Provence Dreams

I spent a wonderful week in Provence in October. Friends from Canada and Australia joined me as we all celebrated birthdays, and friendship. It was a perfect week - sightseeing, swimming and eating alfresco. Why am I thinking about it now? I'm desperately trying to channel some of those memories to thaw myself out. Yes, Canada can be cold in the winter, but this one has begun brutally even by Canadian standards. 

Bitter Christmas

With everyone talking about Christmas baking and cooking I'd like to put a word in for eating something bitter at this time of the year. Bitter has been my life over the last year or so as I've been working on a book about bitter foods to be published by Ten Speed in September 2014. I think there should be a little bitter in every holiday menu. Bitter foods spark the appetite and more importantly help you digest your food, very beneficial at this time of year when we all tend to over indulge.

Biltong

Biltong is cured, air dried meat developed in South Africa and popular in many African countries. Often compared to jerky, it is a more refined product. I knew about it but I'd never tried it until last Saturday at  Florence Meats a fabulous butcher shop in Oakville.

Eating better

In the summer I was sent this book. I was very busy so I have only just managed to have a good look at it. Thanks to the content of my books I've done many interviews with paleo diet followers. I am not an advocate, dairy and grains play an important role in my diet. However, I do applaud any book that encourages people to eat pastured meat and quality animal fat as this book does. It covers almost every part of the pig, from its fat, chitterlings and there is even a meatloaf-style headcheese. The approach is a straight forward and informative making this book an excellent source for the novice cook. 

I was disappointed to discover that the authors perpetuate the myth that the pancreas is a sweetbread, it is NOT. The pancreas is a pancreas. The sweetbreads, there are two, are the thymus glands located in the neck and above the heart in young animals and only in young animals. 

This book encourages people to cook and think about what they are eating and that is good, well done Stacy and Mathew. For those of you interested in the paleo diet check out their website. 

Squirrel 0 Jennifer 12

This year I am winning. My fig tree is not beautiful, but it is productive. Every winter I wonder if it is worth the effort of dragging it into the apartment and down the stairwell to the landing which is the coolest darkest spot we have. The tree is only about 1.5 metres tall however, the pot is big and heavy and manhandling it down the stairs isn't easy. We have to walk around it all winter then drag it back outside in the spring. Yet every year the tree rewards our efforts by producing lots of figs.