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Last week Mr. and I had the opportunity to attend a fundraising event called Take a Bite. Hosted by the Tuesday Night Food and Run Club, it’s a foodie event to raise awareness for the Take a Hike – Youth at Risk Foundation. Two local chefs, Trevor Bird from MARKET at Shangri-La and Leah Gamache from Chambar Restaurant, put together the evening’s menu and volunteer theirs and their helpers’ time for this event. Chef Leah unfortunately couldn’t come to the event herself, but she had prepared a couple of yummy desserts which I’ll touch on in a bit.

Event Benefiting the Take a Hike Youth at Risk Foundation

As soon as we arrived we were immediately greeted with rounds and rounds of bite-size items. With an empty stomach, I just started eating and completely forgot about pictures. By the time I remembered about the camera, it’s halfway through the event and some of the events were not being served already. What you won’t get to see in pictures are 1) Dried dates with goat cheese and walnut, 2) Pulled pork mini sliders, and 3) Deep fried chick peas mini sliders.

Chefs putting out mini sliders

It’s quite alright, because my favourite ones were still available and they were 1) Mushroom tarts, whose pastry outside was crispy and light.

Mushroom tarts

2) Butternut squash soup with crispy ginger slices – it might be an ordinary butternut squash soup, but the addition of crispy ginger slices gave it a kick, and another layer of texture.

Butternut squash soup with crispy ginger

3) Phyllo apple pie – in spring roll form, so perfect for a stand-up event like this one. It’s crispy and fluffy, although I personally would want the apple pieces to be more tart (Mr. thought they were just right). It’s something you can have a lot of!

Apple pie phyllo spring roll

While watching everyone working hard in the kitchen to prepare our food, I had a chance to speak with Chef Trevor Bird.

Chef Trevor not used to the camera flashes

He told me that he’s looking into opening a restaurant and although I can’t share with you what the concept is, I can tell you that I sense the passion in Chef Trevor. Keep an eye out for this new restaurant – I’d be curious to check it out.

Chef Trevor Bird (right) and his helpers including Nick and Clark

As mentioned Chef Leah produced two additional desserts and they were both great: 1) Pumpkin pie pops and 2) Sticky toffee pudding bites.

Pumpkin pie pops

I never knew I liked sticky toffee pudding until now, or I just like this bite-size version of it. It’s warm, sweet and sticky, all in one bite. Love the fact that it’s served in a spoon so it’s not messy at all.

Sticky toffee pudding bites

Mr. and I also had a chance to chat with Nick from Take a Hike, who showed us a photo slideshow of students enrolled in its programs. It’s amazing what they could accomplish as their teachers challenge them with different tasks along the way.

Jaydeen Williams, Executive Director of Take a Hike

All in all, it was a wonderful evening of eating and mingling. Great times had with K and L – all before we had to brave the snow outside…

Cheers with shots of butternut squash soup