Eats & Smiles: Easter Eggs

After seeing the rash of egg-related articles in this last month's Bon Appetit and released throughout the month on their website, I was obsessed and could think of little else other than dyeing eggs. While Easter was a welcome excuse to dye some eggs, I really just wanted pretty coloured eggs for my regular ol' non-Easter life. Taking a hard boiled a egg for a snack (especially with my batch of flavoured salts) was infinitely more entertaining in it being a dark purple or vibrant yellow... rather than plain white. 

Plus! It labelled my eggs in a sense. The hard boiled ones were coloured yellow and the raw ones were dark purple-blue. Now I could store them in the same container without mixing them up or having to spin-test them to figure out which were boiled (you know about the spin test, right??). 

Brunch with Friends: Menu Four

So much Brunch with Friends! Technically, Brunch with Friends: Menu Three happened in February but after the big holiday and some serious photo review with guest photographer Dean, the post didn't see the light of the online world until March... which was only days before Brunch with Friends: Menu Four.

I've said before how much I enjoy having brunch with people. Dinners are great but there is something even better about a great brunch - which can lean more to the sweet or to the savoury, depending on your particular inspiration at that moment - where you can spend great time with friends, justify alcohol before the PMs, and say goodbye while still having your entire day ahead of you.

This particular brunch seemed to require a great deal of negotiation. Not with the menu but with disparate and conflicting schedules of the invitees, we booked this brunch in - no lie - January and then had to further tweak the date come March. Finalizing a date and time in the last three days before the proposed date felt like a battle won... then to the quick planning, purchasing, prepping, and prodding... then Brunch.

Eats & Smiles: Mate

One of my favourite things in travel is the opportunity that it affords in exposing me to new and interesting food items or rituals.

Olive oil in Italy, herbs de provence in France, dulce de leche in Argentina... those tastes and smells can instantly transport you back to your memories of those places, reminding you of your adventures, and urging you to plan your next.

One such bit of food tourism of my latest adventure was my introduction to mate in Argentina.

Brunch with Friends: Menu Three

Brunch with Friends has gone international with this instalment!

We were staying in Dean's home while in Buenos Aires (thus having a full kitchen at our disposal) and he had a great many friends both in town and also visiting... It seemed like too good an opportunity to pass up. Dean was game. And what friend is going to pass up a brunch invitation??

This was also the largest group that has ever sat down to a BWF meal... numbering nine guests. And we were up to the challenge!

Dean and I batted around ideas for brunch but were waiting to see what was in season and looked good at the market before setting the menu. I knew that I wanted to see some typical Argentine products on the menu - like Argentine chorizo and dulce de leche - but in what form was to be determined. 

Returning to Roots: Sugar Cubes

While this isn't necessarily about returning to roots in terms of those basic food skills that we forget as we are further removed from the production of certain food items, this is about returning to roots in the sense of taking a moment to enjoy the little things... like pretty little sugar cubes accompanying an afternoon tea or a morning's coffee.

Food colouring and flavouring are certainly optional and infinitely customizable. You can mix white, brown or cane sugar with water... add flavour extracts... add colours. You can mix and match... you can opt for simple precision. I'm already dreaming up my next combinations.

Eats & Smiles: Argentina

Our recent trip to Argentina was abundant with wine and some pretty spectacular meals. While I typically do not offer up restaurant reviews per se, I thought that this collage would be a great way to share some great menus and some places that you should definitely consider visiting should you venture so far south.