Happy Gourmande

11/20/2025

Have you heard? We have our very own German Christmas market in Kelowna!

11/18/2025

I’ve found a great family of like-minded souls and when I got their email last Sunday, I wanted to share it right away.
Laurie at Common Sense Home talked this week about making coffee - something we can all relate to, right? She had to change to a different machine that took longer She romanticized about the slow process, and added in some great advice that could apply to much more than coffee.
Here are the tips she offered - if they strike you as strongly as they did me, you might want to subscribe to their emails or follow their page too 😊

This Week’s Resilience & Abundance Boost

Revisit a forgotten tool. Whether it’s a vintage percolator, cast iron skillet, hand tool, or quilt, bring one old object back into daily life and let it remind you that “old” often still works beautifully.

Slow one task down. Choose a daily habit — making coffee, folding laundry, prepping dinner — and do it with full attention. Simple rituals add steadiness to the week.

Practice skill over convenience. Skip the “easy button” once or twice: make a homemade version of something you usually buy, or try the hands-on method instead of the automatic one.

Refresh a cozy morning routine. Add one small comfort to your start-of-day rhythm: warm socks, a lit candle, a favorite mug, or five quiet minutes watching the light change.

Connect past and present. Use or display something inherited or handmade, and take a moment to remember the person behind it.

These connections deepen our sense of abundance more than any store-bought thing ever could.
Little choices to slow down, savor, and reconnect make life richer — and strengthen resilience from the inside out.

Thanks Laurie ❤️

11/17/2025

Have you heard of Dubai chocolate? I haven’t tasted it until recently but once I did… wowzers! 🤩 Now I’m keen to try and come up with a sort of dessert that gives the same experience.

For the other super-geeks out there, here’s the whole scoop on the recent chocolate sensation…

I finally tasted Dubai Chocolate. With all the buzz, I had to! Also, it has three of my favorite ingredients: chocolate, pistachio, and kadayif (shredded phyllo dough). I can’t stop eating it. But …

10/26/2025

Just to get us in the mood for Halloween- some serious air traffic control happening at Bracken Cave ! 🦇

Im wondering, do you cook anything special for Halloween, or is it all about the candy and junk food?

We leave you this Sunday with the bats of Bracken Cave getting ready for Halloween near San Antonio, Texas. Videographer: Nedra Gurry.

10/19/2025

A delicious Sunday brunch treat for fall - grape & herb foccacia!
The recipe comes from foccacia expert Lacey (Lace Bakes )
For a 9 x 13 metal pan:
500 g bread flour (12% protein or higher)
420 mL warm water
4 g (1/2 pkg) instant yeast
15 mL (1 tbsp) EVOO
5 g (1 tsp) honey
10 g (2 tsp) fine sea salt
- toppings of your choice, including more EVOO
We used some of our own seedless grapes and fresh rubbed sage mixed with the olive oil that was drizzled over top.
Cooking it right is part of the secret - here was how The Chef Instead - www.thechefinstead. did ours:

500F preheated oven
Put it in... (parchment paper in the pan before the dough helps if you’re afraid it will stick)
Drop to 450F convection roast setting 10 min, then
Drop to 400F and bake on bottom rack 9 minutes

Gotta go, it’s cooling off 😋

10/11/2025

I haven’t posted in a while - life has been busy and it’s more the quick pictures of Instagram that I’ve used to share my thoughts and flavours.

But today, sitting here by myself as I putter away in the kitchen, I had to share what I’m listening to:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/backstage-at-the-vinyl-cafe/id1661643068?i=1000731150905

- it’s a dose of nostalgia, From Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe. The excerpt with Stuart MacLean is from 2012 but it still rings true today.

Whether your Thanksgiving weekend will be full of time with loved ones or alone pondering faraway connections , I hope you’ll join me in fueling the fires for goodness and love. That’s what this podcast is doing for me ❤️

Podcast Episode · Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe · 2025-10-10 · 37m

08/02/2025

If you need a zucchini recipe, check out the comments. If you have a good idea, maybe you want to add it to the list?

07/09/2025

Being a gardener, I am a big fan of bees . This year I have been amazed at how many we have at Rabbit Hollow, and they are all very thirsty! I found out a great way to help them that is easy - if you see bees at your house, try this out!

At certain times of the day, bees take over our little pond edges and the rim of the bird bath we have. I’ve also created a few special sipping stations for them, which they seem to love. (They need a place to perch - bees don’t swim that well. ) I have to refill it often but the bees love it.

They are magical creatures, these pollinators. Not only do they help us survive with their work on plants, they make a food that does not spoil. Ever.
(If you don’t know the magic touches they put on honey, here’s how I found out

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250701-the-chemical-secrets-that-help-keep-honey-fresh-for-so-long )

07/05/2025

I’m a bit late in posting our little camping getaway in June but here we are, making the best of some chilly weather to start off the summer.

We had a great view of the lake from our campsite, and we did get out paddling between showers. Freyja had fun shooting around, watching for loons on the lake and helping with the chores (which got cheers from the neighbours 😊)
We saw 3 loons and 2 families of mergansers, and a bald eagle. Martin also caught a trout, and we spotted a bear munching berries near the road when we headed into Revelstoke one day.
Our new hammock works great! So did the fleece blankets with temperatures mostly below 14C. We spent evenings inside with our Farkle set up and a wee nip of Riverstone Reflections (port style) to keep us toasty.
Camp meals included steak & mushrooms, tarragon-scented salmon with new zucchinis, and paella for dinners. Eggs shakshuka was a great hearty breakfast one day and Spam & eggs fit the bill the next day. I also made fresh huckleberry muffins from our camper oven.
Life really is good when you’re glamping !

07/01/2025

Happy Canada Day!

Did you know all these foods and drinks were invented by Canadians? We are quite a bunch of foodies, aren’t we?

How many have you had? What are your favourites? (I’m a Hawkins Cheezie fan and a butter tart devotee)