| love in the kitchen || love in the kitchen |

my mother’s glazed ginger shortbread

September 26, 2017

My blog seems to have taken a turn towards the personal lately. I’ve never, ever, revealed quite so much about myself. I always stayed in that safe, neutral, careful [boring] territory. But now that I’ve started down the track of disclosure, it appears I’ve opened the floodgates. And who knows where I’ll finish up?

Last week, after a long and valiant battle with Parkinson’s, my mother died. My editor, Jan Murphy, truly one of the finest people I know, let me write this tribute to my mum, in my food column, “The Dish,” in the Kingston Whig-Standard. Continue Reading…

slow cooker wild apple chutney

September 10, 2017

Out for a hike along the Bruce Trail near Lion’s Head, in a tangle of wildflowers, and birch trees, and short, gnarled, thousand-year-old eastern white cedars, we fall upon an old, long forgotten apple orchard. The apple trees have grown wild. Some of them are stunted by the patchy, shallow earth they’re growing in, amidst all the limestone outcroppings. The trees are laden, heavy with fruit. The apples are shades of dark red and gold, soft green and pale yellow, some mottled, some picture-perfect. The sky above is a deep, heavenly blue, almost too perfect to be real. It’s an unbelievable bounty – a portrait of pure, wild joy.

homemade ricotta & a batch of baked spinach ricotta penne

August 12, 2017

I’m padding around my kitchen barefoot, late at night, on a rescue mission – making homemade ricotta from the milk that’s set to expire and cooking a batch of broccoli cheddar soup before the broccoli expires too. I love this – this quiet solo time in the kitchen. Pots on the stove. Fragrant aromas wafting through the house. Soft lighting. A shaft of moonlight falling across the dining room table. It’s a gorgeous August night. There’s a cool breeze, a waxing gibbous moon, and Neil Diamond singing “Stones” from the Hot August Night album on the radio. I’m on a massive trip down memory lane, remembering my beautiful best friend from high school, who succumbed to cancer way too early. We knew every single word to this entire album. Continue Reading…

A return to blogging and a batch of stunningly good Nanaimo Bars

July 11, 2017

Finally. At long, long last. A return to blogging. And a batch of stunningly good Nanaimo Bars from Feast. (Details on Feast below.) Continue Reading…

coconut cupcakes

April 14, 2017

Cooking, but even more particularly, baking, is such a useful and potent form of therapy for me. Continue Reading…

Beets Margaret Atwood

March 12, 2017

Sometimes you fall head over heels for a book. It’s such a great feeling. Over the years, there have been a few… The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Diving-Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominque Beauby, My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. And others of course, too many to list. My latest addition is the luscious food book, A Taste of Haida Gwaii: Food Gathering and Feasting at the Edge of the World, by Susan Musgrave. It’s the source of the rather fabulously titled, Beets Margaret Atwood.

happen-to-be-vegan Valentine’s Day cookies

February 11, 2017

It’s Valentine’s Day this week and in my kitchen I’m making these four-ingredient, (happen-to-be-vegan) Valentine’s Day cookies. These are a breeze to whip up and are beautifully soft and delicious, almost disproportionately so when you consider how simple the ingredients are. Plus they’re good for the planet.

borscht with vushka

December 31, 2016

I love the prospect of a new year. The clean slate. The potential. The chance to reinvent, to create, to start afresh. I can’t be bothered with New Year’s eve festivities. It’s the brand new year itself that appeals to me. All that promise just laying in wait….

Tarta de Santiago

November 25, 2016

I did it! I walked 800 kilometres (500 miles) across Spain. It was brilliant. A long, slow, meditative walk across the country, over mountain ranges and across plains, through farms, villages, cities….

chocolate tahini cake

October 7, 2016

This will have to be a fast post. I’m about to board an airplane – heading to Paris – and then by train to St. Jean Pied de Port. And from there, 800km by foot across Spain on the Camino de Santiago. I’m about to walk my dream…. Continue Reading…

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my mother’s glazed ginger shortbread

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slow cooker wild apple chutney

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homemade ricotta & a batch of baked spinach ricotta penne

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A return to blogging and a batch of stunningly good Nanaimo Bars

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coconut cupcakes

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Beets Margaret Atwood

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happen-to-be-vegan Valentine’s Day cookies

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borscht with vushka

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Tarta de Santiago

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chocolate tahini cake

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