Every Oscars feast must end with a delicious dessert, and for the past couple years I’ve been in the habit of making a pie. Last year was this epic Salty Honey Pie that I’d been dying to try, and this year I decided on a Crème Brûlée Pie I’ve had bookmarked for ages. This pie is […]

For a long time I have had a very real, very negative reaction to strawberries and goat cheese in salad. This stems, no doubt, from my aversion to Milestone’s, which I have explained at length in the past. They had* a salad with this combination on the menu in the early-mid aughts, when I ate […]

It was a bittersweet month here on Planet Byn as I left my department of the past two years and moved on to a new one. I’m going to miss my co-workers tremendously; they were excellent snackers and eaters of all baked goods I brought in. The first two weeks of June were my last […]

Let’s recap this Oscar feast so far, shall we? First up was our red carpet snack, the Goat Cheese Spread with Garlic & Fresh Herbs. Then, the star dish, Beef Bourguignon, accompanied by My Favourite Mashed Potatoes and my house salad (kale, apple, parm, pecans and a honey dijon vinaigrette). Since I had fresh rosemary leftover […]

In the 5 years I’ve been blogging, I can’t even count the number of times I’ve made these muffins. They are the epitome of comfort to me. My Mom made these all the time for us when we were growing up and I make them all the time now. The recipe comes from a cookbook […]

Photo from Top Chef Canada’s Facebook Page As I explained back in August when I went to Tom Colicchio’s ‘wichcraft, I have a bit of a pop culture blind spot when it comes to Top Chef. I watched a bit of Season 7 in the Fall, although I missed more episodes than I watched. So when the […]

Summer has arrived in full effect, and I fully enjoyed it and soaked up as much of it as I could before being knocked out by a summer cold: My friend Weedy and her son Ronan had me over for dinner, and it was such a treat. Weedy’s signature summer cocktail is the Negroni, and […]

I’m so obsessed with Harry & Meghan I don’t even know where to begin. When the news first broke that they were together, I was like, what? That girl from Suits? But with encouragement from my friend Krishna, I opened my heart to this royal romance and was so excited for their wedding. Kristine was once […]

This is hands-down the best summer breakfast you’re ever going to have. I started making breakfast crisps at the very beginning of this blog, when I adapted Smitten Kitchen’s Breakfast Apple Granola Crisp with an all-rhubarb version. Deb subsequently updated the recipe in her cookbook, and that’s been my go-to for the last few years. […]

April 21, 2011 Cookies   As soon as I saw these cookies on Joy the Baker, I knew I would make them for the gluten-free ladies in my life.  I’m not a huge fan of lemon in desserts (I’m a chocolate / butterscotch /peanut butter girl through and through), but something about citrus just makes it […]

Photo from Top Chef Canada’s Facebook Page Welcome back for Episode 2 of Top Chef Canada!   We get right to this week’s Quickfire Challenge, which Thea tells us is all about Canadian Cheese from the Dairy Farmers of Canada. Dale is worried because he doesn’t cook with cheese. Excuse you Dale, have you never made yourself a […]

March 23, 2017 Cakes, Cupcakes & Icing When Spring and Easter are on the horizon, there are three things I’m drawn to baking with that are all out of character for me: coconut, lemon and carrot. There is never any other time during the year when I’m interested in any of these ingredients in my […]

February is my most dreaded dreary month, and this year I started it with NOROVIRUS, so it could only get better from there: Jenny, Heather and I trekked up to Richmond Hill to see Molly Yeh do a food demo and talk about her new book Molly on the Range. I’ve followed Molly’s blog over […]

When Spring and Easter are on the horizon, there are three things I’m drawn to baking with that are all out of character for me: coconut, lemon and carrot. There is never any other time during the year when I’m interested in any of these ingredients in my desserts, but something about each of them […]