Cafe Maplethorpe Blog :: PEI Restaurant

It is early November and it has been raining for days here on Prince Edward Island. Unseasonably warm as well. Despite the weather, the Christmas craft fairs are starting to pop up all over and the stores couldn’t get rid of the Halloween junk fast enough to make way for the Christmas decorations. Here at the restaurant we are regularly booking Christmas parties and so, ready or not, we begin our holiday baking.

One of the most popular desserts at Maplethorpe is our Sticky Date Pudding.

We serve it year ’round, but it seems like a great Christmas stand-in for fruit cake or the fabled “Christmas Pudding” Mrs. Bob Cratchit so fussed over in Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol.  Our Sticky Date Pudding is glorious and also gluten-free, but yours can be made with plain white or whole wheat flour if you prefer.

Ingredients:

500 g dates (or 2 cups packed)

2 cups water

2 tablespoons butter, room temperature

3 eggs

1/4 cup molasses

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1 and 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup flour (gluten-free blend, white, whole wheat, etc.)

Method:

The dates and water go into a sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the dates have absorbed all the water. Be careful not to scorch or burn it. I usually get a good boil going for a few minutes then turn off the heat and let the dates absorb the water. This takes a bit longer than boiling and stirring until the water is completely absorbed, but there is less chance of burning and I don’t have to stand at the stove for 20 minutes.

Whichever method you choose, let the mixture cool completely before proceeding.

I really like the Golden Boy dates from Costco. They come in a two-pack of 1-kg blocks and a half block is perfect for 1 recipe–just cut the block in half and break it up before putting it in the sauce pan.

Once the plumped dates are cool, put them in the bowl of a mixer and add all the other ingredients. Just dump everything in. Easy, eh? (Don’t tell anyone!) Mix with the paddle attachment for not more than 2 minutes-it will be well mixed by then. The batter will be very wet and maybe a bit lumpy from a few large chunks of dates.

Now you have to decide how you want to bake them.

silicon mold for baking

We use a silicon mold (affectionately called ‘the C Cup’) and this recipe makes exactly 12. You could use 6-ounce ramekins and the recipe will yield about 6. Or you can put it in a 2-quart casserole dish-or a pudding mold, if you have one-and cut slices or wedges out of the pan. Whatever you choose, grease it or spray with cooking spray before transferring the batter.

Bake at 325* (F), 25 minutes for the 12-serving mold, 35 minutes for 6 oz. ramekins and slightly longer for a larger pan. The pudding is ready when it is is firm to the touch but you are still able to make a dent with a finger poke. Cool completely before removing from the pan.

Serve Like a Pastry Chef

We serve our Sticky Date Pudding warmed slightly (40 seconds in the microwave) atop a disc of vanilla ice cream with caramel sauce and a bit of whipped cream on top. You’ll get rave reviews! But of course if you don’t want to bother, just come down to Cafe Maplethorpe and let us serve you a warm pudding and a cup of tea. Or call and order a 6-pack of already cooked individual Sticky Date Puddings to reheat and serve in your home. Happy Holidays!

Cafe Maplethorpe's Sticky Date Pudding

It is Tuesday morning and I am both behind in my chores and exhausted. I was already up when the dog started barking at 4: a.m.

Not a great way to start my week.

In my world-the land of hungry and weary travelers-we push hard from Tuesday through Saturday. Every day there are tourists spending the night and having breakfast before exploring Prince Edward Island. At noon  the lunch crowd, local residents and tourists, in search of some friendly conversation and a plate of something healthy and interesting. And yummy–they all like yummy. By the end of the week we are serving supper as well. Some Fridays days I don’t  leave the kitchen except to go to the bathroom.

Sundays are different.

On Sundays, we serve a lovely breakfast to guests at the B&B, and that is the last and only meal I cook. Once the breakfast dishes are cleared, cook’s holiday begins. I can go back to sleep, catch up on reading, take a bike ride or go to the movies–whatever I want. I might choose to work around the house, but I do not cook. The family can forage, go out to dinner or starve. (No evidence of starvation around here, so they are coping.)

As the years pass I have been increasingly protective of my Sunday hiatus. I need the break to recharge and restore some balance in my own life. When I have a great Sunday I am ready on Monday to get back to work, making the breads, desserts and cafe staples that will carry us through the beginning of the week.

I gave up my Sunday this week to prepare supper for 6 of our overnight guests who were all heading home on Monday morning. For me it wasn’t a hard decision. These travelers had been lured from Alberta, Florida and Maine to PEI by the promise of culinary delights available at the International Shellfish Festival and Fall Flavours Festival. These were exactly the kind of tourists the provincial tourism establishment target in annual marketing efforts–older adults with no kids at home, dual income and a wide range of interests, planning a multiple night stay on Prince Edward Island.

As we chatted over breakfast about their PEI holiday that was about to end, they expressed great disappointment with their PEI food and dining experience. Among their culinary complaints:

“Seafood Chowder” they described as “potato soup served with a view of the ocean.” Poetic but pathetic.

Mussels that were overcooked to the point of being “pencil erasers,” then served cold. Now, really…how can you screw up mussels?

Steamed lobster that was “nothing special.” Fresh caught PEI lobster, nothing special?

This was in the midst of the International Shellfish Festival and during the month-long ‘Fall Flavours’ Culinary event!

This is the kind of stuff that drives me crazy. Two million dollars worth of marketing spent to get these people here wasted! They were ready to go home and tell their friends not to waste their money on PEI.

So I invited the group to have a private supper at Maplethorpe and give PEI one more chance to WOW them. I visited my friends at Captain Cook’s Seafood as well as Confederation Cove Mussels. I made chowder and homemade bread, followed by mussels, then lobsters and baby PEI potatoes. Pastry One contributed a fabulous Italian Espresso Torte. We hauled out the starched tablecloths and antique china and opened our best wine.

Supper at Maplethorpe

It was a wonderful night. The conversation was lively and went on long after the dishes were cleared away. (While the Albertans and Americans debated politics, immigration and healthcare, Jim and I did the dishes. Safest plac for us was in the kitchen.)

Several of the guests reported that we ‘saved their vacation.’ It is always nice to hear a compliment like that and worth the sacrifice of my day off to know that they will go back home now and recommend PEI to their friends.

Sugar Cookies With Sprinkles

Nothing like a real grandchild-made sugar cookies with sprinkles.

First Maplethorpe Garden Tomato 2010

Yes, we were lazy last spring.

When we should have been planting the tiny seeds in flats perched on card tables under sunny living room windows, we were sleeping in. As our gardening friends described their organic, heirloom varieties and the merits of the sunny window vs. grow lights or the heated greenhouse, we just nodded sympathetically.

We eventually got around to starting our future tomato crop, far past Easter.

We could have purchased bigger transplants at Kool Breeze Farms when they opened their greenhouses at the first hint of spring, but we drove past. We stuck with our tiny, spindly home-grown tomatoes, still in the living room but transplanted into bigger pots.

Finally on August 27, we picked our first ripe tomato. We have admired it on the counter for a few days and are now ready to eat it tonight for supper. Behind our firstborn there are hundreds more. Some will make it to sublime redness and other are destined for green tomato relish.

Like an only child born to elderly parents, there is nothing like the wonder of your first-of-the-season homegrown tomato.

What a great weekend!

We worked hard all day Saturday and were loking forward to a fantastic PEI Sunday in the summer. We were not disappointed.

Glorious weather for the CyclingPEI Sunday event, trail ride from the Emerald Train Depot to Borden-Carleton and back. The great thing about these rides is…everything! Well organized, a small entry fee to pay for the food and drink waiting at trail’s end, and the amazing diversity of people. There were parents with tiny kids all the way up to an 87 year old enjoying our magnificent scenery. (I fall pleasantly in the middle of the age array, thank you for asking.)

Melissa and Dianna on the Confederation Trail

I would really like a set of CyclingPEI bike wear…you know, those shorts with the padded bum and the really bright, tight-fitting shirts. First I need to lose about 20 pounds, though. Let’s not talk about that.

Off to Small Halls

PEI Festival of Small Halls June 11-20, 2010

After the bike ride it was time for a good shower, rustle up some grub for the family and off to a Small Halls Concert. We had tickets to the sold-out Songwriters Circle at Harmony House in Hunter River. I have driven past Harmony House for the past few years but this was my first opportunity to go inside. Great venue! Very beautifully transformed from a small church to an intimate concert hall. A lovely night of songs by an ALL-PEI line-up of songwriters, including Rose Cousins, Catherine MacLellan, John Connolly and Nick Gauthier.

Great music and lucky for us the Irving Station at the bottom of the hill stays open late for a quick fill before heading home.

All in all, a lovely PEI weekend, full of family, friends, outdoor recreation, great food and music!

This has turned out to be a busy week at Maplethorpe. Went up to Georgetown to hear the Men of the Deeps concert on Tuesday night. The Kings Playhouse in Georgetown is a great community theatre and is in the process of doubling its size. (Your tax dollars at work!) We hadn’t been up there in a few years–last time was to see Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellas. (Also a super show!) We ran into a few people we knew at the concert who couldn’t believe we had driven all the way from Bedeque for a music concert.

Now let’s put this into perspective.

Georgetown is about an hour and a half drive from Bedeque. As Islanders say, Georgetown is ‘down east,’ on the other side of the world from where we live. From our perspective as westerners, Georgetown is easily half the distance we often drove to watch a high school basketball game when our boys were playing in Montana. An hour and a half was a crosstown drive to work when we lived in St. Louis. For us, Georgetown just isn’t that far. And since Georgetown was the only place on PEI where we could hear the Men of the Deeps, well, that was that.

Date Night Thwarted…Again

We had planned to leave early, see the sights and get some supper in Charlottetown, but that was not to be. The restaurant was just swamped with people at lunch and the last ones didn’t leave until after our 3:00 pm closing. That morning I was informed the daughter needed to be picked up from school at 4:30. Husband Jim was tutoring a math student until 5:30. We had overnight guests expected for the B&B, and they got checked in at around 5:45. So, we snarfed down sandwiches while standing in the kitchen and dashed out the door at 6:00 pm. Story of my life.

But we had a nice drive and got to Georgetown at 7:30 for the 8:00 show. The place was mostly full, but not sold out. We ran into some people we knew and even people who don’t know you on PEI are friendly. We had great seats 4 rows back from the stage, right in the middle. The show started on time at 8:00 when the place went dark and the miners came in from the back, singing, their path illuminated by the lamps on their hardhats.

They were great.

Men of the Deeps

Well, you expected me to say that, didn’t you? We paid $35 a ticket and drove an hour and a half. I would never admit it if the concert was a disaster. The Men of the Deeps is a choir made up of professional Cape Breton coal miners–one requirement for prospective choir members is 2 years work in the employ of a mine. Most of the song were about mining work…loving the mine, hating the mine, mine disasters, mines closing forever. You could tell these guys were really singing from their hearts. At the end of the concert the choir members came out in the audience to shake hands and thank us for coming. We were touched.

Men of the Deeps

We’ll give the kids the url and tell them to google it.

I wondered most of the drive home how much longer the Men of the Deeps will last. Several of the singers looked to be in their 70s. With the Cape Breton coal mines long ago closed, I wonder where the group will get replacements when these elders are ready to pass the torch. Maybe this will become another story we’ll have to tell our grandkids to imagine, like where fishermen used to be and where farmers used to be. Where coal mines used to be and where miners used to sing harmony together, celebrating a communal life above and below the ground.

Katimavik Volunteers at Maplethorpe

It was a pleasure to recently host a group of Katimavik volunteers at Maplethorpe for their ‘Lunch and Learn’ session.

Uniquely Canadian

As an import to Canada from the United States, I am occasionally confronted by cultural practices or ways of seeing community life that really embody the difference between being ‘Canadian’ and being ‘American.’ Katimavik is one of those. It is a volunteer experience for 17-21 years olds. Canadian youth volunteer for this service opportunity that lasts 6 to 9 months. During that time, Katimavik volunteers live communally, frugally,  and provide their labor and expertise to community and not-for-profit organizations that need a helping hand. Through these service opportunities the Katimavik youth volunteers get to see and explore unfamiliar parts of this vast country as they are posted far from their homes. They practice group living skills  and are exposed to a rich variety of possible future endeavors through volunteer labor opportunities. Katmavik volunteers can ‘try out’ a variety of possible future occupations before making a final decision about the future.

Onward and Upward

The youth that were here were near the completion of their service obligation and talked with animation of next steps…university or college,  work, and happy return home to waiting family.  They also talked about how much they enjoyed working in daycare centres and with the elderly, how much they enjoyed snowshoeing through the Prince Edward Island countryside and the lasting friendships and impressions they were each taking away from their collective experience.

A new group of Katimavik volunteers will arrive shortly to replace these graduates and we hope to see them soon. More information on this great program is available at their website.

I fell off the blogwagon for a bit, but made a resolution to step up the postings in 2010. With the restaurant closed for the month of January every year, my routine is really changed up. In fact, for the month of January, I don’t cook. That’s my rule. I cook for everybody that walks in the door for 11 months of the year–last year over 5,000 meals from my little kitchen.

But in January, my stove is OFF.

My family is totally sick of pizza, Subway, Wendy’s, Tim Hortons, KFC, take-out Chinese, grocery store deli—you name it, we’ve carried it home and wolfed it down. It has actually been a good exercise in remembering why we decided to open a restaurant 3 years ago. And why we decided to specialize in cuisine that is fresh, local and organic.

I broke my January NO COOKING rule over the weekend, though, when our next door neighbor brought us a “feed of smelts.”

Feed of Smelts

Smelt are tasty little fish that are speared through the ice from inside ice fishing shacks, and a “feed” is just what it sounds like—enough to feed your family. At one time this winter fishery was no doubt essential to family survival, but now smelt fishing is mostly recreational. Bags of fresh smelts are sometimes sold, but more often are given away to friends and neighbors.

When you are lucky enough to receive a bag of smelts, they have to be dealt with. Like fresh corn on the cob, smelt taste best when they are cooked and eaten quickly after they are caught. The ones Brian handed me in the driveway were mostly still alive, just pulled from Bedeque Bay a few short kilometers from our home. Talk about being a locavore!

Ice Fishing Shacks

Cleaning smelt isn’t too bad, but cleaning fish is cleaning fish. Heads and tails off, guts out, ready to go. I used several old newspapers under and around the cutting board and sharpened my knives before I started. It took me about a half hour to get them ready. Take out the trash immediately after or you will regret your laziness—guts get stinky fast.

I ran across a website that claimed 36 ways of cooking smelt.

It made me start thinking of Bubba in Forest Gump reciting all the ways to cook shrimp. But you know, smelt need to be fried. Smelt is not for fancy dining. Although we don’t normally deep fry around here, we make an exception for smelts. Once only, then we have had our smelts for the year.

I decided that since I was going to waste a quart of cooking oil, I would also make some homemade potato chips. Talk about simple—slice a potato thin! Throw the slices in the hot oil! Fish the chips out and add salt!

Awesome Homemade Potato Chips!

It helps immensely to have a thermometer to determine when the oil is hot enough. I use an ancient thermometer from my dad’s kitchen that has an arrow next to the word ‘fish’. It doesn’t even have numbers, just words on the dial like ‘hard crack’, ‘potatoes’ and ‘fish’.

Cleaned Smelt

I mixed a cup of white flour with salt, pepper and spices and dredged the smelts through it. Tossed them in the hot fry oil and waited for them to turn brown. About 5 minutes.

Smelts in the Dutch Oven

We drained them on paper towels and ate them as standing up in the kitchen, burning our fingers, washed down with cold beer.

Smelts all ready to eat!

It was worth breaking the January NO COOKING rule.

Hard to believe we made it to December 6, 2009 before the first snow of the new season. Even so, it caught us all off guard! Winter is officially here!

Maplethorpe on Dec. 6, 2009

This has been our busiest year yet!

Ready to start a baking lesson!

And one of the most fun activities has been providing culinary tourism experiences for Japanese tourists through our partnership with Prince Edward Tours.

Preparing fresh rhubarb for a pie

During our afternoons at Maplethorpe, we have concentrated on pie making. Although we North Americans might view making a pie as fairly mundane, this is a new and interesting experience for most Japanese!

Making pie crust

The type of pie we make depends on seasonal availability of local fruit. We started out in the Spring making rhubarb pies. Our Japanese guests did it all, from picking and cleaning the fresh rhubarb through to the finished pie. We have followed PEI’s seasons, moving through strawberries to raspberries and presently are working with blueberries. I can’t wait for the Fall to bring us fresh PEI apples…maybe I can come up with a recipe for cranberry pie, too!

Finishing the decoration of a rhubarb pie

Through the afternoon at Maplethorpe, our tourist guests truly become friends! As the pies bake we talk about the differences and similarities in our lives. We share a pot of tea and take a tour of our home, including the    vegetable garden, chicken house and (of course!) the bed and breakfast rooms.

All ready to eat!

Surprisingly, our guests report that they have been able to take their pies home to Japan! What a great way to share the authentic taste of Prince Edward Island and truly share their vacation experience with friends and family.