February 6, 2020
If you follow me on social media you may have noticed that I have been busy creating images for an online food photo challenge in the last couple fo weeks. It has taken me outside of my comfort zone which is a good thing, it’s easy to settle into a routine so stretching out a bit and trying new things has been fun. I do however, loved cooking first so I made a bunch of... View Article
October 30, 2018
The first time I encountered this dish was at a cooking demonstration by my friend Gaby of Gaby’s Italian Kitchen and I was blown away by the simple elegance and flavour of what seemed like a simple dish of pasta, water and cheese. Where did all the sauce come from? Shortly afterwards we left for Italy where we spend four months travelling around and there I tried the dish at many restaurants and became a... View Article
August 1, 2018
Needless to say, I can eat pasta every day, love it and I never tire of a good pasta dish. One of my favourite sauces is a nut based pesto. In the summer, while I have beautiful fresh flat leaf parsley growing in my rooftop garden I try to use it as much as possible and a pesto is one of the best way to feature it. The combination of walnuts and parsley is perfect in this recipe.... View Article
June 3, 2018
Pasta, pasta, pasta. I can eat it every day although not necessarily with such a rich sauce. Today I was in the mood for ravioli and wanted to try a potato filling instead of the usual ricotta. I also had mushrooms and asparagus that I needed to use as we are off to another “exploring our BC backyard” adventure in the Sunshine Coast so this was an opportunity to use them in a sauce... View Article
May 20, 2018
Israeli couscous is not really a couscous. Real couscous is made with crushed grains of durum wheat and what is known as Israeli couscous are tiny little toasted pasta balls developed in Israel in the 1950s to replace rice which was then unavailable. Israeli couscous is easy to cook and good on its own or combined with other vegetables in salads or warm dishes. I like to brown the couscous in a little olive... View Article
June 1, 2017
You know that saying that you can never be too thin, too rich or eat too much pasta? Well, the last part is my ad lib but that’s how I feel. I am always ready for a delicious and comforting steamy bowl of pasta. I was at the farmers market this week and picked up fresh ricotta from a local organic cheese producer, Bella Stella Cheese from Lumby, BC. The Swiss born Igor and German... View Article
May 23, 2017
When we stayed in Italy, now more than a year ago (how time flies) I attended a private workshop at the home of the fabulous Elvira Zilli in Frascati, on the hills outside of Rome. The entire experience was one of the main highlights of the Italian adventure and I wrote about it in detail here. We made many delicious dishes in that workshop and the underlying theme was pasta making. Elvira and her friend... View Article
May 11, 2017
I recently attended a cooking class at the Lake House Store in Kelowna. This is one of my favourite stores in town and much of my cookware and kitchen gadgets come from there, not the least a Kitchenaid, Vitamix, Fissler pressure cooker, Le Creuset, Nesspresso coffee maker (for my husband) and more, none of which I would do without. The state of the art kitchen is surprisingly spacious, hidden during the week by beautiful merchandise displayed on... View Article
April 17, 2017
What is it? Raviolo al uovo is a single large raviolo filled with ricotta and containing a soft egg yolk that oozes out when you cut into it (“raviolo” is not a typo, in Italian “ravioli” is plural, “raviolo” is singular). You would serve one per person drizzled with butter, hollandaise, light tomato sauce or whatever else you think would go with it. Serve it on its own or with a little topping such as... View Article
April 16, 2017
Last week my daughter Jade was home with a couple of her friends and made fresh homemade pasta and roasted tomato sauce for dinner. We all joined the pasta party, rolling and cutting the dough to the dance tunes of Mambo Italiano and That’s Amore in the background. It was a memorable evening and put me in the mood for more fresh pasta. Today I set out to make ravioli with soft egg yolk inside, a unique... View Article
April 1, 2017
So this morning I am off to begin a 30 day yoga challenge at Moksha Yoga across the street. What am I getting myself into? Can I even hold any of the yoga positions? I am better at hiking, walking, swimming and leisure biking occasionally (not to mention lunching) but my friend suggested we do it and I took her up on it. Granted, it’s good to surprise your body/muscles as they can get used... View Article
January 10, 2017
Since I am on cucina povera and street foods “kick” at the moment here is another simple recipe, this one for pasta without a sauce, made more hearty with crispy bread crumbs and enriched with pine nuts (not so povera after all). I love what you’d call “dry” pasta simply tossed with olive oil, perhaps infused with garlic and hot pepper and served without a sauce. This is similar to spaghetti aglio, olio e peperoncino... View Article
