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Dishing: ensemble
A number of months ago, my friends took me out to celebrate my turning another year older and (this is debatable) another year wiser. I chose ensemble for the event ― it’s yet another new place on the...
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Happy Birthday, Julia Child!
I could not let today go by without posting something about Julia Child. Today would have been her 100th birthday. The piece of cake in this photo was my birthday treat to myself, one sunny wintry...
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Dishing: Monk McQueens
Last night was one night I regretted showing up late to the party. Monk McQueens at Stamps Landing on the south side of False Creek has been a Vancouver landmark ever since it opened during Expo ’86....
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Recipe Box: Bitterballen
Every year around the holiday season, my mother used to make bitterballen. These little morsels are a savoury Dutch meat snack that (in our household at least) disappeared faster than Mom could make...
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Dishing: Jean-Georges
Now that you’re all firmly resolved, and well and truly into your New Year’s diets, I thought I’d write a few posts about food. Any objections? I thought not. And since I have at least eight friends...
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Dishing: Acadia
My friend was so impressed with our experience at Jean-Georges in New York City last summer that she decided we should check out some fine dining options in Toronto as long as I was in town. We...
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Dishing: Pizzeria Libretto
Here’s one last post on food, and then I’ll let you all go back to your New Year’s resolutions. (Which I know you’re following religiously.) This post is about how I discovered Naples on the Danforth....
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Afternoon Tea at the Empress
Most afternoons, I have a cup of tea. With milk. It’s such a part of my routine that this past week there was an “incident” (shall we say) at work when I discovered someone had used up the milk I keep...
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Dishing: Bitter Tasting Room
Many years ago (too many to share with you), I was backpacking around Europe with a friend. One hot, sunny afternoon in late September, we climbed 509 stairs to the top of Cologne’s beautiful...
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Recipe Box: Wild BC Spot Prawns
I first discovered wild BC spot prawns a couple of years ago when I noticed them popping up on restaurant menus around town. “Spot prawns? What are spot prawns?” I asked my friends. They didn’t know...
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Armchair Traveller: The Sweet Life in Paris
Are you still searching for the perfect Christmas gift for the armchair traveller in your life? Perhaps you could use a suggestion for your own holiday reading. Either way, here’s a book recommendation...
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Armchair Traveller: On Rue Tatin
How many shopping days until Christmas? I think I have time to squeeze in another book recommendation. This one is by another American cookbook author who transplants herself to France, but she doesn’t...
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Alkmaar
I remember the exact moment I fell in love with cheese. The exact moment. Is that weird? My family and I were enjoying a picnic lunch of sandwiches and fruit after a bike ride through the Amsterdamse...
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Salt Spring Island Cheese
Last month, I told you all about the beginnings of my life-long love affair with cheese. This month, I’m going to tell you about a stop I make whenever I visit Salt Spring Island — a place that’s...
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Hollandse Kaas
Look what I got! I was hanging out in Solo again these past few weeks taking care of a houseful of cats while my sister and her husband were gallivanting around northern Europe. I’m back home again,...
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Recipe Box: Sockeye Salmon
A sure sign that summer is morphing into fall is when the salmon start running. Four years ago, the Fraser River had the salmon run of the century. More than 30 million sockeye swam up river to spawn...
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Recipe Box: Boeuf Bourguignon
Before we get too far into spring, I need to fill you in on how I spent my non-winter. (Because when one hasn’t the means for a mid-winter getaway, and there’s no snow to play in, how does one...
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West End Farmers Market
I know summer has well and truly arrived when the West End Farmers Market returns. As it did today. And it’ll be here, every Saturday, until the end of October. Oh joy, oh bliss. Shopping at your...
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Reel Life: Julie & Julia
I had the opportunity this past week to introduce some friends to the film Julie & Julia. I was secretly pleased when they selected that DVD out of the pile I had brought, but I had no idea when I...
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E. Dehillerin
There is one scene in Julie & Julia that cracks me up every time I watch the film because it’s so far off from the truth. It’s when Julia Child, Simone Beck, and Louisette Bertholle are...
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