Lemon maple cranberry butter tarts.

Fowl supper? Fall supper?

Whatever you call them, they are a delicious Prairie harvest tradition

We gathered at my parents’ house on a mild autumn evening, clucking over Mom and Dad’s recent renovations, sipping Dad’s homemade wine, letting our appetites build for the fowl supper. Our neighbour Ken commented on the lineup he’d witnessed en route. “Halfway down the street and around the block,” he claimed. I was disinclined to […] Read more

The inside of the porchetta.

This pork porchetta is sure to please

First We Eat: Traditionally a whole pig would be roasted on a spit but here’s a smaller oven version

I visited my sister and brother-in-law in the Toronto area for Thanksgiving this year, the first time, perhaps ever, that I wasn’t home to cook the feast for my favourite holiday. But even though I wasn’t in my home kitchen, food played as large a part as usual. “We have errands,” my sister said soon […] Read more


(Photo courtesy Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan)

Canary seed market seen as dull, static

CNS Canada — Prices for canary seed over the last 15 months have fluctuated between 20 and 23 cents/lb. delivered in Western Canada, and there’s little chance that will change any time soon. To David Nobbs, managing partner of Canpulse Foods in Saskatoon and a director with the Canaryseed Development Commission of Saskatchewan, the canary […] Read more

Cooking the foods of our ancestors keeps heritage alive

Cooking the foods of our ancestors keeps heritage alive

First We Eat: And what better way than with a pot of homemade soup?

One of the great truisms about food is that by cooking the foods of our forebears, we maintain or re-establish a link with our heritage. My mother’s antecedents were off-colony Hutterites who arrived in Saskatchewan at the turn of the previous century from a colony in South Dakota. Earlier, my great-greats and their babes had […] Read more


B.C. cheese and honeycomb.

Enjoy the sweet tastes of summer

First We Eat: Now is the perfect time to try some fresh local honey

About 30 years ago, my brother the horticulturalist planted juniper shrubs along the west face of our parents’ house in rural Saskatchewan. Under Mom’s benign care, they throve, but eventually succumbed to legginess and the scraggy look of a once-stylish haircut overdue for a trim. As you may already know, Dave and I moved in […] Read more

Hydration is important because water does many things for the body.

How are your health habits?

Many say they are too busy to include new habits into their day for better health

The problem with habits is that they take time and effort — something we don’t naturally drift to. Health is an ongoing series of habits and decisions you make every day, but one of the biggest barriers clients tell me about is not having enough time to include new healthy habits into their life. They […] Read more


case ih grand island

Reporter’s Notebook: Times are changing everywhere

Corn, soybeans and a changing society on the other side of the border

In late July, I flew to Nebraska to get an idea of what the ag industry looks like in that state. Before I even left my hotel in Omaha, I had my first clue. The Omaha World-Herald ran a front-page story on the $12 billion ag aid package with a rhyming headline. “Farmers: Thanks for […] Read more

Why do we cook?

Why do we cook?

First We Eat: We should know how to prepare food and it's the best way to have control over what we eat

On a Friday over lunch after our weekly trip to the farmers’ market, I asked Mom what her favourite desserts were. Her 82nd birthday was rolling around soon. I’d already decided on the main course — cioppino, Mom’s favourite fish dish. It’s a tomato-broth-based, Italian-derived fisherman’s stew that’s been part of our family’s repertoire since […] Read more


Good neighbours are what it’s all about

Good neighbours are what it’s all about

First We Eat: Always there with friendship, moral support and help in an emergency

Our neighbours are one of the reasons Dave and I are able to live in the country. Admittedly, as writers, we have the wrong skill sets for rural life. Dave can edit a short story like nobody’s business, and he’s a fabulous writer, but he’s not so good at manual labour or at troubleshooting failed […] Read more

Pasta puttanesca.

Gifts for aging parents

First We Eat: A home-cooked birthday meal for Dad and friends helped to solve the gift-giving challenge

I recently spent a considerable amount of time perusing old photographs as I edited a vanity press family history book written by my mother. When I showed Dave the wedding photo of my parents — taken 63 years ago — he confessed he would not have recognized the young and handsome couple in the image. […] Read more