Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

A fridge full of joie de vivre — and quirkiness

On the shelves with the arts council's Doti Niedermayer
food_glenda1

If arts and culture at Whistler has a face — especially Whistler Arts Council — it's the bright and direct face of Doti Niedermayer.

For the past decade, Doti (rhymes with "roti") has brought her huge passion for, and understanding of, arts and culture and its importance to her job as the arts council's executive director. When she's not behind the scenes keeping art at Whistler's heart in her no-nonsense way, good chance you've seen her at one of the council's many events, for she's the firebrand driving ArtWalk, Bizarre Bazaar, art workshops and more, including the newest fundraiser, Artists in Wonderland.

Given all that plus her healthy social life, exercise regime and European sensibilities — Doti grew up in Munich before her dad, a sculptor, packed up the family and hauled them across Canada in a VW van in 1969; then she lived in Europe on her own for 11 years — it's no surprise that what's in her fridge is as lively, to-the-point and unorthodox as she is.

First, her fridge, a black apartment-sized Kenmore, has so little in it she's able to do an inventory while sitting in her office at Millennium Place. Only a quick on-site follow-up is needed to supplement details.

"I always buy as I go," says Doti. "I'm very European in that way. First of all, I don't know how people know what they're going to eat next Wednesday because I don't even know what I'm doing tomorrow.

"Why would I buy food now when it could just rot, because my life is not that structured? So I buy food on the way home when I know what I want to eat."

Ergo we find a very non-grocery surprise on the first shelf of her little fridge that sits in the open kitchen/living room of the "very 1980s" condo she bought in Powder View — a tree house, she calls it, since it looks out over the forest above Whistler Mountain's gondola barn.

"This is where I get embarrassed because the top shelf of my fridge looks like I'm going to have a party and I'm not," she laughs. "It's just there in case people come over."

It's a bar! There's a beautiful bottle of Lambic Peche Belgian Beer; Smirnoff vodka for martinis; and a delicious, inexpensive dessert wine, Moscato d'Asti, that owner Andre Saint Jacques turned her onto at Bearfoot Bistro, and an equally good, inexpensive white wine, Calona Vineyard's Sovereign Opal, that local artist, Arne Guttman, recommended when she ran into him at work at the BC liquor store. ("That Arne knows his wine," notes Doti, "so don't judge an artist by his day job. They're not all out there drinking cheap beer at some artist's studio!").

There's also white rum for daiquiris she makes with orange juice, mint and strawberries from Pemberton's North Arm Farm (frozen last summer), some OJ that's gone off, and a bottle of Bailey's (good for sipping from a flask while skiing). Mixers like Coke and ginger ale, round out the selection.

"So the top shelf makes me look like I'm an alcoholic or party girl, and the next shelf makes me look like I'm trying to recover from all the partying," she laughs.

Here we find sauerkraut and pickled beets — German standbys she buys from whatever store she finds them in because neither she nor her sisters can replicate the beets, strudel, or anything else her mom used to make.

But what stands out is the variety of "health" supplements she buys and barely uses then, like the rest of us, can't bear to throw out until they expire because they're so expensive.

There's "a horrible calcium/magnesium one" she paid $29.99 for to avoid cramps while swimming, but can't face anymore. She can't wait until May 2013 so she can chuck it, likewise a pumpkin seed protein powder she doesn't actually remember trying. She only has to wait until November to ditch that one.

"What a waste!" says Doti, a self-proclaimed shopaholic and, honestly, a very healthy eater when you hear her meal plans. "But, really, why would I eat powdered pumpkin seed protein powder when I could just buy some seeds and enjoy them by chewing the real thing? I am a marketer's dream!"

For protein, rather than powder, she prefers an egg or almond butter on pumpernickel bread — real food. As for greens, she'll choose something like Swiss chard, which she bought the night before along with organic carrots and might cook up with some salmon. The veggies are nestled in the drawers on the bottom, along with fresh ginger and lemons that she quick-steams her veggies with. (Meal prep must be short for Doti: 15 to 20 minutes, all in, or forget it.)

A bag of favourite organic pink lady apples from Whistler Creekside Market, the only place that carries them, rounds out her "fresh" supply.

On to the door, now, and we find Dayton OK Oil compound to waterproof shoes and boots in amongst a range of condiments that any righteous, creative cook needs on hand.

We find, among the Tabasco sauce, ketchup, capers, artichokes and more, a two-thirds empty bottle of Whistler Cooks Mint Dijon Tapenade Sauce because she steals their tasters all weekend at Bizarre Bazaar and "they might shoot me if I don't buy a few bottles!" And, of course, several different mustards — a must in any German-Canadian fridge.

There's Salsa Huichol from her trip down the Baja — "love it in eggs." And a fancy mustard from her "fancy" sister in Europe, made with herbes de Provence and Champagne vinegar. It remains unopened waiting for a fancy occasion that may never come.

There's also another "fancy" that remains unopened, some Spalmi di olive verdi. "But I have to eat it before March 20 so I may be sending out party invites soon," she says. We can only hope we all make the A-list. What a fantastic party it would be.

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning freelance writer who started the arts council 30-some years ago.