Mary F. Williamson of Toronto, Ontario says:

Our party of six began in the garden where we sipped white wine, gin & tonics and nibbled on cheese cookies and garden tomatoes stuffed with marinated feta cheese at 6:30pm. We had our dinner inside with the French doors open to the outdoors and smoking BBQ. Our guests included Thomas Sharp, CBE, and his wife Margaret, Baroness of Guildford, who had arrived in Canada on Friday evening.

They will be serving: Cold leek and Stilton soup; marinated flank steak, roasted garlickey potatoes and fresh minted peas; Ontario peach tart with glaze topping.

Rhonda McCarron of Antigonish, Nova Scotia says:

An annual event, we gathered together with 10 friends and enjoyed an entire menu of local food and wine! These friends are fello sheep and dairy farmers, and now that first cut hay is in, enjoyed an evening out.

They will be serving: We began with an appetizer of St. Mary’s Smokehouse smoked local salmon. Followed by slow roasted beef roasts, grilled on the barbeque rotisserie for five hours! Potatoe salad, made with PEI spuds and eggs from a St. Andrews, Antigonish Co. producer. Marinated Annapolis valley carrots and romaine and strawberry (local) salad. To add to the meal Jost wine, made in Malagash, NS was served; a Comtessa white wine and Cote de Bras d’Or red, made with grapes grown in Marble Mountain, Cape Breton. Dessert was a choice of fresh strawberry shortcake, all local and unfortunately the last berries of this season, or blueberry pie made with Cape Breton blueberries with local dairy whipping cream. We are lucky in this area of Northeastern Nova Scotia in that there is a great deal of local meat, seafood and produce. The salmon is available in grocery as well as speciality stores. The beef from a fellow farmer who raises grass fed cattle. The carrots and potatoes are too readily available at grocery stores. The strawberry’s were from two local producers, of which there are a number within a close area. One producer is organic! The blueberries were frozen from the crop of last August. The wines, both very local, can be purchased at Nova Scotia Liquor Commission stores or on site at Jost Vineyards in Malagash, NS

Laurie Todd of Winnipeg, Manitoba says:

The two of us are looking forward to a relaxing evening, sitting on our wooden swing in the backyard, enjoying the colourful vista of a multitude of perrenials, butterflies, and Bluejays. After our evening walk with the dog, and when it becomes dark, we will sit by the outdoor woodstove, watching the flames dance while inhaling the intoxicating aroma of lilies and flox from our garden.

They will be serving: Our menu includes such celebrated Manitoba foods as BBQ’d pickerel, drizzled with olive oil and parsley, & grarnished with lemon. The fish is complemented by green beans and Yukon Gold potatoes fresh picked and dug this morning . For dessert, homemade vanilla soy ice cream with strawberries and drizzled with Manitoba maple syrup. The fish came from Sveinsons, a local fisher, in Gimli, on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg. Located eighty kilometres north of Winnipeg, the town and surrounding area is home to the largest Icelandic population outside of Iceland.The green beans and Yukon Gold potatoes were harvested from the Van Berg farm just north of Winkler, Manitoba. We found their vegetables at St. Norbert’s Farmer’s Market, a thriving gathering place for as many as 100 vendors, featuring Manitoba grown flowers, baking, crafts, and produce kissed by the prairie summer sun.The organic parsley and lemon came from Organza Organic foods on Winnipeg’s vibrant Corydon Avenue. The vanilla soy ice “cream” is homemade, and we handpicked the strawberries from our own backyard. The Manitoba Maple syrup comes from Vic’s, a vendor down the road from us, famous for the quality of their locally produced food and produce.

Kathy Harness of Portage la Prairie, Manitoba says:

Family BBQ at the lake

They will be serving: Manitoba steak, grilled vegetables (carrots, corn, peppers) potatoes on the BBQ and fruit salad for dessert Beef at Local grocery store — Co-op and the local farmers market for vegetables and fruit stand along highway for fruit

ELEANOR MORRIS of Southwestern, Ontario says:

hI; The Elora Morris’ will be in Ottawa visiting family!!! So the party will involve the 4 adults and 2 hungry little boys!! It will be in a great back yard in west Ottawa - though these folks still call it Napean!

They will be serving: While I’m not in charge at this point - I will be promoting the best barbeque with beef concept - and I know it will not be a hard sell! Well- we will likely go to the Ottawa market - as we plan to see the Art gallery and the like as well!! Please take care!! Eleanor

Rhonda Coupland of Manitoba says:

There will be about 30 of us at Lake William for the weekend in tents and campers. Ages 9 months to 60. Family and Friends long weekend get together.

They will be serving: Steak - potatoes/carrots/onions/mushrooms butter tarts and a beverage The steak is from a homegrown beef. Potatoes, carrots and onions are from a market garden.

jayne Lloyd-Jones of Vancouver, BC says:

It’ll be a barbecue on our flower filled deck with family and friends

They will be serving: We’ll be serving fresh local fruits and veggies bought from our local fruit stall (Locally know as Brian the berry man), along with wild salmon steaks and barbecued ribs. (Got some good ideas from reading the other entries!) Brian the berry man has his stall on Marine Drive and 31st in West Vancouver and buys daily from the Fraser Valley / Okanagan.

Maurice Landriault of Northern, Ontario says:

WE are having a back yard family BBQ

They will be serving: Roast of Beef BBQ Rotisserie Bison Meat Balls BBQ served in sweet & sour Sauce Bake Potato Spinich Salad - cucumber Purple Beans Goat Cheese sauce for the purple beans Carrot Cake Charolais beef-raised in Temiskaming from Rural New Liskeard area - Quality Meat Store New Liskeard -Bison-raised in Temiskaming- -Viande Biz Meats from Earlton. -Purple Bean Rural New Liskeard -New Liskeard’s Farmers Market Goat cheese -direct Sales Earlton Spinich and Cucumbers -New Liskeard’s Farmer’s Market Potatoes - New Liskeard’s Farmers Market Cake Cake - New Liskeard’s Farmers Market

Lynda Elsenheimer of Edmonton, Alberta says:

At Wizard Lake while camping, 2 friends and I are barbecuing Alberta beef steaks over a campfire! I’ve pre-seasoned them and then frozen them for ease of transport.

They will be serving: Camp food - so baked potatoes in foil over or in the fire and a bagged salad mix from the store! So no special ingredients or recipes - just tender delicious Alberta Beef!! Yeah! Just at the local Sobey’s store in my neighbourhood!

Rick & Ramona Sierens of Manitoba says:

We will be in Lee River, MB. barbequeing with my sister and her family, right after an afternoon of water-skiing and golf.

They will be serving: Manitoba born and raised beef,fresh garden potatoes,peas,carrots,beans, and onions. Our freind is a beef producer from Somerset Manitoba, and he supplies the best beef and it was butchered locally.We grew the veggies in our own garden.

Murray & Brenda Calder of Southwestern, Ontario says:

Sauble Beach Poplar Street Party

They will be serving: An annual event featuring lobster and steak with all the neighbourhood participating! It is potluck surrounding the lobster and steak - all Canadian, of course!!

Joy Shinn of Charlottetown, PEI says:

August 1st is a community strawberry social for our neighbourhood, but that might be a bit of a stretch, so we’ll plan a “real” BBQ for Canada Day #2 with our good friends and neighbours on Irwin Dr.

They will be serving: Summertime in PEI means the simplest cooking - steamed mussels and clams, with fresh herbs, pan seared scallops and BBQ salmon (with fig balsamic - I’m addicted) complimented of course with PEI potatoes - garlic smashed is my new favourite way to prepare them. If we’re cruising around we’ll pick up seafood at the wharf. Potatoes are from FoodTrust farmers and the herbs come straight from our garden, as well as some lettuce. (This is our first year growing blue potatoes, but they’re pretty small, yet).

Kelly Bettschen of Saskatchewan says:

A small get together of family at the farm.

They will be serving: Steak Potatoes Carrots Garlic toast steak - from the farm (butchered and cut locally) potatoes and carrots - fresh from the garden Garlic toast - homemade bread with butter and garlic on top

Leanne Freitag of Southwestern, Ontario says:

We will be interior camping in Algonquin Park, party of 4.

They will be serving: Since we have to carry everything in our backpacks (no refridgeration), the menu is limited to Red Hots on the grill over the fire. Heinz ketchup and tortilla wraps will accompany the fine Canadian cuisine Zehrs

Therese Beaulieu of Ottawa, Ontario says:

It’s becoming a tradition to go “up north” for the long weekend. This time, we have the christening of a wonderful baby girl to attend.

They will be serving: Though I do not organize most of it, we expect steaks, hamburgers, corn on the cob, various salads, maybe a dessert made with blueberries and/or raspberries, an all-around Canadian meal - produced locally as much as possible. The beef comes from my brother’s farm, vegetables from mom’s garden and a neighbour’s corn field. We love buying fresh and local!

Reg Pelletier of Niagara Falls, Ontario says:

Well it’s not quite a party but it is the Canadian Open BBQ Championships being held in Barrie Ontario. Our team the BBQ Boyz out of Niagara Falls will be attempting to defent the Championships we won last year, wish us luck.

They will be serving: our beef entry will consist of a 12-14lb AAA beef brisket that has been rubbed with our own blend of herbs spices then marinated for 12 hrs. it will go on the smoker for about 14 hrs total with peach and oak wood smoke to flavour it. our on site judging plate will consist of the BBQ’d beef brisket, grilled new potatoes, grilled mushrooms, pickel fans and cornbread Niagara Falls IGA and the local farmers market

Dick Snyder (City Bites) of Toronto, Ontario says:

Four of us will be eating about eight differnt striploin steaks, each bought from a different Toronto butcher, in order to declare the finest artfully and respectfully aged, butchers and presented beef. We’ll be throwing in something from Dominion for the wild card, but don’t hold out much hope for it. The ratings will appear in the fall issue of City Bites.

They will be serving: Striploins for the most part. Sides will come from Chic-A-Biddy Acres, a nearby CSA (Community Shared Agriculture) farm; we pick up our fresh share on Friday! The steak rub is Ted Reader’s Great Canadian Steak Rub. It’s awesome! Ingredients for the rub all came from Kensington Market. The wine will be various: Burgundies brought back from Burgundy, Canadian wines from Henry of Pelham and perhaps Malivoire and Thirty Bench. The veg from Chic-A-Biddy. We love you Anita!

Sandra Kochan of Kelowna, BC says:

A few good friends, several bottles of fabulous Okanagan wine, an overly large barbecue, and a small urban deck. We’ll send you some pictures!

They will be serving: I’m just starting to plan the meal so the menu isn’t firm yet, but it will include halibut, snapper and salmon caught by my friend Phred (that’s Fred with a ph) a couple of weeks ago off the coast at Banfield, BC. Since it’s soft fruit and berry season here in the Okanagan, all of that wonderful fish will be accompanied by some fresh peach salsa, an organic greens salad, some locally grown nugget potatoes and for dessert, definitely some home-made raspberry or blueberry icecream! We’ll be sipping on Okanagan wines, including Lake Breeze’s fabulous 2004 Semillon, some CedarCreek Chardonnay, and whatever else may make its way to the table. For dessert, it will be definitely be Raven Ridge Cidery’s wonderful Granny Smith Iced Cider. all local

Janice Cournoyer of Manitoba says:

We will be having our second BBQ to benefit the farmers. I have decided to have a harvest BBq with the whole neighborhood invited . I will have a horseshoe , lawn darts, and lawn bowling tournamant with the proceedds going to help out farmers.

They will be serving: Corn on the Cob, BBq beef ribs, cole slaw, Carrots, BBQ chicken, Fresh raspberies, saskatoons and strawberries for dessert. Potatoes will be baked on the BBq in foil. These ingredients all come from my garden or from Peak of the market produce from manitoba farmers.

John Dueckman of Vancouver, BC says:

We will be camping with friends

They will be serving: Hamburgers Alberta! i.e. beef.

dee Hobsbawn-Smith of Calgary, Alberta says:

at a writing retreat, with a dozen other Canadian writers, none of whom I know yet. We will be in southern Sask., and I don’t know yet what i will cook, but i am a cook, so i will feed the people I am with.

They will be serving: we will know that day. in regina, in lumsden, maybe at a farmgate stand if i see one.

Bea Broda Connolly of Metro Toronto, Ontario says:

This is a birthday party Barbeque!

They will be serving: We have some vegetarians in our midst and that’s great, because so many wonderful vegetarian items can be BBQ’d, tasting better than they would have cooked any other way. Our eggplant, zucchini and peppers will be painted with extra virgin olive oil and be sprinkled with balsamic vinegar and Montreal steak spice. Sometimes I just spray the vegetables with a healthy oil spray. The veggie chicken patties and regular chicken cutlets will be treated in a similar way, but will be later adorned with Original Bulls Eye steak sauce. Naturally, the menu will be filled with local cheeses, sliced tomatoes and exotic olives from Italy. For dessert, a strawberry mousse cake (for the birthday boy!) surrounded by BBQ’s Ontario strawberries. I always favour local markets that have happily sprung up from the countryside to the parking lots of nearby malls. Give me a few weeks and much of it would come from my own garden!

Sally McMullen of Guelph, Ontario says:

It is an intimate party of four over a nice campfire in Algonquin Park. With only that Lake, the wildlife and a few other canoeists in our midst. We will have a Canada Flag sticking out a tree on our camp site as well as sewn into our backpacks.

They will be serving: Due to the circumstances we’ll be dining on “Maple Leaf Top Dogs”, made in Canada from Canadian Hogs. They will be wrapped in tortillas and have a very spicy lentil spread as garnish. We also like to garnish with tomatoes, which like the spices in the lentil spread, come from the farmers market in Guelph.

Zenneth Faye of Saskatchewan says:

We are on the farm in Sask. and have cattle, so we are trying to make hay to feed them this winter, so our Barbeque will be out in the Hay Field. We will haveour friends out there who are helping us all stoping the Haying operation to enjoy the Baebeque.

They will be serving: BEEF of course and sliced potatoes with mushrooms and onions all wrapped in tin foil (the potatoes) and barbequed . We will alos have Barbequed Sweet cob corn, and Saskatoon pie for desert. Beef from our cattle herd potatoes from our own garden corn from our friends in Alberta Saskatoons fresh from our own Saskatoon wild patch in the hay meadow

Cory Clack-Streef of Metro Toronto, Ontario says:

We’re hosting a 4th Generation BBQ — Grandma [96], Mom [won’t let me disclose age], myself [I won’t tell either] and my daughters [12, 8 and 5] will cook up a storm using the finest Canada has to offer. We salute you on your efforts — we represent several Ontario farmers through our business and also at home as my husband is a Ontario potato grower — we’re thrilled to support this event!

They will be serving: Canadian grilled rib-eye steaks, Ontario new potatoes, Ontario green beans with chopped pecans, cranberries. Ceasar salad. We will also be featuring peaches for dessert — one is a Caramel Peach Poutine which is a peachy twist on a French Canadian favourite [peaches, caramel sauce and marscapone cheese] and our second is a grilled angel food cake topped with mixutre of peaches, cherries, raspberries, blueberries and a dollop of whipped cream. All ingredients are grown in Ontario!

Anita Stewart of Southwestern, Ontario says:

It’s going to be fabulous…down in Mabou, Cape Breton.

They will be serving: Have to see what’s going to be available but likely we’ll do some seafood. Without question The Red Shoe Pub will be a one part of a fabulous evening. Have even bought red shoes for the occasion. Local, local, local!!!!

GAIL WHITWORTH of Vancouver, BC says:

A celebration to mark my parents 59th anniversary, my 29th and my son’s first.

They will be serving: garlic grilled prawns, lemon and brown sugar barbequed salmon strawberry spinach salad crudites and artichoke dip fresh fruit the prawns and salmon were fished or caught at Pender Harbour BC The berries and vegetables are fresh Fraser Valley local