Once again, my wonderful wife surprised me with a lesson with an Italian Chef. Senora Adler Bonavera is the Chef, Patronne and Sommelier of Il Duca di Orvieto. She provides cooking lessons to professional Chef's and also to serious foodie tourists. The techniques she teaches (and stories she tells), you can’t learn in school. Only [...]
Got a special occasion coming up? Here's a complete meal for you to enjoy. To me a special occasion is any time you get together with good friends (yes this can be just you and your spouse/partner/significant other etc) to share a meal. Even better if it is a special meal with things you wouldn't eat [...]
Sometimes you just want a plain cake to eat. Nothing fancy, a comfort cake, the kind mum used to make. No icing, no filling, just plain old fashioned butter based cake. I found this recipe on the NY Times site. I love that site because they mix the classic with the nouveau style, rustic comfort [...]
Serradura is Portuguese for "sawdust cake". The recipe I'm giving you refers to it as Macanese (from Macau). It's called sawdust because the biscuits that make layers between the rich cream are ground up to a fine powder like consistency. I like recipes that come together easily and taste great and my philosophy on desserts [...]
Changes in diets (no not fad diets - never fad diets) are always a good thing. It forces you to be creative with the ingredients you have a surplus of as no one is eating them. Oatmeal has gone the way of the dodo in my house. This has left me with about 3 large [...]
There is a certain amount of joy you get when you travel. Whether it is for business or pleasure, alone or with company, I always enjoyed my time away from the city. I think some of the most memorable meals I've had have been in foreign countries. Not to say they were all good, just [...]
As if the noble cauliflower weren't already engrained into our diet. In addition to boiling, broiling and roasting, here's another great way to enjoy this cruciferous vegetable. I've adapted this recipe from the Loblaw site. It tastes great as presented in the recipe but of course I made two batches and adapted one to my [...]
At a recent celebration at our place, my niece brought over a delightful smoked salmon hors d 'oeuvres (pictured below) to our house. Beautifully made phyllo pastry tarts, a container of sauteed leeks and sour cream. She assembled it on site so it would have a crispy crust, delightfully warm center and cool smoked salmon [...]
When my wife and I were in Paris last year, I did a baking course. Nothing terribly complex, but just enough to refresh my memory on the fine art of baguette making. Of course I paid attention, I asked questions, I made lots of notes on technique and timing, and then, at the end of [...]
Well it was a great week last week - weather wise, work wise, life wise! Then it happened, I woke up Easter morning - the reason for the season, thought I overslept as it was brighter in the room, threw open the curtains and was horrified to find snow on the ground!!! Okay let me [...]
