96 Shares Easter Weekend is fast approaching. Chocolate Easter Bunnies have been prominently displayed in the supermarket aisles for several weeks now, and on my way into town the local Catholic church had posted its liturgical schedule for Holy Week for all to see. Lent is officially finished, and its time to celebrate! Easter Bunnies and Good Friday Mass aside, for most of us this means some kind of familial get-together with the ubiquitous turkey dinner – a prospect that strikes fear and dread into those uninitiated in the preparations of large family... More »
107 Shares We all want to make the best use of our time, and time in the kitchen is no exception. For many of us, cooking has become synonymous with drudgery — with that perennial question, “What’s for dinner?” striking a silent sigh from within. Yet cooking from scratch is one of the best things we can do for ourselves and our families. While I do make my living as a cook, I’m just like the rest of you. I don’t want to spend needless time in the kitchen at the end of a... More »
83 Shares Last summer, I became one of the early adopters of Google+. Having fully immersed myself in other social media platforms, I was curious to see how this new one would play out. For those of you unfamiliar with the platform, Google+ is a social media platform that enables interactions, similar to Facebook, but it allows you to sort and aggregate the people you follow, in order to selectively send information that is appropriate for those “circles” (e.g. You might want to send BFFs and acquaintances different sets of information via the same... More »
81 Shares Are you facing a Valentine’s Day alone? Feeling left out because the most romantic meals for the day are geared for, well…two? Well, if you are dining solo for the day and you have a toaster oven…never fear, we have some delicious treats you can cook up in flash. These are guaranteed tasty treats, and the bonus is there’s no leftovers to taunt you from the dark corners of the fridge the next day! 1. Panko Crusted Salmon Fillet 1 salmon fillet, approx 6 ounces 2-3 Tablespoons panko crumbs 1 teaspoon finely... More »
106 Shares While technically we are still in the throes of winter here, the weather gods seem to be signalling the start of spring here, regardless! And with springtime, comes a desire to get out more into the outdoors – soak up the sunshine and get my hands dirty planning the year’s food garden. The more years I spend growing food, the more I am struck by the similarities between effective and efficient practices for growing food, and effective practices for work-flow. Make no mistake, the word “productivity” has its roots firmly in agricultural practice! (pun intended). In... More »
70 Shares My walks with the dogs afford me some daily down-time and 30 minutes or so to clear the mental cobwebs – and sometimes, it is the source of new ideas from the most unlikely places. A recent dogwalk took myself and the dogs down to the beach for some fun and frolic – cabin fever was setting in after a particularly rainy, stormy stretch, and the Shiba Inus needed a good play. As soon as we reached the bottom of the stairs, I could see that the inclement weather had created... More »
124 Shares We are a few weeks into 2012 now and some of us that made New Year’s resolutions have discovered that in our zeal to achieve change, we have created resolutions that have us feeling too constrained. For most people however, success lies in practicing a balanced approach to life. Finding balance means adopting the path less travelled, and rethinking arbitrarily determined timelines in favour of creating our own timelines and strategies — that work for ourselves. And for some of us, that also means rethinking the whole idea of “cleanses” and austerity as... More »
