People talk about texture in food like they’re talking about the Seven Dwarfs – Chewy, Sticky, Crunchy, Fatty, Lumpy, Creamy, Slimy, Crispy, Toughy … oh wait that’s nine. And they talk about it as if we’re supposed to enjoy all…
Frozen Raspberry Nougat Parfait with an Ice-Cream Hack
This has saved Christmas a few times, especially the hack. The parfait recipe below calls for ricotta, sugar and cream, but, I have in my time … replaced all of those … with … softened quality vanilla ice cream. There,…
Four Rule Grilled Open Cheese Melts
Bread and cheese? Yes, please! For these open cheese melts, I’ve used smoked ham, tomato and mozzarella. But, basically, if you can put it on a pizza, you can put it on a melt. It’s also a great way to…
Super Easy Smoked Salmon Pasta with Sour Cream
This is kind of a prosecco dish, in that it’s both sparkling white and also a cheeky rosé. Easy smoked salmon pasta with sour cream is also the simplest impress-your-friends-with-your-nonchalance-in-the-kitchen recipe I can think of. Plus, pasta. If you can/want…
Smell and Taste of Things Waiting for Their Moment
So, as I’m writing out these recipes, or sorting through photos on my phone, I’m getting all these memories bubbling up, sometimes childhood ones, a little bit like Monsieur Proust. This has to be one of the best paragraphs about…
Lazy Dessert – Puff Pastry Lemon Curd Tartlets
These are a huge step up from Bridget Jones’s dessert of marmalade, while hinting at the lemon pie you could make if only you *languid sigh* had the time. All while using only two ingredients. Simple, quick and adaptable? Yes,…
Weeknight Chicken Stir-Fry For When You Can’t Be Bothered
Ugh, you only have one carrot, a capsicum and some lonely looking snow peas in the crisper. Here is your stir fry. I always have soy sauce and oyster sauce on hand, as well as some kind of noodle, and…
That’s How the Light Gets In
There’s a universal truth: most of us are really just trying the best we can, the best we know how. It’s easy to be critical. It’s hard to let go. One of the main things I’ve learned over years in…
Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained, and A Poem
I don’t know if this site will have any more than a readership of one, but you only live once, right? Worse than the fear of trying, is not trying at all. So, recipes for life? lifestyle? life in general?…
25 Minute Simple Berry Muesli Muffins
I can’t think of the word “muffin” any more without thinking of that scene from Shrek when the Gingerbread Man asks Lord Farquaad if he knows the Muffin Man. The one from Drury Lane. Apparently, a few hundred years ago,…
Placki – Ultimate Potato Pancake Comfort Food
Potato placki (placki ziemniaczane) with sour cream were THE comfort food of my childhood, along with pierogi (but that’s another post). When my mother was a child, she had no electricity, so placki were made over the wood stove. Her…
One-Hour Puff Pastry Chicken Pie
So, my pie decorating style is … rustic. But, does it matter? I had fun. Most importantly, this one-hour puff pastry chicken pie takes only one hour … and tastes great! Ready-made puff pastry has got to be one of…
