Razor clams are perhaps the most perverted food I’ve seen at a market. Long and kind a phallic – the live mollusk wiggling and poking out of its shell. Open the shell up and surprise…the inside looks akin to a woman’s naughty bits. Innuendos, blushing brides and 40-year old virgins be damned – razor clams [...]

I’ve been in Greece almost two weeks and I must say that I’ve been enjoying the fish seafood wholeheartedly. While at my family’s summer home in Nea Kallikratia (Halkidiki) I head down for 1 swim 2 swims a day at a nearby beach that mostly families visit. Each year I see folks who have been [...]

Lobster is a splurge and each and every time I eat it…it’s special, a delight to eat and I savour each morsel. I use almost everything in the lobster, save the gills (which get discarded). Lobster is not cheap and you may as well squeeze out as much value as you can from this expensive [...]

One of the best, tastiest and “big show” ways to entertain family and friends is to host a seafood boil. A seafood boil is an informal meal where an array of seafood are boiled in a seasoned liquid and when cooked, the contents are simply laid out for all to pick and eat what they [...]

Sometimes I make a recipe that leaves me with some leftover store-bought phyllo and I can usually make some Baklava with the rest or Tyropitakia (cheese-filled phyllo triangles). The other alternative is to take some sheets of phyllo, cut them into triangles and roll some shrimp in them and fry them up! This idea is [...]

I have a confession: when I bought an ice cream machine last summer it was for the sole purpose of making this ice cream – baklava ice cream. Inspiration comes from many: I first saw this concept at Jenn The Leftover Queen’s. There’s George Calombaris’ take on it and then there’s my friend David Tsirekas’ [...]

You know I love fish and seafood and one of the tastiest fish has to be salmon. Canada boasts some of the best salmon in the world (both Atlantic and Pacific). Much of what we eat is farm-raised but wild salmon is also still sold and frankly, preferred. Salmon is sold whole, in steaks (with [...]

Just last month I was in Greece and even though I was there for a a mere 12 days, I squeezed in all the activities I could: seeing family and friends, visiting markets, trying out new eateries and…making new friends. One of the new friends I made was Vefa Alexiadou – the Julia Child of [...]

This dessert was inspired by Eton Mess, an easy concoction that’s usually made by whipping cream, incorporating crumbled Meringues and ripe strawberries (which are  the usual fruit). The Eton Mess was traditionally served at Eton College’s annually cricket game against Winchester College. Now this is where the dessert deviates. I’ve never been impressed with baked [...]

This dish instantly takes me back to Thessaloniki (and Greece) – just this past May. I stayed for about a week at my favourite uncle’s place, “Theo Mitso”. My uncle saved his drachmas, built a wonderful new home in the suburbs and surrounded the family with a lawn, gardens, olive  and varied fruit trees. In [...]