This post was written two days ago.

The photos wouldn’t upload.

I came back to it yesterday.

And…. the whole thing went KABLUEY. The site crashed. I was booted out of WordPress. I logged back in to a “NO POSTS FOUND” (!) message. Nothing. No drafts. Nothing published. Nada. I logged out and back in again. Same thing.

What did I do? I twitched a few times. But I remained calm.

Well, moderately calm.

Weeelllll… maybe calm isn’t really the right word.

OKAY FINE.

I shook my laptop, threw my head down on the keyboard, and wailed in a pitch that probably left my dogs eardrums vibrating for an hour. Continue Reading »

You may or may not know that there is an exciting ought-to-be-statutory holiday right around the corner: Pie Day! Well, actually, Pi Day; celebrated March 14th, a.k.a 3.14 by pie lovers and pi lovers alike. Yeah. We geeks think that’s awesome.

To celebrate this occasion, the lovely Jessica at Inedible Jewelry is offering an adorable Pi Pie necklace to one lucky/geeky Foodess reader! How cool is that?

You have likely deduced from the above photo that Jessica makes foodie jewelry with a cuteness of squeal-inducing caliber. You should go check her out. My faves are the avocado earrings (want!), the s’mores necklace (which I don’t think my brain could convince my mouth not to eat…), and these cupcakes. Adorable, right?

Entry details at the end of the post. Continue Reading »

Easy and heartwarming. What more could you ask for in a mid-week meal on a chilly October day? Especially when you’re one sniffle away from buying shares in Kleenex.

The beauty of this soup is that it is that it is healthy, delicious, inexpensive and incredibly versatile. And you really don’t need a recipe to make it. The base works for a myriad of soups, easily thrown together for a hearty lunch, a quick dinner, or a clean-out-the-fridge project.

People are sometimes intimidated by homemade soups because of a bland, watery soup experience in their culinary history (I, too, was once there). However, if you just follow a few easy flavour-building steps, you’ll have rich, flavourful soup – even without using stock. Continue Reading »

Back where I come from, chili seems to come in just one form – the standard ground beef and kidney beans, and when we make it, we make it big. When you’re only feeding two people, a batch of chili becomes a week-long dinner commitment with extra in the freezer. In fact, the last pot I made, about two years ago, lasted until I never wanted to see chili again. Not being a huge leftover enthusiast, I somewhat lost my taste for it altogether.

That being said, I have always been intrigued by the “other” chilis – the ones with pinto beans, black beans, squash, chunks of beef, tomatillos, hominy (which still remains a mystery to me – kinda looks like rubber popcorn), etc.

Continue Reading »

It’s ten a.m. on Sunday, where will you find me? Lingering over several cups of creamy coffee while still in my flannel jammies and wool socks. I’m probably contemplating a bouncy walk along the seawall with my flakey adolescent Irish Setter, or a novel under a blanket in my sunroom, bathed in buttery, mellow winter light. I’m a firm believer that Sundays, like shortribs, should be done slowly.

There’s just something about the aroma of your efforts filling your kitchen for hours before dinner time that make braising such a worthwhile cooking endeavour. This recipe is incredibly easy and results in a wonderfully satisfying, comforting and downright delicious stew. I really love the subtle sweetness and gentle heat that the cinnamon adds to the rich, mellow beef. The sauce becomes luciously flavourful, and the meat develops a fall-off-the-bone texture after being simmered slowly in a warmly spiced bath of winey tomato and garlic. There is something about this dish that I find incredibly soul-satisfying.

This particular recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman’s Beef Stew with Cinnamon, from his cookbook The Best Recipes in the World. I must admit, I am dubious if not downright snobbish about any book who’s primary selling feature is the number of recipes it contains. But Mark is just a man of super-human talent and ambition, and his work produced my most favorite go-to book for new ideas. Of his “more than 1,000 International dishes to cook at home” – a good number have already found a place on my plate and in my heart. Continue Reading »