February 17, 2015
You know what it’s like coming back from an extended vacation. It’s great to be home and if you are like me, you are looking forward to your own food again. As good as food is when you travel, the familiarity of one’s own kitchen and food is always welcoming and comforting. I have been making very simple foods since we have come back. Clean and flavourful vegetable soups made only with vegetables, no grains... View Article
December 10, 2014
Hola from the Mayan Riviera. We arrived here a few days ago and I am just getting into the swing of things. The pace is different here. The trip down was a “speedy” 26 hours with an overnight stay at an airport hotel, thanks to the monopoly that Canadian airlines have over the Canadian skies. I believe it takes the same amount of time to fly around the world. Upon arrival we had to endure... View Article
November 15, 2014
GIVEAWAY #2 IN A SERIES OF 4: As food bloggers we sometime receive books from publishers asking us to review them. I decided to accept 4 books recently intending to pass them on to you who read my blog. This giveaway is intended as a thank you for keeping up with my food and travel writing, for joining my weekly mailing list, RSS feed and following me on social media. There will be 4 giveaways,... View Article
November 6, 2014
I was travelling for several weeks recently eating at restaurants every day. As good as (some) restaurant food can be, I came home craving homemade fresh and simple food. I had good experience on these trips with Asian vegan food and came home excited and enthusiastic to make some at home. I have already made a couple of dishes that were blog worthy but had no opportunity to photograph them as I served them before... View Article
October 23, 2014
I just returned from a short excursion to Israel. It’s a long way from Western Canada where I live and I don’t usually make such a long trip for just a couple of weeks. Circumstances this time dictated that I had to be there on a short notice and in Montreal soon after for another event so two weeks it was. I was not travelling to explore food this time but in Israel (and with... View Article
September 13, 2014
It’s not every day that I am invited to an organic tomato farm so when the opportunity presented itself to purchase tickets, I immediately did. This year Sunshine Farms hosted their first Tomato Festival on their farm, offering space to 50 guests of which I was lucky to be one. Both Val of More Than Burnt Toast and I, who never miss a good culinary opportunity, packed our cameras and hats and set out to... View Article
July 13, 2014
I consider gougères the ideal appetizer to serve with drinks. Gougères (or cheese puffs) are light and flavourful (it’s the cheese) and lend themselves to various flavours using herbs, spices and different cheeses (caveat: only dry cheese type). They are made from the same pastry as eclairs but you make it savoury instead. They are easy to make and even if something goes wrong you can still serve them. What can go wrong? the most common mistake is... View Article
June 20, 2014
If I see figs at the store I have to get them, provided they are ripe of course. Figs are one of the fruits that do not continue to ripen once it has been picked. If it is not ripe when you buy it it will not ripen in your kitchen. The figs should be soft to the touch but not mushy and should not ooze the syrupy juices. Here is a simple but so... View Article
May 19, 2014
I feel French today. It’s because of the radishes. They do it every time. One of the simple treasures of French food is the way they serve crisp radishes with butter and coarse salt alongside chunks of crusty French baguette. Oh so good and so very French. I adopted this French custom a long time ago when I heard about it from Jacques Pepin in one of his classes in Calgary. Recently I came across... View Article
May 14, 2014
I am still under the influence of tapas. We have just returned from Spain were we enjoyed tapas, pinchos and montaditos in all forms for the last few months. Truth be told, most of the tapas we found in Spain focused on Iberian ham of one kind or another and seafood of every variety. Being of vegetarian persuasions I sometimes found it difficult to find a vegetarian item on the pages and pages of tapas... View Article
May 13, 2014
I open the small metal jars containing cumin and cinnamon and the sweet and pungent scents waft towards me, their perfume filling the air around the kitchen. This is definitely Ottolenghi-land. I have been cooking my way through a few of my cookbooks and Ottolenghi’s collection sits at the top of the pile. This one, titled simply Ottolenghi, the cookbook, was much anticipated and did not disappoint. It is full of vegetable centered recipes and... View Article
March 20, 2014
When we travel I watch for and try to learn about local customs, especially in food and culture. One of the customs I noticed here in Spain is that the locals stop at a bar for a glass of vermut (vermouth) on tap as an aperitivo before lunch or dinner. Bars here by the way are not just for drinks. It’s a general term for places where you can stop by for coffee, lunch or dinner,... View Article
