Book Club Tuesday: Don’t Worry, Just Cook

There is something so touching about Bonnie Stern’s work. Is it her earnest desire to help home cooks find their way in the kitchen or impart personal stories we can all relate to? With well over a dozen cookbooks to her name, Stern has become a trusted companion in many Canadian kitchens. Even during the pandemic, I would take Friday Night Dinners off the shelf to browse the recipes, remember all the good family meals I had enjoyed with hopeful feelings of more to come. And it’s from the Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Don’t Worry, Just Cook”

Book Club Tuesday: Bite House

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The fact that restaurant dining and travel has changed over the past couple of years is an ever-present part of our lives. That coulda/woulda/shoulda feeling washes over me when I think of the places I didn’t visit because I thought: there is always next time. Well, the sting of this thought is only soothed when I pick up a cookbook to vicariously enjoy whatever I’ve missed. One of the cookbooks published this year, Bite House: Cooking on Cape Breton Island by Bryan Picard, offers the home cook a way to enjoy this renowned restaurant Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Bite House”

Book Club Tuesday: Vegetables — A Love Story

Processed with VSCO with f2 presetMost good love stories have a certain amount of magic in them; mine just also happens to contain vegetables. (11)

The most interesting cookbooks are the ones that also offer a connection in addition to the recipes. While there has been much written maligning narrative recipe writing, I strongly believe it is the personal stories that make the recipes worth trying. And in a world of myriad recipes, as a home cook, I want to know why ingredients are important and what makes a recipe special. I need something to hang my Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: Vegetables — A Love Story”

Book Club Tuesday: A Rising Tide

Processed with VSCO with f2 presetAfter moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia — a beautiful maritime city in the heart of Atlantic Canada — almost a decade ago, I have come to love this place like no other. There is a certain magic living by the sea and, before coming here, I assumed a homogeneousness in the culture and cuisine. One of the things I’ve learned is that there is much more to the menu here than just seafood (although if you ask my family from “out west,” lobster is always Continue reading “Book Club Tuesday: A Rising Tide”