Go Green! Lentil Salad with Sorrel & Asparagus

Don't you just love this time of year?  Anything green and leafy has been bursting with life.  The lilac hedge outside my window, the same window I gaze out of as I write this, is lush and terribly fragrant.  Even the grass I thought was dead seems to have come back to life.  Of course the creeping bellflower (the current bane of my existence) and other hideous weeds are having their fun in the sun too.  But let's not talk weeds when we can talk Good News:  my garden is finally planted!  However, I can't find kale seeds/plants anywhere!  A certain handsome man loves the kale like crazy so it is my current mission in life to find some kale seeds.  He has kindly offered to be my weeder (!!), so it's the least I can do in return.  For serious.  Who offers to weed a garden?  Oh love.  It must be love.

Rhubarb Fool with Lavender Cream & Pistachios

I do this thing every year, every day, at this point in Spring - a walkabout around the yard.  I poke at perennials to see if they are still alive - most are but for some wild and crazy reason some don't make it.  (I lost Lamb's Ear and Globe Thistle and Purple Coneflower this year - what the hell?!).  If I were more organized and more nerdy I'd totally make a journal with drawings so I can remember where the hell I planted what, because I'm getting old and the short term memory is just not there anymore, though I can tell you who won the Stanley Cup in 1990 and what year Shakespeare in Love won the Best Picture Oscar.  If you're curious, keep on reading.  Where was I?  Oh yeah, garden nerd talk.  So in this walkabout around the yard, I'm always excited to go back to the veg patch - there is no action there yet - it's just a sad heap of wet, rotten leaves covering dirt until the Rototiller Man can come and work it up for me.  But there in the corner, thriving away in all of its big leafy business in my old friend Rhubarb - or the Barb as I lovingly call it. 

Crostini with Balsamic Strawberries, Ricotta & Pea Shoots

 

In the Spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.  ~ Margaret Atwood

Today is Victoria Day in Canada, or the unofficial start to Summer.  Many of us climb into campers and cars and head out of the city to cabins or cottages or tents.  The "May Two-Four" weekend also brings back faded memories of binge drinking as a teenager, all those many moons ago.  These days I'm most happy sipping a nice juicy red on my patio, with no need to go barfing into the bushes, with my feet up, listening to bird songs.  Oh the perks of being a grown up!  I don't have a cabin or cottage or tent to go to, so I'm always home this weekend, hitting up garden centres and greenhouses and plotting and planning my growing season.  The hands are dirty and the heart is happy. 

Into the Wild: Wild Mushroom & Asiago Risotto Cakes

I'm super thrilled to be the guest blogger over on the Mushrooms Canada blog today.  I created these Wild Mushroom & Asiago Risotto Cakes just for them, and mushroom lovers everywhere!

Oh Mama! Brown Butter Blondie Ice Cream Sandwiches

My Mom really loves ice cream.  Growing up there was always a tub in the freezer, usually vanilla, but once in awhile there was chocolate or that funky Neapolitan which always caused me some confusion, because I hated the strawberry and just wanted the chocolate but in the end I'd just mix it up into a pile of goop anyway.  Today is Mother's Day and I whipped these lovely treats up this morning and after I'm done writing this post I'm going to surprise my Mom with a package of ice cream sandwiches.  I mean, it's the least I can do after 39 years of all that she's done for me and my siblings.

Grown Up: Brie & Bacon Grilled Cheese with Fig Jam

It's no big secret that I love me some bacon around here.  Like hard core.  It's even noted in my Twitter profile, along with butter and living room dance parties, to you know, dance off some of that tasty saturated fat.  While I'm still reigning things in when it comes to decadence, I'm nowhere near swearing off my good buddy bacon.  The thing is, if I'm going to have it, I'm going to make it count.  Rather than snarfing it off the baking tray, hot from the oven, and just wolfing it down like a crazy person, eating bacon is going to be a production, enjoyed occasionally and with fanfare- like dancing around the living room afterwards. 

The Skinny: Creamy Kale & Avocado Dip

There's been a little extra fat, or "snuggage" as I lovingly like to call it, hanging around my skinny jeans lately.  I know.  It's my own damn fault - eating crème brûlée everyday for like four days, and then the most gorgeous birthday cake ever held residence inside my fridge for another four days after the crème brûlée had vanished.  While I've been digging the indulgences, it's time to stop eating so much fat reign things in a little.  I like to be an everything in moderation girl, but let's face it, lately it's been over the top.  Just ask my skinny jeans.