My Mother’s Hands | Lemon Curd Recipe

My Mother’s Hands | Lemon Curd Recipe

These hands turn 80 this summer. These hands have picked strawberries, made jam, kneaded bread, rolled pastry. They have decorated birthday cakes, anniversary cakes and wedding cakes. They have changed diapers, washed clothes, sewn dresses, mended seams, darned socks, stitched buttons, ironed pleats. They have 

Recipe: Paella

Recipe: Paella

One of these days I’ll learn how to take notes, shoot pictures and eat, all at once. This sort of multi-tasking would have come in very handy last week when I attended a paella class at Pimenton in Toronto. Greeted by a table full of tapas, 

Homemade Clotted Cream

Homemade Clotted Cream

Shrove Tuesday doesn’t have to include pancakes. Today is really about gorging on rich foods before the 40-day fast of Lent. Pancakes just happen to be cooked in grease, filled with eggs and topped with more decadence.  It’s okay to think beyond the griddle. Any 

Recipe: Preserved Lemons

Recipe: Preserved Lemons

It’s time to strike another item off my Culinary Bucket List. In an uncharacteristic display of patience, I tackled preserved lemons. They require endurance, not because they are hard to make, but because they take 4 weeks to cure. In the meantime, to scratch my 

Recipe: Homemade Eggnog

Recipe: Homemade Eggnog

I’m trying not to be resentful but a certain celebrity llama has more Twitter followers than I do. And his first name isn’t Dali. To be fair, the llama is a talented goat herder, so I can see the appeal. Why all the fuss over 

Recipe: Plum Lavender Jam

Recipe: Plum Lavender Jam

I always thought I had a pretty good childhood. Each winter, my father would make a skating rink in the back yard, which we and our friends would use for noisy hours on end. And when we came in bright pink and shivering, Mom defrosted 

Jade Soup

Jade Soup

I’m feeling rather ornery. It’s Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend but the weather is downright balmy and I can’t face the thought of autumn, let alone winter. I don’t care that the leaves are turning glorious colours or the nights are perfect sleeping-weather-cool. I don’t want 

Recipe: Baco Noir Wine Jelly

Recipe: Baco Noir Wine Jelly

Get smug while making preserves and you’ll smart for it. Think you’re too coordinated to need a funnel? Well, let me tell you, one blob of 220°F  jelly straight to the thumb will change your mind in a heck of a hurry. It certainly made 

Peach Mango Soup Shooters

Peach Mango Soup Shooters

I don’t think of soup when it comes to pairing wine. And I don’t think of peaches when it comes to soup. And I don’t think of tart when it comes to sweet, sweet peaches. So a cayenne-kissed, very tangy-yet-sweet peach-mango soup designed to go