VaBene A Cook Not Mad is heading to Northern Italy on another exciting tour. After logging thousands of miles, pictures and hundreds of recipes on previous trips to Italy the idea for our new book, Va Bene, was born. This trip will find us visiting some of our favourite spots and discovering plenty of new […]
Seasonal treat – Pappardelle with roasted corn and peppers
Seasonal treat One of my favourite times of the year is when I see those huge bins of freshly harvested ears of corn at the market. Corn on the cob, a great Canadian (and American) tradition that thankfully remains a seasonal treat that we can look forward to every year. It means fall is on […]
The Extraordinary Italian Taste
The extraordinary Italian taste Have you ever returned home from the grocer only to discovered that the expensive bottle of what you thought was Italian olive oil is actually not Italian at all? The label sure looks Italian and the name sounds Italian, but what’s in the bottle has never set foot in Italy. It’s not […]
Tagliatelle con Zucchine e i Loro Fiori
West End farmers market The farmers market has finally started in the West End of Vancouver and we had our first walk through of the season a few weekends ago. It was a perfect day with the sun shining. A nice spread of veggies (organic and conventional), honey, preserves, farm fresh meat, even some tasty artisanal potato chips were […]
Five reasons lists piss me off!
Lists are everywhere Lists are everywhere now in social media and mainstream media. An evolution of our shrinking attention span and need to be spoon fed the bullet points. Sometimes, with a hefty dose of advertising hidden within, that we gobble up without notice, like hiding a dog’s medication deep in its food. My whole […]
Making fresh pasta at home
Making fresh pasta at home Too often in America we eat without thinking, we buy over packaged, prepared foods and don’t always think about what we ingest. Some people eat strictly for fuel, not for enjoyment. In Italy, if you’re not eating, you’re talking about your next meal and it’s quite normal to spend a […]
3 months in Italy – a pictorial
Thousands of photos Since returning to Canada I’ve been sorting through thousands of photos taken over the three months we were in Italy. I wanted to share some but it’s so difficult to pick just a few since I have many favourites. I’ve done my best to pick just ten. This first one, of a […]
One Day in Florence
Well, we’re finally back on Canadian soil after almost a year of travel and housesitting. It’s incredible how fast the time flew and looking back at our adventures we consider ourselves very lucky to spend time in parts of the world we love and to discover new, inspiring places. Returning home was a bit of […]