For the past four years I have attended a Christmas cookie exchange. You stay up until 3 am the night before, baking eight dozen tasty treats to bring to the party, but it's all worth it when you come home with a massive tupperware container filled to the brim with nearly 100 new cookies and bars to … [Read more...]
Holiday Time: Big Kids Edition
So you may have heard about a little holiday coming up soon? This week is all about the Christmas books - though this first one also includes Hannukah, Kwanzaa, and more generic winter and fall activities, for those who don't celebrate the coming of the big guy in red. Later in the week, I'll cover … [Read more...]
Feeling Fall-ish
I love fall. I love the weather, the staggering natural beauty, and the seasonal fruits and vegetables that making fall cooking so much fun.Last weekend, I took my girls out for a nature walk. We wandered through our neighbourhood, and picked an assortment of brilliantly coloured leaves. The … [Read more...]
Country Pumpkin
Oh, September. Month of new beginnings, plenty of stress, tonnes of transitions and, most importantly, pumpkin muffins. (Photo by www.gimmesomeoven.com)Things here are CRAZY busy, as they are for everyone else: school starting, apple harvest (we live on a farm, remember? I think I'll see … [Read more...]
Mother’s Day Gifts
Barbara Reid is one of my favourite Canadian artists and authors. Even if you don't know her name, you're sure to know work which looks like this: I was fortunate to meet her and, even better, my kids got to do a workshop … [Read more...]
A Gingerbread House
The girl was invited to her friend, N.'s house today to build a gingerbread house. This is one of my favourite holiday projects, and N.'s mum made the event more special with yummy hot chocolate and a festively decorated home! The Girls at work. All done - so beautiful (and … [Read more...]
When life gives you lemon (crumbles)…
Not to toot my own horn or anything, but I am excellent cook. Everyone has A THING, and my thing is cooking. When it comes to baking, however, it's much less my thing. Usually I just end up buying a cake or a pie because I spend so much time in the kitchen working on my meal that I just completely … [Read more...]
Blueberry Muffins on a Rainy Day
If you live in Toronto, you know it's been a cool, rainy summer. The Girl and I have been baking a lot; she really enjoys it, and it's one of the few things that seems to distract her from the Treehouse Channel. I'm loving the big, luxurious vats of blueberries we've been bringing home from … [Read more...]
This is it – my last Kitchen Party post!
When I started writing for The Kitchen Party, I was pretty confident in the kitchen and fairly sure that I didn't have that much more to learn. It's been startling to realize how much I didn't know - pressure cookers are all kinds of amazing, I cannot make a good pie crust, people will send you … [Read more...]
Daily Bread
The other day in my Yoga class, we were talking about lactose intolerance and gluten intolerance. After hearing the sad stories of my friends who suffer from either (or in one case, both) of these dietary ailments, I must admit I am SO GRATEFUL that I can eat both dairy and bread.But really, more … [Read more...]