(Deep-fried poached egg! from Rundles Restaurant) Stratford, Ontario : You may know it as home to the annual theatre festival , but did you know it was recently named “Canada’s hottest food destination” by AOL.ca? With a farmers market dating back to 1855, and home to the Stratford Chefs School , the pretty city is now making a name for itself as more than Justin Bieber’s hometown (yes, it’s true and if you’re a fan, you can tour Stratford using the “ Bieberiffic map ”). (Croissants from Rundles; Nutty Pop) Recently, I sampled some of the culinary delights on offer in Stratford and met some faces behind the food. Highlights included: foraging for barn lunch ingredients at a certified organic produce farm, feeding wild boar (that would also end up on our plates!), tasting tea and pies, making candy and touring a dairy - there’s something for everyone. From April through October, the Stratford Tourism Alliance offers specially designed culinary packages with a variety of activities including those I took part in. Stratford will be hosting the third annual Perth County Culinary Week . Starting on September 18th with the Stratford Garlic Festival , followed by a week of tastings, workshops and special dinners, the celebrations culminate in the Savour Stratford Culinary Festival on September 25th and 26th. Throughout the Festival there will be plenty of free events - a farmers market, artisan stalls and culinary events - along the bank of the Avon River. Local foods and snacks will be available too, so you can relax on the lawn and enjoy musical entertainment. You need to upgrade your Flash Player to 9 or greater Guest Blogger Mardi Michels is a full-time French teacher and part-time food blogger based in Toronto. Her blog, eat.live.travel.write focuses on culinary adventures both near and far because she travels as often as she can! Related: Cooking Ateliers at ArtHome Paris - Tres Chic New Guest Blogger: Making Macarons in Paris

Notice the colour difference between liver from calf A (left) and liver from calf B (right) -- Can you guess which calf was raised on raw milk vs. pasteurized milk? Truth be told, I get invited my share of dinners although not as many as you may think. At the beginning I would say yes to pretty much any event that would have me. But after learning the hard way (hello, fat pants), I’m a bit more discerning now about the events I attend. Plus, I have a little one at home, so the event has to pretty darn special to get me out of my fat pants AND away from my son. That’s a looooong winded way of saying I wouldn’t have missed A Tale of Two Calves dinner at Cava Restaurant Tuesday night for anything. Dairy farmer and activist Michael Schmidt – he of the raw milk controversy – provided Chef Chris McDonald , owner/executive chef of Cava Restaurant, with two 5-month-old calves , born on the same day, but one was fed raw milk while the other was fed commercial pasteurized milk . Calf Comparison: Eye of Round and Tete De Veau Terrines - calf A on top and to the right of the plate Would there be a taste difference? That’s exactly what the 70 or so people packed inside Cava Restaurant, including Sean Heather (AKA Mayor of Gastown, who flew in from Vancouver for the event), were there to find out. Michael didn’t even tell Chef Chris which was which. The two calves were handed to him simply labelled A and B. Chef Chris decided to start with the organs since he figured the differences would be most noticeable. He immediately noticed during his prep of the first dish – calf livers “anticuchos” – that calf B’s liver was redder, bigger and firmer than calf A’s. As you can see in the picture above, A is definitely grayer in colour; there was also a huge taste difference. I found A more subtle in taste whereas B was more intense in flavour and firmer in texture. While I preferred the taste of B, I was pretty convinced that A was the calf raised on raw milk since the taste was more subtle. Then it was on to the next course – Calf Comparison: Eye of Round with Line Caught Albacore Sauce and Tete De Veau Terrines. Here things got a bit confusing. Both Elana and I preferred the terrine of A – more flavourful but liked the eye of round of Calf B better. It was less mealy and had a better flavour. I did notice calf A was a bit greyer in colour overall. At this point I felt less confident about A...

(Top right: Cherie, Lynn and Joey; bottom right: Lynn gets an ovation at the end of the first Friends and Family night; bottom left: Lynn and Elana.) Mmmmmmmmmmmm....!! I'm still savouring the yummy yumminess of my scrumptious dinner at Celebu-Chef (she'll hate me for calling her that) Lynn Crawford 's new resto , Ruby WatchCo , in Toronto's East end ( website is under construction.) Before opening their doors a few weeks ago, the team -- which actually consists of three partners: Lynn Crawford, Cherie Stinson (Yabu Pushelberg, Restaurant Makeover ) and Cherie's husband, Joey Skeir -- held a few run-through dinners for friends and family, to work out the kinks. I was lucky to attend the first of these two nights, and my belly, heart and mind are happy to report that there are no kinks to be had. Following our abundant meal (I went with my husband, CJ was on vacation in Mexico) we were asked to fill out a questionnaire about our experience. Isn't that a great idea? I think every restaurant should do this on opening night. Anywho, save for leaving mucky finger prints all over the paper, my comments were only that the service was somewhat tenuous -- it was their first night! -- and the cheese in the cheese plate was a bit too robust for my taste (I do work in the industry -- a token amount of criticism is only right.) Save for that, the meal was superb. Lynn and partner in the kitchen, Chef Lora Kirk (previously of Truffles), have settled on a seasonal , family-style line-up, changing nightly, as well as with the bounty of the local markets. (If you're not into surprised, the resto will start posting the evening's menu on their site, as soon as it's up.) Don't forget, Lynn is fresh off her tour of the men and women behind the foods we love, in her hit show Pitchin' In . This no doubt had a hand in the direction she took with Ruby WatchCo, the small kitchen of which Lynn says, "...could not accommodate the kind of highbrow, a la carte cuisine, of the likes of the Four Seasons." No indeed, there was no foam, or 'pearls' of soup to be had. We started off with a light and tangy beet and walnut salad, followed by a classic roast chicken accompanied by a Brussels sprout and panchetta medley, two-colour carrots, roast potatoes and homemade biscuits with homemade butter. Following that indulgence, we were served a cheese plate with honey and apple compote, and the dessert: a hot chocolate mess -- of awesomeness! I loitered for a bit around the butcher block serving station...