August 1, 2016
Part of the fun of cooking is discovering what fruits and vegetables are in season and focusing on seasonal produce while it is available and in its best form. Although today we can get almost all produce all of the time, fruits and veggies are best when they are local and in season. One of the summer pleasure are beets in all their varieties. Lusciously red and golden or playfully candy striped beets are available... View Article
July 29, 2016
I had a few extra cooked yellow beets from a dish I made the other day and thought they would be interesting in a homemade hummus. I looked online for inspiration and found a recipe by Nigel Slater for red beet hummus with dukkah, an aromatic Egyptian spice blend made with chopped nuts, seeds and spices that has many uses in middle eastern cooking. I thought I could make the recipe with yellow beets, and... View Article
July 28, 2016
There is an art to travelling as a vegetarian. You would think that with the abundance of gorgeous produce in the markets, especially around the Mediterranean, it would be easy to find vegetarian dishes in restaurants but somehow it is not. Now, I am interested in food and culture and will try other things even if they are not vegetarian, especially the local and traditional. I am certainly not going to travel without experiencing local foods.... View Article
July 24, 2016
Endive usually features in my fall salads but I love how it pairs with blue cheese so when I am in the mood for blue cheese in a salad there is nothing like Belgian endive to make it with. I was travelling south of Kelowna with a friend yesterday and bought beautiful blue cheese from Poplar Grove, a . I wanted to use it before forgetting it is there, which can happen in my always... View Article
July 22, 2016
We are just on the verge of tomato season here in the Okanagan and where better to get your tomatoes than at Sunshine Farm in east Kelowna. Run by Jon and Sher Alcock and their family, the farm is an intimate, hands-on operation that takes pride in quality and preservation and specializes in heritage rare and organic seeds from which they grow their produce. The Alcock’s daughter Mona Johannson, one of the best chefs in the Okanagan,... View Article
July 20, 2016
Instead of posting a recipe I thought I’d photograph a mid week all vegetables dinner and offer that as an inspiration instead of just a recipe. A dinner like this requires imagination but as long as you know your way around the ktichen, you can reproduce it easily with the simple instructions I provide below. We are lucky here in Kelowna to live minutes away from several beautiful small organic farms that sell their produce... View Article
July 20, 2016
I haven’t publicized this much but in the last several weeks I have been immersed in cakes. Why, I’ll never know. It’s not even that I like to eat cakes so much, but I love making them. Cakes are so beautiful and require a certain level of skill in making them and then making them look beautiful. I don’t always decorate the cakes, often all you need with a slice of cake is a good... View Article
July 18, 2016
Grain salads can be quite beautiful when combined with colourful seasonal vegetables. This salad would make a good option for summer entertaining because it is all inclusive: it has grains, vegetables and salad greens all in one dish. The barley can be cooked in advance and kept in the fridge, but the vegetables are best cooked the day you serve it. I made this salad with three colours of cauliflower: white, orange and purple, but... View Article
July 15, 2016
Here is something fun to make with sweet summer watermelons. Did you know that watermelon and feta is a delicious combination? something about the sweet and salty that makes your palate sing. Cut the watermelon into 1.5 inch slices, as even as you can, then punch out rounds or squares with a small cookie cutter. These should be a one bite thing so don’t use too large cookie cutters. With a melon ball cutter scoop... View Article
July 13, 2016
A couple of years ago a food pic went viral on the internet. I think it originated in Europe and featured a gorgeous round tart filled with spirals of multi coloured vegetable ribbons. The image proliferated in cyberland and here I am, two years later, jumping on the vegetable spirals bandwagon. Better late than never? you be the judge. The technique is not complicated but requires a good dose of patience. You slice the vegetables... View Article
July 11, 2016
I was looking back at our two months stay in Spain a couple of years ago and remembered the roasted vegetables I used to order at various restaurants. It was not easy to find vegetarian options on the jamon Iberico and seafood focused menus and I often had to create my own lunch or dinner from side dishes they offered. There is an art to travelling vegetarian and I think I have mastered it. This is... View Article
July 9, 2016
If I have to choose between chocolate cake or apple tart, it will be apple tart (almost) every time. I apologize to all you chocolate lovers out there especially because I know all too well that sometimes only a chocolate will do, but the tart and sweet flavours of apple desserts win me over, especially when combined with a buttery, flakey pastry. I jumped on the apple roses bandwagon a while back, but it doesn’t... View Article
