The New Couch (no, this is not food)

The new couch for the guest suite has arrived. The delivery guys were very concerned about getting it downstairs…I have to admit, I didn’t even think about it. It’s a regular sized door, with regular sized stairs and no major turns – UGH. They had to remove the outside door, and take the legs off [...]

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Crispy Squares (PC recipe)

This recipe came from the PC Crispy Rice box, with alterations by your’s truly!

4 cups mini marsh mellows
1/4 cup butter or margarine
6 cups crispy rice cereal
1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 chocolate chips

Directions (I make this in my microwave)

Butter a 9″ x 12″ pan and set aside.
Melt butter, chocolate and mini marsh mellows until liquid.
Add [...]

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Save the failed Torrone!

Torrone is an Italian nugget made from stiffly beaten egg whites and honey, cooked to a hardish candy temperature. Most of the recipes on-line are good, but they don’t tell you the correct temperature to reach on a candy thermometer (or we are all idiots and can’t cook, which is a possibility). Lots of failures, [...]

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Christmas Eve Dinner at my brother’s place

Since the passing of my Mom, we’ve been doing Christmas Eve Dinner at my brother’s place since it’s easier with the kids. I am looking after the hors d’oeuvres (like we really need this much food), the Hungarian Cherry Soup and the dessert, traditional Yule Log (entirely home made of course!) with meringue mushrooms!.

The two [...]

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December 23 Lunch – Creamed Mushroom Soup

This is a lovely soup for a cold rainy day (which it was).

About 265g variety of mushrooms (not the white button type, but dark forest mushrooms) cleaned well and chopped coarsely
1 large sweet onion (chopped)
1 clove garlic (minced finely)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 cups of chicken stock (or stock of your choice)
Optional cream [...]

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Anzac Biscuits (recipe from Martha Stewart)

My mom saw this being made on the show, and immediately tried it. With great success, she recommended it to me and I’ve been making them ever since. It’s a nice chewy treat.
Anzac Biscuits (recipe from Martha Stewart)

Makes about 3 dozen

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
2 cups sugar
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup (2 sticks) [...]

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December 19th Dinner Party – what a success!

It’s Wednesday, and all I am thinking is what the heck was I thinking booking a dinner party for 8 on a week night?!?! What the HECK? I have 3 couples arriving between 6:30 and 7 tonight and I work until 5pm!!! What the HECK? Fortunately, I have the greatest husband in the world and [...]

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Hungarian Donkey Ear Cookies (Szamar Fulé) – recipe

This recipe was handed down to me by my mother Éva Harsfai-Robinson. It is a traditional war time cookies (no eggs!) that are delicious and relatively economical as this recipe makes a lot. It is jam filled. Be sure to buy only European jam which is a lot less runny than the North American style!

Donkey [...]

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It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Sunday, December 16 – what a storm! 36 cm of snow. WOW! We shoveled 2 times to try to keep up with it! (fortunately, our neighbour Frank, just bought a snow blower and he cleared up the majority by the time we returned in the afternoon!).

It was beautiful! The driving was a little sketchy but [...]

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Test Dinner Menu

This past weekend my niece Laura (John’s sister’s daughter) came down from London to do some shopping with me. I tested a dinner menu that we will be serving on the 19th. This is quite possibly the BEST beef I have EVER had. The small 750g beef was $33.00!!!! But really worth it.
Photo and [...]

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