Cheddar Cheese Butternut Squash Soup

Cheddar Cheese Butternut Squash Soup, Kiku Corner

This is a lovely, silky, smooth soup that is enriched with cheddar. Get the oldest cheddar you can so you get the richest flavour without adding so much cheese. I first made this soup when I was in university completing my undergraduate degree. I would walk to the year-round farmers’ market in Guelph every Saturday, in […]

Bacon Wrapped Garlic Cream Cheese Stuffed Peppers

These stuffed peppers are a little bit labour-intense, but completely worth it. They have it all: crunchiness, cheesiness, and spice. They would make the perfect starter to a New Year’s Eve party.

Akkawi Manakeesh – Arabic Cheese Bread with Nigella

Akkawi Manakeesh is an Arabic cheese bread sprinkled with nigella seeds that we grew up with in Saudi Arabia. At the major grocery chain in Riyadh, Tamimi Markets, there was a wood-fired bakery at the back of the shop. When our mom would buy groceries, she would make a beeline to the bakery and order […]

Grilled Nectarines with Cheese

Grilled Nectarines with Cheese, Kiku Corner

I made these when I was kitchen staff at a summer camp in Algonquin Park. At the end of two months of camp, the kids and most of the staff left for home. I stayed to help the chef prepare food for ‘post-camp,’ where head staff would finish up work, maintenance would be done, and […]

Toronto Eats: Birthday Dinner at Black Hoof

Toronto Eats: Dinner at Black Hoof, Kiku Corner

In addition to me liking to bake birthday cakes, our family likes to go to nice restaurants to celebrate each other’s birthdays. For Karlos’ birthday a few weeks ago, we had dinner at Black Hoof, a popular nose-to-tail eatery on Dundas St West. There were eight of us there for dinner, so we had enough […]