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 […]
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, […]
The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning: a review
The Antarctic Book of Cooking and Cleaning The landscape of our cookbook collection has changed a little lately and we like it. The idea of living off the grid and being self-sufficient has never been so appealing and, in light of the looming US election, we are definitely not alone in yearning to escape society […]
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 […]
Water kefir, the wonder drink
What the hell is that? Most people’s reaction when they hear I am brewing water kefir is “what the hell is that?” And that’s when I launch into a kind of (but not really) complicated explanation of what kefir is and the benefits of its consumption slowly lulling them to sleep. It is when the […]
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 […]
Li hing mui, the traveling plum
Li hing mui Directly translated “li hing mui” means traveling plum and it is no wonder since it is exactly that, a small deeply coloured plum that is cured with salt and then dried, preserving it for travel. With roots in China, these little salty sweet and sour nuggets have traveled all over the world, […]
The Complete Guide to Sushi and Sashimi
Making sushi and sashimi Talk to most people about making sushi and sashimi and you will hear tales of Samurai like chefs who train day in and day out whils honing their precision with repetition. Laser sharp knives slicing exact copies of pristine fish and fusing it to perfectly cooked rice with what seems like sleight […]
