Quick meals

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Thai Chicken Noodle Soup

October 27, 2008

Oh the irony. The moment I perfect homemade chicken broth I head to bed with sinus congestion and a sneaky case of fatigue. You know the kind — where you’re well enough to feel guilty about lying in bed, but having hauled yourself half way down the stairs realize you’ve got to stop and sleep. [...]

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Chicken Souvlaki

July 29, 2008

You know you’re a food writer when dinner guests bring prepared statements instead of wine. Andrew and his brother had a fine time critiquing the souvlaki meal I served on Sunday. These two would-be Seinfelds delivered their material with wide grins and mouths full. When asked what he thought of the chicken, Ian quipped, “I [...]

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Basil non-pesto

July 11, 2008

When I first made Basil and Walnut Green Beans Andrew and I couldn’t quite place the familiar taste. Then we realized the dish was very similar to pesto, only without the assault of garlic. While I love pesto, I often avoid it in restaurants since I never know how socially acceptable I’ll be after I [...]

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Ten-Minute Salmon

July 10, 2008

I refuse to get all bent out of shape over where this salmon came from or how it was raised. My husband was doing the grocery shopping, saw “wild salmon”, thought I’d like it and brought home a piece for me. He doesn’t eat anything that swims, so the fact he trekked over to the [...]

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Byron’s Butter Chicken

June 6, 2008

In our family the birthday boy or girl gets to pick whatever they want for dinner regardless of what the rest of the family thinks. It doesn’t matter how fussy, plain or weird the menu is. Birthday Person picks the meal. Thems is the rules. This year, I asked for Indian. I was a bit [...]

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Ultra-Feminine Pad Thai

March 14, 2007

I recently stumbled upon a website that claims to analyse writing. Using an elaborate algorithm, it determines the writer’s sex. Just plug 500 or more words into The Gender Genie, click “submit” and see if your linguistic skills match your hormones. As usual, I’ve managed to mess things up. Apparently my blogs are resoundingly feminine. [...]

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Had you worried?

March 1, 2007

For those of you who know my accident-ridden history, breathe easy. My recent snowboarding venture isn’t responsible for my silence. I’ve just been busy. Very busy. “Doing what?” you say. I’m so glad you asked. If you have a couple of minutes to spare, you can check out My Big Fat Snowboarding Lesson. This video [...]

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Patchwork Chicken Curry

October 1, 2006

Sometimes I end up with a pantry brimming with half-portions of ingredients left over from previous cooking endeavours – a cup of tinned tomatoes from a batch of chili, a handful of candied ginger from a cookie recipe I was developing, cashew crumbs from butter tarts. There’s always more in each container than I can [...]

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Fighting Fire with Fire Green Curry

August 2, 2006

While North Americans turn to ice-cold drinks in an attempt to counteract this percolating heat, these frosty beverages provide little more than temporary relief and the odd ice cream headache. Perhaps it’s time we gave up our flirtation with Freon and trifled with more tropical solutions. At first it seems counter-intuitive to sip hot tea [...]

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Tuscan Sausages

July 25, 2006

I was looking through some old family recipes and noticed how short they were. The instructions, and sometimes even the amounts given for the ingredients, assumed you know how to make the dish. These recipes served mainly to prod the memory, not teach. Unlike the remedial approach taken by today’s TV chefs, these culinary heirlooms [...]

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Viva Italia

July 10, 2006

No one in our neighbourhood could have missed the fact that Italy won the World Cup yesterday. We live a couple of blocks from the Italian-Canadian Club who were hosting their Italian Festival during the soccer finals. The horn honking and flag waving started almost immediately after victory was declared, and went on for hours, [...]

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