Rosemary Lemon Arctic Char

By the time a girl turns 35, you'd think she would know how to gut a fish. Well... 

Yesterday was my birthday and for the occasion I took a very special fish out of the freezer. A couple months ago, my dear friend Alana brought me a frozen Arctic Char all the way from Nunavut. She lives in Iqaluit, which in my mind is almost like living on another planet since, like many Canadians, I know embarrassingly little about life in the North. The fish was caught by a local in Gjoa Haven, given to Alana's boyfriend, and thanks to Alana, managed to make its way to Victor Avenue in downtown Toronto. Now that is a fish with a story! Since I've never gutted a fish in my life, Alana gave me a fish gutting 101 primer, and I managed to get the job done. See it in its full gory glory in my video below, but if you're squeamish, you may want to skip this one…

It was a very special birthday celebration, with a most amazingly delicious cake made by my roommate Julie. Julie is a hat maker (see her website here) and an expert in natural dyes, using various plants and flowers to create gorgeous colourful scarves, wools, and other fabrics. So she made an ombre cake, naturally dyed with strawberries and blackberries, and complete with a meringue frosting, and lemon curd between the layers. It was simply sublime. So today, I feel a little older and wiser (since I now know how to gut a fish), and extremely thankful for my lovely friends who made my birthday feel so magical!

And speaking of feeling grateful…  Thank you so much to everyone for all the wonderful feedback and kudos about the Saveur nomination. You've been so kind and supportive, and I appreciate you helping me get the word out about the online voting! There are only 6 days to vote - so click HERE if you haven't cast your vote yet - my video is called Baba au Rhum, in the best single food video category. And do be sure to look at the other videos, there are some wonderful ones in the running. My personal favourite is the cranberry cider video. But the one about the guy catching the ginormous fish by sticking his hand right in its mouth is pretty awesome too, yowzers!