Lacy Cheddar Crisps

Easy Appie #1: Pamela Anderson’s Yummy Cheddar Crisps

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With fall parties on the horizon, here’s Pamela Anderson’s slam-dunk one-ingredient appetizer made in less than 10 minutes. Flat.

Lacy Cheddar CrispsENTERTAIN SMART | Fall is easily the appie (est) time of the year. With house parties and holiday mixers to attend and/or throw, who isn’t on the lookout for easy hors d’oeuvres for hostess gifts or to serve to guests? My rule for homemade appetizers is that they need to be seriously tasty, gorgeous to look at and made in 10 minutes or less. Pamela Anderson’s (not that Pamela Anderson) lacy cheddar crisps will not disappoint. Read more

Dijon style mustards

One Of These Mustards Is Not Like The Others

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Which of these Dijons cuts the mustard with chef Glenys Morgan: French’s, President’s Choice or Western Family?

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Cookbook: Cooking at Home with a Four Star Chef

It’s Hip To Cook Retro With Vintage Cookbooks

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It’s fashionable to cook retro right now, and to do it using old recipes from outdated cookbooks.

 

Cookbook: Cooking at Home with a Four Star ChefFOOD FOR THOUGHT Blame it on Julie & Julia (both the book and the movie) if you want to, but it’s fashionable to cook retro right now. Who could have guessed that when New Yorker Julie Powell spent 365 days in the early oughties cooking every dish from Julia Child’s 1961 classic, Mastering The Art Of French Cooking (volume one), that both her book and Child’s classic would reach the top ranks of The New York Times bestsellers list—and that curious cooks across North America would take a new interest in making old dishes from recipes found in outdated cookbooks? Read more

One Of These Pickles Is Not Like The Others

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Which of these baby dill brands has chef Glenys Morgan in a pickle: Safeway, Western Family or Bicks?

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Why Buy Perrier? Fizzy Water Is Easy To Make

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If tapwater leaves you flat, home carbonation devices will add fizz to your drink and loonies to your pocket.

Bottled Tapwater - C. PhaisalakaniWASTE NOT | Last summer I had dinner at the home of a stylish and gracious friend whose table setting included a tall glass pitcher filled with tapwater, ice cubes and slices of lime. It was refreshing in every way: simple, elegant and thirst-quenching. For a more casual presentation, another friend recycles the rubber-stoppered bottles from French lemonade, filling them with tapwater that she keeps chilled in the fridge. You can buy similar stoppered bottles without the lemonade (Bella Vita in Park Royal has attractive ones in green or blue from Maxwell & Williams for $5.95).

The advantages of tapwater are well known—better regulated and better for you than bottled water, better for the environment, really really local—yet having imported bottled water on the table has become almost as essential as knowing what wine to serve. Perhaps it’s the bubbles. I’m not a fan of fizz myself, but many of those who are have been turning to home carbonation devices. Read more

One Of These Tunas Is Not Like The Others

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Which of these tuna brands sends chef Glenys Morgan fishin’ in the back of the cupboard: Rio Mare, Western Family Solid Yellowfin Tuna in Olive Oil, Cloverleaf Flaked Light Tuna in Vegetable Broth and Oil?

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What’s The Deal With Spices Prices?

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Exploring the (better-priced) outer reaches of the spice aisles.

SpicesCHEAP + GOOD | Shopping for spices recently at the Superstore at Main and Marine Drive in Vancouver, I felt like the victim of a bait and switch con game. Little identical glass jars of McCormick Gourmet spices were being sold for identical prices even though the weight of their contents was vastly different—a 7-gram jar of bay leaves cost the same as a 43-gram jar of ground cumin—$6.69. A few feet away, Club House was selling a 13-gram bottle of bay leaves for $3.49.

On closer inspection, I was surprised to learn that McCormick Gourmet and Club House are owned by McCormick Canada, which means if you buy their “gourmet” product, you are paying almost twice as much buck for half as much bay, or, put another way, you are paying a whopping $4.87 for that little glass jar. Read more

One Of These Peanut Butters Is Not Like The Others

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Which of these organic peanut butter brands made chef Glenys Morgan feel like a nut: MaraNatha Natural No-Stir, O Organics, Kirkland Organic, Nuts To You Organic?

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For Elegant Invites, Paperless Post It

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Get your next party started with stylish online invitations no one can refuse.

Paperless post

 

SAVE ON CHIC | There is a beautiful way to scrap the paper and cost of traditional invitations but keep the timeless elegance of stationery. With Paperless Post, an online stationery service charging just $5 for 60 invitations plus a way to track RSVPs, you’ll save time, money, the planet and your sanity.

Paperless Post is the brainchild of New York siblings and business partners Alexa and James Hirschfeld, who founded the custom online stationery service in 2008, packaging aesthetics and efficiency into one neat virtual envelope. Read more

The New Potluck

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Cheesy tuna casseroles and Jello salads are definitely not on the menu.

Seared Ultra-Rare Albacore Tuna Salad

DEALS ON MEALS | One adjustment I’ve made to my budget the past year is to limit restaurant dining in general and high-end restaurants in particular. But by no means have I forgone the fine dining experience—I’ve just changed the venue. The latest take on potluck—a.k.a. The New Potluck—redefines the word to include communal menu planning that results in a restaurant-quality meal for a fraction of the cheque, and without the service charge.

How is The New Potluck different from your average dinner party? Simple: all the hard prep work and cost of the meal is shared. How is it different from the old potluck? Also simple: boring tuna casseroles and three-bean salads have been replaced with a sophisticated dine-out style menu. Read more