March 2011
14 posts
4 tags
Weddings and Cupcakes [Rosewater Pistachio...
As you may recall me mentioning a while back, I used to run a very itty bitty baking business. It happened out of nowhere and ended as quickly as it started. I’d never hoped to be a baker, but when asked if my products could be purchased, I thought “Why not? Can’t be that hard.” How naive I can be sometimes. It was a lot of work, albeit rewarding. I took on the task for...
5 tags
We Be Ramen [Mushroom Ramen]
There is something so comforting about a steaming hot bowl of broth and noodles, isn’t there? I don’t indulge in Vietnamese, Thai or Chinese as often as I’d like and I can chalk it up to pure laziness. Once I’m through that front door after work, I’m home for the night. It takes me a matter of seconds to kick off my stockings and throw on big baggy sweats. Walking...
6 tags
Shoots and Grains and Things [Spelt Salad with...
When I first started cooking for myself, cooking meals as opposed to cans of soup or boxes of Kraft Dinner, I would read recipe after recipe trying to figure out how to do something properly. Examining photos so closely I’m surprised I’m not cross-eyed, to see what techniques created what textures, what colour the finished product should be, what finishing touches made it look so...
5 tags
Confused Pasta [Lemon & Olive Oil Pasta with...
What a strange week it’s been so far. The weather here is borderline schitzophrenic and I’m not sure if I should put on another coat or start planting my tomatoes. I always find the transition from one season to the next a little tough. The anxiousness of knowing that sunshine and warmth is just around the corner makes it all the more hard to get through these last few weeks of cold,...
6 tags
Snack Time! [Homemade Pop Tarts]
You know that friend you had as a kid? The one with cupboard upon cupboard of cookies, chips, packaged foods, desserts and a freezer full of pizza, french fries, and chicken fingers? Yes, we all had that friend. But I was not that friend.
In hindsight, it’s probably best that we didn’t have cupboards overflowing with salty, sweet, incredibly over processed foods, but if you’d...
4 tags
A First for Spring [Umami Burgers with Juicy...
Can you smell that? It sort of smells like wet socks and dog doo. Which can only mean one thing. And if you crane your neck far enough around the corner, you might just be able to see Spring!
Yesterday was the first taste of sunshine, longer days, and dry sidewalks we’ve had in quite sometime. One look at people on the streets, jackets undone or completely off, bikers in shorts (perhaps a...
4 tags
Breaking the Rules in the Name of Ice Cream...
As I’ve said no less than 300 times to you guys, I am just not a dessert person. I am the first one to pass up cake at a party, and the last one to dive into the cupcakes. (Which is likely how I came out of running a small baking business not having gained a pound. Thank goodness.)
That being said, there are certain things I break my rules for. Ice cream being#1. I remember...
5 tags
Do(ug)h!! [Shaved Asparagus Pizza]
I’m on a roll here, folks. Two dough recipes in less than 48 hours that actually turned out the way they were supposed to. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m thinking about buying a lottery ticket.
With the recent success of my pot-pie crust, which was flaky and tender and not at all over-worked and tough like usual, I decided to keep the streak going and give my arch...
5 tags
Sheryl Crow & Comfort Food [Mustard Tarragon...
It’s 1996. I’m 10 years old. I’m sitting in the family room of the house I grew up in, watching the newly released music video for Sheryl Crow’s If It Makes You Happy. My older sister is sitting beside me while my parents rhyme off rules for the first time they leave us home alone. And we’re eating Swanson’s Frozen Chicken Pot Pies.
I will always associate...
6 tags
Pièce de Résistance [Classic Beef Bourguignon]
When I first started becoming more interested in cooking and food writing, around 2007, I assumed that if I could get my hands on a Le Creuset dutch oven, I would be able to cook anything. It is, afterall, the mother of all cookware in my mind. It’s always been my excuse for not trying certain recipes. “Oh, umm… well I don’t have the proper cookware to make...
6 tags
Simple Peasantries [Chipotle White Bean Stew with...
I am a little neurotic. Have you noticed yet? You will.
There are days where I will be sitting at my desk, mid-conversation with a coworker, and decide I need to eat [insert food item] tonight. And if I don’t, life as I know it will cease to exist. I quickly end the conversation (because we all know that food thoughts trump real conversation), rummage through the files on my desk to find...
6 tags
Classics Made Easy [Vermouth Poulet Provencal]
Despite my sometimes bitter, sometimes-sort-of-anti-social behaviour, I really do enjoy a good visit with certain people. I also enjoy cooking for those chosen few when they come over. But I am notoriously bad at doing both of those things at the same time. There is nothing worse than being in the middle of a very serious, very emotional conversation, and having to say “Oh! Hold that...
