I recently met with Molly and Andrew Hutchinson, the owners of Sharp My Knife, a mobile knife sharpening service that will drive right to your home or business to sharpen knives (or just about anything you have that's dull).

They've just started the business and are eager to get the word out about their new venture. I was very impressed with their service (as were the chef's at the shop). They were professional and prompt, and the fee is beyond reasonable ($5 for large knives and $3 for small).

The kitchen staff were thrilled to have their knives back in tip-top shape (as were my Mom and I, because we both brought in our home knives for sharpening, too!).

This service is great for small businesses like mine, as well as for home chefs who don't have the tools or the skills to properly sharpen their knives on their own.

Molly and Andrew will be at our shop from 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. on:

• Friday, November 5th, 2010
• Saturday, November 6th, 2010
• Saturday, November 27th, 2010

Bring in your knives if you're interested - $5 for large and $3 for small.

For more info, go to:

www.sharpmyknife.com

My good friend, Kelly, treated me to Michael Smith's new cookbook "the best of chef at home" for my birthday in August.

The book is packed with tons of great recipes. David and I love Indian food so I decided to make the dal with brown rice first. It's healthy, super easy and also very comforting now that the weather is a little cooler.

I doubled the recipe so that David would have some healthy lunches for work all week!

Michael Smith's dal

ngredients

• 2 cups red lentils OR yellow split peas
• 6 cups water
• 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large sweet onion or 2 regular sized onions, diced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons curry powder
• big handful of chopped fresh cilantro
• 1/2 - 1 jalapeno pepper, finely minced
• 1-2 tablespoons of "Braggs" soy condiment or tamari (optional)
• cooked brown rice, for serving

method

• In a large saucepan add the lentils, water, garlic, onion, salt and curry powder. Stir, cover and cook over medium-high heat until the mixture comes to a boil.
• Turn heat down to low and continue to cook (covered with tight fitting lid) until lentils and onions are soft, about one hour.
• Remove from heat and stir. Add the cilantro, jalapeno and Braggs. If not using Braggs or tamari, add additional salt to taste, if necessary.
• Serve over brown rice.

Please join us on Friday, October 15th, 2010 from 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. for our 2nd annual fall fundraiser.

Every spring, we hold a bake sale to benefit KidsAbility. Every fall, we host another event to benefit a "rotating" charity, and this year I chose National Service Dogs.

Instead of a bake sale, we're hosting a soup sale - we'll have a wide variety of soups, crackers and fresh bread available. ALL of the PROFITS from these items sold on Oct 15th will go to National Service Dogs.

National Service Dogs (NSD) is a local charity that is committed to enriching the quality of life and enhancing the independence of children and families living with autism and special needs by providing them with specially trained Labrador and Golden Retrievers.

Certified Autism Service Dogs increase safety levels and alleviate the bolting behaviours common in children with autism by acting as an anchor when tethered to the child.

Additionally, they increase the child’s attention span, improve socialization and behaviour skills and expand the child’s capabilities to experience more of life and to grow.

For more information on National Service Dogs, visit www.nsd.on.ca or become a fan on Facebook: National Service Dogs for Children with Autism.”

Please consider dropping by the store on Friday, October 15th to support this great cause.

Summerhill Market Pizza!

Save 15% off Summerhill Market's Pizza's, all month long! The regular price of the pizzas are $13.98, with the discount the pizza's are $11.88 including taxes.

We offer 7 varieties - my favourite is the margarita (tomato, mozzarella cheese and basil). Our best seller is the chicken, goat cheese and red pepper variety.

They are so easy to prepare - they cook from frozen!

This month's featured gift basket is...
The DORMWARMING package!
Get it? Dormwarming instead of housewarming, for all those students out there!

We have plenty of dormwarming packages already prepared in the shop, for easy gift giving (or, feel free to give us a call at 519-880-1555 and we can have your packaged delivered right to a dorm room or student house!)

Small size costs $39.98 (& tax) and it includes:
-cajun crunch snack mix, kettle corn, shorttbread, tortilla chips, salsa, reid's chocolate blackberry, rheo thompson candies mint smoothie bar, reid's tortoise chocolates.

Large size costs $74.98 (& tax) and it includes:
-everything that's in the small package, PLUS, praline nuts, pretzels, biscotti, hot chocolate, tea candy, brown sugar shorttbread and jelly bellies.

Be sure to stop by the shop to fill out a ballot for your chance to win one of the packages!

Our 6th year anniversary sale will be held on Friday, November 5th and
Saturday, November 6th.

Local home economist, food writer, recipe developer & cooking class instructor, Donna-Marie Pye, will be here on Saturday, November 6th, to sign copies of her latest cookbook, Slow Cooker Winners (Robert Rose, October 2010). Donna will also be offering yummy samples.

The cookbook features the best of North American regional cuisine as well as many globally inspired dishes representing cultures from around the world.

More details to follow in next month's newsletter...

One last thing – we’re hoping that all of you receiving this newsletter want to be on our distribution list.

If you would like to be removed from this list, please let me know and we will fulfill your request asap.