About Food

I love cooking... more to the point, I love eating. I started out trying recipes to entertain family and friends when Norm and I owned a mental health boarding home. We didn't have much of a living space of our own in the house, but we had our own dining room so having dinner guests was the easiest way to entertain. I used Gourmet magazine and La Cucina Italiana for much of my inspiration. Then I discovered Marcella Hazan's Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking and began to learn a bit of the theory behind flavors.

After spending thousands on cookbooks and magazines, the internet became my go-to place for recipes. I love finding recipes online as I can enter the ingredients that I have on hand and get thousands of ideas. I sold most of my cookbooks, and then this spring when our nephew and his wife were visiting, they bought us Shelley Adam's Whitewater Cooks and Whitewater Cooks at home books. Shelley is a local chef who has delicious, different recipes. I highly recommend her books!

This blog will be about sharing my favourite recipes, and cooking tips that I've discovered along the way. I got a tip from my friend Heather just the other day. If you use a China cap sieve to make applesauce, you don't have to peel or core the apples! Just cut them in half or quarters, toss them in a pot with water and a cinnamon stick or two and cook them till they're very soft. Use the sieve to separate the non-edible parts and then reheat the sauce and add sugar to taste. Quick and relatively mess-free!