I returned to Ottawa this year to visit the Sparks Street PoutineFest. It was a joy of a trip (and you can read more about it here and here). As always, a little conversation goes a long way, and I am delighted to share this edited snippet from the episode of Fingers in Pies that I recorded there.

I was speaking to Hung Ha about their poutine and the festival when he mentioned that his family had been Vietnamese refugees with a dream of a new life and their own pho restaurant. I spoke to both Hung Ha at their food truck and his father Ha Van Trung at their Pho restaurant.

Fingers in Pies will be back weekly in the New Year and I have some exciting guests and plans. So watch this space, and for now, have a listen!

Fingers in Pies Podcast on Ottawa, Poutine and Pho – An Edited Excerpt

So, my parents are part of the Vietnamese boat people where they escaped the Vietnam War in 1982. The boat they were in landed in Hong Kong. They were there in a refugee camp there. We were very fortunate that Canada had a sponsorship program, and sponsored my parents over. They had a place to stay. Continue reading

I was in Dublin last week and, as I always do, I popped in to Picado Mexican to see Lily Ramirez Foran. Except this time I was armed with my microphone and laptop to record my podcast. We had a great chat about Lily’s life in food and favourite dishes. Her family were third generation tortilla makers but Lily rejected a life in food for a career, only to turn this around to a career in food when she moved to Ireland to be with her husband Alan. Lily is now the Irish authority on Mexican food, and I am delighted to share our chat with you. 

We talked everything from Mexico to Japan (where she met Alan) to Ireland. And of course we talk about Day of the Dead, Mexican Breakfast, Mezcal and Tequila among many other things. 

(Irish folks – you will notice that I temporarily mangle the Calvita and Galtee cheese boxes in my head – before you tell me :) ). 

Enjoy and I would be so grateful if you took a few minutes to review it on iTunes – thanks!

Fingers in Pies Season 1 Episode 2 – Lily Ramirez Foran – Excerpt

I’ve been living in Ireland for 18 years. I will soon be living here longer than I ever lived in Mexico which is a very scary thought. I always think that I don’t come from a food background and I don’t know why. This is so bizarre because I would have been a fourth generation tortilla baker like my great grandfather, my grandfather and my father. Almost everybody in my family makes tortillas for a living. I grew up helping in the business. So I suppose if you want to define Mexico about one particular or one singular dish you’ll always have to say tortillas because it’s like our bread and the basics for almost everything we eat.

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I am so very excited to tell you that my new podcast, Fingers in Pies is finally live. It has been a long time coming. I first started planning it 5 years ago, I bought the kit 4 years ago, and I invited my first guest 4 years ago too. I have spoken of it often since. Life intervened and I was never really in a space to get it moving. Until now.

I got back to my first guest this summer, Asma Khan. Asma is one of my favourite people in food in London and I have had so many great chats with her over the years. I asked Asma again if she would still be my first guest. I was keen to share her passion, joy and knowledge with you. This was before I heard that she would be the first British based chef on Netflix Chef’s Table. I am so excited for her.

Asma moved to the UK after her marriage. She moved in winter in the bitter cold. She had never experienced cold like that, and had never been so lonely. She didn’t yet know how to cook, and she shares with us her journey from cold and lonely immigrant, hungry for home and community to author, restaurant owner in Soho in London and soon to be, Netflix star.

Fingers in Pies Podcast Episode 1: Asma Khan of Darjeeling Express

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