of a whirlwind fairy tale. Travelling to Italy when she was 19, Tammy originally intended to stay in the country for six months.

Her plans quickly changed.

Strolling around Rome on her first day, a man pulled up beside her on a motorcycle. She spoke no Italian and he, no English. Three days later near the Spanish Steps, he proposed.

Today, this man is Alessandro Giuliani, the salt-and-pepper haired man that sits next to Tammy at the back of the café. They’ve been together since their very first movie date in Rome 25 years ago.

Fate brought Tammy both her husband and her future occupation.

“I was born and raised in Ottawa on a dairy farm, so it’s kind of ironic that the girl from the dairy farm met the guy from Italy and made gelato,” she laughs.

Throughout their time in Italy, the young couple became something of gelato connoisseurs, eating their way from shop to shop.

“We would always be trying to find the purest taste and creamiest texture. Over the years we came to know what we wanted to taste in a gelato and when we moved back to Canada that taste wasn’t quite there,” she says.

Watch as Tammy shows Local Tourist how to make pistachio gelato:

It was 10 years ago that the plan to open a gelato café first came into being. That plan, however, was put on the backburner in order to raise their three children, Zachary, Erica and Matthew.

A decade later, Tammy said they were finally ready to brush off the old business plan.

After nine months of renovation to their Old Ottawa South location, Tammy and Alessandro transformed the century-old location into a stunning mix of warmth and comfort.

“It was kind of surreal,” Tammy says. “When things started to take shape it was like taking a cartoon and turning it into real life.”

Now, the café is large enough for big families to sit together, but small enough to still remain intimate.

Stella Luna’s menu also reflects the luxurious simplicity the café has strived to accomplish.

When she and Alessandro were first creating the menu for Stella Luna, Tammy says they were considering having an extensive list of products. It wasn’t until later that they decided to focus on the classic Italian delicacies – frappés, granitas, European coffees and, of course, artisan gelato and sorbet.

“The biggest mistake we could make would have been to try and offer everything and not do anything well. Now people are really experiencing a genuine quality,” Tammy says.

Stella Luna is planning on expanding its menu in the upcoming weeks, though, to add gourmet crepes and waffles to their repertoire. The winter season will also bring a change in menu, with plans to add in products like a Madagascar bourbon vanilla gelato with a warm blueberry coulis, hot chocolate and more.

But until the winter, Tammy says she’s just going to keep appreciating the success and community they’ve fostered so far.

“In the evening when all the neighbours walk in, the shop has the ambience of a kitchen party where people get to mingle and talk,” she says. “It’s quite magical when you see people come in and they’re a little bit stressed and then they start eating gelato and their face lights up. It’s fun to watch. To do that is magic.”

Are you opening a new small business in Ottawa? Want to chat? Drop us a line at ltottawa@gmail.com. 

Sights and sounds from the first monthly Urban Craft show

Hilary Duff (blog/Twitter) is a quirky 21-year-old who loves multimedia journalism, cycling, food blogging, and churning massive amounts of baked goods out of her cramped student kitchen. She is also a contributing editor for Local Tourist Ottawa.

There are few things in life that I love as much as food and cupcakes. One of them is crafts. With this in mind, you can only imagine my excitement when I found out last month that a new craft show was launching in the Ottawa. As one of the organizers Krista Leben says, Urban Craft is a chance to show off fresh and modern finds from some of the city’s best independent businesses. Being one who enjoys shopping local, I trekked over to the Great Canadian Theatre Co. this past Saturday to see what crafty creativity was being hosted within. 

Below, an inside look into the success that was the first-ever Urban Craft show. Hopefully you like what you see and will head out and support the local craft community at monthly shows in the future. 

The next Urban Craft show is being held at the GCTC on Saturday, October 1. We hope to see you there! You never know what goodies you’ll find…