Cook's Illustrated perfect chocolate chip cookies

A few days ago it was a miserably rainy day and all I could think about was whipping up a batch of warm, gooey, chewy, chocolate chip cookies.

Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles my son actually sat in his high chair long enough for me to make these cookies and bake them (all the while I fed him his dinner - yes, I'm a good multi-tasker).

I came across this recipe a few weeks ago, during my online travels searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie (see my previous posts on David Lebovitz's chocolate chip cookies, and Amy Lewis' ultimate chocolate chip cookies).

Almost flourless orange and almond cake with marmalade

I'd be lying if I said I was not impressionable. When I watched "Fast Food Nation," all I could think about was buying a McChicken.

And when I was reading Jane Green's "From Promises to Keep," I had barely finished a few chapters when I bought the ingredients to make this Middle-Eastern inspired almost flourless orange and almond cake she wrote into the storyline, one of several tantalizing recipes included in the novel.

As you can see, I am short on patience and I ate a slice, or two, before taking a photograph.

Bourdain tells me whether he's still a bad boy

In my day job as producer at CTV.ca, my bread and butter is hard news. But I have also had the good fortune of meeting and interviewing some fascinating people in the food industry.

Some of those people include Gordon Ramsay, his wife Tana Ramsay, Nigella Lawson, and of course homegrown talents such as David Rocco, Vikram Vij, Bob Blumer, Naomi Duguid and Jennifer McLagan. I am still ruing the time I bumped into Jacques Pepin in the CTV hallway and goggled at him without saying a word.

On Wednesday, Bourdain was at CTV for an interview with Canada AM. I had the opportunity to interview him in the green room shortly before his TV appearance.

Whimsical watermelon pops

If, like me, you are starting to pull your cable-knit sweaters out of storage, and wearing thick socks to bed, you must also be feeling winter is just around the corner. I know, I know, summer isn't officially over. Yet the imminent chill of winter is palpable.
I am dog-earing pumpkin recipes, and reaching more often for brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, the flavours of fall and winter.
But if you want one last taste of summer, you can fool your tastebuds with Kraft Kitchens' watermelon pops.
I'm not going to lie to you. I made these more than a month ago for my son's birthday after seeing them on the Kraft Kitchens' website. And I probably woudn't make them in this current climate. But I figured I should blog about them before summer really ended.

Bourbon and orange pecan pie

I have already made this four times in as many weeks. You've heard me whingeing about my lack of time before, so what's the deal?

I tore this recipe out of one of my favourite magazines, "Real Simple." And sure enough, this recipe is real simple.

What's the secret? Well, as the labour and delivery nurse told me while I was delaying getting the epidural during my labour "Don't be a shero."

After having a child I no longer try to be a shero. If there are shortcuts, I might just take them.

Nigella's chocolate raspberry pavlova

I made this pavlova on an extraordinarily hot and humid morning. It was also the same day as my son's first birthday. For some reason, I thought I wouldn't have enough desserts or the 20-odd guests, even though there was birthday cake, two huge fruit platters, watermelon pops, chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches, pecan pie, and more, so I decided to make this as well at the last second.

This was in the middle of making roast potatoes, Bulgarian shopska salad, marinating vegetables for the grill, and running around like a chicken with her head cut off.