Book Review & Giveaway for The Canning Kitchen by Amy Bronee Canning has filled my summer for several years now. Sometimes, whether I like it or not. I can’t seem to stop myself from ordering kilos of local fruit year after year that are wrangled into jars so they can grace my table during the dreary Canadian winter. My son can eat a jar of home canned peaches in one sitting and there is great satisfaction in spreading on some of my jam onto homemade bread for my boy. Once you have these treasures in your pantry, it is difficult […]
On Collecting Recipes
A Review of RicardoCuisine.com When my husband and I first moved in together when before we were married, I began my recipe collection and my first big steps in my cooking journey. It was right when Food Network Canada started and they actually had cooking shows on tv all day; not those horrid cooking gameshows that are ubiquitous on there now. I would watch Nigella and Jamie, looking forward to every new episode and re-watching the old ones so that I could commit the recipes to memory. Every now and then I would treat myself to a magazine. My magazines […]
Rhubarb and White Chocolate Custard Tart
There is been a lot of chatter lately amongst bloggers about not blogging anymore. I have read a couple posts recently by successful bloggers that are either taking an extended break or they are moving on to new ventures entirely. There are new blogs being started every day but those of us who have been slogging it out for a few years (and more) are burning out. I have not spoken to a single blogger who has been around for a while that isn’t sick of the ‘game’. The bullshit three ring circus that one has to go through to get […]
Beef, Vegetable, & Whole Buckwheat Soup
There is something about being a reader that allows you to find yourself. It isn’t in a philosophizing way where you sit and ponder your existence in an existential funk. What it is, is that you sit quietly with yourself and let your mind travel. It may be with one of those books that you tell your friends about and want everyone to read, but it may just be with one of those novels that you read just for you. I reject the term ‘guilty pleasure’ because reading is never a bad thing for me. I feel no guilt […]
Butternut Squash & Celeriac Soup
I have a confession. I let far too much food go to waste. I often go to the grocery store with no list or a plan for what I want to cook and I end up with a full fridge but no definitive plans for the items I stuff in there. You see, I love grocery shopping. I feel all giddy and inspired by what I see there and end up buying more than we need for the week. Since I don’t have a plan, 3 o’clock rolls around and nothing has been taken out of the freezer, or the […]
Creamy Tomato Soup with Goat Cheese & Tortellini
I’m a control freak in the kitchen. I like to do things my way which makes it difficult to cook with other people unless they are willing to help out with the dirty work and then stand aside to let me do my thing. My husband is perfectly willing to help me by spatchcocking a chicken, which is a great way to cook a whole chicken, but really gross when you have to crunch through those bones. It brings out my wimpy, squeamish side. Simon is much better at bringing Timothy into the kitchen to help him cook. I […]
Cookbook Review: Brown Eggs and Jam Jars
Cookbook Giveaway: Brown Eggs and Jam Jars When I first started blogging I spent a lot of time reading other blogs and Simple Bites and Under the Highchair were of two of those that I admired. I’m pretty sure I discovered Aimee’s blogs via PunkDomestics since I was spending a lot of time on that site my first blogging summer. I got into jam-making pretty hard that year. I quietly read Aimee’s work over the next couple of years and she became one of the people I was really looking forward to meeting at the first Food Bloggers of Canada conference back […]
Chocolate Madeleines
Jan from Family Bites is about to welcome her third baby boy and along with a slew of bloggers we are celebrating this with a virtual baby shower. Jan is in the part of her pregnancy that feels like it is interminable. There is no comfortable position to sit or lay down, but that baby will come. I have a five year gap between my two boys so I forgot a lot of what it was like to have a baby in the house. I know Jan has an even bigger gap between this little boy and your other sons, […]
Steak Tenderloin with Sour Cherries, Port Wine Reduction & Goat Cheese
Romance is not a big part of my life, unless you count my deep and abiding love for historical romance novels. In order to have romance in your life, you need to be partnered with a planner. My husband is not in this category and that is just fine. It would certainly be nice if he planned out an evening, thought a little outside the box when it came to our anniversary, but that is not part of his skill set. You see, I’m married to a very good man so I do not want to try and change him. […]
Butternut Squash Risotto
Whenever I photograph recipes for the blog, I spend half my time yelling at George to get away from the food. I really love both of my dogs but they drive me crazy throughout the day. Buffy barks her fool head off whenever she thinks she hears something or the neighbour across the street gets into her car. George is getting into something about five times a day, which is showing that he is slowing down in his old age; it used to be about a dozen incidents of thievery or vandalism per day. George is 12 now and every […]