Blog

Every summer needs a cottage vacation.  I am blessed and grateful that Thom’s family shares a wonderful cottage just north...

The first time I tried making a sourdough started was a few years ago.  I had been binge watching The...

Breakfast is my favourite meal.  I eat it all day long – seriously, today I have only eaten breakfast foods....

A few weeks ago I bought some beautiful small leeks at the Thunder Bay Country Market.   They sat in my fridge for...

Stop eating sugar for breakfast.  This seems like a crazy notion.  Especially for a baker.  I'm not saying give up...

My dear Start with a bowl readers, You may have noticed my absence from the web lately.  There has been...

Eat what you find.  In Canadian urban cities this is a strange notion. In many parts of Canada, including parts...

A confession.  I don’t love going to restaurants.  I would rather go to markets, buy great ingredients, and cook them...

I have fallen in love.  I’m as surprised as you are.  Someone new has come into my life.  His name...

I love hunting for treasures.  I think it’s why I love consignment, thrift, and antique shops.  I have found amazing...

What matters to you in a restaurant?  Obviously, the food.  I mean that’s why you’re there, right?  But there are...

Making the decision to try something new is the hardest part of change. When you’re in the moment of doing...

I am a crow.  I love shiny things.  I love new things.  I love weird things.  My brain, my eyes,...

Adventure is exciting.  You see and do new things, meet new people, and see a new part of the world. ...

What can I make with all this buttermilk?  This question plagued me when I was 15.  Ok, plagued is maybe...

Recently on the radio, I heard Mark Bittman, former lead food columnist for The New York Times Magazine.  He was talking...

Adventures in Sous Vide Who knew you could cook a steak – cook a steak perfectly, in fact – in...

Food magazines are funny things.  On the cover is a picture of a beautiful dish that draws you in.  You...

I love hunting.  I'm not talking about animals, I'm talking about shopping. I love sifting through racks of clothes, stacks of vinyl records,...

Clean it out! Once a year Thom and I do a detox/cleanse.  We started about 4 years ago.  I had...

How was bread invented?  I’ve often wondered this.  It has to have been an accident.  I can fathom that someone...

Turducken To begin, if you’re not sure what a Turducken is, click here. 6 years ago Thom and I decided...

The other day I found myself telling a friend she needed to read Ruth Reichl’s book My Kitchen Year.  While...

The perfect olive oil. A few years ago Thom and I had the wonderful pleasure of traveling through the south...

In my life I have made a lot of cakes.  A heck of a lot of cakes If you ask...

Cooking for allergies, intolerances, and preferences.  ( I can hear you sigh already).  I have one friend who is a...

I really enjoy doughnuts.  When I was a kid and I went ice skating with my dad, we would stop at...

Seriously. What is your favourite meal? If it’s your birthday, or you’re on death row awaiting execution, what do you...

People in my life have suggested to me that I could use a salt like.  Like a horse.  Well, they’re...

So, we have previously established that the sandwiches at Meat and Bread were too good to pass up.  A Porchetta...

One day my brother came home from school with an assignment.  My mother had to make a Yule Log.  There...

The mighty sandwich.  As a kid I didn’t like sandwiches.  That might be a direct result of how my mom...

While my Japadog experience was overall awesome, I made one crucial error.  I ate it at 3pm Vancouver time.  I...

One of the best parts of travelling is eating.  If you dine in local eateries and avoid the chains you...

Beginning my culinary journey as a baker, I have always kept recipes close at hand.  A recipe tells you what...

They call me…”The Plum Cake Lady” I love to bake with plums.  I love to make plum crumble, plum cake,...

From scratch.  What does that really mean?  Of course it means that you make something from ingredients rather than pre-assembled...

I am a sucker for Paris. I've been there 3 times and dream of moving there.  So, a book titled...

The first time I went to Paris was in 1999.   It was a life altering trip in more ways...

  I love the British TV Show The Great British Bake off.  It's a guilty pleasure.  I know, as an...