A photo of cooked chicken in an oven dish on a cutting board

Blog

Nov 10, 2018
2 min

Pumpkins, Harrowsmith, and Other Fun Stuff

I’ve been busy; so much going on…mostly good, some of it fan-freakin’-tastic, and well, there’s been some sadness too. First, let’s just...

Feb 11, 2018
2 min

YOU Can Cook Anything!

Cooking has always been easy for me, I come to it naturally and I was exposed to it from a very early age. We didn't eat out often and...

Feb 6, 2018
7 min

All By Myself

Professor Ferguson warned the students of Food Writing I: “It’s a lonely profession, being a freelance writer.” She wasn’t kidding. Ever...

Nov 22, 2017
3 min

It’s a Christmas Miracle!

I’m giving it away. My mother’s secret. The one she held close; a few scribbles on a greasy, dog-eared page. I know she had others. Sad...

Nov 17, 2017
3 min

A Tart Tart!

If I failed to ask nicely for something, Mother always reminded me that I would attract more flies with honey than vinegar. It was a long...

May 19, 2017
6 min

Digest This!

Mother was not the mothering sort. She had babies. Plenty of ‘em – five – but after they graduated from wriggling, cooing helplessness,...

Apr 11, 2017
4 min

Asparagus Crimes, No Punishment

This is spring: a tiny oven bird biddeling along a fallen branch in Thickson's Woods... ...and in my garden, this is spring: the first...

Mar 11, 2017
5 min

I'd Tap That!

The maple tree is so deeply rooted in Quebec and Ontario culture that we hold parties to celebrate its sweet gifts. It’s well-rooted in...

Feb 6, 2017
7 min

Foodie by Nature, Frugal by Nurture

"Waste not, want not." I heard that constantly when I was a kid. I never understood it, mind you. I thought, if I didn't want it why...

Jan 30, 2017
2 min

Dough Ball Deliverance

I love a ball of pizza dough; homemade or store-bought. Though, in all honesty, I rarely make my own. For around two bucks I can get a...

Jan 26, 2017
2 min

Do Some Dumplings

I don't celebrate Chinese New Year, (I don't even celebrate that other New Year's Eve thing) but really, any reason for dim sum and...

Jan 20, 2017
3 min

Cooking with Beer

Originally posted on 10/25/2012 Though I wrote and posted this blog a couple of years ago on my old website, I wanted to give it a second...

Jan 10, 2017
6 min

Fishing the Ottawa

Photo: Renate Pasborg-Hering - Ice fishing huts on the Ottawa River near Hudson, Quebec, mid-1990s. From Lake Temiskaming way north of...

Jan 4, 2017
3 min

Warm, Reakin’, Rich!

In case you were wondering just now - as I'm sure you were - Robbie Burns Day or as it's also known, Burns Night, is celebrated on...

Dec 15, 2016
7 min

The Elephant in the Room

A while back I posted about my conflicted relationship with meat. And then, as the hours and days passed, I realized there was more to...

Dec 13, 2016
5 min

Oh, My Divided Heart

This will be as confusing for you as it is for me. There is so very much talk around meat and sustainability and ethics and and and.... I...

Nov 13, 2016
2 min

...And a Super Moon too!

Holy crow. It's been a fun-filled, excitement-packed couple of weeks with a few more to come! The book keeps getting media love, with new...

Nov 3, 2016
3 min

A Christmas Recipe from Me to You!

Yup, crazy I know, but it's just around the corner. Seriously. It's sooner than you think. And therefor, it's time to start planning and...

Oct 28, 2016
2 min

A Place to Grow...Ontario!

Originally posted on 5/2/2013 This is Prince Edward County, Ontario, rye. It's the first lot of a test crop. The folks at Stonemill...

Oct 18, 2016
3 min

Baking with Bonnie...

...and Chef Michael Smith. I've been working with The Bonnie Gordon College of Confectionary Arts for the last little while, and one of...