For the past three years, the wonderful people that I work with and I have been holding a potluck in honour of Canadian Thanksgiving. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I work with some incredible cooks and bakers.

Last year, for the first time, I took photos of all the dishes and I decided to do the same thing this year.

Enjoy the bounty that was our Thanksgiving potluck!

Twice-baked Sweet Potatoes with Sage and Pecans. These were delicious! They were colourful, healthy and pretty to look at.

Green Salad with Vinaigrette. What’s a potluck without a lovely salad!

Couscous Salad. The more I eat couscous, the more I love it. This salad was refreshing and nutritious.

Roast Chicken. While it wasn’t homemade and my picture certainly doesn’t help matters, it was delicious!

Vegetable Lasagna.

This was so good! Filled with roast vegetables and ricotta, it was comforting just as lasagna should be.

Chicken Wings. These were a huge hit. We’re trying to get a recipe out of the cook so stay tuned.

Chocolate Cookies. I think we’ve decided to adopt these as our “official cookie” at work. They appear often and they’re delicious. They’re basically peanuts mixed with Rice Krispies and then covered in chocolate. But I warn you. They’re addictive!

Ratatouille Pasta. I think ratatouille has to be the dish of 2007. This pasta was comfort food at its best!

Green Beans and Tofu. For me, this was the dish of the potluck! While I can’t say I eat a lot of tofu, this dish used tofu in sheets, which is something I’ve never seen before. It was finished off with walnuts and red peppers. Delicious!

Veggie Chili. We have a number of vegetarians on staff so it’s nice that we always have lots of vegetarian options at our potlucks. This chili would, however, satisfy the heartiest of carnivores. It was fantastic!

White Bean and Barley Stew. Yum! I could curl under a blanket with a bowl of this stew!

Pecan Pie. What’s a Thanksgiving potluck without a delicious pecan pie. This one was like a huge, creamy butter tart!

Sour Cream Coffee Cake. We love our dessert and this cake was right up our alley. There’s nothing like a moist and sweet coffee cake!

Baklava. With all due respect to the other desserts, this was THE DESSERT at the potluck. Made by our resident Greek Goddess (you know who you are), we were fighting for the last piece.

Banana Bread with Skor Bits. As I mentioned above we like to eat so we actually kicked off the potluck first thing in the morning with this incredible banana bread, which was nice and warm. Slathered in butter, it was a great breakfast!

Grilled Vegetable and Goat Cheese Sandwiches. This was my contribution to the potluck. I bought some lovely focaccia and slathered it in homemade pesto. I then layered on grilled vegetables and hunks of goat cheese.

Unbelievably, I forgot to take a photograph of one of my favourite dishes at the party: Bacon-wrapped Water Chestnuts. I think I was so intent on eating one that I just forgot to take the picture. Fortunately, the chef who prepared these sent along the recipe for me to share with all of you.

Talk about being a lucky Cream Puff! Look at the amazing cooks that I work with!

Ciao!

Bacon-wrapped Water Chestnuts
Recipe courtesy of one awesome co-worker!

1 can of whole water chestnuts, drained
1 package of bacon
1/4 cup chili sauce (or ketchup)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Hot sauce to taste

Trim the larger pieces of fat from the bacon. You should be left with around 3/4 of a rasher of bacon per water chestnut. You could use 1/2 a rasher or less, but the more bacon the better.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll the bacon around the water chestnuts and place each roll, seam down, into the baking dish.

Bake for 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and drain fat from the pan.

Mix the remaining ingredients together to form a sauce and pour it over the rolls.

Bake for another 30 minutes

Stick a toothpick into each roll before serving.

Enjoy!

Technorati tags: thanksgiving

It is my great honour to announce that I am the host of the 35th edition of Sugar High Friday!

Created by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess over two years ago, Sugar High Friday is an event to celebrate all that is sweet in our lives.

Every type of sweet imagineable has been explored over the previous 34 editions of this event, so when Jennifer e-mailed me to let me know that I would be able to host in September 2007, I had to make a decision.

What to choose as a theme?

After mulling it over for awhile, I decided it was time to give the glorious fig its due.

To this day, I am always amazed by the number of people who have never tried a fresh fig. While many people are familiar with dried figs, fresh ones are much harder to come by. Here in Toronto, I know many people who go to great lengths to cultivate fresh fig trees. I know some people who have built greenhouses in their backyards simply for the trees!

While it is usually referred to as a fruit, the fig is actually the flower of the fig tree. Cutting into the pear-shaped fruit is such an experience! The fruit is filled to bursting with tiny seeds and when you cut into a perfectly ripe fig, it’s as though it secretes its own honey.

And the flavour! How to describe one of the truly great flavours in this world? A fresh fig is sweet and soft. It is somehow warm and refreshing at the same time.

For SHF #35, I want all of you to go out there and explore the world of figs. You can submit any dessert you like featuring figs in whatever form you like: fresh figs, dried figs, fig preserves, fig honey, fig sugar, fig extract … surprise me!

If you’ve never had a fig, then look at this as an opportunity to discover something new.

Here are the details for SHF #35:

Prepare a sweet featuring figs in any form that you like.

Post your creation by midnight on Monday September 24th. (The roundup will be posted on Friday September 28th).

E-mail me (creampuffsinvenice {at} gmail {dot} com) the permalink to your post, as well as your blog name and a photo of your creation.

The fig is a truly beautiful food. I hope that you enjoy exploring the many ways it can be enjoyed and I cannot wait to be inspired by the results!

Ciao!

Here are some resources for useful facts about figs:

BBC Food - Figs
California Figs
Wikipedia - Ficus
Fig Fruit Facts
Fresh Figs, Anyone?
Fine Cooking - Figs

And for a bit of fun, here are some books and cookbooks that present the fig in an interesting light:

The Sweetest Fig
Stolen Figs: And Other Adventures in Calabria
Figs, Dates, Laurel, and Myrrh: Plants of the Bible and the Quran
The Girl & The Fig Cookbook
From the Lands of Figs and Olives: Over 300 Delicious and Unusual Recipes from the Middle East and Northern Africa
Fig Heaven: 70 Recipes for the World’s Most Luscious Fruit
Fig Pudding
The Fig Eater: A Novel
Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: Food to Warm the Soul

Technorati tags: sugar high friday, figs

Today is the great Julia Child’s birthday!

To honour this day, Lisa of Champaign Taste is hosting the second annual food blog event to honour the birth of one of the most influential women in food history. Not bad for someone who didn’t start cooking seriously until she was in her 30s!

What else can I possibly say about Julia Child that hasn’t already been said? She was glorious. On her birthday, I wish simply that we would all take a page out of her life book. Let’s get into the kitchen. Let’s cook. Let’s bake. Let’s enjoy!

Ciao!

To celebrate Julia’s birthday this year, I decided to finally try a recipe that I’d had bookmarked for many years. It’s the Pizza Rustica from the book Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan. It’s essentially a slightly sweet pie dough that’s stuffed with a ricotta filling dotted with prosciutto and basil. Delicious!

For Julia’s birthday last year, I made Cantuccini.

Technorati tags: julia child, pizza rustica

As many of you who stop by here regularly know, a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of telling you about Faith Heller Willinger’s newest book, Adventures of an Italian Food Lover.

Part cookbook, part memoir, part travelogue, the book is an homage to all of the friends that Faith has made throughout her years living in Italy. (Note: She’s made a lot of friends!) The recipes are contributions from these friends. They are unique in the way that a special recipe from a special friend is unique.

I was able to take a sneak peek at Faith’s book thanks to Cath of A Blithe Palate who invited me to co-host an event with her based on Faith’s new book.

Rather than a typical book review, Cath and I decided to try something different with this book. We each chose a set of participants and asked them to read the book and choose a recipe they’d like to prepare. After having made the recipe, we asked them to write about it and in particular, to write about who they would share their dish with and why.

The response has been tremendous! While there are still a few more people who have yet to post their adventure with this book, I’d like to present to you a round up of (most of) the participants that I asked to take part.

I will start with the first person that I asked to take part, that being Lis of La Mia Cucina. Lis is a soul sister so it only makes sense that I would ask her first since we are practically related! Lis wrote a very humourous and touching post that explains how her family has a very special meatball recipe that has been passed down for several generations (I think all Italian families have a special meatball recipe … ). Understandably, she would have shared her dish with her beloved dad. Mille grazie, Lis!

As I thought about who else I wanted to invite to take part in this event, I immediately thought of my friends Rob and Rachel of Hungry in Hogtown. Not only are they fellow Torontonians, but they’re avid travellers who have fallen in love with Italy. (I understand Rob speaks some mean Italian …). Their post is about the beauty of real balsamic vinegar and how it transforms what it touches. They went all out by preparing stewed peppers with balsamic vinegar (pictured here), spaghetti with olive oil and parmesan and homemade ricotta with a variety of toppings. They chose to share their dish with a close friend. Mille grazie, Rob and Rachel!

I have often said that I try to visit Ilva’s blog, Lucullian Delights, as often as possible because her enlightening photography is a reminder that beauty is everywhere. I knew that she would bring a very special perspective to this event as Italy is her adopted home, having married and settled there. I thought that we would be able to see Faith’s book from the unique point of view of someone who moved to Italy from somewhere else. I was right! Ilva wrote a beautiful post about preparing gnocco fritto and how she would have loved to share it with her cousin Ulrik, who unfortunately passed away at a very young age. It’s a touching post about how a dish can invoke so many beautiful memories. Mille grazie, Ilva!

From my friend Ilva in Tuscany I moved to my friend Angelika in Austria. Has it already been six months since I spent a wonderful evening in her company? Time flies! Although Austrian through-and-through, Angelika has an Italian heart. I just knew I had to include her in this event. Even though she’s supremely busy with her restaurant endeavour, she took the time to read the book and write about it. On her blog The Flying Apple, Angelika wrote about a very unique spaghetti tart from Willinger’s book. Angelika chose to share her dish with a very special person to her whom she met via her blog - more proof that blogging can often lead to the most special of bonds. Grazie mille, Angelika!

I am constantly amazed by Lydia of The Perfect Pantry. She is so knowledgeable and does such a wonderful job of sharing her food knowledge! We’re lucky to have her in blog world. Happily, she agreed to take part in this event and she choose to prepare a variety of dishes from the book. Lydia, and her dear friend Cindy with whom she shared the dishes, were busy bees as they prepared Brick-Grilled Chicken Breasts, Ricotta-stuffed Zucchin Flowers and Ginger Apricot Biscotti. Lydia’s post exemplifies perfectly the spirit of sharing that is so clearly outlined in Faith’s book. Mille grazie, Lydia!

I have not known Mia of the blog Nosh for very long, but the moment I first set eyes on her blog, I knew a kindred spirit! Mia’s Italian heritage shines through and I just knew I had to ask her to be part of this event. Mia’s post was so touching as she wrote about her sister’s visit and how she decided to share her dish with her sister. After spending time together in Verona, Italy, they returned to Mia’s home where together they prepared the stewed peppers with balsamic vinegar. Mille grazie, Mia!

And now to my sweet Tartelette! That’s right, my dearest Helene was also part of this event and I am so thrilled. It’s funny because I was thinking about asking Helene, and finally did, only to find out that she had already asked Cath to take part. Clearly it was meant to be! Helene chose to prepare a cookie that is very near and dear to my heart: amaretti. Helene has some very interesting thoughts about how Faith’s book represents the sort of emotional bonds people have to dishes. Helene chose to make amaretti after recalling the first time she tried them on a trip to Italy with her family. Mille grazie, Helene!

To put it very simply, I adore Rowena of Rubber Slippers in Italy. She is so funny and sweet, and her blog is one of the very first that I fell in love with. You can always trust Rowena to come up with something very unique. An American married to an Italian, I knew that Rowena would approach Faith’s book from an interesting point of view. Rowena shared her dish with her husband and let him choose it. He chose Risotto with Almonds and Broccoli. My mouth is watering. Mille grazie, Rowena!

Do you love The Cooking Adventures of Chef Paz? I certainly do! And I especially love Chef Paz and her spirit for cooking (also really love her New York Mondays). I wrote to Paz asking if she’d like a chance to take part in this event and she readily agreed. After receiving her copy of the book, Paz decided to try penne with fish sauce. She explained that she would share it with her friend Francine who has been an inspirational force for Paz in the area of cooking. Mille grazie, Paz!

I have been blessed with many wonderful aunts, on both my mother’s and father’s sides of the family. But after reading Tea’s post on her blog Tea and Cookies, I also want an Aunt Angela. Or as we would say in Italian, Zia Angela! While Tea often thrills her readers with her story of how she discovered blogging, the truth is that we discovered her just the same. I have always felt so drawn to the elegance of her writing. I sometimes feel that reading her posts is like reading honey … so smooth and clear. Tea wrote a lovely post about the effect of meeting and spending time with an Italian woman known as Aunt Angela. To honour her, Tea chose to make the walnut cake from Faith’s book. (Don’t miss reading about her beloved lasagna as well!) Mille grazie, Tea!

Thank you to everyone who took part in this incredible event!

Ciao!

Note: I will add a link to Cath’s round up once she has hers up!

Technorati tags: faith heller willinger, adventures of an italian food lover

I love The Simpsons.

Love them!

I am one of those people who shares the belief that there are lines from Simpsons episodes that can be applied to virtually every event in life.

One of my very favourite Simpsons episodes happens to be “Lisa the Vegetarian” from the series’ seventh season. And for me, the best part of the episode is the little song and dance that Bart and Homer perform where they repeatedly sing, “You can’t win friends with salad!” to a very distraught Lisa.

Homer … Bart … you are so wrong!

When my “sister” Lis told me that she was planning an event, I didn’t even need to know what it was about. I already knew that I would be participating.

I mean that’s just what sisters do!

But when I found out that the theme was salad, I knew I’d be winning over a lot of friends! I cannot remember a time in my life when I did not eat salad. Without exception, salad appears on our table almost every day of the year.

We end every meal with salad. To be sure we’re not talking about overly involved salads. It’s usually lettuce drizzled with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar with a bit of salt sprinkled on. Occasionally we’ll splurge with a good quality balsamic. In the summer, our salad options expand exponentially. Cucumber and tomato salads will make an appearance. We may have salads with several different types of lettuce, mostly from our garden. But without fail, they are always saved for last.

I’ve heard many different ideas about why it is that Italians eat salad last. The most common one being that salad is a palate cleanser that prepares the way for what comes next, whether that be a cheese course or dessert. In our family what came next was almost always fruit, and my father explained to me a few times that the salad cleaned your mouth for the fruit.

Whatever the reason, I’ve always thought that ending a meal with salad is a nice, light way to put an exlamation mark on the act of eating. Having said that, I don’t put a lot of effort into salad. To me, the best salad is one with excellent lettuce, bathed in good olive oil and vinegar. That’s pretty much it.

But for my sister Lis and her partner in this event, Kelly of Sass and Veracity, I will most definitely go that extra mile. So I made not one, not two, but three extravant salads for their Salad Stravaganza!

We begin with a lovely salad of roast potatoes, green beans and cherry tomatoes. The recipe for this salad comes from an Bon Appétit magazine from earlier this year. The salad is lovely especially with a meal that includes some sort of roast meat or fish. The warm potatoes soak up the dressing and the beans and tomatoes add crunch and colour.

For the next two salads, I turned to Tracy Stern’s lovely Tea Party, which of course has been my Flavour of the Month for May and June. There’s a lovely salad in Stern’s book that consists of Bibb lettuce, green apple and avocado.

The salad is bathed in a Sesame-Green Tea Vinaigrette. While I chose the same elements for the make up of my salad, I used a dressing of my own creation, that I use often at home when I want a dressing that’s a bit more special than the good ol’ standby of olive oil and vinegar.

I love to make a dressing of champagne vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, shallot, sea salt, black pepper and the zest and juice of half a lemon. Here’s the recipe:

1 shallot, minced
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
juice and zest of half a lemon
3 tbsp. Champagne vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Whisk together the shallot, mustard, zest and lemon juice and vinegar in a bowl. Let sit for five minutes.

Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Season to taste and use immediately.

For the final salad, I decided to try another recipe from Stern’s book after I came across a pasta salad with chickpeas and roasted red pepper. I added red onion and artichoke hearts to the salad and I’m happy to say that it was a winner!

Best of all I got to take the leftovers to work as a healthy lunch.

250 g. fusilli pasta
handful of basil, minced
a few sprigs of mint, minced
1/2 a red onion, finely chopped
2 red peppers, roasted, cleaned and roughly chopped
1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed
1 cup artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup olive oil
sea salt and black pepper to taste

Cook the fusilli according to the directions on the package. Once cooked, let the pasta cool for about 10 minutes before putting the salad together.

Add the basil, mint, red onion, red peppers, chickpeas, artichoke hearts and lemon zest. Mix well.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and the garlic. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking all the time. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the dressing on the pasta salad and mix well and serve.

The pasta salad will keep in the refrigerator for several days.

Ciao!

Technorati tags: salad, salad stravaganza

I’m not quite sure how to say this. I’m about to attempt something I’ve never done before.

I’m going to try seducing a woman.

I’ll pause for a moment while you recover from that previous statement.

Ready?

Okay. Having been told that good Cream Puffs never chase after anyone, I find myself in unchartered territory. But I really have no choice. I am overcome with desire for a woman. Not just any woman, mind you. It’s Helen of Tartelette.

Normally I wouldn’t do this sort of thing. But my dearest Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Sensual Gourmet is hosting SHF #28 and the theme is Sweet Seduction. I am seduced by Jasmine’s brilliance all the time so I approve of her theme mightily. And lo and behold, I find myself as the seducer with Helen being the seducee.

So here goes:

Helen, I’m going to seduce you. Are you seduced yet?

Let me tell you why I’m going to seduce you, Helen. It’s because you sent me that beautiful postcard as part of Meeta’s Blogger Postcards Around the World. I waited patiently for my postcard to come and then there it was, in such a pretty pink envelope. And I opened it up and inside I found the most beautiful card. It had a sticker of a bag of flour on it! And a piping bag! I mean come on!!! Could anyone have possibly found a better card for me??? Helen, we were meant for each other.

Are you seduced yet?

No? Hmmm. Alright, Helen. I see I’m going to have to bring out the heavy artillery. I know, I know. You’re married and all that. With much respect to Mr. Tartelette, would he ever make you a marble cake, Helen??? Huh??? Would he???

And not just any marble cake. It’s one that has real dark chocolate melted and blended into the batter. And it has white chocolate chips blended in as well. When was the last time Mr. Tartelette took the time to do that for you. Hmmm????

Look at this picture, Helen. Look at the cake, Helen. Look at the creamy chocolaty goodness. You could have marble cakes every day if you were with me, Helen!

Every. Single. Day.

So Helen, are you seduced yet?

Ciao!

Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Chip Marble Cake

Adapted from Another Cup of Sugar by Anna Olson.

Note:  I purchased this cookbook a few weeks ago and have completely fallen in love with it! This is is another winner. The cake should be baked in a 12-cup Bundt pan and will serve 10 to 12. Or Helen. But stay away from here as she’s mine. Go find your own Helen!

• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1-3/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 oz. chocolate (70% cocoa solids or higher … it all depends on how high you’re willing to go!)
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour your bundt pan.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar and high speed until fluffy (about 2 minutes).
5. Add your eggs to the batter, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
6. Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix for another minute.
7. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture a bit at a time.
8. Remove one-third of the batter and put it in a bowl. Add the melted chocolate and the white chocolate chips. Mix well.
9. Spoon the batter into the Bundt pan, alternating between the plain batter and the chocolate batter. Once done, take a spoon or a knife and run it through the batter, swirling as you go to create a marble effect.
10. Bake the cake for 1 hour. After an hour, check for doneness by inserting a cake tester or toothpick in the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, your cake is done. In my oven, the cake took about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
11. Let the cake cool before removing from the pan.
12. Enjoy!

Technorati tags:  cake, marble cake, bpw, sugar high friday, shf

What is this blog about if not the love of all things sweet?

This would explain the warming of my Cream Puff heart when Meeta announced that the theme for her popular Monthly Mingle (round 7!) was Sweet Love. Ah, yes. Bring on the sweets.

It’s almost unseemly that so soon after the holidays I already find myself back in the midst of boxes of chocolate, imagining all the sweet treats I’d bake if only I had the time. But that is in fact the case.

I think it speaks to the nature of this month, and not just because Valentine’s Day is smack in the middle of February. I think it has more to do with the cold, long nights … all those hours between dinner and bedtime. What better way to spend them than baking scores of delicacies in the imaginary kitchen in your mind?

When I imagine the sweets that I would like to bake, there’s always one that makes a repeat appearance in my baking fantasies:  coeur à la crème.

French in origin, coeur à la crème means "heart of cream." A classic dessert, it’s components are simple and sublime. I’m not sure what it would have been made with when it was first created, perhaps fresh cheese, but most recipes today call for a mixture of cream cheese and either heavy cream our sour cream. Most recipes also feature the ever-important vanilla bean.

The dessert’s signature is that it’s traditionally made in a heart-shaped mold. The cream mixture is packed into a mold lined with cheesecloth, and then allowed to rest in a cold spot for many hours. Once unmolded, you’re left with a beautiful, creamy dessert that is simplicity at its very best. It’s usually accompanied by a berry sauce.

I’ve wanted to make coeur à la crème for so long, but I could never find the right mold. I know you can make it any container that has holes that will allow water to seep out, but I just wouldn’t settle for anything less than a porcelain heart of my own!

The baking gods smiled down on me for a few months ago, I found the very mold I’d been looking for. When Meeta announced Monthly Mingle #7, I knew right away that my coeur à la crème dream would finally come true.

For the recipe, I turned to Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris. The preparation was a breeze. I mixed cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon zest, the seeds of a vanilla bean and heavy cream together until I had a thick mixture. I lined my mold with paper towel and then packed in the cream cheese mixture. I rested my little heart in the refrigerator overnight, where a bit of water from the cheese drained out.

The following day I unmolded my little cheese heart and avoided the overwhelming urge to dig right in. As an accompaniment, I decided to make my own dulce de leche by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk for two hours. Once cool, the milk had turned into a lovely caramel-coloured spread which I used to drizzle on the serving plate, as well as the heart itself.

But I also wanted something with colour. Since raspberries aren’t in season, a raspberry sauce was out of the question. Instead, I made use of the currants that I collected during the summer from our currant bushes. I cooked the currants with sugar and powdered pectin to form a lovely glaze. Unfortunately, I overcooked the glaze slightly so it was a bit difficult to drizzle, but still, the end result was lovely.

This dessert was out of this world! Light and fresh, we had no difficulties polishing off the entire heart. And the dulce de leche and currant glaze went very nicely with the dessert.

What can I say? Sweet Love is glorious, especially when some long-held dessert dreams get to come true. So go ahead. Bite me!

Ciao!

Note:  For the dulce de leche, I removed the label from a can of sweetened condensed milk. I placed the can on its side in a pot, and covered it with cold water. The water should cover the can by at least an inch. I brought the water to a boil and then lowered the heat so that the water remained at a gentle simmer. I simmered the can of sweetened condensed milk for 2 hours. I then turned off the heat and left the can in the water until it had cooled to room temperature. At that point I opened the can, scooped the contents into a container and refrigerated it overnight. I have made dulce de leche in this manner on many occasions and never encountered any problems. However, if you do try it, I urge you to be careful as any time you have canned goods that are heated, there are some risks involved.

Technorati tags:  monthly mingle, valentine’s day, coeur a la creme

One of the (few) advantages of being late for a food blog event is that you get to enjoy the efforts of other food bloggers long before you have to worry about your own post. I am glad to see that the world is indeed in love with what I like to refer to as Hazelnut Gold, otherwise known as Nutella.

As for my own post, let’s just say that I’m fashionably late for World Nutella Day hosted by Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy and Shelley of At Home in Rome. Better late than never is what I say.

Having read so many of the entries about World Nutella Day, I think we’ve pretty much covered the history/origins/significance of Nutella to food bloggers and the world at large. There is, however, one crucial bit of Nutella lore that has not been covered.

It is the age-old Nutella question:  do you spread with a knife or a spoon?

There are very few things that will get me as worked up as this little query. And while I realize that a knife is featured oh-so-prominently on the label of Nutella jars, I can say beyond the shadow of a doubt that Nutella is to be spread with a spoon.

Never, ever use a knife! Never! The only reason there’s a knife on the label is that on the particular day the photo was taken, there were no spoons. Perhaps it was during the year of the Great Italian Spoon Shortage. I don’t know. What I do know, is that to use a knife to spread Nutella, is to sink a knife deep into the heart of Cream Puff.

And why would you want to hurt Cream Puff?

Nutella should always be spread with a spoon. Using a knife is an indication of stinginess of spirit. I mean how much Nutella can you possibly pile on to the thin blade of a knife?

A spoon is a different story. You can sink it deeply into the jar and with a gentle twist of the wrist you can scoop up a glorious creamy mound of the stuff. Then, slowly, you bring the spoon to a waiting slice of bread. You begin by smearing on as much of the Nutella as you can. Of course some of it will be caught in the spoon’s gentle indentation.

This brings me to what I call the Moment of Nutella Thrill, for now you have a choice. You can either pop the spoon in  your mouth and enjoy the appetizer to your Nutella sandwich. Or, you can use the corner of the bread to scoop out the bit of Nutella that remains in the spoon. Either way, you’ll feel that little thrill as the moment of Nutella consumption is near.

So please, put away the knives and embrace the spoons.

Happy belated World Nutella Day!

Ciao!

Technorati tags:  nutella, world nutella day

My lovely friend Meeta is hosting the second Blogger Postcards Around the World event (BPW #2). Meeta is the creative mind behind What’s For Lunch Honey?, a beautifully photographed blog that demonstrates her passion for food and her ability in the kitchen.

Over 60 bloggers participated in BPW #1, and what fun it was! To think that a little piece of paper with a note scribbled on it could make its way anywhere in the world and result in a new friend - there’s the power of communication for you.

For BPW #2, Meeta has chosen the theme of Happy Valentine’s Day. While I realize that Valentine’s Day isn’t necessarily everyone’s favourite day of the year, I have always regarded it as a chance to celebrate all love, not just romantic love. I don’t have a Valentine myself this year. But that’s okay.

I’m sending this little card through the air and over the sea to someone I’ve never met before. And while we won’t be falling in love in the romantic sense, here’s hoping we’ll become great friends!

Ciao!

Technorati tags:  bpw, blogger postcards around the world, happy valentine’s day

At this time of year, when many of us are busy buying presents and preparing for parties and celebrations, it’s important to remember our responsibility to help those in need. The Menu For Hope is an opportunity for all of us to help those less fortunate. Menu For Hope I raised funds for the victims of the tsunami in Southeast Asia, while Menu For Hope II raised money for victims of the earthquake in the Kashmir region of Pakistan and India.

This year’s Menu For Hope is all about helping the United Nations World Food Programme. The event will take place from December 11 to 22. During that time, you will have the opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for some truly exciting gifts. Every bit counts so I ask that you look deep into your hearts and dig deep into you wallets for a most worthy cause.

Because I will be on holiday on December 11th, I’m posting the information about my donated prize a few days early. However, on December 11th, please visit Chez Pim’s campaign page to browse the global prize list. On December 10th, you can also visit the Canadian campaign page for Menu For Hope III on Jasmine’s blog, Confessions of a Cardamom Addict. Jasmine is coordinating Canadian entries for this event so on behalf of all Canadian bloggers, I’d like to extend a most heartfelt thanks to her for taking this on! From December 11th onward, for information about the administration of Menu For Hope tickets and donations, visit the site that’s handling it all:  First Giving.

For my own donation to this event, I am offering two new cookbooks that would make a wonderful addition to any cookbook library! The first book is Celebrations 101 by Rick Rodgers, author of the classic Kaffeehaus. Celebrations 101 is an all-purpose entertaining cookbook that will guide you through any type of party imaginable, including A New Year’s Day Open House, a Spring Shower, A Father’s Day Cookout and an Intimate Thanksgiving. The book is full of amazing recipes, lovely photographs and even includes shopping lists!

The second book will help you deal with all the calories you intake after working your way through Celebrations 101. The book is Juice! by Pippa Cuthbert and Lindsay Cameron Wilson. Juice! is a colourful guide to the world of creating your own juices at home. From healthy to decadent, there are some incredible recipes in this book for beverages that are wholesome and delicious.

If you’re interested in this prize, then visit the donation page between December 11 and December 22 and donate. Each $10 US that you donate will buy you one raffle ticket towards the prize of your choice. You must specify which prize you’re interested in by quoting the prize code in the "personal message" section.

The prize code for my gift is CA16.

Here are the detailed instructions for the event:

1. Go to the donation page at http://www.firstgiving.com/menuforhopeIII to make a contribution.
2. Each US $10 donation will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. Please specify which prize or prizes you’d like by entering the prize code in the ‘Personal Message’ section in the donation form when confirming your contribution. E.G. A US $50 donation may be two tickets for UW99 and three tickets for CA20.*
3. Some companies will match personal charitable donations made by staff. If  your company has such a program, please remember to mark the appropriate box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
4. Please also check the box to allow us to see your email address. We need this so we can contact you in case you win a prize. If you do not do this, we will be unable to contact you. Please be assured that we will not share your email address with anyone.
5. Raffle results will be announced on 15 January on Chez Pim. Draws will be conducted electronically, thanks to Derrick at Obsession with Food for creating the computer application used to magically select names.

*N.B.:  Canadian tax laws prohibit charitable donation receipts to be issued by registered Canadian charities for raffle or lottery tickets. The UNWFP is a U.S.-based charity; should any donation receipts be issued, you will need to seek professional advice regarding applying them to your Canadian income tax return.

Please be generous and support the Menu For Hope III!

And remember, if you’re interested in the prize I’m donating (Celebrations 101 and Juice!) the prize code is CA16!

In other news …

I wanted to thank everyone for all the wonderful tips you sent me regarding my trip to Berlin, Prague and Vienna. I’ll do my best to visit all the incredible places you mentioned!

And finally, I wanted to direct your attention to a special article that I was thrilled to be a part of. I was contacted by Gabrielle Lichterman, Editor-in-Chief of Four Weeks Magazine (www.fourweeksmag.com) with a request for a hot cocoa recipe that would be included in a feature on hot cocoa. If you have a few moments, read the article which includes contributions from Jenjen of Bake or Break, Rachel of Coconut & Lime and Food Maven and Deb of Smitten Kitchen. The recipes all sound wonderful! I’d like to thank Gabrielle for this opportunity and look forward to spending lots of time reading this great site.

Ciao!