Dinner Party!

There’s nothing quite as satisfying or stressful as hosting a group of friends for dinner.

About a month ago, my friend Sean and I had six friends over for a low-key dinner party, and it was wonderful! I love planning meals – trying to create a seasonally appropriate theme for the dishes. We decided on classic comfort foods,a s the weather was starting to turn. Comfort foods are just the best, because you know the recipes are going to be great so you can play around a little bit.

Texas Treats – A Culinary Recap

This post is long overdue, but it’s worth the wait! About a month ago, Mom and I went to visit my wonderful Aunt in Houston, Texas. Now, I’m far from a country girl or a southern belle, but I really love the South. Do I necessarily love their history or political stances? No. But do I love their barbecue, seafood, and generally laid-back food culture.

Homemade sweet chilli sauce + oven-baked drumsticks

Happy August, everybody! I’ve really been enjoying my time off, and I hope y’all are making the most of what’s left of summer too. Let’s jump right into this, so we can all spend less time reading and more time outside (and eating).

Tandoori-inspired vegetarian quinoa

So I’ve only got one week left of my cleanse, and I think I’ve become pretty damn good at it.

This is only going to be a short post, but it’s a delicious one! My friend Carl made me this dish for dinner the other night and I was hooked. It’s rich, savoury, spicy, sweet, and all around easy to boot. It’s a vegetarian one-pot wonder full of veggies and protein – flavoured with Indian garam masala.

Three-cheese stuffed shells, with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes

Sometimes you need real comfort food. Sometimes you want more than Kraft Dinner can give you. Sometimes you want to spend $18 on cheese.

This is the scrumptious recipe that fulfills all those desires and more. It’s my go-to for cold nights, impressing friends, and… well, just for my own enjoyment. These pasta shells are overflowing with ricotta, parmesan, and mozzarella, and then baked in lots of tomato sauce. Melty and hearty is the name of the game.

Spring Linguine with Ramps, Sheep’s Cheese, and Hazelnut Pesto

Farmer’s markets are the best place to be this time of year. They just buzz with happy people and cool local products from fresh garlic to peach sriracha jam.

Last weekend I got my first chance to go to the Ottawa Farmer’s Market at Lansdowne Park in the Glebe. It was phenomenal! I was accompanied by the ever-creative chef, Leona, who suggested a spring pasta centred on ramps: small, wild leeks with a mild onion flavour.

Alice’s Kung Pao Chicken 宫保雞丁

Living in Morocco gave me the chance me to eat tajine, pastilla, and seafood 24/7 if I wanted to. It was mint tea all day every day. Obviously I got to know that cuisine pretty well, but I got a chance to explore a couple of others too!

Alice is a sweet, cat-loving girl from Hong Kong who was also on exchange in Morocco. She introduced me to the authentic version of something I thought was a pseudo-Chinese Western creation: kung pao chicken. It’s spicy, savoury, and everything I wanted from take-out at home.

Moroccan Poulet au Citron + The Tajine

Morocco is one of the tastiest places on earth. The food is earthy, dark, and richly spiced. It leaves you delightfully full of both food and questions. Was that icing sugar and cinnamon on the chicken? Yes, it was.

I’ve just come back from a 4-month stint abroad in Morocco, and food is the part of my exchange that’s sticking with me the most. I miss the readily-available khubz (خبز), lovely round loaves of bread baked in clay ovens, perfect for dipping. I miss walking down our street to get limonana (ليمون نعناع), a drink from the Levant made of mint leaves and lemons. I miss Friday couscous. All that being said, I think the dish I miss most of all is Dar Naji’s famous poulet au citron. Chicken is dressed in onion, cilantro, olives and citrons confit, and then pressure-cooked into melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m very pleased to say that I made a pretty successful recreation of it here in Ottawa.

Homemade linguine alla bolognese

I’ve been thinking about doing this for a long time.

Growing up, I always loved to poke around in the kitchen when my parents were cooking. I was honoured with titles like Official Taster and Spice Assistant – the kitchen was really a place to play and have fun. I credit my Dad the most with fostering my love for cooking – whenever I had an idea about something to make, he would make a whole big event of it. We would head to the grocery store, pick out all the fun ingredients, and cook it that very night. We’d also always show it off to whoever would listen.

I’ve wanted to start a food blog for ages. The person who actually convinced me to do it is one Kelly Sherlock – the wonderful mother of my best friend. It wasn’t that complex a persuasion, in the end, she just asked me straight up: “why not do it?” There wasn’t a good reason not to!