The short version
This blog is rooted in a love of cooking and all things culinary. It eventually evolved to include culinary travel in personal posts that document my experience of travelling with focus on food and culture. I don’t write about places I haven’t been to, this blog is experiential and you get my personal experience and point of view.
I live in the Okanagan in British Columbia, a beautiful valley with more than 250 wineries producing some wonderful wines. In the summer the valley is abound with fresh produces that I love buying, cooking and sharing the recipes on these pages.
Enjoy.
Dina Honke
The long version
I dress up to cook
I also landscape the countertop with potted herbs, pile fruits and vegetables in beautiful bowls and set out bottles of oils, vinegars and small dishes filled with exotic salts, pepper and spices to inspire and accompany me on my cooking adventure.
Jacque Pepin, the ultimate chef, says that cooking is truly an act of love and I have expressed my love for my family and friends through food ever since I developed an interest in and taught myself the art and skill of cooking.
This blog is meant to reveal and impart my personal sense of cuisine. Food means so much more than sustenance. It represents family and friends, generosity and life lived in abundance. People who cook tend to give of themselves for the pleasure of others. They possess a generosity of spirit in their willingness to share the fruits of their hard work and knowledge, together with carefully chosen ingredients, for the enjoyment of others.
The recipes in this blog have been in the making for a while now. In the past few years I have been compiling recipes and family memoirs in a series of cookbooks prepared with online publishing software. The first was a large format coffee table book with recipes and images from our life with family and friends. The next was a book about wine, taking the reader through the history of winemaking, trailing through vineyards, exploring what happens in the winery, discussing grape varieties and wandering through wine growing regions in the old and new world. I then started working on smaller format books, the kind you can put on your kitchen counter as you cook, each offering thoughts and recipes about specific food topic such as breakfast, salads, vegetables, pastas, soups, breads and more. Some of these have been completed, some are work in progress. The books were intended as legacy to my children and the response of my family and friends to these books was overwhelming.
So how did this food site/blog come to be? I have been cooking up a storm for the past few years, compiling recipes for the various book projects I was preparing. Up to now the “audiences” for my cooking have been those who share my life. Now I seek to expand the circle and offer to share my interest in and love for food and cooking with you through this site. I don’t think of this site as a blog as much as an online cookbook-memoir where you can browse through categories of cooking and find recipes, images and thoughts that I hope will capture your interest and inspire you to go to your kitchen and prepare something simple and special.
As time went on, and it has, I started to write about our travel adventures throughout the world. The experiential travel posts (meaning I only write about what I personally experienced) have been very popular among the readership, perhaps because they are more personal than just a recipe. The blog has developed from recipes only to food and travel blog.
You want to know more?
I am a corporate finance and securities lawyer by profession but no longer in practice.
In 2012 we suffered the tragic loss of our beloved home Trail’s End in the countryside west of Calgary and have since moved to Kelowna, British Columbia.
My personal food philosophy is eating plant based low fat foods. However, and it is a big however, this is not what this blog is about. It is not intended as a platform to tell you what you should eat or how to conduct your life. Rather, it is intended as a platform for me to cook whatever I feel like and share it with you. Some of the food is simply plant based, some include dairy products such as butter, cheese, cream or eggs. I hope you will find here something you like that will inspire you in your own kitchen and that you can adapt and make your own.
They say that food is an art, but it is also a skill. You learn to cook by observing and doing. The old adage that “practice makes perfect” is most appropriate in the context of cooking. I am including many recipes in this blog, but these recipes are just a guideline. They are intended to serve as a starting point for experimenting, substituting, inventing and improvising.
So go to your local market, select the most beautiful, seasonal products they offer and prepare them with care and attention for yourself and those who share your life
Enjoy,
Dina Honké
My pasta book
My books
Hanging copper pots in my kitchen
More hanging pots in my kitchen
White dishes in my cupboard
Pitcher collection in my kitchen
Herb pots in my kitchen
