roast chicken with artichokes, shallots + capers

In the summer of 1985, my father took my younger sister and I to our first drive-in movie in Montreal. We piled in the car with our cozy blankets, lots of snacks and explosive excitement. I’ll never forget the scene as we climbed onto the hood of our car and then watched as other children parked in the vehicles next to ours did the same thing. There we were, rows of children, amidst the warm summer air, wrapped in blankets, drinking Orangina's and completely enthralled with the magical narration of the Never Ending Story. It was one of the best nights ever.

When we arrived home, the house was filled with the aroma of home-cooked goodness: roast chicken with garlic, and even though we weren’t hungry, we sat at the kitchen table and told our grandmother about our adventure. As my sister and I laid in bed that night we whispered and giggled and chatted about Bastian Bux and the enchanted land of Fantasia. It’s amazing that such a simple excursion can stimulate a child’s imagination and leave them with a sense of delight and wonderment. Thinking about that evening made me nostalgic for warm summer nights, retro-style snacks and home-cooked meals.  

Here is a roast chicken recipe that is effortless and delicious.  It’s not quite like my grandmother’s but it still has that same fragrant scent of garlic and lemon. Feel free to substitute any of the ingredients for ones you might have at home (zucchini, fennel and celery all work well in this dish.) 

brownie cupcakes with peanut butter icing

I should preface this by stating that I have always wanted to be a great baker. The kind that dazzles everyone with her mouth-watering creations but the reality is, it has just never been my ‘thing.’ I am truly fascinated with the entire scope of baking and everything it entails and I’ve ordered books from famous pastry-chefs in the hopes of learning how to create the kind of masterpieces you see on Cake Boss simple, modest desserts. Those books are sitting on my shelf, barely touched. Every once in a while I dust them off and crumple the pages to make it look like they’ve been used. They haven’t. Not ever. I suppose it’s because I’m not very meticulous with respect to precise measuring. Countless times, I have added a ‘touch’ more sugar or a ’tad’ more chocolate or even a ‘smidge’ more lemon (because everyone knows lemon makes everything taste better in baked goods.) I am quickly learning however that with baking, I simply should not surrender to my laissez-faire style of mixing and combining. 

When my daughter came home and told me she had tasted the ‘best sugar cookie on the planet’ purchased at her school cafeteria, I felt she was giving me a subliminal message. I mean, is it necessary for a child to plead for weeks on end for her mother to bake her favorite cookie?

I had every intention of sticking to the recipe, and I did for the most part. Did I add more lemon maybe? A touch more zest perhaps? Guilty. This time however, they actually tasted good. Really good. I used this wonderful recipe by the cookie-goddess herself and they turned out crispy on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle ( just as she promised they would.)

So, here’s what I’ve learned.  When it comes to baking, stick to exact measurements with staples like flour, eggs, sugar and baking powder. When it comes to aromatics like zests or extracts, even liqueurs, it’s okay to fine-tune the formula to suit your taste, and really, that’s what I believe yields amazing recipes. Tweaking and adjusting things- adding more or less of something, or perhaps omitting it altogether.  

I’m also including a recipe for a batch of brownie cupcakes I made.  They were topped with chocolate peanut butter icing and dark chocolate chunks.  It’s a recipe my mother-in-law gave me over a decade ago and I made them for the first time last week. The only thing I did differently was add more dark chocolate morsels and frankly, when has adding more chocolate ever been a bad thing?

atelier halo

atelier halo, c'est un tout petit atelier dans une maison de village dans le sud ouest de la France. And I love love love these creations.

South Of France: A Sketch Book

This will be my first visit to France and I'm going to be spending a week in a villa with friends in the SOF. To say I'm excited would be an understatement...I'm giddie actually. I'm told that France is ruled by Leo so I'm sure to be in for an adventure. I came across this book by Sara Midda in my pre-France research - "A wondrous sketchbook from a year spent in the south of France—an artist's personal journal carried everywhere and crammed with drawings and notions and thoughts surprising and whimsical." This book looks spectacular. Stay-tuned for my week of visuals from the SOF.

skillet sliders with smoked gouda, fried onions + curried-peppered mayonnaise, hand cut fries with chili-ginger ketchup.

Sometimes finding a random object quite by accident can inspire an entire meal. That’s what happened last week when I stumbled upon a retro-style utensil set. It reminded me of a place my parents used to bring me to when I was a child- a fun, 50’s-inspired diner. Next to the napkins and ketchup were piles of small wooden forks -perfect for piercing crispy french fries. I loved going there with my family and since it’s still in business today, I can now share that experience with my own children.

My mom’s family used to own a wonderful little diner that served up fresh and mouth-watering food-much like the place I mentioned above. My childhood favorite was a cheeseburger with onions, mustard and relish and thick-cut fries on the side. I loved sitting at the front counter, fiercely spinning around on the little red stools while I waited, quite impatiently I might add, for my chocolate milkshake. My favorite part was when my grandfather stuffed chocolate bars into my pocket “ shhhh” he’d say “ eat them when nobody’s looking.”  I’d give him a thumb’s up, he’d give me a wink and we both knew not to speak of it to anyone. I miss those days.

I bought that bamboo cutlery set and went home to try and re-create that childhood favorite and maybe on a deeper level, those memories. It’s sort of a modern twist on a classic meal. Super easy and very tasty.