October 8, 2015
I am winding down my kitchen for the season preparing to leave for Italy in just a couple weeks. Still, I was watching Giada de Lorentis episode about her visit to Tuscany and watched her made these cookies and could not help going into the kitchen to make a batch. Not sure who is going to eat them, but it’s fun to bake. Giada makes these very large, she scoops them by 1 cup balls... View Article
October 2, 2015
Well, back to cooking: many people who love to cook can be divided in two camps: those who love to cook and those who love to bake. I fall somewhere in the middle and really love to do both. Earlier in my cooking endeavour I used to bake a lot and fairly challenging “stuff” like complicated cakes, croissants, all kinds of breads, cookies etc. Now I still bake but simpler things like cookies,... View Article
September 29, 2015
If you were to look in my freezer one thing that you would always find is a bag with candied buts, often hazelnuts. I use them as an extra item to add to salads, savoury grain dishes, along with cheese, desserts, over breakfast oatmeal, in pancakes or waffles, I’ll stop here but you get the picture. Sometimes I buy instead of making them and we have a few good sources for buying them prepared, but... View Article
September 27, 2015
My mental image of an ideal kitchen is one with a pot of soup simmering on the back burner with the warm, inviting aromas wafting in the air, making a house feel like home. My favourite pot to cook soups in is the French enamelled cast iron Le Creuset, and no, they are not paying me to say this. I have some beautiful copper pots that would look beautiful filled with soup, but then I... View Article
September 25, 2015
I am alone at home for the week but that doesn’t keep me away from the kitchen. Sometime in my evolution as a wife and a mother I fell in love with cooking and begun an affair with my kitchen. I was lucky to have a wonderful, warm and comfortable kitchen at Trail’s End (our previous home) where I could acquire culinary skills, express my artistic abilities and develop a style of my own. As in... View Article
September 23, 2015
I have had a couple of dinners out this week and both times selected the gnocchi dishes on the menu. One of these was at Waterfront Wines, probably my choice for top restaurant in Kelowna. Chef Mark Filatow works his magic in the kitchen and it’s always special to go there. The dish I ordered was not called gnocchi, it was described as house made ricotta cavatelli with grana padano and sage brown butter and... View Article
September 21, 2015
I cook with seeds and grains often and thought I’d make something with quinoa for dinner. A trip to a produce stand nearby yielded a beautiful, lush shallot and a bunch of carrots that were so fresh the soil was still clinging to them. I wanted to keep things simple so I cooked the shallot in a little olive oil, added the quinoa and stirred to get it coated with the oil. I then cooked... View Article
September 17, 2015
Pasta is a comfort foods that I turn to again and again. I have learned to make simple pasta dishes with only a couple of ingredients that taste good and leave you satisfied. This particular dish makes use of the purple radicchio that we usually tear or shred into into a salad. It has a slightly bitter taste and a sturdy texture that stand up to a quick saute and goes particularly well with simple... View Article
September 17, 2015
Fresh peas have a short season and I wasn’t expecting to find any on my last market trip but what do you know, here they were. They looked crisp and fresh so I bought a large bag and brought them home. I sat with a bowl like an old fashioned mamma and shelled the cute little peas wondering what to do with them. By the time I finished shelling I knew they were going into... View Article
September 10, 2015
This was one of the best corn season I remember in the Okanagan. Almost every day I picked up delicate and sweet cobs of corn with pearly, crispy, juicy kernels at local markets, still cool from early morning picking. It was a memorable treat all summer and I have not tired of it yet. My quickest and easiest method for cooking corn is in the microwave. I place the husked cobs in a sturdy ceramic... View Article
September 9, 2015
When we were in Spain we were lucky to be in Barcelona during the calçot season and I wrote about the experience here. Calçot is a type of scallion or green onion, only it is grown in a special way that makes it much thicker, more like the size of a slender leek. It is a specialty of Catalunya and the Calçot from Valls in Tarrragona (a province of Catalunya) has a a DOC status... View Article
September 8, 2015
This is a recipe that needs no introduction. It’s one of the most popular dishes to come out of Italy but if you travel you’d know that almost every country has a version of this delicious bread and tomato dish. In Spain they have the delicious pan con tomate, where they rub a tomato over a grilled piece of bread. We had this for breakfast throughout out two months stay in Spain and i am... View Article
