Monthly Archives: November 2008

Often, when I’m together with friends or family, and the topic turns to food (when doesn’t it turn to food?), we find ourselves inevitably discussing food shows and cookbooks. Whenever Giada De Laurentiis’ name comes up, the reaction is interesting. There are those that admire her, those that ADMIRE her, those that dislike her and  Continue Reading »

Early on in my blog career, I wrote a post about conquering my fear of caramel. I received a very thoughtful and helpful comment to that post from none other than Shuna Fish Lydon, the chef behind one of the most accomplished and informative blogs out there: eggbeater. When the hosts of the November Daring  Continue Reading »

This is just a little reminder that if you have the Christmas cookie twinkle in your eye but you can’t get around to baking any this year, I’d be happy to bake some for you! If you’re in Toronto or the Greater Toronto Area and you’d like to order cookies for Christmas, send me an  Continue Reading »

Right about this time of year, I start to get the cookie twinkle in my eye. That’s the twinkle representing all the cookies that will be born in the month ahead as the Christmas frenzy starts. There are many family favourites when it comes to Christmas cookies; these would be the ones that we can’t  Continue Reading »

While I would argue that every season is cookbook season, I don’t think there’s any question that that the lead-up to Christmas is probably one of the most intense times for cookbook authors and publishers. After all, cookbooks make great gifts. Ahem. Hint. Hint. Anyway, it’s usually around this time that friends will begin asking  Continue Reading »

Daring Bakers, take a bow because today is your second birthday! It’s incredible but true. Two years ago today, Lis and I had a crazy idea to bake pretzels and now look where we are. It has been two amazing years for us as we watched this group grow from two people to well over  Continue Reading »

As some of you may know, the word for aunt in Italian is “zia“. In late October, my wonderful Zia C turned 50 and believe me she makes 50 look smashing! She honoured me by asking that I bake her birthday cake. When I asked her what flavour of cake she wanted, she said something  Continue Reading »

You may have noticed that a certain book has been taking over the food blogging world thanks to an exciting virtual cookbook blog tour. The book I speak of is none other than Anita Chu’s Field Guide to Cookies: How to Identify and Bake Virtually Every Cookie Imagineable. Most of you will know Anita from  Continue Reading »

I just wanted to put the word out that if you’re in Toronto or the Greater Toronto Area and you’d like to order cookies for Christmas, send me an e-mail at creampuffsinvenice{@}gmail{.}com. You can also contact me by sending me an e-mail using the Contact button at the top of my blog page. I’ve been  Continue Reading »

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada. I hope that wherever you are, you’ll take a moment to remember all the men and women who made the most incredible sacrifices. Ciao!

Mine aren’t nearly as pretty as Martha’s, but they’ll do. I was asked to put together a cookie tray for a family function by my aunt and she specifically asked for madeleines. I have a favourite madeleine recipe from this book but for the cookie tray, I thought I’d finally try a recipe for Rose-Water  Continue Reading »

In my family’s cooking mythology, there is no question that my mother’s crespelle rank high in the pecking order. What are these crespelle I speak of, you ask? Gather round, and I shall tell you a story. Like most of the young women in her family, my mother was raised on the simple yet robust  Continue Reading »

*** Update *** Wow … you guys really wanted that cookbook! Thanks for all the wonderful guesses. My favourite Christmas movie is … A Christmas Carol (the original black and white version with Alastair Sim). Wandering Coyote of Retorte was the first to guess correctly so she’ll be receiving a copy of Confetti Cakes for  Continue Reading »

… and Cream Puff has a question for you! For the second Monday in a row, I don’t have a Magazine Mondays post for you. However, I do have a little project I’d like you to help me with. I have something special planned for December and I’d like you to answer the following question  Continue Reading »