Last fall, a friend expressed her desire to be one of those little old ladies at an old-fashioned quilting bee. This inspired me to send out an invitation to a few more friends to see if they’d like to get together regularly, throughout the winter, to work on crafty projects. The gathering was a success! There […]
DIY
Rosemary Flavoured Salt
Rosemary is such a flavourful herb with a woodsy, foresty, somewhat piney aroma that nicely compliments the strong taste of lamb. For non-meat eaters like myself, I enjoy rosemary with potatoes, onions, or beans. Rosemary surprisingly goes nicely with apples or pears in sweet dishes – just be sure to not add too much. Like the thyme […]
DIY: Make Your Own Paper Book Cover
When you buy a book in Japan, the checkout person will ask you if you want your book covered. Normally they cover it with a kind of parchment printed with the bookshop’s name. This is done to protect the book (or perhaps hide what you’re reading from everyone on the subway). Here is how you […]
Thyme Flavoured Salt
Michael Stadtländer is a German chef who set up an eccentric farm-restaurant in rural Ontario. On Stadtländer’s sprawling property, Eigensinn Farm, his team grows the organic produce and raises the free-range pigs, sheep, rabbit, goat, and poultry for his restaurant at the farmhouse. He also has beehives for honey, a stand of sugar maples for maple syrup, and he combs […]
DIY: How To Make Vanilla Sugar
Once you have a vanilla bean, it is really simple to make your own vanilla sugar. When we lived in Saudi Arabia, it was impossible to buy vanilla extract since it was made with alcohol – and alcohol was illegal. Instead, I would bring Dr. Oetker vanilla sugar from Germany every summer to use in my […]