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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…