The Yum Yum Factor

I was invited to the Foodies Forever Blogger Launch put on by Cutco  Cutlery this week and I dragged Shack out with me to act as my photographer, which he does for me on occasion. He happens to be a very good photographer and he also acts as my body guard, chauffeur and male escort. If I ask him to, he also cuts my meat. He is an awfully good guy to have around. The event was held at the Liason College Campus in downtown Toronto. Little did I know that the lovely ladies of Cutco planned on dragging all of us into the kitchen (it is a cooking school) to get our hands dirty. Okay, we got our hands dirty AFTER we washed them thoroughly, of course, and then we washed them again because they did get dirty. I was in a group with the effervescent Linda Nusca, Cutco's top Canadian Sales Consultant. She basically guided us through what they call "the Cutco cooking experience". People can contact the company and set up what is almost like a little dinner p...

Today was The Kid's 14th birthday. If you are a mom with older kids, you understand how surreal this new era is and if you are a mom with little kids, you have no idea, but your time will come.  My adorable, chubby little baby now towers over me, wears his father's shoes on his hairy hobbit feet, has to shave his dirty stache and his mile long legs are covered with black man hair. He is still young enough to tell me he loves in his best Issac Hayes' voice every day but old enough that he has a job and does his own laundry.

I don't think I have ever met a meatball that I didn't like. In this house we are all about the lovely balls of meat. Whether it's swedish meatballs, spaghetti and meatballs, my vietnamese bbq pork meatballs, sticky meatballs, saucy meatballs, spicy korean meatballs or lamb and mint meatballs - any meat that can get jammed into my meat grinder ends up as a meatball at some point, so watch your step when you visit.

photography and food styling workshop This past weekend was the very first conference of the  Food Bloggers of Canada . Three very ambitious Canadian bloggers came together under a year ago to start a community and that short time have managed to gather an impressive number of bloggers, an even more impressive group of corporate sponsors, an interactive web site full of resources, support and information. Oh, and they also managed to put together a weekend long conference at the beautiful  Hockley Valley Resort completely packed with endless panels of experts on everything from book keeping to publishing a cookbook, delicious food, copious amounts of Ontario wines and so much swag that I had to empty out my suitcase leave all of my clothing at the hotel. After eating nonstop for three days it's not like any of them fit now anyway.

It was 5C on the day that I made this steak. That's about 41F and here in the great white north, that is perfect BBQ weather. We can stand around outside with a beer and a pair of tongs in relative comfort. We don't even have to wear gloves when it's that balmy!  Okay, there is still some snow on the ground but it's spring and spring means we throw on a fleece and some shorts, stop wearing socks and fire up the old charcoal. We are a hearty folk here in Canada. Tomorrow, I leave for the very first ever Food Bloggers of Canada Conference at the Hockley Valley Resort. I was a lucky, lucky girl who happened to win a free weekend pass during a twitter party, sponsored by Canadian Beef . In honour of my benefactors, I knew I had to make something with a nice chunk of Canadian beef.  I do like the taste of a good, med rare striploin, hot off the grill and smeared with some butter . The only problem is that striploins don't get marinated in my world- just kos...

I love braising but I don't do it a ton because my very excellent braising pan is also massive and way too big to make dinner for the three of us. I bust it out a few times a year when we have people over but when it's just my wee bunch, it's just not small enough. Imagine my delight when I opened my box of Nordic Ware treats and found an enamelled aluminum 3qt braiser (along with a 3qt dutch oven and a contraption for cooking chicken drumsticks ). I was lucky enough to win a full pass to the 1st ever Canadian Food Bloggers Association of Canada's Food Blogger Conference , courtesy of Canadian Beef  and Nordic Ware is providing all of the participants with some nice swag. I may be in love with you, Nordic Ware people. Wow, that's a lot of links but check them all out anyway people.

Shack has been asking me to make him a bread pudding for about 18 years. Believe it or not, I am finally getting around to doing that now. I don't know why it has taken me two decades to make something I know would make him so happy but better late than never, right? Although I had dreams of making a pumpkin bread pudding with dark chocolate or some sort of exotic concoction,  I was shot down at every turn. He said I could add cinnamon and he liked the idea of dulce de leche or caramel but that was it. Oh, and raisins. He wanted raisins in it. Yeah, whatever, like that is ever going to happen. Pretty demanding for a guy who has been waiting his entire adult life for one of these desserts. Maybe I do know why it has taken me two decades to make him some bread pudding.