Happy New Food Year!

I returned to my parents' house last month with the lingering memories of their teeny tiny 1950's kitchen and all the family members we crammed in it while rendering dish after dish of soul-soothing food.

What I found on arrival was a brand new kitchen, replete with six-burner professional grade gas range, granite counter tops, self-closing drawers, and a huge a-symmetrical island with a second prep sink built-in.

I wasn't exactly surprised. In fact, I'd dragged my sorry self out of bed many a Saturday morning to meet with their designer to get my ideas into the mix.

I'm so proud of them for finishing this. Kudos to my mother who, god love her, is the most notorious pack rat that ever was.
It took a lot for her to throw and give away so much of the past. But in the end, everyone will benefit. And what a workspace...

What you see here are the peels of 15 pounds of potatoes. My mom, my sister, and I fried latkahs for two hours one morning while I was back in preparation for the big family Chanukah party.


Normally when my mom makes latkahs, the smell of fried potatoes and onions is detectable at the end of the street and the scent lingers in our hair and on our clothes for a week. But I have to hand it to them, my mom and dad went all in on their renovation and the overhead fan they installed left nary a trace even twenty minutes after we finished frying.

Using a food processor, shred 5 pounds of russet potatoes and a bag of regular yellow onions.

Transfer to a large bowl, add a couple of eggs, about a half a cup of flour and about 2 tablespoons of baking powder. The baking powder helps them crisp.

Form into palm-sized flat cakes, squeezing out all excess liquid. Fry in hot vegetable oil. Use a lot, but don't cover them completely. Remember to tap down the centre of the patty so that the thickness is dispersed and the latkahs cook evenly.

Turn with caution. Use a spatula and a long fork. When cooked to golden brown on both sides, remove from frying pan and transfer to paper towel covered plate.














I returned to Montreal just in time for Christmas. J's family was extremely generous with me as this was our first Christmas together here. We had a wonderful meal with his mom and the whole day was very merry. The gift giving, of course, was just wonderful. I didn't even get to see my nieces and nephew open the gifts we gave them on account of being so busy opening presents of my own. Two of the highlights were the popcorn hot air popper for J's sister Melissa and the bread making machine from J's grandmother, Nanny. I've only ever made bread the old fashioned way. It takes forever, which is why I hardly ever do it. But fresh bread is just about the most enticing smell ever to be emitted from any kitchen, and so I'm so happy to now be able to just toss the ingredients in, push a few buttons, and let it do its thing. Hurray for robot kitchen helpers! J's mom got me my first food processor. I can't wait to make spanikopita with that thing. Stay tuned...

What I love about the end of the year is all the marvelous best-of lists that come out. So you can imagine my glee when I came across "The Best of America's Test Kitchen: Best Recipes and Reviews 2012"

First to be made was their "Ultimate Banana Bread" recipe. So simple. The tricky part was that it calls for a microwaving step. I've never had a microwave in any of my kitchens, so I had to use the stove instead. In the end I don't think it made that much of a difference.

1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
6 large, over-ripe bananas (I freeze mine when they get to this stage, if you do too, only use 5 from the freezer and use one fresher one)
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
3/4 C packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/5 C walnuts, toasted and chopped coarse (I skipped this)
2 tsp granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees with the rack in the middle position. Spray a 8 1/2 inch by 4 1/2 inch loaf pan with vegetable oil spray. Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl.
Place 5 peeled bananas in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap, poking vents in the top for steam. Microwave until bananas are soft with liquid released in the bowl, about 5 minutes. I mashed the bananas and let them simmer on the stove for 5 minutes instead.
Place a fine mesh strainer over a medium size bowl and transfer hot bananas to the strainer to drain out the liquid into the bowl, stirring occasionally. Let it drain for 15 minutes. At the end you should have about 3.4 C of liquid. Transfer banana solids to a bowl.
Pour liquid into a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Liquid should be reduced to 1/4 C at this time. Now pour the reduced liquid back in with the bananas and mash together. I know this sounds silly, but what you've just done is extracted a lot of intense banana flavour, caramelized and intensified the flavour, and returned it to the mix.
Add butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla to the banana mixture. Stir to combine. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just a little white is visible. Transfer to prepared loaf pan. Top with final banana, making two lines of banana slices, 1/4 inch think, arranged in a shingle pattern, one slice layered slightly on top of the one before.
Make sure to leave the middle clear to allow steam to evaporate as the batter bakes and ensure an even rise. Sprinkle the whole top with granulated sugar.
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about one hour. Rotate the pan halfway through baking. Cool in pan.

I also plan on using my slow cooker a lot more this winter. The spaghetti and slow cooked meatballs I made recently were so good and the convenience of having food for another two days after is very reassuring as school gets more demanding. And they were so juicy... even David couldn't resist climbing down off the bookshelf to get a closer look.

There are so many things to try. I would really like to expand my repertoire to include some new things on my list of go-to meals. That's what trying new things is all about, after all.

Like the snow, lavender shortbread has returned

As a great woman once said, it's cookie time.

I'm a student again. That means two things: I spend time in the kitchen when I'm avoiding school work, and I'm too poor to buy gifts for friends and loved ones this holiday season.

My plan instead is to keep my pantry stocked and buy tins of Danish cookies. J eats most of them and then I will refill them with my own homemade goodies.

Lavender shortbread cookies are easy peasy. I discovered them last winter when I came upon a large packet of dried lavender flours at Planet Organic in Edmonton.

Cut up 1 cup of soft unsalted butter. Cream in a large bowl with 1/4 cup white sugar. In another bowl, mix together 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup cornstarch, and 1/4 tsp salt.

Pour dry into wet and stir until combined. Add 2 Tbsp dried lavender flowers and mix well.
When your cookie dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured surface.

Flour your hands and begin kneading the dough.
Press your palms and the heels of your hands into the dough and push down and away.


Gently pick up the dough and rotate it 90 degrees.

Keep your hands floured with a dish of extra nearby.

Repeat this process 5 times in total. Kneading cookie dough is important because it makes sure everything is of the same consistency and that your dough will not crumble to pieces.


Divide the dough in half and shape into two balls. Put one dough ball aside.

Re-flour your surface and put the dough in the middle. As the butter in the dough continues to soften with handling, the dough will become sticker, so lots of extra flour is important.


Flour a large rolling pin and roll out the dough. It should take about 3 or 4 rolls. Make sure you keep rotating the dough 90 degrees as you roll or you will have a big mess and no cookies.


The dough should be about 1/4" in thickness.





This dough here is very happy. It can't wait to be cookies.


Cut out shapes using cookie cutters. Keep re-rolling up your scraps of dough until you've used up both halves.

The shapes can be placed close together, about 1/2" apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake them one sheet at a time in the middle rack of a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. They are done when they are browned at the edges.

Look at all the happy cookies. They will make friends and family (and me) very joyful indeed.

These shapes all came in a package from the dollar store. You can find all kinds of fancy or strange ones. The hearts and stars of david are classic choices, but we liked that our pack also came with a teddy bear, an elephant, and a hippopotamus.

I made lots of all of the shapes. The elephants are pretty rad.

I played with them when I put them on the pan before going in the oven and when they came out a few elephants were walking one after the other like they do in the jungle.

But I'm not in the jungle. I'm in snowy Montreal. So I will keep making cookies and bringing a little extra warmth to the kitchen with my powerful little oven.





That is a very lonely hippopotamus. Of all the cookies in the batch, there was only one hippopotamus.


Here's the recipe:
1 Cup cool unsalted butter
1/4 Cup sugar
1 Cup flour
1/4 Cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp dried lavender flowers

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl.
Measure out lavender and set aside.
Mix other dry ingredients in a bowl.
Add dry ingredients to creamed butter and sugar. Stir until ingredients begin to become incorporated.
Add lavender and stir until well blended.

Turn out onto floured surface. Knead 5 times. Divide dough in half and roll out to 1/4" thickness. Cut into shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes.

Cool on a rack.
Cookies will keep in a sealed container for up to 2 weeks. They get better with age.

end of summer means peach cake

First, let me just repeat, Cook's Illustrated is the most reliable source of fool proof seasonal recipes and useful tricks.


This recipe comes from their August, 2011 issue number 111.

Let me begin by explaining that I many of the people closest to me suffer from food allergies. I have developed an allergy to sesame seeds. Over the years I thought it was a bizarre thing to be allergic to. My dad and some of my sisters, though, also suffer from what some would consider strange allergies. Growing up we often had to eat certain fruits and vegetables cooked so that everyone could eat them and my mom would only have to prepare food one way.

My dad and sisters have allergic reactions when they eat apples, carrots, peas, pears, peaches, cherries and other things raw rather than cooked. My dad's fruit allergy basically meant that my mom became a master pie-maker. Pie dough is something that challenges me to this day. Over time my sisters seem to have grown out of certain allergies, but J has only begun to develop them in the past year or so.

So when I saw the bushels of peaches for sale at the grocery store shortly after moving in, I jumped at the chance to bake with them so that J could taste them. Though I may have difficulty manipulating pie dough, cake batter is something that I have no problem with.


A tip for juicing lemons:
Slice the lemon in half. The lemon should have its ends pointing to the left and right, not up and down.

Put the cutting board and knife aside and get a small bowl

Insert a fork into the middle of the lemon.

Over the bowl, hold the outside of the lemon firmly in your left hand and the fork in your right and give it a good quarter turn.


Keep rotating the lemon around the fork (or the fork inside the lemon) until all the juice is extracted and it looks like this.


Using the fork, fish out any seeds or large bits of pulp that may have fallen into the bowl.


The juice can then be measured from the bowl as needed. Any extra juice can be put in an airtight container and used in salad dressings, smoothies, tea, dips, or marinades.



Who needs a stand mixer? I have a sweet whisk, two strong arms, and someone to take over when they get tired.


Mmmmm, creamed butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs.




There were two key elements that made of the Cook's Illustrated recipe so perfect and they came in the first and final steps.

First, the peaches were prepared in two different ways. About 30 slices of peach were sliced and reserved in a separate bowl to macerate with sugar, peach schnapps (the store didn't have any so I used Grand Marnier) and lemon juice.

The rest of the peaches were chopped roughly and then roasted (that's right!) to caramelize, and more importantly concentrate excess juice.

The cake batter was poured out in two stages too.
the first layer went in and then the roasted peaches were added and spread over the batter. After pouring in the remaining batter and spreading that carefully over the peach layer, the reserved peach slices were arranged on top, the smaller ones going in the smaller ring in the centre.

The other trick was to prepare a sprinkle of sugar and almond extract to go over the cake before putting it into the oven.

When the cake came out the fragrance filled the kitchen and then the apartment. I forgot about the dinner on my plate and ran to my camera. There was no way to capture that aroma. I felt like a cartoon levitating towards a visibly wafting sent pulling me to a pie cooling on a window sill.

The cake was a total surprise to J. He's been out in the country working all day. We ate half the cake that night.
It was perfect.

Big morsels of summer sweet peaches, rich and crumbly crumb, and the gooey, crispy sugar and peach coating on the top.

Once again, a tip of the cap to Cook's Illustrated.

HEAVEN PRESERVE US! OH MY! IT'S TOFFEE BLOBS!!!!!!!

This recipe is brought to you by a dear darling friend, Miss Karyn Mott. She's one of the most marvelous cooks I've ever met and is only a little larger than a ladle. This post is also brought to you by orange Crush ice cream floats on a hot summer day.

Miss Mott and I were supposed to go out to the lake for the night but an audition in Winnipeg came up and she had to leave the next morning, so we ended up just hanging at my place for a couple of hours here in town.

Karyn had promised to cater some friends' theatrical picnic and decided to premake the desserts before she left. And so, I give you... toffee blobs.


Start with the cheapest generic brand of corn flakes you can find. Keep in mind that this recipe is exceptionally simple, and that you may add or subtract quantities as you like.


So you have your cornflakes. You will also need toffee and/or caramels depending on your budget. Miss Mott said that the original recipe called for just MacIntosh Toffee but that that can get rather costly so she started combining Mac toffee with Werther' chewy and good old fashioned Kraft caramels.


You will also need either butter or margarine. Karyn used to be vegan and so got used to baking with margarine. She has now slid back along the spectrum towards the middle (I believe she currently resides somewhere around the pescetarian mark) but is still the most mind-bogglingly amazing vegan baker I know.

Most vegans opt for Fleischmann's margarine. I don't know why, but this is something I have observed in other's fridges throughout my lifetime. You can go the Becel or Earthbalance routes if you prefer. Or say to hell with it and use straight up butter.

Toss about a tablespoon of fat into a large saucepan on medium heat. With a knife or spoon, slide the stuff around the saucepan to coat all of the sides. This is a very sticky recipe and if you don't ensure everything is precoated with something we're looking at a pretty messy situation. I don't want handfuls of readers writing in to complain. So just do it please.

In advance of melting the fat on the stove, or if you have a handy assistant...

You'll need about 4 cups of candy so put on some tunes and start unwrapping. When you've got about that much, toss it all together in a bowl and continue to wait until the margarine is all melted.


As I said, this is a simple recipe, but you've got to keep an eye on the stove or you'll be in trouble. With a wooden spoon, stir continuously as the candies melt and combine with the melted butter or margarine.


Stirring helps to break up all the larger masses of melted toffee and caramel and it also helps to incorporate the melted fat into the melted caramel... drool.


The other thing you've got to watch for as everything melts is that you don't want the sugars in the candy to burn. So just watch that your stove is not too hot for the pace of the melting.

Right, so cornflakes? Check. Butter/margarine? Check. Toffee and caramels galore? Check. Now you need to make this gooey mess of stuff even sweeter. Pour in a half a can of sweetened condensed milk. Eagle Brand is a classic, but generic store brand is just as good.


Start slowly, first with a good splash of condensed milk. Set it aside so you can work in what's already there. Stir vigorously to combine it into the simmering toffee mixture. Be careful it doesn't splash up. Poor Miss Mott was trying to do so many things at once I think she got a little bit scalded on her stirring hand.


The temperature can come down a little to a low-medium at this point as you stir in what remains of the half can you will need for this recipe. Remember, you can easily add more butter and caramels to extend this into a larger recipe.


So as Miss Mott and I switched off with stirring, taking photos, and making calls getting directions and a place to stay in Winnipeg, the most incredible aroma began to fill the kitchen. And then the rest of the house. And then out the open window onto the sidewalk beyond. Seriously. This recipe is this simple.

The stove-top part of the recipe is done. Now you'll need some cooking spray like Pam, but a little drop of vegetable oil will work fine if that's what you've got on hand. Evenly coat the walls of a large mixing bowl with spray or oil. Karyn did this awesome little trick where she rotated the bowl while spraying in short bursts rather than in a continuous spray. I am totally using that method from now on.

So here is our lovely prepared bowl and into this Miss Mott just dumped a bunch of cornflakes... 5 or 6 cups to start maybe?


Now it was time to get the saucepan of tasty and combine the two. Pour the toffee mixture into the bowl and start to coat all the cornflakes in goo. Add more cornflakes as you go. Remember, the goo is very very sticky and a little goes a long way so you can add quite a lot more cereal. In total I think we probably used about three quarters of the package.


As you stir everything together get right to the bottom of the bowl with your spoon and then sort of flip that over so that everything on the bottom is now on the top. Make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl and don't worry too much about crushing some of the cornflakes. It doesn't matter if they are all intact in the end.

When you can no longer find big pools of toffee goo it's time for the shaping of the blobs. The toffee goo to cornflake ratio should look something like this...



I had trouble stopping myself from eating it straight out of the mixing bowl in little handfuls. When I regained my composure, Miss Mott told me to wet down my hands. That's the real secret to making the blobs, she told me. The goo is so sticky that if you let your hands get to dry the cereal starts to stick to your hands instead of itself.

So either keep a bowl of water beside where you are working or run back and forth to the sink, it doesn't really matter.

Form the mixture into golf ball sized blobs in your hands and sort of compress that together to make it solid. Place the formed blobs on wax or parchment paper and set them aside to cool before eating. Karyn says they will last up to a week in the fridge. Take them out 15 minutes before serving.

She also likes to make a batch and keep them in the freezer. It's unlikely that they'll make is this long without getting eaten, but in a sealed container they can stay there for up to a month. Let them thaw for an hour... if you have enough restraint.

Thanks for the lovely baking time, Miss Karyn. I hope you got the part in Winnipeg. I certainly got something sweet out of the deal. Lots of love...

Portuguese egg tarts and why I love them

I don't exactly know when I tasted my first pastels de nata. I do know that I have since brought their delightful sweet flakiness to as many people as I can. Coffee dates with friends, potluck contributions to work meetings, most recently one to my grandfather who's still stuck in the hospital. Man oh man, did that make his day... I've never seen anybody eat of of these so fast...

For a long time I only ever had these tarts from Italian bakeries and cafes. Kind of funny, no? Nowhere near Italy and with a completely different food history, Portugal has it's own food thing going on - flame grilled chicken sandwiches, fresh seafood and egg dishes, and Port wine to name a few off the top of my head.

I think it has something to do with Portuguese bread. Ever the Italophile, my dad still swears that bread from the Portuguese bakery is the best. He's done his homework to discover that many of the Italian cafes and trattorias around town source their buns from Portuguese bakeries. In any case, I imagine this is how the Portuguese egg tart made its way into the display cases of Tra Amici Cafe and the Italian Centre Shop. The tarts pictured above, however, come from the Handy Bakery on 118th Ave and 87th Street. The ladies at the counter there are very friendly and the prices are exceedingly reasonable.

The essence of the tart is the creamy, sweet egg custard. Not jiggly or runny, it is a dreamy consistency. It doesn't even really taste like egg. But it's not just pure saccharine either. The tarts were first introduced by nuns at the Monastery of Belem, near Lisbon, in the early 1800's. Egg yolks were used in baking because the egg whites were needed for things like starching nun's habits. (Taken from this article in the Christian Science Monitor, it's fascinating!)

Since then, this delectable confection has become the signature pastry of Portugal. J and I were recently in Montreal visiting family and we stayed in the Little Portugal part of the city. The Plateau is an area full of international flavours - but undoubtedly, the smell of flam grilled chickens from all the sandwich shops is the dominant aroma, at least in my nostrils.

I awoke one morning to find that J had already been up and out, discovering the neighbourhood. He had returned with hot coffee and a little white box that I eagerly opened. Inside were four pasteis de nata, freshly baked. Not only is the custard filling velvety and beautiful yellow, but the pastry exterior is as once flaky and chewy. I don't know how, and frankly it blows my mind every time, as I am terrible at pastry.
You know how I know it will work with J and me? The man knows the way to my heart, obviously...

Bread Pudding or What to do with stale cinnamon buns ...

Start by opening up your Joy of Cooking to page 822. If you do not have a copy of Irma S. Rombauer's classic compendium of everyday dishes... well shame on you. But fear not - if you still choose not to add this essential encyclopedia of culinary wisdom, you're reading this, so at least you have the internet.

If you do a search of "bread pudding recipe" you'll find dozens of ideas to get you started. As Ms. Rombauer writes, "bread pudding is an efficient way to transform stale bread into a considerable variety of delicious desserts". There are very few rules when it comes to this dish. But of the few things that are certain you must not deviate.


1) Don't bother baking this with fresh bread. The whole point is to use up the ends of things like buns, sliced bread, or challah. I find challah makes the very best bread pudding because it's so rich and a little bit sweet already.

We had extra cinnamon buns lying around that were forgotten about after a lazy Sunday turned into a hectic week so they were the inspiration for this entry.

Cube the bread/buns/whathaveyou into bite-size pieces. You'll need about 5 Cups for this recipe, but a little more than that won't hurt.

*Note - the only bread that won't work for this is the kind made with baking powder or baking soda - you need actual yeast breads for bread pudding

2) Fillings are optional but always a good idea

There were raisins in the cinnamon buns so I thought I would go with the fruity theme and added a handful of dried currants (raisins being unavailable). You could use chopped up dried apricots or dates or even fresh apple. These are extra little add-ins and are not required for the pudding to be considered a pudding.

Sometimes I add roughly chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips. Once I actually chopped up brie cheese and added a splash of brandy... that was legendary.



Like all of the best things, there is butter in my recipe. Though Ms. Rombauer doesn't list it as a main ingredient, she does instruct that the casserole or baking dish be "buttered". Take a nob of butter - from your retro orange glass butter dish if you have one - and using some parchment paper or the foil from the butter itself, rub it into the bottom and sides of the dish.

If you're trying to be health conscious - well, why are you baking a custard-based dessert in the first place? ... Anyway, you can replace that last step by spraying the baking dish with low-fat cooking spray.

3) Learn to make custard

The Joy of Cooking asks for 3 Cups of whole milk. We are a 1% milk kind of house but I happened to have a quart of buttermilk leftover from pancakes so I used that up and finished the 3 Cups with regular milk.

To the milk add 4 large eggs. I learned from my mother that you should always crack each egg into a small bowl or cup separately first before adding it to the larger bowl of ingredients. You never know when you might fail and end up with shards of egg shell all over the place - not delicious.

Also - and I've noticed this with the fresh eggs from the market especially - you need to watch for blood spots in the eggs - the blood should be removed or the whole egg should be discarded. It depends on how squeamish you are, I suppose.

Either way, lesson learned, thanks Mom!

Whisk together your milk, 4 eggs, 1/2 - 3/4 Cup of sugar (depending on if you're using already sweetened bread like cinnamon buns for example).


4) Get creative

Add your flavour boosters - 1 tsp vanilla, 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, and a pinch of salt

As I mentioned above - in the past I've added all kinds of things to my custard to give it extra flavour.

Ideas? Try lemon zest, ground ginger, cloves, lavender, rosemary, almond extract, or Bailey's.

Really this the the fun part - the part where bread pudding can get really wild. Have fun with it -

And if you are particularly successful with your rendition, do let me know.

When your milk-egg mixture is all combined, all you have to do is pour it over the bread cubes sitting in wait in your prepared baking dish. Make sure you pour it evenly over all of the surface. Then all you have to do is wait. The dish needs about 30 minutes to soak up all the custard.

In the meantime there are lots of things you could do. Some might tell you to clean up after yourself. I think that is the job of whomever is lucky enough to be tucking into your dessert. And if that someone is you, well, I guess it will be all the more deserved, won't it?

Sweep the living room, fold laundry, rearrange your spice drawer, do whatever. I just wouldn't take the dog for a long walk as you need to press the bread down with a spatula periodically - every 5-10 minutes - to ensure proper soaking up-ness.


5) Get in the habit of always preheating the oven before it's time to put your food in

The other thing you should probably do in that half hour prior to baking is preheat the oven - at 350 degrees F.

Oh yes, and the other part of learning to make custard:

6) Prepare a water bath and set the baking dish inside it.
A water bath insulates the delicate custard from the violently hot oven temperature. It's easy. Find an oven safe dish that's larger than the one you're baking the bread pudding in. Line it with a few layers of paper towel. Rest the baking dish inside it. Pour water up to about halfway up the side of the bread pudding dish. Now your pudding is protected!

Bake the bread pudding for about an hour - depending on the hotness of your oven this may be a bit more or less. The time will also vary depending on the bread-custard ratio. If you have more custard and less bread, it will take a little longer.

You'll know your dessert is done when a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

If you're really keen you can prepare a butterscotch sauce or some sweetened whipped cream to serve on top.

We (Irma and I) think bread pudding is best served warm, so if you want to reheat it in an oven at around 300 for 15 minutes or so, you'll really impress people at your next potluck.

Bread pudding is even more amazing because you can make it in advance of a get-together and it will only get better as it sits.

Remember to refrigerate that puppy - eggs left on the counter of several days = gross.

recent food notes to mention

Have you ever tried cuttlefish tentacles? I didn't realize what I was missing until I was urged to try these at Kyoto recently. A much needed and long overdue night out with some girlfriends from work resulted in the four of us squeezing into one of their shoji-screened rooms, feet dangling on the floor, as we splashed our way through a bottle of hot sake.
The tentacles were served with a mango aioli as an appetizer along with deep fried Karaage Tofu - puffy and piping hot. We shared a Maki Boat covered in rolls of various fish and vegetable fillings and sprang for additional courses of salmon and tuna sashimi - melt in your mouth deliciousness...


Being substantially more settled in our new house, we decided it was high time to invite the parentals over for a brunch of approval. I spent the week tossing around recipe ideas and jotting them down on scraps of paper to see how they made out all together. J and Mel were given their dishes to be responsible for and then also given the task of ensuring that curtain rods were screwed into walls and floors were swept. The night before the brunch I had to work late, so I left them to their tasks and made sure my dad knew he was to bring the bubbly for the mimosas.

Everyone came through and it was an altogether lovely morning. Dad's cremant was delicious (on its own as well as mixed with orange juice). Mom was a champ and showed up with a very impressive fruit plate... I've never seen her use blackberries before, she really went all out. J used to make fun of the piles of bread on the counter every time he came over for dinner at my parents' place, but I wasn't all that surprised when she made a beeline for the kitchen, her arms weighed down with the fruit plate, a blueberry pie, roasted lentil dip, and (no joke) six loaves of bread and bread-like things from our favourite bakery.

In the end it was a rather impressive spread, and the fact that it was such a true collaboration of love made it even more scrumptious:
vegan chocolate turtles (recipe to follow)
smoked salmon, bagels, and cream cheese (the latter two brough by Mel's mom and dad)
chicken sausages from the farmer's market -grilled by J
buttermilk pancakes - Mel's addition (recipe from the Joy of Cooking)
banana white chocolate chip muffins - a family tradition in miniature
Mom's amazing fruit platter

Vegan Chocolate Turtles:
start with fresh Medjool dates
score lengthwise and remove the pit
replace with a toasted walnut or almond
seal shut with your fingers
place in a double boil of melted dark chocolate, rolling around with a spoon
remove and let cool on parchment paper


The most incredible meal I've had in ages was a few weeks ago when J and I decided to mark the anniversary of our first date by going all out on a spectacular dinner. I sent him a list of places I know to be top notch, but in the end he let me decide.

The Red Ox Inn is one of Edmonton's oldest and most highly regarded restos. Serving up fine bistro food with quality local ingredients for over 30 years, my expectations were actually exceeded by this place. It is a small restaurant - probably seats no more than 30 people. The decor is simple and elegant with rugged wood topped tables and substantial steak knives at eat setting.

Their wine list is a sight to behold and we decided to really treat ourselves with a different glass of white for each of us as our appetizers paired so much better with the crisp bright notes of unoaked Chardonnay and sweet, spicy Riesling (spinach salad with chevre and pan seared scallops respectively).

For our main courses - pork chop for J and duck breast for me - I chose a beautiful bottle of Barbera d'Asti - sweet spice of cherries and oak and a wonderful brick red colour. The duck breast was paired with a roasted fennel wrapped in prosciutto, cooked until crispy. Ugh, I was in paradise. J and I did our best to share and give tastes of everything on our plates, but I will admit at times I was hoping he wouldn't look over and see that there was something else to try.

Our better judgment to share dessert was silenced by the allure of blueberry white chocolate bread pudding and lemon tart. This photo of the empty plate was the only shot I got. We basically licked it clean.

Though I can't say that I'll be returning to the Red Ox Inn soon, it certainly was one of the most memorable meals I've ever had, and a beautiful place to celebrate being in love with J.

That's all for now - eggplant parmesan for dinner - must get a move on or the eggplant wont have enough time to drain...