When it comes to making decisions I listen to my heart.

When I was offered a week off work and knew my mother was in Ontario visiting my grandparents, I made a quick decision to fly down that weekend.

Also listening to my heart, I asked John to come with me.

Money can’t buy love, but it can buy plane tickets, and I can’t say no to adventure.

I miss my mother every day and I miss visiting my grandparents on the weekends like I did when I lived in Ontario.  I wanted John to be able to come along so he could meet them and share the adventure with me.

We left Vancouver on Sunday before the sun came out arrived to the hot heat of Toronto on Sunday afternoon.

My beautiful aunt and uncle met us at the airport and drove down with us to my grandparents’ place in Port Hope for a big family dinner.

The big surprise was on my grandmother.  While everyone else knew we were coming, she had no idea.

When we pulled up to the house my mom- looking as young and radiant as ever- ran up and hugged me and then snuck me through the kitchen to the back porch where my grandmother was.

“What are you doing here?!” She screamed and laughed, beaming.

My mother popped open some Prosecco and we clinked glasses with my uncle Biran and his wife Jane, my aunt Gael and uncle Larry and John.

I immediately got going in the kitchen to help throw the night’s feast together.

In the end, everyone was having such a good time that they stayed the night so that they could enjoy one more glass of wine and another few hours of good conversation.

Over the next few days we sat out on the patio, went down to the beach, strolled though town, cooked some great meals and relished all of our time together.

Before my mother left we had a day out in the city together where we hit up the shops, ate a leisurely Italian lunch on a sunny patio and battled the hot summer heat.

When I hugged her goodbye and she slipped away to the subway, I got the same sinking feeling I always do. I comforted myself by remembering that distance has never stopped us from seeing each other before.

John and I spent our last night in Toronto and had fun roaming the great shopping street of Queen Street West before flying out. With his saintly patience I tried on a million things and happily snagged a great pair of super model heels and a knockout dress.

We left the heat of Toronto that afternoon, landing in a snowy Alberta before eventually landing in a cold rainy Vancouver.

It was a quick trip, and I although I could always use more time with my mom, my heart is fuller and my mind is more at ease after having put my arms around her.

Something tells me it won’t be long before we find an excuse to see each other again.

Enjoying a sunny patio at lunch


My grandparents enjoying some fish and chips at the beach

Taking the train from Port Hope to Toronto



Toronto streetcar heat


Leaving Toronto with lots of love and a bag of goodies

The summer sun is coloring the city golden.

I grew up here and always adored the summer months.  Seeing and feeling the sun again makes me nostalgic.

I remember going down to the beach with my family and getting dinner from the burger shack before spending hours running around and climbing on anything I could find.  I remember walking to school with my mother and singing songs as we went.  I remember making my grandmother dirt soups in tin cans in our garden and her gratefully accepting (years later I made her some delicious scones to make up for it).

I had an incredible childhood filled with love, adventure, education and open mindedness.

I grew up with an amazing family and think of all of them as my closest friends.

I’m so happy that today my life continues to be filled with love, and that I have someone I feel totally at home with.

Sweet sun, baby keep on shining, I want to keep building more beautiful memories every day.

Looking back on childhood photos…

Long days at the office and a lack of sun have left my skin begging for more.

So to continue with my edible beauty adventure I tried out an avocado face mask for a little extra glow.

Avocados are high in vitamins A & C, potassium, protein, iron and natural emollients and I’m always trying to find a way to sneak them into my diet. The other night, I snuck them into my beauty routine.

I simply blended avocado, egg white and lemon juice in my blender and slathered it on my face.

After successfully pumping some life back into my skin with this natural treatment, I wanted something delicious for my taste buds as well.

With the weather getting warmer I’m feeling an extra need to hydrate and constantly craving cold refreshing drinks.

The other night I broke and bought a Vitamin water from the drugstore. I was pretty disappointed with the fake taste and was left wanting something more natural and rich in flavor, so I came up with this tasty beauty boosting cranberry lemon ginger cocktail.

Cranberry juice and ginger are great for cleaning out toxins, and lemons are great for digestion- the key to beautiful skin.

For my cocktail I blended pure cranberry concentrate with chopped ginger, a freshly squeezed lemon, water, a sprinkle of stevia and a drizzle of natural vanilla extract.

This was better than any bottled juice or soda I’ve ever had. Sweet, refreshing and completely thirst quenching, I’m looking forward to experimenting with this recipe all summer long.

Who knew beauty could taste so good?

I’m happy to announce that I’ll be writing monthly column called Beauty Starts at Home for Delish, a sassy online magazine coming out in a week!

Last week I was testing out dry shampoos and this week I am trying out some all natural home made skin care treatments.

As much as I love beauty products, these days I’m much more likely to be found in a gourmet food store than Sephora.  I love the idea of being able to make myself gorgeous by throwing some fresh ingredients that I can lick off my face if I choose to.

Being the oily skinned gal I am, I decided to test out a honey and apple face mask after a long day at work.

Here’s a step by step sneak peak into how my first attempt at beauty at home turned out…

STEP ONE: I grated half an apple and added 4 tbsp of honey.

STEP TWO: I admired how the concoction looked very out of place, yet suspiciously delicious, on my make-up counter

STEP THREE: I admired my oily reflection in the mirror and prayed for the best.

STEP FOUR: I realized I probably should have grated the apple MUCH finer than I did, but made the most of it and used my large nose to hold on to most of the apple and rubbed the rest into my cheeks, forehead and chin.


STEP FIVE: I left the mask on for 10 minutes, then rinsed with warm water to discover some baby soft skin under all of that sticky honey.

THE VERDICT? I think from now on I’ll only use face products I can eat afterwards.  I loved how natural this was, how delicious it smelt, how good my skin felt afterwards and the fact that I plan on using the other half of that apple in some apple and honey oatmeal tomorrow morning!

There is nothing I would love more than to take my mother out for lunch today.  To get pedicures, go for a walk, and then cook her a nice meal at home.

It is hard having her live so far away from me now.  I miss her laugh, meeting her in the kitchen at two in the morning, eating popcorn and watching chick flicks, cooking her dinner and talking about everything that comes to mind.

She is a wonderful mother and so much more.  She’s a great friend, a mentor, a brilliant writer, a fantastic dancer, and she has a great eye for making things beautiful.

I have always admired my mother’s beauty.  She loves to drape herself in beautiful fabrics, wear long dresses and dangling earrings.  She is effortlessly beautiful as she walks down the street, a notebook in her purse, her long jacket skimming the ground and her hair clipped back from her face.

I love that she can wake up early and write for hours.  I love that she enjoys good food and wine.  I love that she is an amazing cook but that she doesn’t care for it and is happy eating a bowl of boiled potatoes for dinner.  I love that she would rather paint walls, move furniture and re-design a house by herself than ask for anyone to help her.

She’s strong, smart and extremely sassy.  She is always warm.  She is more fun at a party than I am.  She can quote poetry whenever she likes.

She is my mother and I love her.  Not just for being my mother, but for being the phenomenal woman that she is.

Happy Mother’s Day maman.

I have been busy, busy, busy.

But never too busy to bake.

After working a lot of long days I wanted to bring it a bit of sunshine to work, so I whipped up some pineapple zucchini muffins and they were a huge hit.

These muffins were light, moist and the perfect morning snack.

This recipe makes either 24 muffins, 2 loaves, or 12 muffins and 1 loaf like I made. The loaf was possibly even more delicious and I would make this again with more pineapple chunks!

When I arrived at The Dirty Apron cooking school I knew I was in for a treat.

The school was opened by the owners of two restaurants up the street and has the same modern flair and exquisite taste.

I’ve been dying to go since they opened.

I love cooking classes ever since I got hooked in taking the lunch time classes in Paris.

When I saw a well-priced class at The Dirty Apron to make a warm salade nicoise, my favorite dish of all time, I booked immediately.

My wonderful friend Heather from work decided to join me, and we slipped on our clean Dirty Apron aprons without hesitation.

The demonstration by chef David Robertson was fun and educational.  Who knew fleur de sel brought the moistures into a roast while regular salt draws moisture out?  I’ll be breaking out the fleur de sel for basting my chicken in from now on!

For our salade nicoise we coated a great slab of tuna with a light panko crumb and lime zest batter.

Next we made a simple vinaigrette then pan seared our potatoes, green beans, shallots, tomatoes, olives and pine nuts.

On a high heat we seared our beautiful hunks of tuna before slicing them sideways (not as gracefully as the chef) and plating them delicately over the other ingredients and sprinkling them with chives.

Being the spicy gal I am, I added some of the French spicy chili powder to finish off the dish.

We ate in naturally-lit dining room with beautiful linens.  A woman came around and filled our wine glasses and we clinked glasses with the two women seated across from us.

The verdict?  The meal was warm, comforting, perfectly crispy…I couldn’t stop smiling.  ”This meal makes me so happy,” I kept whispering to Heather between bites.

It was a dressed up version of my favorite comfort food salad, and damn it looked and tasted great all dolled up.

The only thing that stopped me from cleaning my plate was dessert.  As soon as my lunch plate was removed, a perfectly poached pair drizzled in dark chocolate and sitting in a raspberry coulis was placed in front of me.

Heather is gluten-free and I’m no good with dairy, so this dessert was prepared especially for us in place of the chocolate cake.  I have never wanted cake less- this dessert was light and at the same time decadent, the perfect way to finish a meal.

After wiping our chins we explored the cooking shop where I bought a few tiny ramekins to use for butter and sauces, and wanted to buy much more.

All in all it was the perfect lunch and a great experience.  Everyone was exceptionally nice, the woman at the counter even wanted to join us for our manicures that we had planned for after the class.

I would love to come back to the school soon and the classes will definitely be going on my wish list from now on.

If anyone wants to give a fabulous gift to me one day, I will thank you with a great home cooked meal!

Our ingredients ready for us

Warming up the base of the salad
Warm salade nicoise

The elegant dining room
Heather and I ready to enjoy our dishes

Poached pear dripped in chocolate for dessert