The Hungry Squid

Have I ever mentioned that I love ginger? M knows this well; I steal his pickled ginger whenever we go out for sushi (though he does steal my miso soup, so it's all good in the end), and I almost always have a stash of ginger candy or crystalized ginger somewhere, hidden from view but within arm's reach.  And of course at home, there is my mom's amazing ginger chai, as spicy as it is hot, sweet, milky and very comforting. For some reason, though, ginger never comes to mind when I get the itch to bake; it gets pushed aside by chocolate, oats, nuts, fruits, which is a real shame, because ginger is incredibly versatile and fantastically flavorful when used in the right context. Today, ginger just felt like right , perhaps in the wake of my recent grapplings with the infamous GMAT. I decided to make ginger cookies using a recipe that yields treats that are very similar in heat and pungency to our Christmas family favorites. This cookie has a lot of ginger in variou...

6 weeks into our big East Coast move, M and I have taken the next step in co-habitation: hosting dinner parties. This is a completely novel thing for both of us; our previous apartments were barely big enough to fit our couches, desks and bookcases, let alone matching, crack-less dishes to serve guests in a dignified way. Hosting friends for dinner is extremely fun but also a bit daunting. It’s a great excuse to try out new dishes and experiment with cooking more elaborate meals, but there is always the terrifying possibility that dinner may not turn out as well as hoped, or at all. Thankfully, we had A to vouch for the deliciousness of a recipe in our current favourite cookbook, ‘Jerusalem’. The one-pot main that we decided to serve last night was actually quite simple to make, requiring minimal prep time beyond the caramelization of the onions. The rice, chicken and spices are all cooked together on a low heat, which gives the rice a deeper, meatier flavour, and brings the...

Ladies and gentlemen, I am now the proud owner of a KitchenAid stand mixer. And not just any stand mixer; a professional-grade beauty with a 4 quart stainless steel bowl, 4 paddle attachments and a sexy, fire-engine red body. Definitely up there with the best birthday presents I have ever received. So, it was only fitting that I bake something special, an inaugural dessert to break in the mixer and make use of its endless fabulous features. I searched through my cookbooks for an appropriately delicious recipe, but it was M who had the winning suggestion: a chocolate and pear cake, which we first made eons ago by hand in my tiny Montreal kitchen. We prepared the cake together on Friday night, and used the extra pears on a homemade pizza, along with baby spinach, prosciutto and feta. The cake came out extraordinarily well, the dough barely sweet and bursting with melting chocolate chunks and soft, sweet Anjou pears. Paired with partridgeberry and apple wine from my recent tr...