September 19, 2016
How fun at the end of the summer to gather the best ripe stone fruits and a few others, shower them with a bottle of Vin Santo and simmer them together to a sweet perfection that you can then serve chilled in glass bowls. This to me is one of end of summer best treats. It is a dish I grew up with (minus the Vin Santo) where it was called a fruit soup. It... View Article
July 16, 2015
Do you sometimes take your breakfast to go? I am not advocating it but if you do, then an oatmeal smoothie may be the way to go. I am a big fan of oatmeal for breakfast and this smoothie incorporates the elements of a morning oatmeal into a drink. Smoothies are not an exact science so don’t get hung up on quantities. Add your ingredients to the blender and enough liquid of your choice to... View Article
May 2, 2015
I am not a huge fan pf smoothies but every now and then I feel like making one, and not just for breakfast. It’s a good thing to make when you are cleaning the fridge and have a little bit of this or that left from your last shopping trip (which in my case was probably yesterday). I am not referring to wilted things, those you can throw out. I am talking about good quality... View Article
August 30, 2014
I was told off (gently) by the waiters in Spain. While traveling around this beautiful country for a couple of months recently I needed to get off the caffein train. We ate out a lot and lingered in cafes every day and the caffein was starting to get to me. I thought I’d change to herbal tea. Easy? not so fast. I annoyed many waiters in the beginning trying to order “camomile tea”. I soon... View Article
September 27, 2012
A fruit compote, or fruit “soup” is more common in the mediterranean than here in North America. What is it? It’s an assortment of summer stone fruits cooked in a sugar syrup (I add sweet wine and orange juice) on medium heat until the fruits break down slightly but still retain some texture. You can also make a winter fruit compote using dried fruits, but the recipe I am offering today is definitely a summer... View Article
July 22, 2012
When I cut up fruits and do not use them all I place the leftover portion in a freezer bag and freeze them for making smoothies later on. Last time I made fruits on a stick (see here) I had a few fruits left over that I froze so this morning I made them into a smoothie for breakfast to serve with cooked Irish steel cut oats. If you don’t have your own then use... View Article
July 2, 2012
On the flight to Kelowna this weekend I was of course thinking about what I may be cooking in the next few days. Kelowna is wonderful for fresh seasonal produce. There are farm-direct produce, a good size farmers market on Wednesdays and weekends with excellent local produce and countless fruit stands everywhere. Heaven for vegetarian cooks. As it happened we were invited out every day so I didn’t get to do as much cooking as... View Article
June 29, 2012
Flying to Kelwona from Calgary on Thursday I was visualizing us sitting on the rooftop patio of our local abode, scanning the scene and sipping a wonderful iced drink. Although of course I have more than enough glassware I still had to stop on the way from the airport at my favourite store in Kelowna for dishes and accessories for entertaining, Modern Accents on Bernard, to check out their current collection of glassware for serving... View Article
June 26, 2012
Iced drinks are a bit of a specialty of mine. I am not talking about alcoholic drinks. I just like to make a variety of beautiful iced drinks to serve on a summer day on the patio (not that there were too many days to sit outside with all the rain that we have been getting). I make breakfast drinks, iced tea, iced coffee, sangria, fruit essence and all kinds of lemonade. Lemonade is really... View Article
