I love breakfast. It’s by far my favourite meal of the day. All the good stuff comes out to play and heck, anything goes. Once you get over the childish perception that breakfast needs to be bright rainbow coloured little rings served in a bowl with a spoon, you have full reign over the pantry to cook up a storm. Heck, even eat leftovers if you want. I do it all the time. Just make sure the first meal of your day is something that doesn’t leave your teeth feeling like they are ready to fall out. Protein works wonders.

Read more ..

If you’re in California, you have to get your hands on some organic, raw almonds (you know, the real unpasteurized ones). It is the home state of almonds after all, or at least in the US? Crazy as it sounds, a lot of almonds sold in the grocery stores aren’t really ‘raw’ despite the misleading labeling. The FDA-led enforcement for this ruling was attributed to a couple linked outbreaks of salmonella back in 2001 and 2004. So a few isolated cases have now been used as an excuse for the government dictating the rules of engagement within the almond industry. Clearly the issue isn’t about the almonds though because Californian producers can still export unpasteurized overseas and you can still buy raw almonds direct from producers. I’m not about to delve into the real issue here, like the price control wars and unfair regulations disadvantaging the small players in the market. Let’s save those ones for when we talk over a glass of wine together.

Read more ..

When you don’t feel like cooking, you should turn to your humble slow cooker. Everything can just be chucked in and left to stew away. If you have a few staple recipes under your belt, like this one or even this one, you’ll always be able to impress not only yourself, but any guest. Really, slow cooking is the cheats way to a good, fool-proof meal.

Read more ..

Once upon a time I squirmed at the thought of eating sardines, let alone a variety of fish that ventured beyond the deep-fried and frozen kind. My immature taste buds were not akin to the flavour, nor were my nostrils taking to the smell. A little over 2 years ago, after many, many years of avoiding a secondary sample since ‘my first time’ when I was probably only about 8 years old, I was left pleasantly surprised. Suddenly, it was as though my taste buds were having a party and everyone was invited. I actually LOVED them. Yeah, it happened just like that. There was no weaning period. No masking the flavour with pillars of sauce or seasoning. It was just like, BOOM! One day I tried them, and then I fell in love. Is that what love at first sight feels like?

Read more ..