English lavender in my Aunt Janice’s garden

There’s a magical moment that happens when making lavender limeade. It occurs after you have simmered together water, sugar, lavender blossoms, and lime zest to produce a floral-perfumed simple syrup. It happens after you have sliced a little hill of limes in half and divested them of their pulpy, tangy juice. It happens after ...
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Bathtub basil planter

I snapped this shot in an alleyway just north of Trinity Bellwoods Park during Toronto’s 2007 Alley Jaunt event. I was visiting Michael and the rest of the Wireless Toronto Art Squad and their installation of network “music” and poetry. On the Sunday afternoon, the two of us ...
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Minted white-bean dip

At the risk of making these two dips — white bean and roasted garlic and its fancy cousin, minted white bean (recipes after the jump) — sound completely unappetizing, I want you to know that I think of them as my “Oh, Crap” recipes.

Let me explain.

Let’s say I’m planning a dinner party and get preoccupied with the main ...
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