Chopped Canada, Season Two, Episode 10: Chicken Hotdog Casserole?

Also known as “student casserole,” this dish traditionally consists of ketchup, hotdogs, bad cheese and pasta.  However, to make it just a bit “fancier,” (as if student food can be fancy – LOL!), I’m going to toss in a few other items, all in the appetizer basket of a recent episode of Chopped Canada.  These […]

Dolce and Gabbana, Elton John and #boycottdolcegabbana

I still can’t believe the Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana made such an awful comment.  And yes, Elton John and all the other celebrities are correct criticizing.  Synthetic babies?  Really?  I realize that since English isn’t their first language, that there might have been some things lost in translation, but still, that’s how they feel.  […]

Chopped Canada Season 2, Episode 9: Stilton Egg Roll Salad?

What do you do with stilton cheese and egg rolls?  With watercress also in the basket, along with chestnut flour, you make some sort of salad, of course!  This week, I’ve decided to use the ingredients from the first course to create some imaginary dish that I may or may not eventually make in real […]

Chopped Canada Season 2, Episode 7: Frog’s Legs Wraps with Thumbprint Cookie Jam Dip

On last week’s episode of Chopped Canada, the appetizer ingredients included ingredients such as frogs legs, thumbprint cookies and romaine.  The main course required chefs to use cherry cheesecake and T-bone steak while dessert had paneer and elderflower liqueur in the basket.  They were all kind of throw-offs!  Though I considered getting a bit creative […]

Palm Springs: A Mecca for Mid-century Modernism and Mad Men

The premiere date for the final episodes of Mad Men has been set (April 5, mark your calendars) and fans of the show are already lamenting the end of what is widely considered to be the greatest series in the history of television. With its nuanced performances, outlandish plot twists and colourful wardrobe, this period […]

Chopped Canada Season 2, Episode 7: Curried Turducken Poutine?

Besides turducken, which was for the main course, other ingredients included hamburger pasta dinner (e.g. Hamburger Helper (yuck!!)) and perch for the appetizer and crystalized ginger and fiddleheads in the dessert round.  Again, I’ll be focusing on the main course this week (I don’t know why I gravitate towards that!). Purple potatoes Besides turducken, other […]

Some Oscar 2015 Highlights: Feminist Rants, Lady Gaga and Birdman’s Win

Equal Pay Rant and Being Relevant: Patricia Arquette at the SAG Awards in January Patricia Arquette’s rant about equal pay is still buzzing around the internet, with most people applauding her speech.  And while I agree with Ms. Arquette that equal pay for equal work (even if the definition of “equal work” is highly debatable) […]

Chopped Canada Season 2, Episode Six: Lime Pickle and Tropical Fish

Ingredients for episode six included tuna steaks and french fries for the main and Royal Gala apples in the dessert round.  For this week, I will concentrate on the mystery basket in the main course.  In addition to the fries and tuna, the remaining two ingredients were lime pickle and pina colada mix.  This is […]

Chopped Canada Season Two, Episode 5: To the Sea and Beavertail Pastries

The fifth episode has the most challenging mystery ingredients to date, all picked by viewers through social media.  From prairie oysters to blueberry compote to Peking duck and gefilte fish (no, not all in the same basket), it was definitely…different.  For this week, the main course basket, containing gefilte fish (a white fish often served […]

Now’s The Time: Jean-Michel Basquiat Retrospective at the AGO

By the age of just 20, street graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat had already taken the New York art scene by storm. This was the early 1980s and it must have helped that he had made friends with Andy Warhol and other pop-culture artists of the day (Madonna, Blondie). But Basquiat was a ground-breaking artist on […]