Hits and Misses

As a reluctant baker, the holiday season is tough on me. This year D. and I are spending our first ever holiday season together as the two of us, so there's no pressure produce perfect festive cookies, gingerbread men, shortbread...whatever. And a good thing too, as my efforts this week have delivered mixed results at best.

Squash it to me

As you can probably guess by the content of most of my recipes, I’m a committed and wholly unrepentant carnivore. I grew up in a meat and potatoes household and, like many North Americans, I never came close to hitting the recommended allotment of vegetables growing up. Part of it was the lack of availability of fresh vegetables at the time and a large part of it was my own extreme pickiness.

I’m a lot better at eating my veggies than I used to be. I always make sure I have something green or root-y on my plate or close to it.  Sometimes — and this is a big deal — I even cook vegetarian mains. And enjoy them. Don't get me wrong: I'm not about to run off and join those pricks at PETA, but there's nothing like filling your stomach while filling yourself with a sense of smug satisfaction at the same time.

Synchronicity

This was one of those unplanned meals, the kind where you see a recipe, look at the contents of the fridge and find a match to be made.

The recipe comes from this month’s Martha Stewart Living Holiday edition and originally calls for veal and chives, not to mention a helluva lot more butter. But using turkey and less butter gives the illusion that you’re eating healthy or “heart smart” as they say. As for the parsely, well, you gotta use that stuff up somehow.

Sunday in the pot

As a kid, I hated Sundays. Sunday meant the end of the weekend, homework and a return to the drudgery of school.

As an adult, I’ve grown to appreciate the almost melancholic tranquility of a Sunday. The Monday dread is there, but so too is pleasure in the simple things. Napping, reading: even simple chores can take on a meditative quality in the fading light of a Sunday afternoon.

When I can, I like to make Sunday dinners a production number, but sometimes time and the contents of the fridge conspire to force one's hand in a different direction. That's fine: simplicity can surprise you.

Pulling it together

The upcoming Christmas holidays will be our first out here in Toronto and the first ever where it will be just the two of us celebrating it. As much as I’ll miss seeing family and friends, I’m looking forward to starting some new traditions and trying out some new foods.

This past weekend, we kicked off the countdown to Christmas in style. We rubbed shoulders with the well-to-do while shopping in Yorkville, froze our toes at the Toronto Christmas Market and decorated our apartment. After all that, we took the chill off with an easy and warming dinner of oven pulled pork.