Confessions of a Cardamom Addict

Granola-topped pumpkin bread

2009-11-08T10:54:00.005-05:00

For years I thought pumpkins were only good for two things: Jack-o-lanterns and halva. Eventually soups and pies were added to the list.There it stood for years: four uses, take 'em or leave 'em.That is, until this year.Mum handed me a 796ml tin of pumpkin purée, with the expectation of a Thanksgiving pie. The pie (well, tarte, if we want to be all foofy about it) was made...but that left

Comfort and Restoration: Chicken Broth

2009-11-03T19:33:00.007-05:00

School's back in, the weather's turned cold and sniffles are everywhere. Add the current H1N1 meme to the mix and people are queued for injections, emptying shop shelves of antibacterial everything and screens of e-mails proffering "helpful hints" as to how to spot and avoid the 'flu, including giving up hugging and handshaking in hopes of "staying healthy." (Bah to that I say. Bah) Watercooler

Daring Bakers: Claudia Fleming's Macarons...or is it macaroons?

2009-10-27T00:00:00.005-04:00

Recipe: MacaroonsRecipe origins: Claudia Fleming's The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy TavernHostess: Ami. S of Baking Without FearThe 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.Hosting a Daring Bakers' challenge is not an easy thing. Trust me, I

Pumpkin Bread and Butter Pudding

2009-10-25T21:13:00.004-04:00

I was checking out emailWhen out the corner of my eye,I saw a pretty little thing miaoing at me.She said I never seen a gal,Who looks so overworked,Could you use a little small yummy?In the office they'll sufficeYour kitchen it enticeOr you can sit here and give me no sway,I said you're such a sweet young thing,Did you think of this yourself?She looked at me and this is what she said.Oh, there

The "You know I usually don't like Brussels sprouts, but I love these Brussels sprouts" Brussels sprouts dish

2009-10-19T21:07:00.008-04:00

Many things don't make any sense to me.Fahrenheit temperatures.Euchre.Directionals (as in North, South, West and East).American football.Trooper's Raise A Little Hell used to sell saltines*.The apparently 6'3" non-cook who designed my kitchen.Dan Brown's literary career.For years I never understood how people can *not* like Brussels sprouts (or brussel sprouts). I mean really. They're cute and

My own causality dilemma and bacon-wrapped asparagus

2009-10-12T12:57:00.005-04:00

Do I eat asparagus because it's wrapped in crispy bacon or do I eat the bacon, because it coddles roasted asparagus?Granted it's not a question on Aristotle's scale but it is a question I ask myself every time I reach for a bundle of spears.I was never really a fan of asparagus. My first exprience was not hopefull--overboiled to waterlogged flacidity, each stringy and bitter and acrid bite worse

Happy Cinnamon Bun Day!

2009-10-04T19:46:00.003-04:00

When our darling Glamah of Coco Cooks Tweeted today is Sweden's National Cinnamon Bun Day, I grabbed hold of this opportunity to coax my latent (and totally fictitious) inner Swede out and celebrate with the rest of my bun-baking brethren and my sweet-toothed sistren.No...I didn't start playing dollies with a root veggie...nor am I part vegetable (regardless of the quality of my writing some days

Elvis has left the building: Meet my nemesis

2009-09-27T19:28:00.008-04:00

Meet my nemesis: Tamias minimus.Yes. You read correctly. Nemesis.Many of us have one. Heck. Some of us have more than one.It could be the guy who always gets the last double chocolate doughnut with the sparkly sprinkles on the rack leaving you with the stale unglazed-because-they-forgot-to-ice-them generic-things-that-could-be-better-used-as-hemorrhoids-cushions doughnuts; the woman who,

Guest post by Mr. Bean: My Humman Cat is bizy

2009-09-17T00:00:00.003-04:00

Hallo all my luvelly humman cats!Did you miss me? I missed you! You all look so pretty!Oh look there are new hummin cats here! Halloo to you too! Am I not handsum and cute?You don't know hoo I am? My name is Mr. Bean (my frendz call me Beanie). I used to live with my humman cat but I don't any more. I live with Gramma and Grampa. It's nicer here. They feed me chicken all the time and

Where I went on my summer vacation: Toronto

2009-09-14T00:00:00.007-04:00

A trip to Toronto isn't usually something I blog about. It takes me anywhere from an hour (on a super good day and the OPP isn't anywere in sight), to an hour and a halfish (on an average day) to so long I can't remember why I ever wanted to venture out there.There are always exceptions to this, such as meeting a favourite person or doing something interesting or both. This is one of those

Where I went for my summer Vacation: Ottawa

2009-09-11T00:00:00.006-04:00

Gosh, that was a good vacation. Even though I ran around like a madwoman, it was a good kind of "ran around like a madwoman."It wasn't the same-old-same-old rush to the office, answer calls, shoot off emails, run to meetings while not spilling coffee, impatiently wait in the microwave queue, write this, correct that, tell someone this, tell them this again, queue for coffee, more meetings, more

Film Review: Julie and Julia

2009-09-08T00:00:00.026-04:00

I must admit when I first heard that Nora Ephron was making Julie and Julia, a film that combined the lives of Julie Powell (former food blogger) and Julia Child (American culinary institution), I was torn between wanting to camp out at my local cinema for opening night and washing the cat.In as much as I have fond memories of Julia's confidence (and voice) in her highly influential cooking

International Bacon Day: Maple-Dijon pork tournedos

2009-09-05T20:41:00.003-04:00

It's a known fact wrapping something in bacon automatically makes that something better.Just to prove my deep, unwavering belief in this basic truth, I'll wait as you check with your bacon-eating pals.Really. Scoot. Go run off and see what they say. I'll make myself at home and draw up your psych assessment based on a) the books on your shelves, b) the CDs on your racks, c) the DVDs in the corner

Daring Bakers: Dobos Torte

2009-08-27T00:00:00.006-04:00

Recipe: Dobos TorteRecipe origins: Rick Rodgers' Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.Hostess: Angela of A Spoonful of SugarCo-hostess: Lorraine of Not Quite NigellaThe August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonfulof Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular DobosTorte based on a recipe from Rick

My Cleo, my champion

2009-08-22T08:50:00.004-04:00

As some of you who follow my Twitter feed know this week was a difficult one.My dear Cleo, took a turn for the worse and a very difficult decision had to be made; this wasn't totally unexpected as he had quite a scare 2.5 years ago. My ball of purry fluff who came in from the cold wouldn't recover from the particular combination of ailments as what would cure one would worsen another. It was for

Buckle, buckle, who's got the blueberry-peach buckle?

2009-08-20T12:37:00.002-04:00

I do! I do!Well, I did...all gone now.My dessert preferences have definitely taken a turn towards rustic and hearty. Don't get me wrong. My heart still skips a beat when I see a fancy, schwoopy, piped, spun-sugared architectural marvel. But really, the older I get, the more like myself I become and apparently foof-less desserts are what I am.Un-iced cakes and cupcakes, crisps and cobblers...

Peach Fritters

2009-08-15T20:02:00.005-04:00

Workasaurus and Deadlineadactyl, while not slain have been beaten back with more than healthy doses of cunning, wit, guile, snarkasm and a good thwack or two from my rolling pin (if they were slain, then I'd have won the lottery or one of the equally wealthy but until now totally unknown Saatchi boys has fallen totally and utterly in love with me and has presented me with an engagement Aga (lilac

Peeking in

2009-08-12T20:22:00.004-04:00

Hello all. I was hoping to have a recipe up today, but I'm still running to keep ahead of Workasaurus and Deadlineadactyl. Even though most of what I've fed my ravenous gullet wouldn't really be classified as "nutritious"--I don't know how much salt water taffy I've eaten over these past couple of weeks, nor how many burgers or slices of pizza (homemade and otherwise)--I was able to pick up some

Bzz Bzz Bzz

2009-08-06T18:27:00.006-04:00

Yes, my busy bees are back, buzzing around workasaurus and deadlineadactyl.I'm hoping the bees will scare them off (nothing more embarassing to the beasts that being all welty from the stingers of the teeny little winged creatures), but alas those horrid pharmacos have developed some sort of gigantic epipen for the equally horrid beasts, so it seems that I'll be busy slaying these dragon-like

The World's Longest Barbecue: Chimichurri

2009-08-02T15:46:00.006-04:00

Anita Stewart's "World's Longest Barbecue" interests me--not because it attempts to create a truly national feast, but because it essentially celebrates locavorism in a country made up of immigrants. There is a bit of a dichotomy there...Sure, we have "quintessentially Canadian foods," such as butter tarts and doughnuts, but most of what's eaten goes beyond this.Indigenous foods such as maple

Daring Bakers

2009-07-30T20:06:00.004-04:00

Recipe: MallowsRecipe origins: Gale GandHostess: Nicole of Sweet ToothThe July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.Apologies are in order. Actually, doubled apologies are in order...Nicole: I am sorry that I'm posting this late--I was just too emotionally

Two years today

2009-07-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

Miss you.jasmine

Julia's oeufs à la bourguignonne

2009-07-24T00:00:00.005-04:00

"It's called microblogging--all you do is very quick updates about what you're doing."Ummm...yeah. (That was me two years ago, when I first heard of Twitter)I checked it out and all I saw were a lot of "Just got in from a great night out!" and "Finished dinner. Kids in Bed. All's quiet." and "Waiting for the movie to start" type posts.Ummm...yeah.I had better things to do.And in the intervening

On My Rickety Shelves: Seasonal Food

2009-07-19T19:28:00.007-04:00

Thanks to the lovely people at Random House Canada, a copy of this month's selection appeared on my doorstep.Seasonal Food: A Guide to What's in Season When and WhyBy Paul WaddingtonEden Project Books/Random House Canada256 pages; $21.95The ongoing dirge that announces and mourns (the inaccurately collective) "our" lost memory for food has been playing for a while, its needle skipping every so

Stir fried broccolini

2009-07-15T20:13:00.004-04:00

First, a couple of bits of news.New Yorkers can now experience a bit of Canada, now that Tim Hortons has set up stakes in The Big Apple. Why am I mentioning this? In all the hullaballoo this little blog was mentioned not once but twice by some pretty well-read sources. Both the Gothamist and the National Post's The Appetizer linked to my Dutchie doughnut post (IMO, the quintessential Canadian