Profile of Karl Wells

All articles of Karl Wells

• Slow beats fast - sometimes
  On Oct. 23, 2008, Sam Levin, a high school student from Massachusetts, spoke the following words: "We will be the generation that reunites ...
• Irish Inspired
  The venerable Irish newspaper, The Irish Times, has for the past several weeks been selling gift hampers through its website. One is called, St. ...
• Food for everyday
  I was watching Bal Arneson on a television program called "City Cooks" (that's City TV by the way). When asked by the host if her recipes were ...
• Sensational salt fish
  Zita Cobb of Fogo Island brought me some salted cod from the island the other day. On more than one occasion Zita and I have discussed our mutual ...
• Game and game delights
  I love game but I'm not a hunter. Just the thought of me pointing a gun at a rabbit, moose or any animal and pulling the trigger upsets me. ...
• Sampling Soy
  Here's something I bet you didn't know about soybeans. The inventor of the Model T, Henry Ford, was a huge promoter of soy way back in the 1920s ...
• See Red
  In the Hindi language it's known as degi mirch; in Turkish, pul biber. The Greeks call it piperia, while in Mandarin it's called tian jiao and in ...
• 'Food that Really Schmecks'
  I own over 300 cookbooks. I've been collecting them for about 30 years. The majority are American, but I also have Canadian food and cookery ...
• Fondue Fever
  Stabbing bits of meat onto the end of a long fork and sticking them in a pot of scalding oil while five or six other people do the same thing - ...
• Homage to the homely hamburger
  "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." That line spoken by Wimpy, one of my favourite characters from the old Popeye cartoons, was ...
• Karl's Top 10 of 2008
  The year 2008 was, without doubt, the best for restaurant dining I've experienced since the start of my career as The Telegram's food critic. ...
• Christmas spice
  When December snow was swirling about our house many Christmases ago, if I wasn't outdoors diving off tall snow banks onto lesser ones, there was ...
• Recipe for success
  In 1984, Dana McCauley told her high school guidance counsellor that she wanted to become a professional chef. His response was swift and firm. ...
• Canada's best food books - 2008
  Toronto's Royal Agricultural Winter Fair closed up shop this week for another year. Over 300,000 visitors checked out the 86-year-old event ...
• In Praise of Fatback
  Alice Waters is a pioneer of Californian cuisine. It's a way of eating based on fresh, seasonal ingredients and flavour. Recently I heard a quote ...
• Pheasant dreams
  Every now and then I like to stick my head into my freezer and have a good rummage through. It allows me to take stock of whatever goodies I ...
• Tasting Turmeric
  I acquired a taste for turmeric early in life. At the time I didn't have a clue I was eating turmeric. When my age was still in single digits my ...
• The Wine Evangelist
  We were six for dinner, three couples. Tom Beckett and his wife Maureen had been regaling us with stories of a trip they'd made to India a few ...
• Lunch at the Garden
  The Tea Garden 328 CBS Highway Holyrood Phone (709) 229-7376 In the summers of my youth we took a lot of day trips around the bay. Sometimes ...
• Breakfast at Blue
  Blue on Water 319 Water Street Ph. 754-2583 Breakfast and supper are my favourite meals. I'm usually not very hungry at lunchtime. Besides, ...
• Chasing down
  Dining out - My stomach started rumbling the other day. Then a little voice in my head said, "Cantonese chow mein, chicken balls, almond soo guy, ...
• Savouring-Saffron
  Many years ago, I was introduced to one of Spanish cuisine's most wonderful dishes, paella. I was, at the same time, unavoidably introduced to ...
• Fresh Food for fido
  I was watching CNN the other day and saw a story about a lady in Atlanta, Ga., who opened a food bank for pets. Apparently, many pet owners in ...
• 'Downstairs' at Government House
  It's not been my privilege to meet the Queen and it's a pretty safe bet that I never will. My Aunt Mabel met her once, in the late '50s. I ...
• And now for something completely different
  I always thought that goofy bird puppet that Rod Hull performed with was an ostrich. Dumb me. It was an emu. Rod lived in Australia, so do emus. ...
• Face-off
  Most fish and chips historians will agree that the story of fish and chips began in England. And in dear old Blighty, where they have plaques for ...
• Eat your way through Bytown
  Ottawa's commercial bus tour guides can play fast and loose with the facts. On a recent sun-drenched day, myself and about 15 other tourists ...
• House party
  Dining out - I was seated under a beautiful domed ceiling supported by marble columns. Magnificent oil paintings depicting the Canadian landscape ...
• Born to Create
  I met Jonathan Gushue on a beautifully sunny August day in 1999, on an outdoor television set. I was doing a series of cooking segments at the ...
• Ambassadress of wine
  I have met a kindred spirit. We have similar interests in art, food and wine. She loves London. I love London. Yet, in her nine years in St. ...