Fall Back

Summer is past. Autumn is here, and I can’t believe it’s almost two months since my last post. 

During that time, I’ve been busy with many things in the kitchen – like making pickles, jams, marmalade, baking breads, and, as always, the day-to-day preparation of meals for my husband and I, and some special meals for family and friends. I have also had the pleasure of spending many enjoyable hours with my little grandson whose favourite activities currently include helping with the vacuuming, brushing his teeth, splashing around in the dog’s water bowl, and doing laps around the kitchen island while laughing wildly, preferably while being chased by his dog, his Mom, his Nana or all three. It’s all been a lot of fun.

Outside, the golden leaves are beginning to carpet the faded green lawn. The geese sound their annual farewell as they stream south together, and it’s time for me to get back to my blog. I have about a half dozen recipes ready to share with you. Hope you will be inspired to try one or two. As always, thank you for reading.

Hospital Food

It's been over three weeks since my last post. May took an unexpected turn with my eighty-one year old mom ending up in hospital for eighteen days. I was there with her for most of them. No one is happier than she is to be back home.

The hospital time provided me another perspective on food. For my mom and most of the patients sharing her room - and over the course of her visit she had several different roommates in the other three beds - meals became the hands of the clock, the cue for conversation and, from time to time, the source of some griping and grumbling. In fact, we could tie Mom’s recovery to her complaints about the food: the more she talked about the dried out sandwiches (there was one during the first week, which she ate anyway) and how they served her cauliflower at every meal (they didn’t, of course), the more we could see her progress.

For a few of the patients, food was problematic: either they were too ill to stomach anything at all; too weak or unsteady to lift the lid off their soup or peel the plastic wrapper from a tea bag; or completely unable to recognize the tray’s contents for the sustenance it offered.

The meals I saw delivered to my mom and her fifth-floor neighbours all had that nutritionally balanced, dietician-approved look. I am not sure exactly how they managed it, but the food arrived with the hot stuff still quite hot and the salad still cool and crispy. Must be some kind of hospital magic.

While the hospital food certainly did its job, Mom was very happy to get “outside” food. There were bananas and watermelon, some home baked goodies, and even fries and gravy brought to her as a Mother’s Day treat.

In most of the hospitals in my area, there is a Tim Horton’s outlet where visitors, staff and patients can buy beverages and baked goods. There was one on the main floor of the hospital my mom was at. We took it as a very good sign when, after almost two weeks in hospital, Mom chose to put on her own clothes and go with her visitors to Tim Horton’s for an iced cappuccino.

I do hope it will be a while until my next hospital visit. I look forward to spending more time in my kitchen and getting back to the blog.

Thanks for reading.

Lucky, Carrots, and Where did April go?

Lucky carrots: these three weighed in at just over two pounds

Life got really busy for me this month and I can hardly believe it's been almost three weeks since my last post.  I had a tight deadline on a book project I was working on, coupled with a lovely visit from my daughter Darcy and grandson Emmett. Of course, I have been in the kitchen, too, and will be sharing some recipes very soon, including two dishes prepared by Darcy.

For those of you reading this who live in or around Winnipeg, I want to tell you about a grocery store I shopped at recently. It's Lucky Supermarket on Winnipeg Avenue, and if you've already been there you'll know why I am so excited about it. I first became aware of Lucky Supermarket in a column in the Saturday newspaper featuring foods that aren't particularly well-known in these parts. Many times I noticed that Lucky Supermarket was listed as the place to find these foods. A few months ago, another home cooking enthusiast told me about his trip to Lucky and how excited he was to find all the ingredients for a Thai supper he was making for his family.

When I found myself in the West End with twenty minutes to spare before I had to be somewhere else, I decided to check out Lucky Supermarket. Driving past the giant lion statues guarding the parking lot, I knew this wasn't going to be any ordinary food store. And when I encountered the altar with incense and offerings tucked into the corner of the entryway, I felt transported out of the chilly Winnipeg afternoon. On this first time-limited visit, I only had time to discover the produce department and one of the aisles. I have to admit I was dazzled by the variety of Asian vegetables and the fresh herbs, some of which I had never seen in their fresh state. But what really struck me was the display of bulk carrots. I had never seen carrots as large as these before. I had to have some. And I have to tell you they were as delicious as they were gigantic! The one aisle I had time to visit had the largest variety of noodles I had ever seen in one place. I checked out with my carrots and noodles, admired the cheerful children's umbrellas decorating each cashiers' till, and told myself I would return to Lucky Supermarket soon.

A week later I was back with my daughter and grandson and enough time to get a look at the rest of the store. There is a restaurant, a bakery, a meat counter, cookware and, as Emmett excitedly pointed out to us, a shelf lined up with large, colourful ceramic prosperity cats. On that trip I bought a few more items including fresh green beans and beets, both red and golden, as well as a confection called Sticky's (a super sweet rolled wafer with pink stripes) and some candy-coloured tapioca pearls (still working on a recipe for those). As Lucky is associated with Family Foods, you can pick up your more standard grocery items there, too.

I checked out their website at luckysupermarket.ca and found they have two locations in Edmonton and one in Calgary as well. I'll be shopping Lucky again soon as there are many items I want to try like the purple yam cakes and the roasted duck. Maybe I will see you there.

Marking my 50th Post

An auspicious day … the first day of spring and my fiftieth post on MA in the Kitchen.

My blog is hosted on Blogger, which provides information on how many times people look at your blog, what pages they look at and what countries they are in. According to the stats Blogger has provided, MA in the Kitchen has had almost one thousand pageviews since I began blogging just over four months ago. I have no idea how this number stands up in the greater blogosphere, but, for me, it is a real thrill just to think that my passion for food and love of writing are being shared.

I also find it exciting to check out where in the world readers are. So far, the posts have been read in Canada, the US, Germany, the UK, France, Mexico, Japan, India, Ukraine and Spain.

When I began this blog in November, my focus was (and continues to be) to create the best content I can. As I cook, photograph and write my way through each post, it’s interesting to see which posts are getting the most views. To date, the top five posts are:

1. Sloppy Chicken with Noodles and Greens
2. Harry’s Cheeks in Caps
3. Rustic Beef Stew with Bannock
4. Lentil Soup a la Moosewood
5. Feta not Chedda Scalloped Potatoes

View from our deck on the first day of spring 2013

I thank you and all my readers for your continued support.  I want to send a special thank you to the people who have chosen to keep up with MA in the Kitchen as either Followers through their Google account or as email subscribers when they submit their address in the little box on the right-hand side of the blog. It boosts my confidence, increases my commitment and just plain warms my heart to know you are there.

And to those who have given me feedback on the recipes, the photographs and the blog in general, thank you for being my editors, testers, critics and muses. I hope you will continue my kitchen journey with me.

Every day I find myself thinking of new ideas for the blog and look forward to sharing them with you, my dear readers. 

Here’s to the next fifty posts!

And, here’s to spring … may our thaw be slow and the rains gentle.

A New Year Begins

I started this blog in November. The big thing with blogs, I was told, was keeping with it. Twenty-four posts later I am still very into it. It's been a good fit for me as a home cook and a writer. Granted, there aren't too many folks reading the blog at this time, but the feedback I have received is positive. I have even had some compliments on my photography, which I had been so worried about. All in all, I am encouraged and I am enjoying every step of the blogging process.

If you're reading this, I thank you. I hope you like what I am doing enough to become a follower  by subscribing to the email updates so we can keep in touch on a regular basis. I hope you will try a recipe or two and leave a comment to let me know how it worked in your kitchen - be it good or not-so-good. And, I hope you will send me any suggestions of what you would like to see featured in upcoming posts.

My resolution for 2013 is to continue MA in the Kitchen and through it to continue learning, to become a better blogger and to share my passion for cooking with you.

Happy New Year, dear readers.

My New Roti Puffer

Yes, it's a roti puffer. No, I haven't used it yet.

Mr. Gupta at India Spice House sold it to me. He saw that we were buying some frozen naan bread and he suggested the best way to warm it was on a roti puffer. I told him I usually just warmed them in the oven. He said that was okay, but never put them in the microwave because they got too soft and that's when he showed me the roti puffer. He said it works equally well on chappati, poppadums and, of course, naan bread. I look forward to trying it out. I am also looking forward to making the special dahl recipe Mr Gupta shared with us (and sharing it with you here). He is a wealth of knowledge about Indian food, spices and remedies. If you get the chance to visit his shop in The Maples, I hope you will get to meet him.

New in My Kitchen

This is the newest addition to my kitchen.

Can you guess what it is?


Here are a few clues:

It was bought at the India Spice House.

It cost $4.99.

It is used on the stove-top.


Stay tuned for the answer tomorrow.

Cooking but not Blogging

If you've been checking the blog, you'll see I haven't posted in a few days. While I have been in the kitchen and cooking, I haven't done the blogging. This has something to do with a certain little visitor who was in my kitchen (safely await from the hot, the sharp and other dangers, of course). He's not quite ready to help with the cooking, but he sure likes to eat. With his mom's permission, here are a few of the many non-food photographs by Nana.

So this is where she keeps them.

Better check this out.

Here's your measuring cup, Nana!

That was good. Can I have some more?