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…

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…

Marmalade and dark chocolate tart

This recipe was born of necessity.

While recently reviewing a cookbook, I tried a recipe for Seville orange marmalade that, while extremely delicious, had the consistency of cement. (I suspect the…

Sweet corn soup shooters

Here’s the scene: People are arriving at your cocktail party on an icy January evening. The biting wind has driven the temperature down to a frigid –20°C. Guests unwind scarves from their necks, shake…

Creamed chicken and cornmeal porridge (Ciulama de pui si mămăligă)

I’m trying not to take offence.

I realize that the dish my mother’s people are famous for is commonly referred to as “gruel” (a cornmeal gruel, in fact,…

Lime tart with fresh raspberries

I know. I know! It’s yet another dessert post.

I’m just as surprised as you are, as I’ll gladly side with savoury over sweet every single time. But what can I say? There…

Coffee blondies

I would make a terrible Got Milk? poster girl.

It wasn’t always this way. For most of my adult life I bought, and consumed, at least a litre of milk every week: I was a dunker…

Pizza with spring toppings and fontina

I choose to view the last year and eight months as a lesson in simplicity, in determining life’s essentials from its frills. As it happens, having a full-sized oven is a frill,…