Quench columnist Miche Genest is a Whitehorse-based chef and writer. She is also somewhat of a gardener. Miche has also written two books "The Boreal Feast - A Culinary Journey Through The North" and "The Boreal Gourmet - Adventures In Northern Cooking"
To reach Miche regarding What's Up Yukon stories email her at: MicheGenest@whatsupyukon.com.
Issue: 2017-05-31, PHOTO: Miche Genest
I’ve always loved the stories where people slip out of the present and into a different time; kid’s stories like Tom’s Midnight Garden, or the Narnia series, or, in adult fiction, The Time Traveller’s Wife. There’s something compelling about the... Read more
Issue: 2017-02-22, PHOTO: Miche Genest
Yukon concocters, experimenters, cocktail lovers and fans of northern botanicals, take cheer! A kindred spirit walks among us. She is Jennifer Tyldesley, and as you will have recently learned in these pages, she makes her own small-batch bitters... Read more
Issue: 2016-08-18, PHOTO: stockpholio.net
I bought a nectarine in Juneau a couple of weeks ago. It looked large and rosy and promising. The flesh was firm and yet it gave slightly under the pressure of my fingertips and I thought, “Wow, a real nectarine.” But when I cut into the fruit,... Read more
Issue: 2016-08-04, PHOTO: by Miche Genest
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about heading off on a trip down the Wind River. I was concerned that our group, with all our goods and chattels for the 17-day journey, was going to be overweight for the flight to the put-in at McCluskey Lake... Read more
Issue: 2016-07-14, PHOTO: Miche Genest
It’s 6 a.m. on a rainy morning just before Canada Day. In six hours I need to be ready to drive to Mayo, with three canoes on the roof and six days of breakfasts, dinners and desserts packed and labelled for the communal kitchen, and 17 days of... Read more
I developed an interest in food and restaurants early. In this I had a companion: my friend Sarah, who at sixteen was a year older than me and even keener than I to explore everything culinary the city of Toronto had to offer. In 1971 the mainstream Read more
Issue: 2016-06-16, PHOTO: Miche Genest
The spruce tip harvest was early this year; green buds started appearing at the ends of spruce branches around mid-May in Whitehorse and continued being harvestable well into the first week of June – on higher ground at least. Best-laid plans... Read more
Issue: 2016-06-02, PHOTO: Miche Genest
Most of us who came of age in the 70s have a Tiki experience somewhere in their cocktail history. Mine was in Jasper, Alberta in the winter of 1975, when I was working at Jasper Park Lodge. My pals and I celebrated every major event – birthday... Read more
Miche Genest
Here’s a tip for you travelling cocktail lovers: not everyone shares your love. Your hosts may not have the stocked liquor cabinet and pantry shelves filled with syrups and bitters to which you have grown accustomed. You do not want to burden them Read more
Miche Genest
I have a Cocktail Confidante to whom I turn when I need inspiration or advice. He is an amateur beverage scientist who approaches his subject with the curiosity, passion and dedication of a Marie Curie or Frederick Banting. Read more
Issue: 2016-04-21, PHOTO: Courtesy of Miche Genest
The Old Fashioned takes us right back to the beginning of the history of cocktails. In 1806 a reader wrote to the editor of The Balance and Columbian Repository, a newspaper published in Hudson, New York from 1801-1807, asking about the meaning... Read more
Issue: 2016-04-07, PHOTO: Miche Genest
Yukon Spirits launched two whiskies while I was skiing in Japan. I have not tried either yet (one of them is sold out, I hear) and in Japan, where whisky has been winning international awards since 2001, I drank whisky only once, from a 200 ml... Read more
Issue: 2016-02-25, PHOTO: Miche Genest
The seventh week of sorting the pantry shelf of homemade liqueurs has arrived and I have tired of the exercise. There are still cocktails to be made with Labrador tea-infused vodka, with rowanberry aquavit, with morel mushroom whisky. But my... Read more
Issue: 2016-02-11, PHOTO: Cathie Archbould
At the beginning of January I set myself the task, for 2016, of clearing the cupboard of experimental aquavits, infused spirits and liqueurs. A task that was easier set than done, especially when the experimental beverage, put up with such hope... Read more
Issue: 2016-01-28, PHOTO: Miche Genest
In Scottish households it’s a New Year’s tradition to scour the house clean on December 31st to prepare for the coming year. My household has a fair whack of Scots’ influence, and I will say we passed the vacuum over the rugs on the 31st, but it... Read more
Issue: 2016-01-14 PHOTO: Miche Genest
A familiar sight at many a gathering during the holiday season is the punch bowl, ranging in formality from fine, etched crystal to battered salad bowl, filled to the brim with a fruity, bubbly concoction, set on a tablecloth stained here and... Read more
Issue: 2015-12-17, PHOTO: Miche Genest
There’s a new gin in town, just in time for the holiday season. Yukon Spirits, the hardcore younger sister of Yukon Brewing, has recently released the latest addition to its “Concepts” line: First Cut Gin. Why First Cut? Because this is the first... Read more
Issue: 2015-12-03 PHOTO: Janet Moore
When my Mom and Dad were a young couple living on Avenue Road in Toronto their local watering hole was the rooftop bar at the Park Plaza Hotel, one of Toronto’s most elegant drinking spots. Mom and her best friend, who lived in the same building, ... Read more
Issue: 2015-11-19 PHOTO: Miche Genest
While staying in the Valle dei Moscheni in the province of Trento, Italy a few years ago my husband and I were served a delicate herbal liqueur called génépi. It was one of those magic occasions when you encounter a flavour you didn’t know existed. Read more
Issue: 2015-11-05 PHOTO: Miche Genest
In the world of beverages, everything old is new again. The cocktail revival of recent years has been matched by a revival of interest in old-fashioned, non-alcoholic refreshers. On food blogs, in restaurants and in modern cookbooks you’ll find... Read more
Issue: 2017-08-23, PHOTO: Michal Kostal
The Yukon Culinary Festival sounds like a good way to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary. “The definition of Canadian cuisine that we use is local, seasonal, sustainable ingredients in the hands of many cultures,” says Eric Pateman, the... Read more
Issue: 2017-03-29, PHOTO: Kim Melton
It struck me a couple days ago that I have gotten out of the habit of baking, and was missing having nibbly bites about for those mid-meal moments that require just a little something. I briefly mentally bemoaned my lack of muffins, before... Read more
Issue: 2016-09-01, PHOTO: Lily Quan
Whitehorse chef and cookbook author (and What’s Up Yukon columnist) Miche Genest has a wonderful description of the Fireweed Community Market: she calls it “community glue.” Providing access to fresh local food is just one role the market plays... Read more
Issue: 2016-08-11, PHOTO: Michele Doucette
The Yukon is filled with culinary hidden gems, according to Eric Pateman. A culinary expert, Pateman had no idea how rich the Yukon food scene was until Debra Ryan, manager of strategic planning for Air North, finally persuaded him to visit... Read more
Issue: 2015-09-03 PHOTO: kozzi.com
Call me a skeptic, a cynic, I don’t care. Heck, go the distance and call me a heretic, if you wish. Truth is, I don’t believe in the Zombie Apocalypse. Or the Four Horsemen variety, for that matter. It’s not that I harbour illusions about ... Read more
Issue: 2015-07-23 PHOTO: by courtesy of Yukon Culinary Fair
At the end of July, foodies from across the country will travel north to take part in the 2015 Yukon Culinary Festival. Now in its third year, the festival will showcase and celebrate the Yukon’s local food movement to visitors and locals alike. Read more
Issue: 2015-03-12 PHOTO: Miche Genest
Up on the Alaska Highway, in the bright boîte called Tonimoes, attached to the SKKY Hotel, a quiet ritual takes place every Tuesday. Informally known as Scotch night, the weekly event “honour[s] the bounty of Scotland with the frugality of a Scot." Read more
Cathie Archbould
While reading The Boreal Feast, Miche Genest’s second cookbook, I wanted to pack my baggage and travel to Scandinavia. Read more
August 14, 2014
What can one tell a Yukoner about fireweed? Isn’t it like talking to an Inuvialuit person about ice? Fireweed’s colours, height and flowering times are fairly familiar in the body of literature known as ‘northern knowledge’. Here is my attempt at ex Read more
July 31, 2014
If you’re heading out to Circle D Ranch for a few days of music and food this weekend, you’d be well-advised to bring your own eating and drinking gear, or at least a toonie to “rent” a plate. Read more
June 2014
Miche Genest is up early, squeezing wild-rose-petal-infused egg whites into small twists on parchment-paper-lined baking pans. She’s making meringues in preparation for the launch of her second cookbook, The Boreal Feast: a culinary journey through Read more
It's only recently that most people have forgotten how to forage for food. For thousands of years, First Nations communities across Canada lived on food provided by nature. Berries, barks, plants, flowers and herbs were cyclically harvested for food Read more
Yukon writers are a prolific bunch, offering a new book every month or so. For the second year in a row, Lise Schonewille, bookbuyer at Mac's Fireweed Books, has put together a mini book fair to showcase writers who had a book come out in 2010. Read more
Every book needs a story, even a cookbook, and Miche Genest's Boreal Gourmet, released this month by Harbour Publishing, is just that. Read more
Yukon writers are pairing up to give a series of weekly readings at the Whitehorse Public Library starting Feb. 5. The readings begin with Al Pope and Miche Genest, on Feb. 5, followed by Patti Flather and Clea Roberts on Feb. 12. Read more
Yukon writers are pairing up to give a series of weekly readings at the Whitehorse Public Library starting Feb. 5. The readings begin with Al Pope and Miche Genest, on Feb. 5, followed by Patti Flather and Clea Roberts on Feb. 12. Read more
Issue: 2015-12-17, PHOTO: Miche Genest
Holiday Gin
Issue: 2015-12-17, PHOTO: Miche Genest
Holiday Gin