Picked up these lovely little pears at the local grocer and they are so delicious! They are the size of a small mandarin orange and taste a little like a glass of pinot grigio with light floral undertones! I am kidding of course, but they really are succulent and unusual – no wonder they are… Continue reading »
Jan
21
Dec
16
A winner for Christmas dinner
“Life is short. Eat dessert first“. – Jacques Torres. What are you planning for dessert for Christmas dinner…? We are making this cranberry gingerbread, a favourite at one of our local bakeries (Strait Coffee) but I will bake it at home because they shared the recipe! Also, we are definitely making this gorgeous and delicious apple-pear… Continue reading »
Oct
26
Happy Friday: toast the weekend
It’s stormy and chilly and I have a ton of work to do this weekend… The perfect time for comfort tomato soup shooters (granted, not the kind of shooters I usually reserve for a Friday!) But seriously, these little appeteasers are also great to serve at a party.
Oct
22
The ugliest pears we’ve grown and loved…
We have several Asian pear trees on our Roberts Creek property, but this one had never fruited before, until this year. Needless to say, I was optimistic that the flavour would prove to be as interesting as the shape and colour. In fact, they taste exactly like juicy cardboard! Not a big seller around here…… Continue reading »
Aug
22
Get your Vitamin Z
The zucchini theme continues… in a smoothie. Seriously!
Aug
21
Guiltless zucchini sticks
Once again we have a true zucchini bonanza (Romanesco, yellow and green ones) in our garden and we are looking at all kinds of ways to take advantage of this awesome crop. We try to pick the zukes every morning so they don’t get massive and then we give them away throughout the day. It’s… Continue reading »
Jul
05
Mid-summer feast
Not everything we gather to eat is from the garden… This is sea asparagus, picked by John when our dear friends Bill + Sheila hosted a summer feast for my birthday in mid June. The theme? octopus and the sea…. It was a meal of a lifetime and here’s what we ate, if you are… Continue reading »
Jun
14
Garden gate: the great scapes
To scape or not to scape? That is the question.
Jun
05
Garden gate: baby, baby beets
J has a habit of planting very… well let’s just say, intensively…….. And so often, when he’s not looking, there’s a bit of thinning going on (by me).
Jun
01
Garden gate: what we ate
About three years ago we planted an asparagus bed up behind the vegetable patch. We looked up the how-to-do and did our best to follow the suggestions… But frankly, it’s not the most ideal location. A bit too shady, dwarfed by rhubarb leaves and surrounded by cedar roots. Yeah, what were we thinking?…