Roasted Cauliflower, Pomegranate & Hazelnut Salad

Roasted Cauliflower, Pomegranate & Hazelnut Salad

This roasted cauliflower salad serves as my reminder that good recipes are flexible. Good recipes invite experimentation. They serve as helpful guidelines, not rigid rules. With titles like “The Best This” or “The Ultimate That” it’s easy to forget no one recipe has a monopoly 

Rum Vanilla Extract and Butter Rum Shortbread

Rum Vanilla Extract and Butter Rum Shortbread

The vanilla extract on the left is full of seeds and has a whole pod in the bottle. The vanilla beans on the right are fresh, fragrant and supple enough to knot. Both products are Really Horrible. Seriously. They’re from Really Horrible Enterprises located in Ottawa, ON. 

Classic Snacks Made from Scratch – Graham Crackers

Classic Snacks Made from Scratch – Graham Crackers

These quotes wrap around the bulkhead in Casey Barber’s kitchen. I like that she’s not afraid of orange, or irreverence, or figuring out how to get the cream filling inside a homemade Twinkie®. Her book, Classic Snacks Made from Scratch: 70 Homemade Versions of Your Favourite 

Soup Sisters: Spread the Love

Soup Sisters: Spread the Love

When is a bowl of soup not a bowl of soup? When it’s a community coming together in support. Soup Sisters is a registered not-for-profit organization with 12 chapters across Canada. Through the help of their volunteers, they have delivered more than 100,000 containers of 

Homemade ghee

Homemade ghee

This is jar of freshly stained homemade ghee – pronounced GEE. It’s clarified butter pushed to the edge. Done right,  it will reward you with golden brown, nutty goodness. Done wrong? Both you and the butter will end up weeping into the compostable waste bin. 

Eager for Aebleskivers

Eager for Aebleskivers

These Danish treats are aebleskivers (or aebelskivers or ebleskivers or ebelskivers). Their pronunciation is equally elusive. Some say “able-skeever” while the Danish pronunciation is more “able-skewer” with a lilt I can’t nail down. Literally translated, the word means “apple slices” since the traditional form has 

Messy Valentine’s Day

Messy Valentine’s Day

The astute among you will notice the subtle change in the header. Although the domain name remains the same, Christie’s Corner has been replaced by The Messy Baker. Baby steps, Charmian. Baby steps. The new domain name and layout are coming. Just slowly. There’s a lot 

Pampered

Pampered

If I come back as a vegetable I want to be kale. Ruffly, versatile, pretty kale. Not only would I be my favourite colour (green), I’d finally have unstoppable curls — something I can’t achieve even with hot rollers and a perm. But I’d be 

Improvisation

Improvisation

I think I’ve created a new, never-heard-of-before dessert. Bundt Trifle. Not because I’m trying to be different or start the next food craze, but because my imagination plays tricks on me. I had wanted to make a trifle in one of those clear, straight-sided dishes that