May 20, 2014
It is hard to drag me away from the kitchen this time of year. I have so much fun cooking and photographing the foods. Of course I have to squeeze “life” in there and I have a long list of other pursuits that interest me but I must say that the creative element of cooking, styling, photographing food and sharing it on this blog gives me a lot of pleasure. This week I have been... 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
May 4, 2014
People seem to be afraid of artichokes. They worry about how to eat them, how to trim them, how to cook them. Really, they are not any more difficult to handle and cook than anything else. Yes, it’s more work than, say, peeling a carrot, but it’s completely doable and so worth it. Needless to say I love artichokes and cook them in season (spring) whenever I can. I even wrote a post about artichokes... View Article
April 30, 2014
This week I seem to be making foods that I don’t usually prepare. It’s nice to get out of the routine and make something new. Take this recipe. I use a lot of asparagus in the spring but tend to cook it simply, either steam, cook it in a skillet, roast in the oven or cook on a grill. As all recipes seem to happen, I took the asparagus out of the fridge to grill... View Article
April 29, 2014
We are a little past Easter but I am still into eggs. Most people know how to make deviled eggs and this is just a reminder. We were at a friend’s house for lunch a couple of weeks ago where they served deviled eggs and they stayed on my mind ever since. I prepared them to serve as a quick bite this afternoon. As you can see from some of the images I have a... View Article
April 8, 2014
One thing I enjoy about blogging is the instant community it opens up for you. You become part of a global community of like-minded people who tend to like the same things you do: eat, cook, write, photograph and travel. Before leaving for Spain my friend Val of More than Burnt Toasts, whom I met through blogging, introduced me to Núria from Barcelona. Núria is a blogger and you can find her cooking, travelling and... View Article
March 30, 2014
One of the foods on my “culinary must do” list while in Spain was eggplant fritters with honey. It is seemingly an unusual dish, I have never had it before and never really thought of serving a savoury eggplant with honey but it did sound good. I imagined it crispy on the outside, soft inside, a little savoury with a sweet honey drizzle, surely it would be delish. According to Claudia Roden (the Julia Child... View Article
March 27, 2014
Here is my third and last submission to the Canadian Lentil Recipe Challenge organized by Canadian Lentil. Lentils are a natural fit with my cooking as you can see from the several lentil recipes on my blog. Lentils are so versatile, I can make anything with them, from soup to salad to main course and even for breakfast. This recipe is for an appetizer dip or you can use it as a spread for sandwiches... View Article
March 20, 2014
While I was travelling in Spain recently I was contacted by an olive oil expert and fellow blogger Judy Ridgway about writing a guest post for her blog. Judy is an international olive oil expert and for the past twenty years has worked with olive and olive oil producers in all of the European producing countries as well as emerging “new world” producers in California, Australia, South Africa and South America. Judy published a paper... 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
