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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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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Michael’s mom with bread and mint

“Is it the bread-soaked-in-meat-juice holiday?”

Such is the uncomely moniker I once used when Michael and I would receive the invitation to gather with his family, including an extended family of neighbours and friends, in early May. Not knowing much about the Portuguese Festa do Espirito Santo, or Festival of the Holy Spirit, I simply equated it ...
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Tablecloth embroidered by my great-grandmother

I only remember her hands ravaged by age: skin thin and spotted, knuckles gnarled with arthritis. I can still see them working a crochet needle, kneading dough, and wiping the warm wax from the surface of a just-written pysanka. I thought about those hands and the woman they belonged to, my maternal great-grandmother, Eva, as ...
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Pastéis de nata (Portuguese custard tarts)

I say “natas”; you say “custard tarts.” We’re both right and they’re one of the simplest, most delicious pastries around. You’ll find a little history behind this popular sweet and tasting notes on natas from some Toronto bakeries in my “A Tart for All-Comers” piece published over at TasteT.O. this ...
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Celebrating Grandma and Grandpa’s birthdays, Christmas 2009

This December, my grandparents turned 81 (grandma, on December 21) and 87 (grandpa, on December 24). On Christmas Day, when we sang the birthday song and watched them together blow out the candles on their banana-chocolate-walnut chiffon cake — my grandmother’s recipe, my uncle, the baker, told us — they were barely two weeks into ...
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Dinner, at the roll of a die

Sometimes, I just don’t know what to make for dinner.

Such a quandary should be impossible, what with my kitchen bookshelf stuffed with upwards of 100 cookbooks in regular use, my utility closet bulging with food magazines, a blogroll that scrolls on and on through sites showcasing food from all over the world, and an imagination ...
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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, made simply with meal, water, and a flick of salt), which is not exactly a glamorous calling card. Still, it is rather disheartening to crack ...
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