The Yum Yum Factor

Shack really is the chick in this relationship - in a great way, of course. He is the one who LOVES to talk on the phone, loves to shop, loves to buy shoes and absolutely loves lady drinks. Give that guy a blender, some fruit and assorted bottles of booze and look out. He is a true blender artist. Last winter we went to a wedding in Montreal and our hotel was right down the street from a great bar, The Dominion Square Tavern . These are real bartender mixologist magicians, complete with old timey mustaches, white tuxedo shirts and long, white half aprons. For some reason, known only to him, Shack decided to order a Pimm's Cup despite the fact that he had never had one and had no idea what was in one. Even though it was the first Pimm's Cup either of us had ever had, I know that it was probably the best Pimm's Cup on earth. It was a bit tart, a bit sweet, had almost a bitter edge to it and it was full of cucumber flavour. It instantly became his favourite drink and we v...

I bought two pounds of cherries this week, planning to make a double batch of boozy cherries but then I changed my mind. I am allowed to change my mind. I am an adult. I do it all the time. Instead, it felt like it was time to make some ice cream. Last August, I made a  key lime pie ice cream  using the whipping cream and condensed milk thing that was all over the blogs. Since I don't have an ice cream maker, this method was very appealing to me. It's certainly not a light treat - consisting of nothing but heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk and add ins, but it was ridiculously easy and really, really delicious. If you can whip cream and you own a freezer, you can make this stuff. When I think cherry, I immediately think dark chocolate and so I used some tiny dark chocolate chips and then threw in a few tbls of toasted, slivered almonds for good measure. When I tasted it before it froze, I was afraid I couldn't taste any cherry and was worried that it wasn't ...

I have been participating in the Gastropost challenges hosted by the National Post for the last couple of weeks and really enjoying myself. I missed the very first challenge but I am hoping to be able to keep up and enter every week from here on in. Now that my no reEATS year is finished, I feel ready to take on another regular challenge and doing one thing a week is much more appealing to me than a daily challenge. This week, the challenge was to join team cherry or team strawberry and defend your case. The "secret" challenge that was given to members was to do make some sort of berry preserve and one of the examples was to make either a Pimm's Strawberry jam or some brandied cherries. I just happened to buy a bottle of Pimm's yesterday so although the jam was tempting, I didn't feel like making jam in this weather and we all really love summery cocktails (hence the Pimm's) so brandied cherries made more sense. I didn't use their recipe but loosely ...

I am not sure what possessed me to make risotto today since it was about 30C out and that is about 93F for you Americans. It's certainly not risotto weather but I had these fresh peas and it was either this or carbonara, which is also not much of a hot weather dish is it? In the end, risotto for The Kid won out over carbonara for Shack so, loving mother that I am, I stirred over a hot stove, slaving for my offspring and it was totally worth it. The bit of bacon added a nice meaty, saltiness and let the freshly shelled peas do their thing. Next batch of fresh peas will be turned into a carbonara for Shack. Promise. Fresh Pea Risotto serves 3 (4 if it's not the main course) 1 tbls olive oil 1 tbls butter 3 slices bacon, sliced into thin strips 1 shallot 1 small clove garlic 1 1/2 cup arborio rice 3/4 cup white wine fresh thyme 3/4 cup fresh peas 1000 ml chicken stock pinch saffron 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan 1-2 tbls buttter Cook the freshly shel...

Okay, we are now full on all about the rhubarb. Today I made some rhubarb simple syrup so that we can have rhubarb lemonade, rhubarb mojitos, rhubarb popsicles  and whatever other rhubarb drinks we concoct. It is a great syrup to keep in the fridge because it's prettier than plain old simple syrup and it's just got that bit of sour edge to it so it's not quite as cloying as a straight ahead simple syrup. Don't throw that pulp that you strained to make the syrup either - keep it and eat it like a compote over ice cream, in some greek yogurt, slathered on a crumpet or straight out of the jar. The rhubarb might give the simple syrup a beautiful red colour but that rhubarb mash is a pretty unappealing beige colour. Don't throw that ugly step sister out just because she isn't as pretty as the syrup though because what she lacks in beauty, she makes up for in flavour. Rhubarb Simple Syrup 3 cups chopped rhubarb (3 stalks) 2 cups sugar 2 1/2 cups water ...

Ahhh, it's rhubarb season again. When I was a kid, every house I ever lived in had rhubarb growing wild at the back of the yard against the fence. Every single house, I swear. To me, it was an edible weed and my mom would let me take a bowl of sugar out on the back porch and dip a stalk of rhubarb into the sugar and munch happily away on it, disregarding the fact that it was most likely covered in dog pee. My mom was cool like that. Nowadays, rhubarb is $4 a stalk at the market and has become super trendy and I no longer live in a house with a yard so I can grow my own wild rhubarb by the fence for the dog to pee on so I have no choice but to pay $4 a stalk for it, hopefully dog pee free at these prices. The Kid adores rhubarb so I whipped up a bit of strawberry rhubarb compote for him to eat all week however he sees fit. Beware, this recipe is a bit tart because he likes his rhubarb a bit on the sour side so feel free to add another 1/4 cup of sugar if you like it swee...

Summer like weather is here, even it it's not supposed to be this hot yet and that means we have already started to eat like it's July. Last summer, I was knee deep in my no reEATS  challenge so The Kid and I were pulling our hair out, trying to come up with things we felt like eating in the hot weather. Generally speaking, I keep all sorts of dips and salads and condiments in the fridge and then we will grill some fish or sausages or a bit of meat and that will be dinner night after night. Some nights we might have some greek pita, other nights a bit of pasta salad, a little chunk of cheese and olives to round out the platter but we are all pretty happy eating basically the same meal night after night.  You know, I was fine with the no repeating a recipe during the cold winter months, but the summer almost killed me. I won't tell you how many nights I broke down and cried in my kitchen because all I wanted was some dip, bread and a bit of grilled salmon but I had t...

I sent Shack and The Kid off to their boy's cottage weekend with a cooler full of lobsters, corn and other delicious things. I think it was an all flesh all the time kind of weekend and I have a feeling that nothing that didn't once draw some sort of a breath made it to the menu because the cooler came back with all the corn still in it. So, what to do with all that corn? Make corn chowder of course. We all love corn chowder and even though it was really hot today, I liked the idea. When I went to the store I spied some fresh looking clams so those went into the basket too. The Kid really likes clams and he has been on a bit of clam chowder kick lately so it was a no brainer. The addition of sweet potatoes adds a bit more nutritional integrity and a nice hit of colour in an otherwise very white looking soup.  Because I don't really like the classic,  super thick clam chowder that you often get, I didn't use any thickening agents in this one and in place...