Category

Food

Category

One of the food memories from my childhood is of rice a roni, a comfort food I loved. My mum would make a pot of it up to quickly add a side dish with carbs to our meals. As an adult, I never tried it again because it’s a packaged food and some pastas can set off my auto-immune symptoms. My mum has been reworking recipes of late to keep our family’s sodium intake lower and introduce pastas made from substances I can eat without feeling sick. One night she said she made “rice a roni” when I was over, and I said “uhhh, okay” skeptically, but it was So. Damn. Good. This is not your packaged rice a roni. It’s creamy (thanks to the Arborio rice), nutty (thanks to the toasted pasta) and flavorful. No almonds though. My sister lost a tooth as a kid to the almonds in…

Hello! New Year New You is now upon us, and what better time to do some “research” in the form of testing out a new rosè, right? I thought my rose reviews would end at the end of my series, but you can’t keep me away. Sterling is a Californian winery that makes one of my most-loved cabernet sauvignon bottles, so when I saw the mini version of the rose on offer at Wine and Beyond, I knew I had to try it. And so, when my sister and I were decorating her house for the holidays, we decided to test it out together. When you pour the wine, you’ll note that the color is a really pretty, bright pink. In terms of tasting notes, it is nice and light and crisp- there’s a nice minerality to balance a slight fruitiness. My sister and I both dislike a sickly sweet…

Hey Guys! For my second post in my brunch series, I decided to share an idea that is a load more healthy than my Baked Savory Brie recipe. That is so so so delicious though, so if you want a decadent savory treat, that’s the recipe for you! A frittata is a lot like a baked omelette, but even easier to make and without the need to flip it. My mum regularly makes frittatas to cut up and freeze in individual portions for whoever might need a quick breakfast, lunch or snack. That’s a great way to use up bits and bobs from your fridge, especially if you have little bits of cheese, pasta, meat or vegetables kicking around that need eaten up. Easy Frittata 6 large eggs, beaten 2 generous handfulls of cheese 2 frozen spinach pellets, defrosted and drained of water For vegetables, you want to chop up…

Hey Guys! For the second installation of my Sunday Dinner Series, I wanted to share this twist on an Ina Garten recipe that my mum has made some tweaks to that made it easier and more our tastes. For those that don’t know, one of the great spices in a mild Italian sausage is ground fennel seeds- so the addition of fresh fennel is a perfect pairing. Rather than a tomato-heavy sauce, some cream binds everything together. Fennel and Sausage Rigatoni 1 package of mild italian sausage (decased) 1 fennel bulb, diced 1 small onion 1 clove minced garlic 1.5 cups of heavy cream 1 cup white wine 1 tbsp tomato paste Herbs/Spices: ground fennel seeds, red pepper flakes Ground Parmesan for garnish Enough rigatoni for four Like I said, this is an adaptation of Ina Garten’s recipe that you can find here on James Beard Foundation’s website. The main…

Hey guys! Today I wanted to share the perfect Christmas morning brunch idea- savory baked brie. Why is it perfect, you may be wondering. Who wants a giant block of cheese for breakfast on Christmas? Me. And once you’ve tried this, you, too. It’s ideal for Christmas because it’s a perfect “snacking” brunch, you can have as little or as much as you want and it goes amazingly well with fresh fruit like nectarines and pears as well as fresh salads. And a glass of wine, if you’re feeling it. Another reason it’s perfect for Christmas is that you use the same fresh herbs to top it as you’d want with turkey dinner, so it makes things super easy in terms of shopping.  Lastly… this is really, really easy to make. Let something about your holiday season be easy, why don’t you? Savory Herb Baked Brie 1 double or triple…

Hey guys! I don’t know if you can believe it, but this is the last rose review from this summer! The temperatures have really been dipping here in Edmonton so I’m tending to reach for gorgeous, cozy reds rather than a fresh, refreshing rose. But I really wanted to share this last bottle with you because despite being the first rose my sister picked up to share in this series, it was the last one we enjoyed and man was it ever a nice surprise! At this point you’ve heard me drone on about my likes and dislikes in roses ad nauseum, and you know what I like- crisp, not too sweet, bright acidity. Hailing out of Paso Robles, California, this grenache and syrah blend hits all of the markers that I look for, plus a fast finish. Upon seeing the descriptions available online, I was pleasantly surprised to personally find…

Hey guys, and welcome back to another post in my rose review series! I’m really excited about this one because Jackson Triggs is an extremely accessible wine brand here in Canada, and is Canadian! Also, the Proprietor’s Reserve Rose is a super affordable bottle of rose and I’m so excited to say that I really, really liked this bottle and was so impressed for the price. So, this rose is about as sweet as I like to go on wine (medium), but it had some acidity to it that kept it from being too cloyingly sweet in my mind. It was easy drinking, not so complex that you can’t have a snack of any type with it (I may or may not have had olives, sausage and cheddar while drinking this and found it to be a just fine accompaniment). I found it to have very berry-based fruit notes and…

Hello and welcome back to another rose review!!! Today’s post is about the Cote des Roses rose! This wine is from Languedoc in the south of France and features what is quite possibly the most beautiful bottle I have ever seen. While researching this wine I found out that this bottle was designed by a student at Ecole Boulle. While it may seem like a silly name for a rose, Cote des Roses is actually an area near Gruissan in the south of France, not a play on words at all. Gerard Bertrand offers 3 Cote des Roses wines, a red, white and the rose I got the opportunity to taste. Now for the goods. My sister and I shared this on a hot day earlier this summer and man, it is refreshing. Crisp, with bold fruitiness you’d expect the finish to be cloyingly sweet but it isn’t! It is…