About a year ago, I found a recipe for a cake on someone’s blog that I knew would be the perfect cake for my mom’s birthday. I made the cake, my mom loved it, and I posted my photos of the cake, along with the recipe and about 4 links to the original recipe and words of praise to the site where I found the recipe. At no point did I ever say, or come close to implying, that the recipe was my own.

Within a few days, I received a lengthy email from the person who owns the site from whom I had taken the recipe. She told me I should not be posting her recipe as my own, which I hadn’t done, but because I hadn’t changed enough words in the recitation of the recipe, in her opinion, I had stolen her recipe.

I removed the post from my site.

Even though she hasn’t posted anything in almost a year now, I obviously still think about it. I am not a “real” chef or baker. I follow recipes and only occasionally alter them. Sometimes I mix and match. This blog does not exist because I hope to become the world’s best food-maker, but because I want to keep track of the things I make and because I want to share these things with other people, and exactly in that order. I want to remember a successful cake, I want to remember the day I made it, I want to remember what was good and what was bad. I’m not trying to gain anything with this site except for sharing what is delicious to me.

Is this wrong? I do not earn a cent with my site…in fact, I pay for its domain. It exists so that i can keep track of the food I’ve made. I love to take photos of food and I enjoy remembering and perhaps sharing these foods. Is it a harmful thing to post a recipe you’ve gotten elsewhere, with credit given? I feel privileged when someone makes something I’ve posted…is that weird?

What happened to sharing? I never pretend to have created a recipe, and always give credit where credit is due. Is that enough? What do you do with your food blog? Am I wrong?

Whenever I pass by the olive bar at the grocery store or the veggie markets, I am drawn in. I cannot resist them – the black olives, the green olives, the garlic-stuffed olives. I always bring some home and I always end up eating them all by the end of the evening. Given this love for olives, I knew it wouldn’t be long before I tried Dorie Greenspan’s herbed olives. It’s a simple recipe, doesn’t call for many ingredients, and just amplifies any olive!

I don’t think I’ll be able to bring home olives again and not heat some oil, toss some herbs and spices in, and wait a few hours. They become so much more interesting with just a few flavour-boosters tossed in there! Feel free to use whatever olives you end up having, as well as any herbs or spices you are partial to.

Herbed Olives
From Dorie Greenspan’s Around my French Table

2 cups olives
3 rosemary sprigs
3 thyme sprigs
½ teaspoon coriander seeds
½ teaspoon black peppercorns
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, split in half
2 bay leaves, cut lengthwise in half
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 strips lemon zest, pith removed
Salt to taste

1. Place the olives into a 1-quart jar (canning one is great). Remove the leaves from 2 of the 3 springs of rosemary and thyme and chop them finely.

2. Heat a heavy skillet over medium heat, and when it gets hot, add the coriander seeds and peppercorns. Turn them in the pan just until they become fragrant. Place them in a small bowl.

3. Let the pan cool a bit, then put it over very low heat. Pour in half of the olive oil and all the remaining ingredients (spices, herbs, the two intact rosemary and thyme sprigs, lemon peel). Heat until warm and fragrant, about 3 minutes.

4. Pour the warm herb oil into the jar with the olives. Add as much oil as needed to cover the olives. Mix and let stand until it reaches room temperature. Let sit in the fridge – the longer you can hold off heating them, the better they will be! They will last about 2 weeks in the fridge.

As some people have realized, I’ve moved the series of Hawaii posts. If you do want to read them, you can see them here:

Big Island, Day 1 (Puako)

Big Island, Day 2 (Puako to Captain Cook)

Big Island, Days 3 & 4 (Kona to Hilo)

Big Island, Days 5 & 6 (Volcano and Mauna Kea)

Kauai and Waimea Canyon

Kauai and Getting to Hanalei

And here’s our two days in San Francisco!

We’re off on a 3-week vacation soon…two weeks in Hawaii (Big Island and Kauai) and one week driving the California coastline. We’ll be visiting San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego, with stops along the way.

This is a call to the Internet! If you’ve eaten delicious food in any of these places, resto or market, please give me recommendations! I’ve been doing my research online, but I would love to hear more. I’m really looking for those hidden treasures, or those local spots that offer the things I don’t get up here in Quebec (especially seafood!)

I was one of the lucky winners of La Cuisine d’Hélène‘s Kraft giveaway! I have never won a giveaway like this, so I’m understandably quite excited. I received a big package in the mail at the beginning of the week, packed to the brim with some excellent Kraft products:

Caramilk Secrets
Cadbury Buttons
2 x Kraft Signature Dressings (Mango Chipotle and Masala)
Kraft Peanut Butter Whipped
2 x Crystal Light (Raspberry Peach and Mixed Berry)
3 x Brown Rice Crisps (Mesquite, Sour Cream/Onion, Salt/Black Pepper)
2 x Peak Freans Lifestyle (Peach and Yogurt and Banana Chocolate)

In addition, I was given a bunch of coupons for some free Kraft products:

KRAFT Shreds Mozza-Cheddar Light LE
Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Dill
Cracker Barrel Block Havarti
Kraft Refrig Pure Ranch
2 x Jell-O Mousse Temptations (Chocolate Indulgence, Crème Caramel)

Talk about a lot of food! Opening this package was like Christmas in May. I have tried the two salad dressings and the rice crisps, and I’m definitely enjoying it all. I’ll definitely be posting some more posts about this giveway as I eat my way through all the food.

A big thank you to Helene (who has some amazing food on her blog!) and to Kraft Canada!

These aren’t the best photos I’ve taken, but this Irish lamb stew is definitely one of the best stews I’ve eaten, so I feel like I have to give it a moment of glory. You can probably tell, but we don’t cook with much meat in this house. This is particularly true of me. I think this is probably only the second stew I’ve ever made. I know though that I wouldn’t want to make any other ones though; this is truly the perfect Guinness Irish stew!

I used this recipe as the base recipe. I was drawn to it because I loved the idea of roasting all the veggies to cook them, rather than have them simmering in liquid. Roasting vegetables, especially when they’re drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and pepper and cook with lots of rosemary and garlic are always going to be better than veggies that have sat around in liquid for 2 hours. I didn’t use parsnips, but upped the amounts of the carrots and the potatoes. I added lots of onion and celery to the roux, and the most important step I believe I added was marinating the lamb for a good 30 minutes before starting to cook it. I loved its slightly sweet, slightly salty flavor, and of course, the garlic and rosemary didn’t hurt at all!
I topped my stew with a puff pastry lid, much like a chicken pot pie. The sauce is rich and buttery, and the crust is perfect for sopping all the extra juice up. With big chunks of veggies, the tender lamb and the distinctive bite of Guinness, this was one hearty, amazing dish.

Guinness Irish Stew with Lamb and Roasted Vegetables and Puff Pastry
adapted from Food Network

Marinade for lamb: olive oil, Worcestershire, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds lamb shoulder, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups onion, sliced
1 cup celery, cut into thick slices
1/2 cup flour
4 ounces unsalted butter
1 cup Guinness beer
3 cups beef stock
1 cup tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced (I used one can of San Marzano tomatoes)
1 pound carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 ½ pound russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
4 cloves garlic, cut in half
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, plus 1 tablespoon chopped
1 cup peas, shelled (I used frozen)

Puff Pastry and beaten egg for top

1. To marinate the lamb, combine a few tablespoons of olive oil with a few teaspoons on Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce in a large bowl. Chop two cloves of garlic and the leaves from one sprig of rosemary and add to the liquid. Place lamb in the liquid, toss so all pieces are covered. Refrigerate in marinade until ready to cook.

2. In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the lamb and brown evenly. Remove the lamb from the pot and set aside. Add the onions and the celery and saute until soft. Add the butter and melt. Add the flour to make a roux. Turn the heat down to low, and cook the roux until it is brown, about 15 minutes. Whisk in the beer and stock. Add the tomatoes and the reserved lamb, bring to a simmer, and cover. Simmer, covered, for 1 1/2 hours.

3. While the lamb mixture is simmering, combine the carrots, potatoes and garlic in a large bowl. Toss with remaining olive oil, salt and pepper and rosemary sprigs. Place the vegetables in a roasting pan and place in a 400-degree oven. Roast for 45 minutes, stirring every 20 minutes, until vegetables are tender. Remove the vegetables from the oven and discard the rosemary sprigs. Add the roasted vegetables and the peas to the lamb mixture. Add the chopped rosemary. Season with salt and pepper.

4. Roll out the puff pastry to fit over the stew dish. Place over dish and puncture a few slits in the top with a sharp knife. Brush top with beaten egg.

5. Place in 400-degree oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes, or until puff pastry puffs and browns. Remove, let cool a bit, and serve!

It’s not that I don’t have recipes or dishes to talk about these days – I do! I just really don’t feel up to doing it. Maybe it’s because winter is just dragging on and on and on…I’m sure a little bit of spring would get me motivated again. Thankfully, it’s daylight savings this weekend, so I’ll finally get to enjoy a bit more sun at the end of the day.

I do have a little bit of foodie news though! A few weeks ago, Soli attended the open call for Food Network’s new show, Recipes to Riches. It was definitely a fun experience being on the other side of the TV, the side with all the lights and cameras and headsets and stressed out people. When it airs, we’ll definitely share more!

We’re also on our way to the Au Pied de Cochon sugarshack this weekend. Last year’s was amazing, and I can’t wait to go again. We’ll be giving a nice detailed description, packed with photos, once again.

We were just on a short trip to Tremblant for a weekend for Soli’s birthday, where some of us enjoyed snowboarding more than others. We had a lame meal at one resto (lackluster chili and a burger with an unidentifiable margarine-mayonnaise sauce), but at our super-fancy condo (complete with two bathrooms, two floors, full kitchen and enough beds to sleep about 6 people), Soli cooked up some Dungeness crabs one night and a breakfast of duck, bacon and eggs the next morning. No pictures of that, but check out the view from our bedroom window! There’s also a few other pics from the weekend:

Happy New Year! I can’t say I had the best holidays this time around, but that only means that I can try to make things better for next year. I hope everyone else had a great time and that people are looking forward to 2011 and excited for everything the year has to bring.

Before stepping into the new year, here’s a quick look back at some of the dishes we made in 2010 that I loved. Here’s my top 10 list, in no particular order:

1. Breakfast Tart with Fiddleheads, Mushrooms and Bacon

2. Salsa Verde or Tomatillo Salsa

3. Roasted Banana and Rum Raisin Ice Cream

4. Chili Cheese Bread

5. Buttermilk Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting

6. Berry Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

7. Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

8. Spinach and Sweet Potato Gratin

9. Cinnamon Apple Butter with Raisins

10. Maple Pecan Banana Bread

I’m also going to tack this next list on to this post…it’s not food-related, but here it is anyway! I attempted to complete the 50-Book-Challenge last year. I failed miserably, having completed only 35 books, but I blame a lot of that on summer. I do two hours of public transport commuting a day in the winter, which gives me ample time to read, but in the spring, summer and fall, I ride my bicycle, thus taking away a lot of my reading time. I suppose I could make up the time elsewhere…maybe this year, as I am going to be attempting it again in 2011.

Below, the list of the books I got through last year. The ones in bold are the ones I really, really enjoyed and would recommend.

1. What is the What – David Eggers
2. I Know This Much is True – Wally Lamb
3. Illusions – Richard Bach
4. The Husband – Dean Koontz
5. Of Love and Other Demons – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
6. The Coma – Alex Garland
7. The Underground Man – Mick Jackson
8. Write Great Fiction: Dialogue – Gloria Kempton
9. Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood
10. Fugitive Pieces – Anne Michaels
11. Old Friend from Far Away; The Practice of Writing Memoir – Natalie Goldberg
12. Headhunter – Timothy Findley
13. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
14. Fearless Confessions: A Writer’s Guide to Memoir – Sue William Silverman
15. Writing Down the Bones – Natalie Goldberg
16. Too Much Happiness – Alice Munro
17. The Cheese Monkeys – Chip Kidd
18. Rose Madder – Stephen King
19. Bel Canto – Ann Patchett
20. Kit’s Law – Donna Morrisey
21. Child of God – Cormac McCarthy
22. Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures – Vincent Lam
23. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
24. The Human Stain – Philip Roth
25. Stories from the Vinyl Cafe – Stuart McLean
26. A Star Called Henry – Roddy Doyle
27. Black Bird – Michel Basilieres
28. Oxygen – Annabel Lyon
29. Generation X: Douglas Coupland
30. The Year of the Flood – Maragaret Atwood
31. Cell – Stephen King
32. The Golden Mean – Annabel Lyon
33. Red Plaid Shirt – Diane Schoemperlen
34. Angela’s Ashes – Frank McCourt
35. The World According to Garp – John Irving ( a much needed reread)

Christmas Eve dinner is kind of a big deal at my parents’ house. This is not a dinner of turkey, stuffing and potatoes (which we usually get on Christmas Day) – it’s a dinner of all the things we love. The dinner has no star player, nor does it have cohesion; it’s a mishmash of all the loved foods we rarely eat during the year. It’s a serious meal of indulgence, and probably the thing I look forward to the most on Christmas.

We all contribute some dishes to the meal, as well as desserts. I will slowly get around the writing about the dishes and desserts I made, with recipes and more detail, but for now, a taste of all the delicious, carb-heavy, cheese-laden things we devoured over the course of one short evening.

Baked Artichoke Dip

Made by my sister – this stuff is a meal on its own! When she offered me a spoonful while she was doling it out into the baking dish, I thought I was getting deviled egg filling…the garlicky, cheesy, tangy dip was quite the (pleasant) surprise. This stuff always, always gets quickly devoured when served as an appetizer at parties.

Jalapeno Pie and Pork Buns

I made the jalapeno pie and will do a post about it in the coming days. Cilantro, roasted jalapenos and cheese – how can you go wrong. My mom makes the pork buns, a Christmas staple. I’m not quite sure what goes into the mixture except for ground pork and chicken gumbo…I do know that I love these things.

Pastrami Rolls

These are probably my favourite Christmas Eve dinner addition, and I can’t even say why. Pillsbury crescent rolls wrapped around pastrami, mustard and cream cheese. Simple, and completely addictive. I can’t stop eating them – fresh out of the oven, nuked in the microwave, or straight from the fridge.

Baked Beans

My mom makes these. I have no idea what’s in them or how she does it. I know my sister loves them, and I know they are a fun addition to the meal. I like to scoop some of them up with my beloved pastrami rolls.

Turkey Salad with Grapes

My mom makes this as well. I haven’t had a better chicken or turkey salad ever. I think it’s the grapes that do it – the juicy sweet crunch does me in every time. The dill is also one of my favourite parts…also, I believe she only used the white meat, and when it comes to a chicken salad, dark meat is not something I want.

Scalloped Tomatoes

I made these, and will be doing a separate post about them. This was not my first time making them, and I love them. They were a good addition to a very carb-heavy meal!

I made some desserts, and again, I’ll write about them soon. Here’s some of the desserts my sister and mother made…cherry chews from my sis and toffee chocolate bars and Greek Christmas cookies from my mom:

I think our Christmas dinner is pretty unique – what does everyone else need to have on Christmas?

And – happy holidays to everyone!

We enjoy drinking absinthe. I appreciate its taste, and even more than that, I appreciate its strange (if not often-exaggerated) effects. It has a certain tingle that other alcohols just can’t produce.

However, we’re not often pleased with the selection available. We once found a great bottle, but for the past few years, its only been the swill that is Hill’s that’s been offered at the SAQ, and that really doesn’t have any of the warmth or tingle…it just gets you really drunk really fast. We recently read about a small influx of new absinthes that have reaches Quebec, these ones from Switzerland, the birthplace of the magical drink. This week, we picked up a pricey bottle of Clandestine absinthe to enjoy over the holidays.

We’ve sampled it, and it’s nice stuff. It’s got the tingle, it’s got the heat, it makes your cheeks flush and your toes vibrate. I think we made the perfect choice, though it’s hard to say after just a few sips. We’ll keep everyone updated once we get more…involved…

We also enjoyed a pretty beautiful walk through the snow to get it. Montreal’s gorgeous during the holidays: