My small red mortar and pestle set is made of enameled cast iron with an unglazed interior. My larger English clay set is unglazed for good grit when pounding ingredients. Both are heavy and sturdy.

Tools and techniques, part 3: Between a rock and a hard place

First We Eat: Pounding ingredients with a pestle encourages a calm approach to cooking

My mom tells me my counters are too cluttered. “Why don’t you put some of that stuff away?” she asks me repeatedly. Much of the counter space in my old farmhouse kitchen is occupied by electric tools designed to grind foods or to alter their shape: a food processor, blender and coffee mill stand shoulder […] Read more

A crock of wooden spatulas and spurtles and flexible spatulas sits on prime real estate beside my range.

Tools and techniques, part 2: Spurtles and spatulas

First We Eat: Preferring wooden hand tools means keeping a wide assortment

It was too hot in September 2024 in Grass Valley to be wearing my red crocheted holiday elf toque with the white pompom, but gift-giving was on my mind. Mom and I were in California to visit my best beloved auntie, and my cousin had told us about a terrific annual crafters’ sale. lt was […] Read more


calibrating a new oven

Tools and techniques, part 1: Ovens, shmovens

First We Eat: Training a new kitchen range means putting it through all its capabilities

My oven finally surrendered after 15 years of hard use. It was traumatic for me — losing a trusted tool is a shock for any serious cook. After much debate and research, the new range was installed last month. I am getting to know it. That, too, is traumatic. The fact is, frequent usage shortens […] Read more

chewy brownie cookies

Books worth cooking from, part 3: Anna Olson’s Baking Wisdom

First We Eat: The Ontario pastry chef’s book is meant to be accessible to beginners and pros alike

Perusing a library’s shelves, whether virtual or bricks-and-mortar, is always a pleasure, especially when I have food on my mind. To my great joy, I recently found an impressive new baking book from a Canadian pro. Pastry chef and TV/YouTube personality Anna Olson, who is married to chef Michael Olson, is a reassuringly approachable pastry […] Read more


lentils and beans

Books worth cooking from, part 2: My Thali

First We Eat: How a meal can centre around a starch, rather than a protein surrounded by sides

You’ll recall that in my previous column, I posed the question of how many cookbooks a home cook really needs, and which new ones are worth buying or borrowing. Part of my research for this month’s column was to peruse the shortlist of nominees for the 2024 Taste Canada book awards. Several books appealed, but […] Read more

A banner for the World Central Kitchen flies where the non-profit group provides food to people transiting through a train station at Przemysl, a city on Poland's southeastern border with Ukraine, in April 2022.

Books worth cooking from, Part 1

The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope arranges recipes according to the non-profit’s core principles

How many cookbooks do you own? How many do you need? Which of each year’s new cookbooks are worth buying or borrowing? We’re going to take a look at several over the next few columns. Here’s the first! Chef José Andrés is famous in North America and his native Spain for his two dozen food […] Read more


Small paper envelopes stored in a closed glass jar in a cool dark space is an ideal containment method.

Harvest, part 3: Saving seeds

First We Eat: Select the best from your fall harvest to bring forward in spring

Some years ago, I went on a road trip — a research tour for a book I envisioned writing about small-scale organic and sustainable farmers in Western Canada. I drove from my home in Calgary through the mountains into the verdant interior valleys of B.C., then west to the coast, to Vancouver Island and up […] Read more

Raspberries in the patch are a thorny affair, so wear protection to minimize scratches.

Harvest, Part 2: Cherries and peaches and berries, oh my

First We Eat: In the sudden absence of B.C. fruits, our own local produce is even more precious

We live a long way from peach country, the wine-and-fruit-specialist Okanagan and Similkameen valleys in B.C.’s deep south. Those two B.C. valleys are home to twice as many fruit growers as Ontario and Quebec combined, and StatCan sets the province’s fruit production at over $450 million annually. Each summer, one fruit grower, Little Quail Orchard […] Read more


Fresh basil still in the garden.

Harvest, part 1: Garnishing summer greens

First We Eat: In the dog days of summer, salads with protein can help dial down the heat needed for food prep

We’ve been in deep summer heat for weeks now after a rainy spring, and every plant in my yard — including the quack grass and chickweed — is consumed with the green fuse of growth. The result is a cornucopia of everything. The scarlet runner beans and snow peas twining around their bamboo stakes tower […] Read more

skipper otto fish

B.C. fish for Prairie plates

First We Eat: A co-operative aims to sustain the sea for fishing families’ future

Wild fish was part of my childhood on Vancouver Island. We picked oysters and mussels, dug clams, scooped up spawning grunions, and cast hooks for salmon. But these days, as fish prices skyrocket and issues over whether to eat farmed or wild fish become ever more complex, my consumption of fish has plummeted, relying on […] Read more