This Just In: I’m Really Good at Getting Things for Free!

Myself, Margaret Webb & Ivy Knight

Be it a free plate of waffles & perfectly poached pears after a particularly delicious hangover brunch at Aunties & Uncles, free dessert after a particularly drunken dinner at the Drake Hotel, or an 8-course dinner with 25 of the most influential food journalists, critics, artisanal cheese-makers, wine aficionados, sommeliers, and more in our beautiful province of Ontario, I have discovered that I can officially add one more talent to my already vast list of talents (ha). In addition to being a fantastic parallel parker, I also am very good at getting things for free.

I came to Toronto a year & a half ago with no real plan or vision & and even emptier rolodex. I had no money, no furniture, no friends, and no real prospects. Little did I know that 15 months later, I’d be sipping maple-bourbon sours & discussing “the reach-around” (look it up!) around the fire on the Drake Hotel Sky Yard with the likes of Corey Mintz, Arlene Stein, Rebecca Leeheup, & the gentlemen behind Good Food Revolution.

This week brought a lot of unexpected surprise into my life; a celebrated engagement with one of New York’s most celebrated food writers, too many tequila shots with too many of Toronto’s most celebrated chefs, and a four day foie gras hangover. I toured the Cheese Boutique cheese cave with Donna Dooher, ate prosciutto with Adam Sachs, and chatted “who have you fucked at the Food Network” over lamb bacon with Ivy Knight. I gave Corey Mintz a throat lozenge (and would’ve shared my apo-benzydamine if he trusted me in the least, which he doesn’t). I met Margaret Webb, the author of “Apples to Orchards” (which I’ve been carrying around in my purse for over a month now) & shared stories about the Halifax Farmer’s Market. While the Terroir Hospitality Industry Symposium may have been great for my career, the after-party was great for my sex life.

Needless to say, Terroir & related activities were a vast improvement over the way I usually spend my week; making veal stew eight ways at George Brown College. Instead, I ate Jonathan Gushue’s five-meat-feat for lunch (Wellington County Beef Tongue, Eversprings Farms Guinea Hen Ballontine, Elmhirst Resort Black Angus Beef Brisket, & Langdon Hall’s Blackbow Farms Cotechino) elbow to elbow with Chef John Lee and compared hangovers with Ancaster Old Mill’s Jeff Crump. I still owe Malcolm Jolley $10.

The purpose of this seemingly incredibly conceited blog post was not actually to make you all jealous who didn’t attend this week’s shit-show that was Terroir (although, I certainly can’t blame you for being mustard greens with envy). On the contrary, it was actually written with the purpose in mind to publicly thank those who have made the past four days possible for me (most notably, the ever-incredible Arlene Stein). At lunch with Chef Deborah Reid today over $7 green curry at Salad King, she put things into perspective for me: what I am doing by attending these events & engaging these people in conversation (whatever it be about) is like gardening. I am planting seeds. I have planted seeds with some very important people in the Ontario hospitality industry & beyond, but I need to not get over-zealous, as when you plant a seed there is often a long period of fruition before harvest. Good things will come of the fruits (get it?) of my labour, and if they don’t, I can always just drown my sorrows by swimming in a sea of Ivy Knight’s acclaimed ecstasy.

Word on the street is that she gets the best price in town.

Ivy Knight (food writer), Anthony Rose (Executive Chef, The Drake Hotel), John Lee (Proprietor of Chippy’s, former Susur General Manager), and David Mitton (Terroir’s #1 Good-Looking Man, and also Co-Owner of The Harbord Room)

For more photos of the Terroir After-Party & Ivy Knight’s slutty corset, click here.