Wild Mushroom Soup

"A proper wild mushroom soup should live up to its name: a wolf in soup's clothing. The trick is to use a mixture of different fungi to layer the flavours." So says Niki Segnit in The Flavour Thesaurus, an intriguing book I received for Christmas from my brother. This mushroom soup uses both fresh and dried mushrooms, and the more varieties the better. Its wildness is highlighted by a smooth backdrop of sherry and cream. I served it as the first course of Canadian Thanksgiving dinner this year.

Mushroom, Broccoli, and Chicken Risotto

I don't eat a lot of carbs anymore, so when I do, I make sure they are the tastiest I can create. Hence we had creamy, satisfying risotto for dinner recently. I find cooking risotto helps me relax and puts me in a more patient frame of mind.

Risotto calms me down because I am tied to the spatula, stirring gently for about twenty minutes. While my arm slowly circles, I am imagining the first warm, toothsome bite. I know the rice will be soft on the outside with a little resistance inside. The first forkful of rice will be sticky with parmesan cheese and punctuated by vegetables. There will be a few grindings of fresh black pepper on top.

How to Cook Perfect Swordfish

It's time to try something new: swordfish. With the help of this fish substitution chart (below), it's easy. Swordfish is a large fish that lives in the warm parts of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It has firm, meaty flesh and is easy to cook as a steak or threaded onto skewers and barbecued.

Swordfish can be cooked according to any recipe that calls for tuna or shark and many that are for salmon. The table below shows many types of fish categorised according to texture and flavour. Fish with the same texture and flavour can be substituted for each other.

Carrot Salad with Spiced Bacon Topping

Here's the easy kind of food I like to make and eat. This is just some chopped vegetables and a bacon topping. But it tastes special because the bacon is fried with garlic and a few aromatic spices in butter.

Carrots and courgettes (zucchini) are such simple and cheap vegetables, but I really love finding ways to make them seem new again. I chopped them into tiny pieces in my food processor, and made this little bacon topping to go with them. There's just enough butter to coat the vegetables very lightly; you may like a bit more butter or olive oil. I ate the whole lot for lunch one afternoon.

Girl Hunter by Georgia Pellegrini - and Turkey Meatballs with Gravy

Georgia Pellegrini's book, Girl Hunter, chronicles her journey to hunt her own meat. It was our Kitchen Reader book club pick this month, chosen by Julie of Savvy Eats. Pellegrini says that hunting helped her enjoy her food more because of "the pleasures of knowing what occurred on the journey from the field to the table". She eloquently describes the craft of hunting and preparing game meat. Her book covers many different (North American) hunted animals, including wild turkey, dove, partridge, elk, pheasant, duck, boar, and many more.

Beef Chilli

This is the dinner meal that is on rotation at my house more than any other. We eat it year-round; though I know some people who think chilli is a winter dish. Allow me to explain.

Almond and Orange Cake

Every time I try to eat an orange at breakfast it squirts into my eye. As a result, I have given up on oranges in the a.m. and I had a couple of leftover oranges in the fridge. Luckily, I found a new great use for oranges - make orange puree. I used the whole orange, skin and all.

Living Room Picnic

Anthony and I have a favourite dinner date place: our living room floor. Sometimes it's so nice to stay at home and enjoy each other's company than go out to a restaurant. We have a meal that has turned into a tradition: the living room picnic.

We spread out a blanket and lay out our finger foods. We usually choose some special cheeses, sliced meats, veggies, and some dip. Sometimes we eat focaccia, crackers, or hunks of fresh bread. I like olives and he likes hummus.

Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl

The New York Times newspaper restaurant critic has a lot of power since his or her reviews and star ratings are coveted by New York eateries. Garlic and Sapphires is Ruth Reichl's memoir of her time as the New York Times restaurant critic and it was our Kitchen Reader book this month, chosen by Marian of Spelt for Choice.

In an effort to write fair reviews of the restaurants she visited, Reichl resorted to disguises. As a result, this book is partly about food - and the food writing is sublime - and partly about Reichl's identity crisis as she dons the lives of her disguises.

Fried Egg Accompaniment?

Now that I try not to eat wheat, what should I eat with my fried eggs?

I have been trying to avoid wheat and sugar recently, as I have become convinced that these are things that our bodies, and mine in particular, are not meant to process. I've started reading some paleo and primal websites and blogs. (Have a look at Mark's Daily Apple for one example.) But now I need to think of some ways to replace bread at breakfast.