The Wartime Kitchen

I recently had the pleasure of going through a pile of old photos with my father who was born in Marmora, Ontario in the 1930’s. We came across a photo of a Gas Ration Book which sparked memories from his childhood of his mother using her Ration Books to purchase...

Halloween Leftovers!

The scariest harvest of the year happened yesterday as some 4 million Canadian kids took to the streets and raked in their loot from more than 13 million homes that will participate in shelling out candy. These costume clad kids will return home and almost immediately...

Shake your Pumpkin Maker

One of the first plants to be cultivated by humans was gourds. Gourds were cultivated for use as a kitchen gadget; primarily as a vessel for carrying liquids. These unique varieties of the pumpkin family are inedible fruits classified as berries that when dried...

Polar Fest Ice Sculpting Competition

Back in November 2004 I was approached by The Lakefield Village Merchants to carve some ice sculptures about the Village of Lakefield  for the area’s winter carnival known as Polar Fest. Lexy Cameron and I worked as the founding facilitators / organizers of this...

Kick Ass Candied Bacon

Bacon is prepared from a number of different cuts of meat from pigs. Canadians most commonly eat bacon prepared from the pork belly. We often consume this type of side- bacon while it is very fresh forgoing the aging process; instead we salt and often cure our bacon...

Big Balls Meat Balls

Most people assume that the classic dish comprised of spaghetti served with marinara sauce and meat balls is Italian in origin but its beginnings are actually Chinese and date back to the Han dynasty around 200 BC. Noodles didn’t arrive in Italy until Marco Polo...