Dried lavender on Baba Jenny’s sugar spoon
She gave me a knife but I needed a machete.
Recently, after a Sunday supper, Michael’s grandmother sent me into her garden to harvest some fresh herbs to bring home and cook with during the week ahead. I cut chives as long as my forearm and pinched off some green, glossy Genovese basil leaves as ...
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Webb Farm arugula
First it was sorrel, and now it’s arugula — a greens theme seems to be developing around here. Perhaps it’s because summer is winding down and the market stalls will soon be laden with long-storage squashes and root vegetables instead of delicate, ethereal, and perishable summer bounty. Or perhaps it’s because I really am just obsessed with ...
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Sorrel soup, or schav
Italian parsley and young arugula in downy bunches, elastics wrapped around their stems. Stacks of pointy-leafed mint, variegated lemon thyme, and slender chives creating a landscape of fragrant green pyramids. Soft, pillowy bags of baby spinach, mixed lettuces, and mâche. But no sorrel.
“I am too late this morning? Has all the sorrel been snatched up?” I asked, clearly ...
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Baking at the cottage: raspberry pie
Raspberries are special.
They’re intricate. Think of that hive of tiny, hair-studded spheres that slips off its torus when perfectly ripe.
They’re delicate. Eat them from your cupped palm, and streaky stains of their crimson juice will be left behind.
They’re luscious. Deeply flavoured with tart and sweet and floral notes all at once, they taste exactly what you’d ...
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Causa limeña: savoury Peruvian potato torte
In my autobiography, April 2006 through July 2006 will be known as “The Dark Period.”
I don’t remember what I ate during The Dark Period. More than that, I don’t remember eating at all. It did wonders for my figure. Oh, that glorious warm summer morning when I slid into a black pencil skirt that had been ...
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The Van de Ven’s rooster
The handsome rooster here? He posed for this picture.
It sounds far-fetched, I know, but as I watched with camera poised as he and his lady friends strutted by, the rooster stopped to shake a tail feather or two and toss his waddles and comb. At first I thought he was defending his territory, but no. This rooster ...
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Comté cheese (Eastern France; unpasteurized cow’s milk)
The ingredients we use every day in our kitchens are elemental in the dishes we eat. This is the last entry in the current five-part series exploring good-quality pantry basics. (Previous series items: Sea Salt; Pasta; Oil; Baking Chocolate.)
Pantry items don’t generally reside in the refrigerator, but ...
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Wild strawberries on Gilmour Street, Peterborough, ON
Meet Fragaria vesca. (What? Based on the title you were expecting something else? These are wild strawberries, not strawberries gone wild.)
Also known as the woodland strawberry in deference to its natural habitat in the forests and meadows of the Northern Hemisphere, out there in the wild the whole plant is a tasty treat — ungulates ...
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Callebaut dark Belgian chocolate
It’s easy to overlook the ingredients we use day in and day out in our kitchens, but often these workhorses are essential components of a dish. This five-part series celebrates good-quality pantry basics. (Previous series items: Sea Salt; Pasta; Oil.)
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the experience of unwrapping my ...
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Sunday morning breakfast table
Poached eggs. Vintage sunflower pattern creamer and sugar bowl by designer Vera Neumann. Asparagus. My grandmother’s spring flowers tablecloth. Potato-spinach hash. CBC’s Michael Enright murmuring in the background. Strawberries. Monogrammed cloth napkins, a gift from my friend Anne. Apricot-Riesling and raspberry jams. Plum spread. Rye toast. A breeze from the open window. Hot coffee in my mug from ...
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