Noodles are ubiquitous in many cuisines and udon, a soft, thick and chewy wheat noodle, is one of the many Asian forms I hadn't tried until I found them fresh at my local, cut-rate, grocery store ( Read more... )

This post combines two of my favourites, reading mysteries and baking. And chocolate. (But that's pretty low down on my list of faves, to be honest.)

I've read almost all of the Joanne Fluke mysteries but can't remember trying out any of the recipes she includes in each novel until I finished "Blackberry Pie Murder" late last night. One of the ( Read more... )

I've been neglecting my 'abc' tagged posts. I had been debating between kale, kirsch and kefalotyri but I finally committed. I've used kirsch but I don't think I made a big deal of its inclusion and, until I decide on a Greek menu, I won't be buying kefalotyri for the 'saganaki' appetizer ( Read more... )

I bought a big bunch of fresh mint at the city market a week ago and had to come up with some quick ideas for ways to use it up.

This was ONE of my favourites ... Spinach, cheese and pine nut phyllo squares (see link to recipe at the bottom)


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I've cooked salmon for some time now. The first time I tried it, I found the taste a bit too "fishy" but over the years, I've grown to appreciate its qualities and can now enjoy it raw in sushi, smoked and grilled or baked, with or without marinades to enhance its flavour.

Past salmon dishes I've tried include salmon souffle, with a dill sauce, ( Read more... )

... which isn't so AWFUL at all. (Sorry for aw... err BAD pun.)

Offal is the entrails or internal organs of an animal. Probably the least objectionable offal that people have tried are giblets which are the gizzard, heart, kidney and liver of poultry like chickens and turkeys. My mother cooked both beef and chicken livers when I was growing up, ( Read more... )

Vanilla is the Rodney Dangerfield of the baking world. Unlike its flashier sibling, chocolate, vanilla 'gets no respect'But, even in recipes for desserts featuring chocolate, you'll usually see a dash of vanilla being added to round out or highlight the flavours ( Read more... )

I haven't done one of these alphabet posts in a while and, in honour of the coming New Year, I decided to jump to the end of the alphabet and make the classic Italian egg yolk custard dessert, "Zabaglione". In France, the dessert is called "Sabayon"Instead of using the traditional fortified wine, Marsala, I substituted my home-made Limoncello. For ( Read more... )

ETA (picture added 10/25/2015) : Zsusza, this is the special dessert I was talking about.


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Raspberries are one of my favourite berries. And, even though they're pricier than strawberries, I prefer buying a plastic clamshell of fresh raspberries, half the size of the strawberry one. When they're on sale, I buy the 2 or 3 clamshells and start making plans on how to use them up.

( Various uses for the raspberries )