MILO Anderson

Calgary Herald

Monday, February 06, 2012

CALGARY – Calgary’s food scene will once again get national exposure on the small screen as a local chef represents the city on the second season of Top Chef Canada.

Xavier Lacaze, 31, the executive chef of Muse Restaurant and Lounge in Kensington, was announced Monday as one of 16 competitors for the show, which premieres next month.

A fan of both the U.S. and Canadian versions of the cooking competition, Lacaze decided to give auditioning a shot while watching the first season last year.

“I hope they picked me because of my skills, maybe because I’m a foreigner trying to make it in Canada, maybe because of my personality,” Lacaze said.

The difference between watching the show and appearing on it, however, was a big shock to the chef.

“Most chefs are saying, ‘It’s going to be a piece of cake.’ But when facing a challenge, the pressure and the lack of time to prepare anything, it’s interesting to see what you can come up with,” he said. “I don’t know how I did it.”

Lacaze admits to being nervous and excited to see what will actually air on each episode.

“There was a lot of great cooking going on out there,” he said.

Lacaze has been living in Calgary for more than four years, moving here with his wife, whom he met while travelling.

Shortly after arriving in the city he began work at Muse, where he has been cooking dishes ever since.

Originally from the southwest part of France near Toulouse, Lacaze has eight years of training in classic French cuisine and says that influences his love of rich food – cooking with butter, foie gras and any type of duck.

Mostly, however, he says his cooking philosophy centres on flavour.

“I’m really focused on flavour, making sure I respect the product and give it as much flavour as possible.”

Lacaze follows in the footsteps of fellow Calgarians Rebekah Pearse and Charcut’s Connie DeSousa, who were both chosen to compete in the inaugural season of the show.

The finale – which featured DeSousa vying for the top prize against two other chefs – broke records for Food Network Canada as more than 400,000 people tuned in to watch Vancouver’s Dale MacKay claim the title.

This time, Lacaze is representing the city on his own.

“I feel lucky to represent Calgary,” he said.

With filming over, Lacaze is back at Muse and also busy helping care for his two-and-a-half-year old daughter while he and his wife expect the arrival of their second child any day.

The next season of Top Chef Canada premieres March 12 at 8 p.m. MT on Food Network Canada.

I’ve just posted CREB’s December Report on the current Real Estate Market. The summary graph is on page 10 of the report.

A posted entry on Robot Reviews:

“Does anybody remember me talking about Jeffry – my Roomba?  Every day at 2pm Jeffry springs into action, zooms around the condo, and generally tidies up the place. We come home to a very neat apartment.

“Today we were out all afternoon and we left Jeffry in charge of babysitting the dogs. Well, turns out we were out a bit longer than expected and poor Tori couldn’t contain herself.

“Jeffry knows how we feel about a mess on the floor. It doesn’t happen often but when it does happen, Tori gets in a lot of trouble. Jeffry knew just what to do. He zoomed over and did a prolonged “Spot Clean”. He swirled and twirled and circled forward and back until the mess was gone.

“We could tell what he’d done by the swirled tire marks and dog poop smears in a nice circular area much like a dog-sh** crop circle in the middle of the floor.

“Unfortunately Jeffry didn’t know enough to quit at that point.  Instead he decided to clean the floors and the rug. Sadly his brushes and wheels were thickly covered in dog poo… and Jeffry left tracks all over the place. Now anybody watching a Roomba in action might think the random bumping and zooming couldn’t possibly do a thorough job of cleaning the floors… but you would be wrong. The math geniuses at iRobot have an algorithm that covers every square inch. And so did Jeffry.

*sigh*

“When we came home today we encountered a smelly mess of dog poo smeared over every square inch of the apartment floors and carpets. Here’s Jeffry getting his innards cleaned out…

“I tossed all the brushes, opened him up and bleached every square inch of him. We also have a floor steamer and we just got back from Costco with a rug shampoo unit. I’m sure everything will be back in shape eventually. At least Jeffry can’t climb up on the counters!”

The Bank of Canada today announced that it is maintaining its target for the overnight rate at 1 per cent. The Bank Rate is correspondingly 1 1/4 per cent and the deposit rate is 3/4 per cent.

Uncertainty around the global economic outlook has increased in the weeks since the Bank released its October Monetary Policy Report (MPR). Conditions in global financial markets have deteriorated as the sovereign debt crisis in Europe has deepened. Additional measures will be required to contain the European crisis. The recession in Europe is now expected to be more pronounced than the Bank had anticipated in October, as a result of increased deleveraging and tighter financial conditions, as well as necessary fiscal austerity and structural reforms.

Recent economic data suggest that growth in the United States has been slightly more robust than anticipated, largely as a result of continued vigour in consumer spending and business investment. Nonetheless, household deleveraging, fiscal consolidation and negative spillover effects from the European crisis are all expected to weigh on U.S. growth. Growth in China and other emerging-market economies continues to be strong, although there are signs that it is moderating to a more sustainable pace in response to weaker external demand and the lagged effects of past policy tightening.

On balance, recent economic indicators in Canada suggest that growth in the second half of this year is slightly stronger than the Bank projected in October. Household expenditures have more momentum than had been expected and business investment remains solid. Going forward, the weaker external outlook is expected to dampen GDP growth in Canada through financial, confidence and trade channels. The economy also continues to face competitiveness challenges, including the persistent strength of the Canadian dollar.

Although total CPI inflation has been slightly higher than projected, the Bank continues to expect the inflation rate to decline as a result of reduced pressures from food and energy prices and ongoing excess supply in the economy. Core inflation has also been slightly firmer than projected and is expected to ease as the output gap persists well into 2013.

Reflecting all of these factors, the Bank has decided to maintain the target for the overnight rate at 1 per cent. With the target interest rate near historic lows and the financial system functioning well, there is considerable monetary policy stimulus in Canada. The Bank will continue to monitor carefully economic and financial developments in the Canadian and global economies, together with the evolution of risks, and set monetary policy consistent with achieving the 2 per cent inflation target over the medium term.

I’ve just posted CREB’s October Report on the current Real Estate Market. The summary graph is on page 10 of the report.