Poached Eggs with Yogurt and Smoked Paprika Butter

Poached Eggs with Yogurt and Smoked Paprika Butter

Poached eggs are misunderstood. Cooked without added fat, some people consider them boring— unless they’re wedged between a thick base of back bacon and a topcoat of hollandaise. Others will say they’re too much work. You have to boil water, find a slotted spoon, set 

Burnt Caramel Pudding

Burnt Caramel Pudding

This post isn’t what I intended. I had planned on doing a round-up of my favourite cold-weather soup recipes. Healthy, economical, waste-free, toe-warming soup. But after poking about the Internet for a minute or two, I realized everyone had the same idea. So instead, I’m sharing 

Tackling Food Waste

Tackling Food Waste

This month’s Canadian Food Experience Project focuses on resolutions. I could have used my culinary bucket list as my contribution, but I don’t do proper resolutions and felt this was a bit of a cheat.  Then I rethought things. I’ve been wearing blinkers. The word “resolution” 

Avocado Tomatillo Sauce

Avocado Tomatillo Sauce

It has snowed so much lately my shovel and I are on a first name basis. It sees my boots coming and says, “Hello, Charmian.” I nod, pull my hat down over my ears and grab the chirpy shovel in a choke hold. Together, Shovel 

Apple Roasted Cornish Hens | Improv Recipe

Apple Roasted Cornish Hens | Improv Recipe

This improv recipe is a testament to my impulse shopping, poor sense of timing and the power of the common cold. Impulse shopping:  A few months ago, I found fresh Cornish hens at the butcher shop. As I stood at the meat counter waiting to 

Smoky Navy Bean Soup

Smoky Navy Bean Soup

In my early teens, I had a brief but passionate flirtation with tinned Bean with Bacon soup. My mom, like a sensible parent, didn’t try to talk me out of my crush. She figured I’d eventually come to my senses, and let me ride things 

Burma: Rivers of Flavour – An interview with Naomi Duguid

Burma: Rivers of Flavour – An interview with Naomi Duguid

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Naomi Duguid about her award-winning book Burma: Rivers of Flavor (Random House ©2012). In April, the book won the IACP award for Culinary Travel, and just last week was awarded Gold by Taste Canada —The Food Writing Awards 

Tomatillo Chicken – An Unexpected Canadian Harvest

Tomatillo Chicken – An Unexpected Canadian Harvest

When I was a child, my mother had a vegetable garden in the side yard. She grew runner beans and radishes, beets and Swiss chard. I remember neat rows of fancy-topped chives whose pungent smell drove me away, and giant bunches of rhubarb that whispered 

Alice Eats Sunken Dark-Chocolate Cake

Alice Eats Sunken Dark-Chocolate Cake

Describing this cookbook as unconventional would be misleading. It doesn’t contain outrageously challenging recipes or impossible to get ingredients. You won’t find odd flavour combinations or dishes that look like storybook animals. If I may mix my fictional elements, Alice Eats is the James Bond martini