Tweet Beef wellingtons (which I was calling ‘duke wellingtons’ for a while) were a request left over from the year 2012. And, as such, we couldn’t enter into the new year of 2013 without clearing the slate completely. And there is no better venue to … Read More →
Category Archives: Uncategorized
poached ling cod with mint pesto sauce — the most unusual biscotti accompaniment.
Tweet Elephant garlic. One of the best ways to describe these massive cloves that often are as large as a whole head. They literally dwarf all other ingredients in this recipe, except for the fish. However, it is one of the main ingredients in traditional … Read More →
cranberry-pomegranate roast chicken with rice stuffing — the gift of christmas dinner.
TweetChristmas. Full of the meaningful, and the wacky, gifting. And the gifts that come from a labor of love. And those that will be hung every year following. The gifts of the earth are also celebrated in the evening meal. However, the individual red pearls … Read More →
bruschetta on breaded pan-fried eggplant — a grown up appie for kid-like tendencies.
Tweet Monopoly – the game of childhood. I remember playing with exuberance as a kid, with my very faint competitive side rearing its ugly head. The holiday season was the perfect time to bring out the old board in order to reconnect with friends and … Read More →
brie phyllo cups with cranberry orange chutney — individual appies for each friend.
Tweet Chutney. One of my favorite words. It makes me think of exotic curries, spicy dishes, and simple fruits undergoing a butterfly-like transformation through a few simple steps. Stelna. Another one of my favorite words, and my favorite person. Combining chutney and Stelna equates to … Read More →
seared ahi tuna with creamy avocado cilantro sauce — an insatiable urge for the ocean.
Tweet Whenever I come home, I take advantage of our greatest natural culinary resource — fish. This, in particular, is no ordinary seafood — ahi tuna is the steak of the sea. With a meaty texture and rich flavor, ahi only requires the ost delicate … Read More →
pistachio biscotti with white chocolate drizzle — a cookie to please the masses.
Tweet Making biscotti is usually a simple and quick process. During baking times, I can do other things, multitask. However, purchasing in-shell pistachios, I must admit, reduces my efficiency exponentially. However, after that unwieldy process where my fingernails were cracked and shards of shell scattered across the … Read More →
italian lentil soup with roasted peppers and olives — a hearty hello home.
Tweet The beginning of the Christmas season heralds another ‘constant change’ in my life, as oxymoron-ish as that sounds — the trip back to my hometown in BC. Though we couldn’t have that happen without at least one ugly sweater party to usher us towards the loving … Read More →
balsamic fig and bacon dip — an accompaniment to wine.
Tweet Kingston does not necessarily ’harbor’ foodie culture. However, they do try. And, ironically, held it at a convenience center on the local Portsmouth Harbour. While it did claim to be a food and wine show, it held much more of the latter than the … Read More →
creamy eggnog — the liquid beginning of a season.
Tweet An overabundance of cream, vanilla, eggs, and cinnamon = a holiday coma. And is the perfect way to start the holiday season. Eggnog, considered ‘unsanitary’ by today’s terrified-of-any-kind-of-ecoli standards, has become the standard Christmas drink. Even enough so that it is a byword in … Read More →
hearty leftover turkey and stuffing soup — stretching out the thanksgiving for days.
Tweet Becoming a tourist in your own country is a delightful thing. My very own tour guides led me throughout Toronto. From the noisy and full streets of Chinatown . . . To the eclectic tastes of Kensington market. . . To the hallowed halls … Read More →
individual apple and cream cheese phyllo pies — autumn’s bounty in pie form.
Tweet Prince Edward County — home of amazing fruit and incredibly anal farmers. Beautiful orchards, filled with rows upon rows of deliciously bounteous trees, highlights the richness of Ontario. Fresh off the tree, these apples crunch between teeth and sweetly dribble down chins. They also become the … Read More →
honey and shallot caramelized pork ribs — a saucy meal to pair with liquid wine.
Tweet Wine. Rubies and diamonds in liquid form. As precious but much more easily accessible, especially in the Okanagan Valley. The very heat that creates the perfect globes of wine’s basic essence beckons to visitors, gesturing them to follow a road by the lake lined … Read More →
bacon and barbecue sauce burgers with grilled peaches — the epitome of summer.
Tweet Bacon. The word that strikes fear into a previously vegetarian heart. Yet the terribly-bad-for-you-but-oh-so-good cured meat has come into vogue in the past couple of years. The New York Times even did an expose a few years back highlighting the use of bacon in … Read More →
plum barbecue sauce grilled chicken — a very canadian welcome.
Tweet There is nothing more (BC) Canadian than enjoying a few beers while sitting on a sailboat. Except for maybe inviting foreign nationals to join you. As attested by these two lovelies who drove across Canada, there is no one population more friendly than Canadians. … Read More →
cream cheese brownies — a dessert with friends.
Tweet One of my favorite things to do is to give free reign of my camera to my delightful friends. Who, in turn, take marvelous photographs. These, I believe (for I do not always know who leaves these memorable images on my little Canon) were … Read More →