Cursive Mechanics » soapbox

Photo Friday: Consider the Rooster

Jodi — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:02:20 +0000

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…

Pantry Essentials: Cheese

Jodi — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:12:53 +0000

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…

Pantry Essentials: Chocolate

Jodi — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 11:15:24 +0000

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…

Pantry Essentials: Oil

Jodi — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 11:15:58 +0000

Extra virgin olive oil

Top-quality basic ingredients have the ability to elevate a dish. This five-part series is dedicated to exploring good investments in some of the staples of everyday cooking. (Previous series items: Sea Salt;…

Pantry Essentials: Pasta

Jodi — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:54:19 +0000

Orecchiette

Good-quality pantry items can often be the secret ingredient in a favourite dish. This five-part series is dedicated to exploring good investments in some of the most basic items for everyday cooking. (Previous series items:

Pantry Essentials: Sea Salt

Jodi — Mon, 24 May 2010 12:00:21 +0000

Top to bottom: O&CO Portuguese flor de sal, Guérande grey fleur de sel, and Maldon sea salt flakes

I used to think that being a good cook was all about technique, about…

Loblaws: Close but No Cigar

Jodi — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 02:25:45 +0000

Ontario-grown baby eggplant

It was early July when I fell in love with … oh, baby. Baby eggplant, that is.

These little beauties, piled under a hand-lettered sign advertising their Ontario roots, have been a faithful presence this…

Old-Thyme Power Drink: Switchel

Jodi — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:43:16 +0000

Haymaker’s ginger switchel

It’s hot, people. As it should be in the throes of summer. Think back to late February and how loudly you grumbled as you had to pull on boots, a coat, hat, and mittens before…

At One with Strawberries

Jodi — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:44:56 +0000

The fruits do not yield their true flavor to the purchaser of them, nor to him who raises them for the market. There is but one way to obtain it, yet few take that way. If you would know the flavor of huckleberries, ask the cow-boy or the partridge. It is a vulgar error to suppose that you have tasted huckleberries who never plucked them. —Henry David Thoreau, in Walden

In other words, you must become one with the fruit.

Environmentalism in Spite of Stephen Harper

Jodi — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 03:05:59 +0000

“Lazarus” trees at the Salvation Army Village on Broadview Avenue

The sight of the newly lopped trees was so shocking, and upsetting — they looked like mannequins stripped of their clothes and jammed feet-first into the earth, naked…