Picturing Bologna La dotta, la grassa, la rossa (the learned one, the fat one, the red one) Bologna gets called all three because of its university, its delicious food, and its red roofs. We spent two wonderful weeks there in early November, met some wonderful people, found some great restaurants, great markets, wonderful wine & […]
Modena and the Ferraris
An afternoon in Modena So far our morning was a fully packed romp through the wonders of Balsamic vinegar production but, the day was only half over. It was lunch time and our host, Simone, from the Consorzio Tutela Aceto Balsamico di Modena, had a plan to take us to one of his favorite local […]
Tartófla Savigno, Michelin star dining
Tartófla It didn’t take much convincing for us to board a bus early one morning to make the one hour trip from Bologna to a small town called Savigno. We were invited by Bologna Welcome and the organizer of the annual white truffle festival, Tartófla, to enjoy a day of everything truffles. Tartófla is an […]
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 […]
Fermented foods at every meal : a book review
Which fermented foods are in your pantry? Just about every serious cook or foodie has one or more fermented foods in their pantry. Whether it be kombucha, sourdough bread or a mason jar filled with sauerkraut burbling on top of the fridge. Fermented foods could not be more in the spotlight, inspiring today’s cooks to […]
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 […]
Sustainable Living: A Year of Practiculture
Food manipulated for your convenience Having worked in many kitchens, I’ve heard tons of infuriating stories of cheap food being transformed with an overwhelming degree of manipulation and over-packaging. To a point that when you finally do get the product unwrapped it often has the nutritional value of a newspaper. Masked with a label written by a magician, […]
Kombucha and the scoby
Making my own kombucha With my water kefir reliably producing two quarts every forty-eight hours now, I turned my attention to making my own kombucha. Kombucha is very similar to water kefir in that it is a fermented sweetened liquid but in this case, it also includes tea as its main source of food. The […]