Maple Syrup Recipes for Canada Day

This post originally appeared in Persephone Magazine on July 1, 2011. Cross-posted with permission. 

Happy Canada Day, Readers! I'm a Canadian lady, so on this most Canadian of days I'm whipping out ALL THE PATRIOTISM! (And maple syrup.)

My recipes today come from Pierre & Janet Burton's Canadian Food Guide. (Non-Canadians: Pierre Burton was one of the most popular Canadian historians of all time. OF ALL TIME! If you don't believe me, just look at his Wikipedia page. You can't throw a microfiche reader in the Canadian history section of your library without hitting one of his books. And check out the majestic sideburns he had...)

See what I mean? Majestic!

Hiatus: Over

Dear Readers... In the immortal words of America in their 1975 hit song Sister Golden Hair:

I've been one poor correspondent

And I've been too, too hard to find

But it doesn't mean you ain't been on my mind

I know I've been inexcusably terrible about keeping up to date with this blog. But let me try to excuse myself anyway...

In the time since my last blog update I've broken my arm, had surgery on said arm, recovered from surgery, packed up all the things, moved to another city, and unpacked most of the things (still working on that one)... all the while continuing to write my regular food column for Persephone Magazine (shameless plug!) and attempting to have some semblance of a social life.

Anyway, I'm sorry. I'll endeavour to be a more faithful blogging-person, or whatever.  

Oh, and yesterday was exactly one year since I posted my first recipe! My Blog-iversary! Huzzah!

So, to recap:

• So sorry.
• Been busy.
• Will re-post my Persephone content more regularly.
• Plus bonus content.

Is it a deal? Do you love me again/still?

Zesty Egg Spread

This post was originally published on Valentine's Day in Persephone Magazine. Reprinted with permission.

This image is presented in Soap Opera Vision for the romance impaired.

Ah, Valentine's Day... a day when winged babies armed with bows and arrows are flying around in the sky, maiming people at will. Romance is in the air! But what to eat? There are many foods traditionally associated with pitching woo, but sometimes you want to try something new. Something zesty...

Carrot Carousel

This post was originally published in Persephone Magazine. Reprinted with permission.

Look upon my gelatin and tremble!

Anyone can prepare a delicious meal, but it takes a special sort of foolhardiness to cook and consume (and document!) food that you suspect will be hideous before you even start. Sometimes I find recipes (especially in my older cookbooks) that look so ill-advised that my curiosity gets the better of me and I need to try them. You know… for science!

Good News, Everyone!

I've been offered a chance to do a weekly column for Persephone Magazine (daily blog for bookish and clever women)!  I've been a reader/ commenter there since they launched, so I'm absolutely thrilled to be on their writing team.  Also, the weekly deadlines and more structured posting schedule will keep me writing steadily and counteract my natural tendency to procrastinate.  

So, I've got that going for me.  

I'll be posting a link to my article later, but if you are someone from Persephone who wandered over to this blog, I welcome you to look around.  Please feel free to leave comments or send me an email.  I love getting feedback!  If you're looking for a primer on what this blog is about, you can read my introduction here.

I have permission to crosspost my work, so whatever I post on Persephone should appear on my site later in the week.  Besides re-posts of my work for Persephone, I plan to put more bonus content (like vintage food ads and cookbook artwork) up on this site.  

Now, will one and all please rise and join me in a happy dance?

Bacon Roll Sunburst

"Here comes the sun (little darling)..."

Well, now.  What do we have here?  Could it be a recipe featuring that most magical of ingredients... BACON?

Metapost: This is why I can't have nice things!

You Guys! 
 
I've been a total slacker and I'm really, really, really sorry!  I've got (seriously!) 3 recipe posts lined up in my drafts folder that I just haven't been motivated to get my ass in gear and finish.  I never wanted to be one of those bloggers that only posts to say how horrible they feel for not posting more often, but... yeah.  

I'm a bit of a chronic procrastinator with a strong perfectionist streak.  I'll have a great idea, and I'll start something, but then I'll think, "Hmmm... this is good, but I could make it BETTER!"  But then I'll be a little bit unsure of how to actually make it better, and I'll delay my editing/ improvements, hoping for inspiration.  And the longer I drag it out, the better I feel the end product needs to be in order to justify the delay, and the draft folder ends up making me feel anxious and guilty every time I see it, like a wilting and neglected houseplant.

Anyhow, I've done all my Christmas shopping, work is lighter this week, and I'm all out of excuses.  I want to try to post all three of my recipes at some point this week. And then next week, hopefully, I will be an Actual Blogging Dynamo and post a few humorous pictures from my Collection O' Cookbooks.  That's the plan.

For those of you that have been patient enough to keep checking in, in spite of my various neuroses, thank you.  I'm trying to improve.

PS-  The very observant among you may notice I've been tinkering with some of the fonts and layouts. (You know, instead of actually completing a post.)  What do you think?