News

5000 Pounds of Food!

Mon, 2 Apr 2012 16:43:45 -0700

As many of our friends, family, facebook fans and twitter followers are aware, from March 15 -31st, all departments at Manteo Resort have been in competition to gather the most food and the most funds all to be donated to the Kelowna Food Bank. No stone was unturned in our efforts to have the ‘sales department’ defeat ‘front desk’ or for the ‘ Wild Apple kitchen team’ to outwit the sales department for food r cash donations. At stake....department pride AND dinner prepared and served by the losers. The real winner is the Kelowna Food Bank with a cash donation of $4,500 and over 5,000 lbs of non-perishable food items.

In a convoy of vans and a trailer, representatives from Manteo Resort delivered the food and cheque to the Food Bank on Monday, April 2nd.

Thank you to everyone who participated and contributed to make this over-the-top donation possible!

Kelowna Food Bank Media Release
“Manteo’s donation couldn’t have been timelier,” says Rob Weller Kelowna Food Bank Operations Manager. “Typically, food donations drop off from January to May; holes start to appear on the warehouse shelves. In the past we have had to reduce our hampers or substitute certain staples in order to stretch our inventory through winter.”

Weller says that demand at the food bank is steady this spring with between 75 and 100 households helped per day. “Manteo’s donation will help stock our shelves until our Christmas in July campaign starts. This is a significant cash donation; with our three times purchasing power we will be able to buy $13,500 in fresh produce, milk and eggs.”

Robyn Sigurdson, Manteo Pastry Chef was inspired to help following the Food Bank’s presentation at the Okanagan Chefs Association dinner meeting in January. “A group of us built Christmas hampers and helped distribute them last December. It was fun to give back, but I wanted to do more.”

Sigurdson recruited her team of apprentices and challenged the resort’s other departments. “It was a staff initiated two week food drive that was fully supported by our managers and suppliers. It was a great team building event; we are planning to do it again next March.”

Earth Hour 2012

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:16:47 -0700

We’re celebrating Earth Hour - Saturday, March 31st by going completely dark from 8:30 pm - 9:30 pm and we’re encouraging everyone to take the EarthHour pledge and ‘switch off’ for an hour and turn off non-essential lights and electronics for one hour. By taking the pledge you are entered to win a weekend for two at Manteo Resort which includes two nights accommodation and a $150 credit at Wild Apple Restaurant.

Take the Earth Hour Pledge.

And since we’re in the dark, we thought it would be fun to feature a candle-lit romantic ‘picnic’ menu in the Wild Apple Restaurant. Our Earth Hour menu is available from 5:00 - 10:00 pm on March 31st only. Make your reservations and visit us this Earth Hour.

Check out our ‘picnic’ menu.

Chef Bernard - Always a teacher

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 13:42:54 -0800

Our award winning Chef Bernard loves to teach. One of his favourite things is to mentor the young cooks that come into his kitchen and he’s always quick to share a tip to make the jobs in the kitchen easier.

Every Tuesday, we’ve begun our ‘Tips Tuesday’ on our facebook page with a helpful tip from the kitchen of Chef Bernard Casavant.

Week 1 was a tip on how to have "No Tears when cutting onions!" by simply running the cold water tap, using a sharp knife, and cutting the onions next to the sink. He also suggested whistling while you work :-) as this helps to keep the offensive air borne ascorbic acid from contacting your eyes. How easy is that? Another week he shared the secret for great bbq steaks!

You can read all about these tips from Chef Bernard every Tuesday on our facebook page - facebook.com/wildapplemanteo

On our toes for Pirouette 2012

Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:05:16 -0800

We were very pleased to join five other Okanagan chefs in preparing an unbelievable meal for the Ballet Kelowna signature fundraiser, Pirouette. Ballet Kelowna is one of only 10 professional ballet companies in the entire country and we are so fortunate to have this art form in our own community. Pirouette is their major fundraiser for the year and includes a five course sit-down dinner paired with award winning local wines. The team at Manteo Resort was responsible for the appetizers for the Welcome Reception and we took that seriously as it ‘sets the tone’ for this amazing upscale evening.

Chef Bernard Casavant and Danny Capadouca, Restaurant Chef along with their team did an outstanding and delicious presentation featuring:
Duck Rillette Profiterole; Hysop Crab Apple Chutney
Smoked Organic Tofu Sushi Roll; Star Anise Glaze, Radish Cress
Pressed Shredded Pork Cheek Terrine; Harkers Santa Rosa Plum Glaze; Rosemary Gastrique; Chive ‘Frieco’ Chip

The Manteo team also assisted Sandrine Raffault-Martin of Sandrine French Pastry & Chocolate with the delicious dessert course.

The dinner not only earned rave reviews for the ‘world-class’ event, it was a great opportunity to work with our fellow chefs and raised a much needed and appreciated $126,000 for Ballet Kelowna.

To learn more about Ballet Kelowna visit their website.

Be Happy!

Sat, 21 Jan 2012 13:06:30 -0800

‘Be Happy’ is a partnership between eight North American conservation organizations that believe your seafood choices matter and can make a positive difference in the world’s oceans.

When fish are caught or farmed in ways that protect the ocean, that’s something all seafood lovers can be happy about.

Codfather’s Seafood here in Kelowna is a great source of sustainable seafood and they along with the Be Happy campaign inspired Chef Bernard to get a little silly and happy with his sustainable seafood. The Be Happy campaign encourages us to show our ‘fish face’ in support of their efforts.

To learn more about how your seafood choices impact the ocean, and to discover what various conservation organizations are doing about it, please visit their websites:

Blue Ocean Institute – http://www.blueocean.org/seafood
David Suzuki Foundation – http://www.davidsuzuki.org/
FishWise – http://www.fishwise.org/
Monterey Bay Aquarium – http://www.seafoodwatch.org/
New England Aquarium – http://www.neaq.org/seafood
SeaChoice – http://www.seachoice.org/
Shedd Aquarium – http://www.sheddaquarium.org/rightbite
Ocean Wise – http://www.oceanwise.ca/