Life in the Time of Corona

This time last year, I was in the Yucatan, swimming in cenotes and experiencing how Mexicans celebrate Easter.

Then my grandma passed away.
Then I got so sick that I had to be hospitalized.

This Easter, we're all stuck indoors, doing our best to social distance and flatten the curve.

I've been reflecting on the past year and while it hasn't been the greatest, I am:

• Thankful for the health of my family and friends.
• Grateful to the front-line health care providers for fighting in the trenches. The highlight of my day is at 7:30 p.m., when people in my neighbourhood stand on their balconies to cheer for these heroes.
• Appreciative to the essential services workers who can't work from home because the rest of us rely on them.

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Things that currently spark joy in my life:

• Home Cooking: a podcast by Samin Nosrat (of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat) and Hrishikesh Hirway (of The West Wing Weekly, a must for West Wing fans). It is delightfully full of puns.
• The return of The Good Fight: a show that is criminally underrated and even better than it's predecessor, The Good Wife.
• The Bon Appetit YouTube channel: Claire Saffitz's Gourmet Makes is my favourite - the Pocky episode blew my mind. The latest episodes are quarantine-related since they're housebound like everyone else.

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Yes, it sucks being at home all day just as the warm weather is approaching but this meme puts it into perspective:

Your grandparents were called to war.
You're being called to sit on your couch.
You can do this.

Spring has sprung!

What I've been up to: undertaking a massive cleaning purge, relishing the return of spring produce, basking in the spring summer-like weather.

Rhubarb Snacking Cake

Ah, summer. This is when I feel the most in my element. I went strawberry picking this weekend and canned some preserves. I also got my hands on some garlic scapes and made a pesto.


Several weeks ago, I was eating asparagus to my heart's content. The first sign of spring is always exciting, even if it was a bit delayed this year.



Rhubarb is the other trigger that spring has arrived. I've had a colleague tell me that rhubarb grows like weed in her backyard. It's not the first I've heard of this wonderful problem, but unfortunately it's not an issue I run into.

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Kale & Asparagus Pasta Alfredo

For me, the appearance of asparagus at the market means the end of winter. Finally.


Suddenly life becomes brighter, more enjoyable. Warmth and sunshine will do that to you.


I bought a bunch of asparagus before realizing my garden was thriving – the kale ready for picking, the lettuce ready for salad-making.

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Farro Salad with Roasted Radishes & Asparagus

Things I've been enjoying:


+ Freshly picked lettuce from my garden. (My beautiful chard and basil, on the other hand, are being eaten alive by some sort of bug. Tears!)

+ The start of my dragonboat season.


+ The Stop's Night Market. So. much. food.

+ 30+ degrees weather. Some may complain, but I've been waiting months for this weather to arrive.

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Rhubarb Compote

Sprrring! Warm weather! (Yes, those exclamation marks were necessary.)



Spring also means the arrival of new vegetables at the farmers' market, which is very, very exciting. (To me, anyway.)





The first sign of leafy greens were ramps (aka wild leeks), which I snatched up and turned into a pesto. Ramps are an intense combination of onions and garlic and as someone who loves both, raw ramp pesto was even a little too intense for my liking. Will attempt to roast or saute them next time.

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Crunchy Granola

Ah, spring. Thank you for your belated arrival. Last week was the first week where the temperature stayed in the double digits and it was definitely most welcomed. However, it seems that I have developed an allergic reaction to pollen. My eyes were itchy and watery and I kept sneezing at random, but even this bizarre development (and the rainy weather this week) has not dampened my enthusiasm for warmer weather.



Do you know who else was enjoying the warm Toronto weather last week? Mark Bittman. I am a huge Mark Bittman fan and I let out a surprising but gleeful, "What?!" when I found out through twitter that he was in town to check out some of the wonderful food programming we have in the city. (Yes, I reluctantly joined the twitter world, mostly because I needed a way to get around New York Times' monthly article limit by following their twitter feed. I don't think I'll be sharing my account with you anytime soon as I have yet to do my first tweet.) For years, a weekly highlight was to see what recipe he was going to post for his now-defunct Minimalist column. The most mind-blowing revelation to date is savoury oatmeal. Who knew that adding soy sauce and scallions to oatmeal would taste like congee? These days, I look forward to his entries on food sustainability.



When I saw his How to Cook Everything at my favourite used bookstore (the one where I can never leave without buying something), I snatched it up without a second thought. It is the first thing I reach for whenever I have a cooking related question. Skills his cookbook has taught me: how to skin the overabundance of tomatoes growing in my backyard last summer to make oven-dried tomatoes, how to shape a baguette, how to roast a juicy chicken and how to make granola.

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