Happy New Year!

New year, new beeginnings! 2011 was a whirlwind of new adventures. We are delighted with our new partnership with the Village Grocer which expanded its store at its new location in
Unionville in July.
Life is a circle. Food was the main focus of our store when we opened it in 1981 on Main Street, Unionville. It was aptly called The Queen's Pantry as we were housed in the old Queen's Hotel. We sold bulk food (we were quasi-hippies in those days) and a variety of cheeses, breads and "gourmet items". This was 4 years before the Village Grocer had come to our area. Within a year, we expanded to include a tea room and some kitchenware. Within 5 years, we took over the entire ground floor of the hotel and added home furnishings to the mix. The Unionville/Markham area had exploded with the housing market boom. At this point, we focussed on developing our interior design business.
In 1998, we purchased the building on 19th Avenue in Markham and renamed it The Queensbridge Mill. We now had 7,000 square feet where we could showcase home furnishings in themed room settings. We also created a seminar room in the basement where we could host courses on design, entertaining and cooking--food never left our raison d'etre. From day one, our cooking courses always sold out first. We were not trained chefs but good home cooks who loved to entertain by gathering around the table with family and friends to enjoy good food, good wine and good conversation.
With our background in design and our playful nature, our cooking classes were always based on a theme. An Evening in Paris featuring a Bistro menu became a standard around Valentine's Day. A Tuscan Harvest Feast was introduced after our first trip to Tuscany over ten years ago and continues to reappear as each visit to this beloved region of Italy introduces us to new recipes which we are anxious to share with our customer base. The possibilities are endless....Picnique en Provence...An Irish Winter Feast.....An Alfreco Dining Experience....
A Menu was created and the stage was set to evoke the ambience of menu's region of origin.
Food equalled fun and pleasure to us, appealing to all the senses.
Three years ago, we started to invite Evan Macdonald, owner of the Village Grocer when we were hosting the big holiday feasting cooking classes where the star of the meal was something outstanding from his butchery department; namely Turkey at Thanksgiving, Beef Wellington at Christmas, Ham at Easter. Evan dazzled us with his carving skills and entertained us with his stories. They were a big hit. These events become magical feasts brimming with good cheer and fabulous food. So needless to say, when the opportunity to create a state of the art cooking studio at the new Village Grocer, we jumped at the chance!
2012 marks the dream coming true! We will keep you posted.

We encourage you to create your own magical moments around the table with your family and friends.

Linda & Karen