03/29/2026
Sorry, kinda put this on the back burner while I was fixing up taxes, settling back into a kitchen role, and essentially getting my life back on track!
Here's a recipe for the Beercules cheese sauce, in case someone wants to make a homemade burger love! (Fitting week!)
But like all online recipes, she's gotta have a story at the beginning, yeah?
I set out to live my dream, and in a small way, I'd like to say I accomplished said dream!
I was able to end the year with 5/5 stars on BOTH Facebook and Google, while passing my two health inspections without fail. I will never not be proud of that, as that is a rare gem!
It was an incredible year filled with lots of laughter, sadness, memories, stress, joy, and anger. The people that I've had the honour and privilege to meet through 2025 made this venture all worthwhile.
Unfortunately, I took a gamble in September to move. Assuming I had one year to recuperate, I had a plan of taking the lean months to hammer any issues and revamp the menu for ... well about this month to be honest! However, as most know by now, my building was sold at an incredibly unfortunate time for my plan. Whomp whomp!
Okay, we can reset and try one more move, yeah? So I start to focus on a new menu that will accommodate new equipment and no flame. Interesting ideas, and things seemed to be going well enough! I had a location for the future and a menu about 90% done, working at a local business in the meantime to generate additional funds. Then the news hit. My new potential landlord could not insure a food premise of any kind. That's it. Game over!
So with this final setback, I had a conversation with my love, and after looking at the big picture, I decided it just is not in the stars. At some point it stops being tremendously bad luck, and it's gotta be fate. No one could possibly get THIS unlucky, yeah?
So that's it for this guy! I've stayed on with the company I have been working for. I was blessed with some timing in that regard, leading me to really think that fate has a bigger part of this than just luck, haha! My boy is in a stage of life that I don't want to be half absent for, otherwise I would look around for a chef gig! (Them nights can be harsh to be away from family!).
When he is an adult, I will be 40, and I will see how my career is like at that time!
This island, despite its issues, has always been home to me. I love it here, and I bleed red sand. There's always going to be a sense of community here. I was thinking about this a lot last night at the Islanders' game.
Additionally, it can be a food lover's dream. Here is a list of my providers, all local, and all available to anyone to purchase from: (note, these were my preferences, and no indication of a lack of quality elsewhere)
-MacQuarries Meats
-Larkin poultry (Crapaud)
-ADL (my house cheese)
-Cow's (Applewood smoked cheddar)
-Maple Bloom's sweet buttery lettuce
-PEI Fromagerie was who I used for cheese curds
-Upstreet beer (rest in spaghetti, never forgetti)
-Burn's eggs (can confidently say I've never purchased any sort of mayo.)
-Atlantic Mustard Mill
I may have missed a few providers, but these guys, along with Harvest, and the occasional Kay's trip, is where I got almost all of my food from. All local, and all open to the public!
That's what I wanted to incorporate from day one. Showing what this magnificent island is capable of, and showcasing it in the best way possible.
Thank you for reading, and allowing me to be a part of your life! It means more than I could describe.
-Chris, one last time.
Scroll down long enough? Story's over! Here's a recipe:
Beercules Sauce:
~500g white medium cheddar (too strong and the beer is not there, too weak and it's JUST beer)
-1 lb butter
-1 lb flour
-3 tallboys of your favorite IPA or lager (I used Commons, buuut...)
-2% milk
-Salt and Pepa
Make the cheese tiny. You want this to melt, and go no further.
Make a roux by melting the butter, adding the flour, and whisking together. If you smell popcorn, it's perfect. If not, keep cooking.
Add some milk till it's pasty looking.
Add the three cans of beer, one at a time. All together gave me too much foam and made curdles.
Get sauce up to about 140F, and cut the heat.
Add the cheese and stir till it's melted. If you don't kill the heat, your sauce will be grainy. Ew.
Add some salt, maybe a sprinkle of pepper, and bam bam shrimp baby! You got a sauce!
I liked dipping pretzels into it haha
