January 21, 2014
Since this is a food blog first, I thought i’d start posting a few recipes between the travel posts. Here is a salad I made when I was still at home and plan to make again in the next few days but this time I will add peeled orange segments to it. After all, we are in Valencia, the land of Valencia oranges. I thought I’d share it now, and add the version with oranges... View Article
December 14, 2013
A couple of nights before I left for Paris Val and I attended a cooking class at the fabulous Mission Hill Estate winery. The topic was Tour de France and it was a culinary journey through the provinces of France. The first dish was, you guessed it, a cauliflower soup. The soup was so creamy and delicious, my favourite dish of the evening (and also the only vegetarian one). Executive Chef Mathew Batey, who taught... View Article
December 9, 2013
You have to hand it to the Italians. The best foods come from their culture and history. Pasta, risotto, polenta. I can live on these foods, and believe me, I do. It might surprise you to learn that in some parts of northern Italy (Veneto, Friuli and Lombardy) pasta was virtually an unknown food as recently as three generations ago and it was polenta that sustained life in those regions. I find this fascinating. I... View Article
December 6, 2013
Ti’s the season for comforting foods, and a bowl of steamy risotto fits the bill perfectly. Risotto is one of my “go to” foods when I want something special without a lot of fuss. It can be a one pot dinner that does not require an entire market to prepare and if you have a well stocked pantry, (as you should:), you can make a lovely risotto with not much fuss. Risotto is made with... View Article
December 5, 2013
While you are reading this post I will be on the plane traveling to Paris. I scheduled a few posts to be published while I am away from my kitchen and computer, en route to our destination in Paris. See? I appreciate your visit to the blog and do not want you coming here to an old post. I will post from Paris as soon as possible, sharing our adventures, culinary and otherwise through these... View Article
December 2, 2013
The last few weeks have been a flurry of activities, culinary and otherwise. A few more cooking classes to squeeze into the schedule, a couple of extra food and wine events to attend and a few more dishes to cook and photograph. I find it hard to extract myself from my culinary activities. With our trip to Europe coming up soon you know how it is, there is so much to get done, think of,... View Article
November 30, 2013
So, how do you get flavour into foods without adding oil? I am so used to cooking foods in a little olive oil to bring out the flavour that it seems impossible to get flavour without it. However, it is possible and this full flavour soup without any free oil or butter shows it can be done. I resisted the temptation to sauté the vegetables in oil and just steam-sautéed them in a little water... View Article
November 21, 2013
Fritters recipes usually get a lot of clicks on the blog. What does that say about us I wonder. We seem to like fried food. These little fritters are very easy to make and I only brush the pan with oil so they don’t stick. They are not fried in oil like you would normally expect fritters to be. You can serve them with sour cream, lemon butter, salsa or other toppings. They fit into... View Article
November 19, 2013
A few weeks ago my friend and blogger Val of more than burnt toast and I went to micro bar bites on Water Street shortly after they opened. We love the compact space, sitting at the beautiful long wooden bar and had fun and delicious food prepared by the talented chef Evelyn Takoff. I especially enjoyed the small plate of roasted shishito peppers, a mildly flavoured Japanese chili pepper that is harvested while green but will turn... View Article
November 11, 2013
Most people love potatoes and for some, a meal is not a meal without them. This ubiquitous veggie is of global importance being the fourth most important food grown worldwide after corn, wheat and rice. Potatoes appear in every cuisine and sustained civilizations for thousands of years (Peru, Incas). Potatoes grow in a wide range of soils, climates and geographical conditions and to this day help enhance food security because they are easy to cultivate and calorie... View Article
November 7, 2013
No, not that kind of a wedgie. This is a wedge of crispy iceberg or head lettuce, served with blue cheese dressing and confetti of chopped vegetables. It’s one of my favourite salads. If you don’t like blue cheese (some don’t), serve it with another dressing that you like. I know that head lettuce went out of vogue a long time ago, when the baby greens were born, but someone revived its popularity with this... View Article
November 6, 2013
I hope you are cooking with squashes this fall. Don’t miss the season to use these beautiful and versatile fall vegetables when they are at their best. This season I have been cooking especially with Sweet Dumpling squash. Unlike other varieties, this one is easy to cut: its skin is not as hard as some of the other varieties and your knife will not be permanently jammed into it’s flesh. Sweet dumpling is a lovely... View Article
