Roasted Beets & Potatoes with Quinoa

We've been having an unusually mild winter, which, to be honest, I am quite pleased about. I've mentioned that I hate the cold, right? (It's the one thing I can't shut up about, I know. I get cold really easily, especially in the extremities.)



We're in the midst of root vegetables season. Normally I'd be yearning for some leafy greens but since my discovery of beets, I don't seem to mind.



I can't get enough of them. There was this one week where I ate so much of it that my urine turned a disconcerting reddish/pink colour. Not to worry, a quick google told me that this can be normal. Or that I am low in iron (which would explain why I am cold all the time.)

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Eating my way through Paris

Six months ago, I departed for France. Six months ago, my WWOOFing adventure began.



As great of a learning experience it was working on an organic farm, I was more than ready to head to Paris after my three weeks were over. Ready to shed my manure-splattered clothing and return to civilization. I guess I am more of a city girl than I thought I was.



And while it was absolutely wonderful eating fresh, organic food during my stay (the tomatoes tasted exactly like what a tomato should taste, so much that I almost shed a tear), I was ready to stuff my face with what the French are famous for: butter and dessert.


I ate. A lot.

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Carrot Soup

Winter is officially here and by that, I don't mean the actual season (though that is also true). Snow arrived this week, covering the grounds (which means I have to walk through mucky slush) and it's cold out. Like minus 10 degrees C cold. This type of weather is conducive to colds (the malady), which I am suffering from as we speak.

Is it spring yet?



I have been craving for stews and soups like there's no tomorrow. For weeks, I could think of nothing but chili and cornbread and had to make them to squelch the craving.

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Baked Leek & Spinach Frittata

Remember when I went to France three months ago? Yeah, I can't believe it's been that long either.





I finally organized all my pictures from my travels, including my Really Long Backpacking Trip in Asia from 2009. I know. Once a procrastinator, always a procrastinator. I took some really amazing pictures in China that I eventually want to share with you, but let's take baby steps and start with France.





I didn't quite know where to start since I took almost 4 gigs of photos of my time on the farm, Paris, and an absurd amount of food-related photography (my meals, cheese, bread, macarons, etc.) It seemed most logical to start from the very beginning.

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Butternut Squash, Red Lentil & Coconut Soup

I don't want to start another post in disbelief that, once again, time has passed much too quickly for my liking. But really, how is it almost November already?



The family and I went apple picking for the Thanksgiving weekend, an outing that is turning into a yearly tradition. We picked Galas and Honeycrisps and Mutsus and Jonagolds, plus Fujis and Golden Delicious and Ambrosias, oh my. All twenty pounds of apples have been baked, cooked and consumed. I made six jars of applesauce and it was, bias aside, the best tasting applesauce of my life. Every time I eat a spoonful, I actually take A Moment to enjoy the apple goodness and pray to the cooking gods that I can recreate this perfection next year.



A pie was baked. I am slowly getting the hang of pie crust (I'm quite proud of the edges). The smell of freshly baked apple pie was too tempting and the pie was sliced into before it had the chance to cool, which resulted in major juice leakage. I'm assuming this is the norm and I have learned my lesson for next time.

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