I have a saying: "You can't choose your family, but you can choose your dinner guests. I do think my family makes up the majority of my blog readership, however, so I'd better be careful what I say! So let me tactfully start by saying honestly that I love cooking for family. As … [Read more...] about Dinner Party Menu Ideas, from Indian Ven Pongal or Lamb Saag to Ancho Chili-Rubbed Salmon with Sweet Chili Hollandaise
Fruit
DIY Blueberry Cereal Bars from “Wonderland Kitchen” and Recipe Exchange
Remember when you were young and wanted to share a recipe with someone, and you had to write it out for them? It took time and effort, and then the copied recipe would (probably) be dutifully tucked into a recipe collection to be used at a future date. When I was young, the most … [Read more...] about DIY Blueberry Cereal Bars from “Wonderland Kitchen” and Recipe Exchange
Thumbprint Cookies and Slow-cooker Sugar-free Raspberry Jam
What I learned from a rotary evaporator was that reducing liquids at very low temperatures saves their flavour. Not that the rotary evaporator stood in front of a classroom of able-minded cooks and told me that. Instead, I tasted it in the spherified orange juice that looked like … [Read more...] about Thumbprint Cookies and Slow-cooker Sugar-free Raspberry Jam
Thanksgiving 2012 – The Photos
Wow. What a dinner. The brined turkey tasted like amazing pho' broth soaking into the most tender meat. The stuffing with gluten-free bread absorbed it all too, with just a little smokiness (others said. I couldn't taste the smoke), maybe from the oven, which was smoking, or from … [Read more...] about Thanksgiving 2012 – The Photos
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
When you're gifted a sugar pumpkin from an organic farm as thanks for using their leeks in a cooking demo at a farmers market, the world becomes your culinary oyster. Okay, maybe my world. Maybe most people's worlds turn into a black hole of worrisome thoughts along the lines of, … [Read more...] about Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
Remaking a Champion: Seared Mackerel and Mango with Ratatouille
This is a far cry from Becky Selengut's original recipe, but when I saw her make this at the Queen Anne Farmers Market in Seattle with peaches instead of figs, I knew I could get away with a few changes. Now, she used peaches because they were in season, but as peach season had … [Read more...] about Remaking a Champion: Seared Mackerel and Mango with Ratatouille
Bourbon and Maple Syrup-Soaked Japanese Pears (and Peaches)
At the Columbia City Farmers Market in Seattle I met a man selling Japanese cucumbers. Now, I have a friend in Montreal who asked me to grow him Japanese cucumbers once because they're impossible to find there. So when I saw them at the market, I was intrigued. They're less … [Read more...] about Bourbon and Maple Syrup-Soaked Japanese Pears (and Peaches)
Vacuum-Sealed Pickles, Quick Fermentation, and Ultrasonic Baths: Cucumbers, Chanterelles, Maple Syrup Pears, Fennel and Chili Peppers
I went on a bit of a pickle roll when I was at the Modernist Cuisine Cooking Lab... "Can you quick-ferment cucumbers?" I asked. I'd heard they made their own sauerkraut and I wanted to know if there was a way to do it in one day instead of two weeks. Turns out you can't actually … [Read more...] about Vacuum-Sealed Pickles, Quick Fermentation, and Ultrasonic Baths: Cucumbers, Chanterelles, Maple Syrup Pears, Fennel and Chili Peppers
Slow Cooker Apple Butter
What the heck is apple butter? Is it apple-flavoured butter? What do you do with it? These are all valid questions. Here are the answers: Apple butter is just apple butter cooked down to a spreadable, sort of butter-like consistency. It is not butter at all, thus is not … [Read more...] about Slow Cooker Apple Butter
Sleeping Problems, My Roommate, and Apple Pie in a Jar
One of the problems with making a lot of jam is you end up with a lot of half bottles of jam in your fridge, and if you're any good at making jam, you'll want to eat them. Now, I'm not a toast-in-the-morning kind of person because of the whole gluten thing, so I've discovered … [Read more...] about Sleeping Problems, My Roommate, and Apple Pie in a Jar