I think it’s true what they say: you can never go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate. It’s the combination that I consoled myself with after my first high school heartbreak (think a spoon in the jar and a sprinkling of chocolate chips) and the way we celebrated our marriage (think the best cheesecake [...]View Post →

  There’s nothing like homemade pizza—being able to choose exactly which ingredients you want on your pizza, adding just the right amount of cheese, cooking it until the crust is crispy or soft. Making your own sauce is just another way of personalizing your pizza. Sure, it’s easy to pick a can of pizza sauce [...]View Post →

When I was in my early twenties and my waistline could handle this sort of thing, I made daily trips to one of the many coffee houses in my hometown. You’d be hard-pressed to walk two blocks in Vancouver without finding some sort of specialty coffee store. Yes, we are a highly caffeinated, but friendly [...]View Post →

It's been a while since our first ice cream theme post, so we figured it was time for part deux. After all, July is National Ice Cream month, so I can justify a second ice cream post. Believe me, even if it weren't July, I'd find a reason. I'm the person who intentionally allows fruit to ever-so-slightly over-ripen just so I can say, "Oh, will you look at that. This poor mango might be too soft to cut up and enjoy. Let me just make some mango ice cream so it won't go to waste." I'm sneaky like that.View Post →

If there’s anything I love more than chocolate chip cookies, it’s meringue. And so when I saw The Church Cook’s recipe for Butterscotch Meringue Bars, I knew I had to give it a go! I’m blessed to know Kay in real life and let me tell you, she has a knack for creating mouthwatering dishes! [...]View Post →

Our garden has asparagus popping up all over the place this year. We didn’t plant them; in fact, they were planted by my grandmother in the 1970s and they are still showing up all these years later. For that reason, I will always love asparagus and am always looking for new ways to cook them. [...]View Post →

It is no secret that I have an obsession with cookies. We have over 100 cookie recipes on our food blog. I love baking, eating, and sharing cookies. They make me happy. I told myself I wasn’t going to bake any cookies this week because it is so hot outside. I didn’t want to turn [...]View Post →

Over the course of the summer, I typically receive five or six phone calls from friends inquiring about my well-being. Their voices fraught with concern, they ask, “How are you doing in this heat, Dara? You’re drinking lots of water, right?” After years of watching me practically melt in the summertime heat, they know better [...]View Post →