Last weekend photographer Phillipa Croft and I flew to Ottawa to shoot a photo essay on the city's incredible food scene. When we came back we didn't even have hangovers. Ottawa can do that to a girl.

We flew in on Porter and went straight from the airport to the Ottawa Farmer's Market where we met Josef G. Regli of Canreg Station Farm & Pasture Dairy in Finch, Ontario. He had some excellent sheep’s milk cheeses for us to sample, including one that is ripened with Elderberries and one ripened with Stinging Nettles.

The Ottawa Farmer’s Market is held at the base of the recently restored 'Cattle Castle' as the Aberdeen Pavilion is known. It is home to the oldest indoor hockey rink in the world, the 1904 Stanley Cup game was played there. (The Leafs lost.)

This guy is from Beamsville, which is out of the 100 mile radius, so he’s obviously a gatecrasher who you should never buy from... Actually, the farmer pictured, Torrie Warner from Warner's Farm, is the one exception to the 100 mile rule. They let him sell at this market because he can grow a few things they can’t within the 100 mile radius. Such as this basket of plums he’s offering you. (Notice how many times I was able to use 100 mile in that description? You just watch bitches, I bet I get a discount on a Slow Food membership now. Yes!!!)

Next it’s off to a cooking class at The Urban Element to make our own lunch. Rebecca LeHeup, Executive Director of the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance, tackles dough for maple sugar pie in between near-constant tweeting.

Christoph Stadtlander, the Creemore rep for Eastern Ontario, makes jus for the chicken he just deboned, seared and is now roasting in the oven. (The chicken was not local, it was actually from Quebec, so I naturally couldn’t eat it.)

Candace Butler is the Chef-Instructor at The Urban Element. She got our ragtag bunch to put together a lunch that included wild mushroom risotto, salad with beets, blue cheese and candied walnuts, roasted carrots and kale, and chicken (not local!)* with caramelized onion jus and a maple sugar pie with vanilla ice cream. The vanilla ice cream recipe is totally magic, requiring no ice cream maker nor constant trips to the freezer to stir. Go here for the recipe. (I just got away with using 'nor' in a sentence, or did I?) *Okay, I have been

This was the view from our room at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier. Do you know that they take down the flag every day and put up a new one? You can put your name on the list to actually own a flag that once proudly flew on Parliament Hill (see here) and it’s only a 25 year wait.

This cookie used to be known as the Canada cookie, then Barrack Obama took a bite and they renamed it the Obama cookie. They all think this is the greatest thing ever for some reason. I think they should have kept it’s original name and just added a slogan like "Obama likes it!". Regardless, this picture was taken at a café in the ByWard Market in downtown Ottawa. This Market is similar to Toronto’s St. Lawrence Market but has a much greater outdoor presence for vendors and it’s in the heart of the city. If St. Lawrence Market, the Brickworks and Kensington Market had a three-way you would get the ByWard Market.

This is out at Upper Canada Cranberries. The photographer on this trip, Phillipa Croft, had never seen a cranberry bog before as she’s from Australia, so I had to get a picture of her in front of it. Phillipa is the greatest photographer of her generation, check out her work at www.phillipac.com

One of six courses from the team at Wilfrid’s Restaurant in the Chateau Laurier. It’s a Digby scallop with duck confit, double-smoked bacon and sweet potato mash. You can’t tell from the picture but that is a perfectly cooked scallop. Phillipa and I later got a tour of the Chateau Laurier’s Yousuf Karsh photo collection. If you’re ever in Ottawa and the National Gallery is closed (damn it!), this is a must see.

This is Alistair Kyte, manager of Food Service and Hospitality Magazine. Does he look like the kind of guy who would own not one, but two Rottweiller’s? And refer to them as Rotties? Well… look again.

Here’s some wacky nerd with the chef of Murray Street, Steve Mitton. He and business partner Paddy Whalen are purveyors of meaty comfort food, executed with rustic panache. It’s no wonder they were included in en Route’s top ten new restaurants for 2009. If you go there, order the Beau’s beer-battered onion rings. Beau’s all natural beer is the cool new beer to drink. It’s so artisanal!

*I got in a lot of trouble over this chicken. As Jantine Van Kregten, told me in an email: "Just thought I'd point out, though, that the chicken at Urban Element was, indeed, local, even though it was from Québec. The chicken came from Ferme aux Saveurs des Monts, a Savour Ottawa member farm. Living in a border community means the definition of local wreaks havoc with provincial boundaries." Good thing, since it was delicious. [Updated, Nov. 12, 2009.]

Ivy Knight is a freelance food writer and cook in Toronto. Experience more of her tactless ranting at www.ivyknight.com.