We want to wish everyone (a little belatedly) happy holidays - we hope you’ve all enjoyed the holiday festivities! We have had a great week so far, with a few parties and a few nice family-only days as well: a perfect blend, really!
We’ll be welcoming in the new year at Disney World in Orlando, Florida […]

Sometimes, when you stumble across a great little recipe that’s easy to make, with results that are so much better than anything you’ve tried in a restaurant, it holds pride of place in your kitchen as a “keeper”.
Our version of Japanese gyoza dumplings is one such recipe.
Now, you might be thinking to yourself, […]

Coconut Shrimp with Mango Mint Dipping Sauce

Using Larger Shrimp

Here’s a slightly different take on the shrimp appetizer: Coconut Shrimp with Mango Mint Dipping Sauce has a lovely coconut flavor, and the mango mint dipping sauce makes for a change from the normal range of dipping sauces.

Mango Mint Dipping Sauce

Ward’s made these a few times […]

I love potato latkes, but up until now, we hadn’t come across a recipe that really worked for us - you know, one in which you end up with the perfect potato latke.
Until recently, that is. Here’s the perfect potato latke, straight from the frying pen onto the paper towel:

The Perfect Potato Latke

You’ll need that […]

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Honey and Soy Glaze

Doesn’t this look so good? This delicious dish combines a sweet Asian glaze with the goodness of roasted sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes have a deep caramel sweetness with a very slight licorice taste.
We like to have this dish as a snack - and it’s the best kind […]

It was a lovely mail day today. We received the January 2009 issue of Fine Cooking and the December 2008 issue of Saveur.
Fine Cooking magazine, January 2009
This is the first issue we’ve received of our Fine Cooking subscription. We subscribe to several food magazines, but for some reason, hadn’t yet sent in our subscription to […]

I have a secret food-lover’s weapon. Yes, it’s a gadget, but it’s not one that’s found in too many kitchens. Can you guess? My secret food-lover’s weapon is my printer!
See, around here, Ward’s job is to cook delicious food. My job is to find new recipes and tastes, eat whatever he cooks up, and […]

Pinot Noir never used to be our dinner wine of choice, but we decided to give it a try not that long ago and were simply amazed at how the food transformed the wine. We’ve been trying it with more and more foods ever since, and last night Ward made Grilled Salmon with Pinot Noir […]

Savory Green Onion Buttermilk Biscuits

Thanksgiving here in Canada was last month, and we had a Bon Appetit Thanksgiving Dinner. We made so much food that we didn’t get a chance to try this recipe for Buttermilk Biscuits with Green Onions, Black Pepper, and Sea Salt from Bon Appetit.
So Ward decided to give the recipe […]

I slept in this morning - to be more accurate, after seeing the kids off to school, I crawled back into bed: it’s been deadline madness around here so I’ve been up way later than normal most nights lately. I woke up with this inexplicable craving for Garlicky Warm Bean Sprout Salad. So when Ward […]

I am a huge fan of flatbreads, but I like them a certain way: chewy rather than fluffy and breadlike, and packed with flavour. I’ve had my share of flatbreads that had hardly any flavour, as well as flatbreads that really should have been called “a one-inch high slab of bread”.
Luckily for me, last […]

Some days, I have to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming. When it comes to edibles, I feel like I have the whole world in front of me. So many things to taste, so many flavors to savor!
Why am I waxing poetic (almost)? Yesterday, I came across this recipe from Saveur for Crab […]

What a great week it’s been in the food world blogosphere - this post shares all my great finds of the day. Our to-try list has grown exponentially!

Win a copy of The Christmas Table by Diane Morgan - giveaway sponsored by Culinate. All you have to do is leave a comment at any of the […]

Our Quick Take: Ever since we discovered Gordon Ramsay’s Broccoli Soup recipe, we’ve been on the lookout for more of his recipes. Recently we picked up Sunday Lunch. The premise is great - the book is divided into 25 different Sunday lunches, with recipes for starters, the entree and dessert. Our complaint about the book […]

We bought The Wine Lover’s Cookbook, by Sid Goldstein, more or less on a whim. We’ve been experimenting with different wines - a gorgeous Barolo comes to mind - and found ourselves talking frequently about expanding our wine horizons and seeing exactly how food affects wine and vice versa. So when we saw The […]

This recipe for Seafood Stew originally started life as a cod, potato and scallion stew from Jamie’s Kitchen. Ward made it one night last month, and while it was delicious, I thought it was missing something.
“Shrimp!” I said. “Could you make this but add shrimp, too?” This past summer we went on holiday to Nova […]

I grew up with breakfast the Asian way - savory rather than sweet - and I still prefer a savory breakfast these days. If it’s in soup, all the better. This morning, I decided to indulge, and made up a pot of jumbo leek and shrimp wontons. We buy these frozen at the local Chinese […]

The top three food-related books on my TBR pile have been calling to me all week. Unlike the food books I’ve been reading lately, these aren’t cookbooks but food writing, pure and simple - perfect for sitting down on a cool fall night with a cup of hot tea or better yet, hot chocolate with […]

This is part 3 (and the conclusion!) of “Thanksgiving in Pictures”. On Thanksgiving Monday here in Canada last weekend, we celebrated with a Thanksgiving menu taken from recipes in the November 2008 issue of Bon Appetit:

Salted Roast Turkey with Herbs and Shallots with Dijon Gravy and Wild Mushroom and Spinach Stuffing
Glazed Pearl Onions in Port […]

On Sunday of the recent Thanksgiving weekend, we went to my sister’s place in Toronto for a “family” Thanksgiving. Dawn lives in a gorgeous loft-style apartment, and luckily is great friends with her neighbours, whose oven and kitchen she used, in addition to her own, to make a fabulous Thanksgiving meal! My cousin Casey was […]

It’s taken me a while to sort through all the pictures we took over Thanksgiving weekend - this year, Thanksgiving was truly a three-day event for us: Ward did a ton of prep work on Saturday, we headed over to my sister’s on Sunday for a family Thanksgiving with her family, my cousin, my uncle […]

We’ll be celebrating Thanksgiving on Monday. It’s two days away, and I really don’t know if I’ll be able to get through today. The kitchen is filled with gorgeous turkey smells already - Ward has decided on this incredible menu for Thanksgiving Monday, and a lot of the dishes require prep work to be done […]

Some food blogging fun today, with the Thursday Thirteen! Here are the 13 kitchen gadgets and tools we love:
1. Our pasta maker. Ward loves to make pasta - he finds it a meditative experience. I just find it extremely tasty. The first time he made pasta, we both said, “there’s no going back to store-bought.” […]

Ward’s back from New York, but too tired to cook, so we’re having Japanese take-out. Eating: hamachi handroll. /li>
Yogurt that tastes like cake - have to try this. I’m not a huge fan of yogurt but I always think I should eat it. If it’s like cake … I might eat more of it!
To try […]

Eating: an Asian cilantro, cucumber and tofu salad my mom put together.

To try: Roasted Garlic & Rosemary Sourdough Rolls. These look irresistable.
To try: Roasted Eggplant with Gruyere. Another interesting flavor combo, with lots of garlic.
To try: Baked Music-Paper Bread with Rosemary. Love the name! A nice cracker-y looking bread.
How to get the most juice from limes and lemons (video).

To try: Shrimp de Jonghe. This one looks amazing, shrimp and tons of garlic. You really can’t go wrong with that combo.
Obama Video: A Mother’s Promise. Beautiful!
Mmmm … lemon caper butter. We can think of lots of things to pair this with (especially now that Ward’s discovered he likes capers after all!)
Another corn […]

To try: Homemade Marshmallows! They’ve got to be better for you than storebought, right? Our youngest loves marshmallows, so this definitely goes on the to-try list.
Dan Ackroyd on wine: We’ve tried the Sauvignon Blanc and it wasn’t too bad.
To try: Chicken-fried ribs. Uses panko crumbs as the coating. Definitely looks good.
To try: Jerk-Roasted sweet […]

We’re celebrating! Today Ward found himself on the last page of his “cooking notebook”. This is the notebook he started back in February, when he first discovered he really liked cooking. Since then, he’s carted this notebook around with him everywhere - it contains his shopping lists, names and page numbers of recipes he’s making […]

Interview with Marcella Hazan - I love interviews with cookbook authors and chefs.
Elvis scones - bacon, banana & peanut butter. Not sure about trying this but it’s interesting.
Top 100 Japanese Foods to Try - it will definitely be fun going through this list!

The first time Ward made this Broccoli Soup, I thought for sure it had cream in it. Not much, but enough to give the soup a rich feel.
Turns out, I was wrong. What was in the soup? Basically, broccoli … and more broccoli.
Ward likes to make this soup because it’s super easy and the […]

To try: Wild Mushroom Pizza with caramelized onions, fontina & rosemary
To try: Vegetarian Jamaican Patties! I love the beef ones, and these sound like a great vegetarian alternative.
To try: Shrimp in Ginger Butter sauce. French meets Asian, and shrimp is such a big hit around here always.
Resource: A Visual Guide to Apples - […]

Ward originally made this Puttanesca dish from a recipe in Dave’s Dinners: A Fresh Approach to Home-Cooked Meals. Dave’s Dinners, by Dave Lieberman is filled with an excellent variety of recipes, and the Haddock Puttanesca, served with seared fingerling potatoes, was no exception.

Haddock Puttanesca

The sauce was absolutely divine - the anchovies, capers and black olives […]

This looks interesting: $3.59 caviar at IKEA
Asian comfort food around here: Fried egg on rice with soy sauce and sesame oil
On the wish list: chalkboard wine glasses (holiday party season coming soon!)
October soon, Canadian Thanksgiving! We’re debating brining the turkey this year.
Kids’ request: homemade pizza. Always fun, lots of olives, anchovies & garlic. […]

On wish list: Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Travels in the Other China. We have their Home Baking and Seductions of Rice, both really great reads.
Reading: Wild, Wild East, Recipes & Stories from Vietnam, Bobby Chinn. It’s a great blend of personal stories and recipes.
Dinner tonight: The Julia Burger and Spicy Bean Sprouts.

We picked up a copy of The New Steak: Recipes for a Range of Cuts plus Savory Sides by Cree LeFavour recently, and have been very pleased with the recipes we’ve tried out.
At first, we weren’t sure about a cookbook just about steak. But as it turns out, there are lots of delicious […]

To try: Summer Corn Chowder. Every time we drive by a farmer’s stand selling corn on the side of the road, I think we really should try some of the fun looking corn recipes we’ve been looking at. This one looks really good.

The perfect tea for cookbook- reading: Celestial Seasonings’ Decaf Mint Green Tea. #
To try: Salmon Tartare on Potato Crisps

Ever since Ward discovered the fun of cooking, meal planning has taken on a whole new look for me. Even though he loves to cook, he usually prefers me to say, “oh, I’d really like to try this one”, and then show him the recipe, rather than having to look through various cookbooks himself.
When […]

To try: Linguine with Crab and Chili, from Serious Eats
Cookbook buying binge! The New Steak, The Weekend Baker and Dish a Day: 365 Recipes.

Leftovers for lunch: souvlaki hirina w/cucumber & mint yogurt sauce & risotto w/sausage and white onions #
To try: Garlic-Rosemary Mushrooms, from Eating Well

Until last night, I had never had bean stew before. Growing up, my only memory of beans comes from the servings of sweet red bean soup that my mother would occasionally make. Then there was her “healthy eating” phase when I was older; lentils are what I remember most from that era.
So whenever I […]

On the stove: fava bean stew with garlic, from last month’s Saveur (souvlakia being prepared right now, too!) #
We’ve been reading the Australian delicious mag, and wondering why Canada doesn’t have a food mag? (or are we missing something here?) #
I am humbled by this fava bean stew. It was quite incredible. #

Tonight’s meal: sesame seared tuna w/mango and wasabi sauce, coconut brown rice (rice dish from Saveur) #
Slept in today, had coffee in bed and coconut buns … mmm… great start to the day #

Friday and Sunday nights, dinners around here are so delectable, I find I don’t want to dine out very much anymore. Tonight I was, once again, spoiled: Ward decided to prepare a couple of different recipes he’s been wanting to try for ages. Toss in some Teriyaki steak and rosemary cubed potatoes, and we had […]

Butternut Squash and Pear Soup

Butternut Squash and Pear soup is something that Ward’s made several times now. It’s always a big hit, and the flavor combination is just irresistable: the sweetness of the butternut squash, the tartness of the pear, and the perfume of the rosemary go together so well. I always find my tongue […]

A little while ago, Ward bought Nobu West, and he’s been having quite a lot of fun with the recipes in the book.
One of our absolute favorites is a recipe called Slow-cooked Salmon, but the first time he made this dish, Ward made one of those highly lovely “mistakes” that always bodes well for creative […]

This is a rather belated post - we had a Surf & Turf Mother’s Day dinner earlier this month, and I’ve been wanting to write about it, but Ward and I have spent most of this month trying to think of the best way to transfer photos from his computer to mine. Enter Flickr! We […]

Ward and I have come to the conclusion that the strenuous, active part of gardening (translation: planting) doesn’t fit well with well-planned, delicious, homecooked meals.
So, in honour of this week’s gardening efforts, it is Fast (Quick) Food week here at Muse in the Kitchen.
First up this week was the fabulous Jamie’s Spaghetti, which everyone […]

Ward started out the day going through his Thai cookbooks, and armed with his grocery list, we set out to get the extra things he’d need. But we got distracted and somehow ended up at Richter’s, where we spent megabucks on herbs.
Our experience with our garden is this: if we buy something and don’t plant […]

Ever since the warmer weather headed our way last week, we’ve been out to the beach a fair bit. Being Canadians living in Ontario, beach weather simply means we don’t have to wear our big heavy winter coats and can go around in spring jackets. Just feeling the sun on our faces is enough so […]

Ward really likes Jamie Oliver’s cooking, so when I came across this recipe for Spaghetti All’Arrabiata at Serious Eats, I emailed it to him. I email him recipes all the time - every time I come across a good looking recipe online, I like to send him the URL.
Well, that was on Wednesday, and guess […]

Today we drove to Markham to have lunch at the Pacific Mall. If you go to the top floor, there’s a little sort-of fast-food-like place that offers up three different cuisines on the menu - and these literally are three different cuisines, with three different kitchens, all sharing the same wait staff. Plus there’s a […]

I’ve mentioned before how much fun it’s been around here lately. I read something that sounds utterly delicious, either in a book or a magazine, and next thing you know, I’m actually eating it! Ward has been absolutely fabulous about trying out recipes for me; needless to say, I’ve been eating extremely well lately.
Which […]

Ward and I have been talking lately about planting a kitchen garden this spring. We’ve been finding that fresh herbs make an incredible difference when it comes to cooking, so a kitchen garden this summer makes sense.
Luckily, we have a fair bit of land, and about a quarter of it is in full sun, so […]

Now that Ward’s been cooking, I’ve gotten really used to home-cooked meals all the time. He wasn’t able to make us dinner tonight, because he had to go to a special Aikido seminar downtown - so I decided to whip up an old standby: Chicken Pot Pie.
The recipe that I use is from Art Smith’s […]

It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks around here. Lots of cooking, lots of great new recipes, and a complete kitchen makeover!
One of the newest joys in my life is sitting down now with a cookbook or a cooking magazine, and finding recipes that I think I’d like to try out. Sure, I did […]

It all began the second week in January. My husband, Ward, strolled into the kitchen, where I was sitting reading Saveur magazine, and dropped his culinary bomb.
“I think,” he mused, “I will start cooking on the weekends.”
And with that, he was off. That weekend, he made Chili Basil Beef and Salmon Glazed in Mirin, the […]

I’m spending Labour Day lounging around - it’s a gorgeous day outside - and playing catch-up with all my cooking magazines. Dreaming about what I’ll be eating this coming month. Cooking magazines are true muses and such fun.
I’ve been thinking about getting a cast iron pan, so it’s perfect that this month’s issue of Eating […]

VideoJug: How To Make A Sumosan Roll
This how-to video is quite good - How to Make a Sumosan Roll. I haven’t tried it out yet, but it’s definitely on my to-try list.
You’ll need the following ingredients:
* some sushi rice
[…]

Today my teenager, S, took to the kitchen, to prepare his first meal in the Cooking Deal. He decided on Mini Flank Steak Tortillas with Chipotle-Lime Sour Cream, from Dave’s Dinners (which is a really fantastic cookbook, by the way, and on my list of cookbooks to be reviewed).
I’m very happy to say that my […]

One of my teenagers is home all summer this year. He’s at the age when playing video games is beginning to lose its appeal, but hanging out at the mall doesn’t beckon yet.
So let’s just say there’s been a whole lot of moping and being bored going on around here.
Fortunately, in the past my […]

This afternoon, I began to develop a serious craving for Slow-Cooked Shiitake with Shoyu. It’s a serious craving, because to make Slow-Cooked Shiitake with Shoyu, you need to soak the dried shiitake mushrooms overnight - no instant gratification there.
And my craving was serious enough that I now have 20 dried shiitake mushrooms submerged in cold […]

I came across the Food Network’s new blog, Feeding Frenzy, today (via the Well Fed Network), and this post on Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee caught my eye.
I’ve mentioned already that it’s been a hot, hot week here. Yesterday things cooled down, and it’s just gorgeous now. Still, Toronto summers are known for being hot and humid, […]

I was just browsing NPR and came across this very interesting article about Italian sashimi.
Italian sashimi, or crudo, “consists of raw fish dressed with olive oil, sea salt, acidic juices such as lemon or lime and sometimes vinegar.” It’s a dish that’s featured in The Young Man and the Sea, a cookbook by David Pasternack, […]

Today’s a hot and hazy day. I’d been lulled by the fabulous June we experienced here in Toronto, but lately the weather’s definitely been saying to me, “Summer’s here!”.
Me? I grew up on the West Coast, and I miss the bright, cool, sparkly days of summer there (well, okay, the almost-all-the-time drizzle, THAT I don’t […]

I love reading books about food - not cookbooks, but food writing - and Eat, Pray, Love is one that I absolutely adored.
While technically not a book about food, the first third of the book details Elizabeth Gilbert’s four month stay in Italy, where she pursued the pleasures of Italian food (this is the […]

Long before coffee came into my life, I was a committed and dedicated tea drinker. I have two shelves in my kitchen cupboards devoted solely to teas.
So needless to say, when Loblaws came out with their new Insider’s Report, and I saw these new PC loose teas, I bought three kinds right away.
I’ve now […]

I’m a huge fan of the Ace Bakery breads, and I quite enjoyed the Ace Bakery Cookbook. So I was quite thrilled when More from Ace Bakery came out.
According to the book, the Ace Bakery has been branching out across Canada and into parts of the United States. It is definitely a Toronto institution, though. […]

So tonight is take-out night (around here, most weekend nights are). And as always, we ordered in Japanese food.
We need a new digital camera, so unfortunately, there are no lovely food shots. But it was a great meal, as always.
It’s a small restaurant that we frequent regularly (at least once a week) - they’re […]

I’m pleased to announce that Muse in the Kitchen will be revamped, and heading in new directions over the next little while.
My main love is cookbooks, and I’ll be featuring more discussions and reviews about the various cookbooks that find their way into my life.
I’ve also been falling in love with a lot of the […]

Our little one loves the Bugs n Cheese at Boston Pizza but neither my husband or I are particularly fond of any of the entrees on the menu. So we recently figured out a way in which the baby could get his Bugs n Cheese, and we could still have fun eating a meal there.
Appetizers! […]

The New American Cooking by Joan Nathan is the latest cookbook I’m reading - I actually borrowed it from the library but it’s on my to-buy list my next shopping bout at Amazon.
I haven’t actually made any of the recipes from this book yet, but it is exactly the kind of “armchair cook” cookbook […]

I’ve been thinking recently about some of the simple food pleasures that I indulge in - stuff that takes next to no time, but tastes like a little slice of heaven.
One of my favorites is my take on bread with melted cheese - thick slice of rosemary and olive focaccio, topped with a slice of […]