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Nana Cynthia’s Crepes
My Nana Cynthia gave this recipe to my sister Sammi when she was about 10; we wanted crepes, so Sammi called up Nana and copied down the recipe from her. We were all pretty amused to see that Sammi had spelled them ‘creaps.’ To my mind, paper-thin, hot crepes with lemon juice and icing sugar are both the only way to eat crepes, and they are the best treat in the world. But this crepe is a neutral base, and you can use it for sweet or savoury fillings. This recipe simultaneously reminds me of my Nana and my sisters as well as Paris, which I’ve visited in the Springtime…
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How Meeting Jordan Knight Changed My Life
On January 9, 2006, not long after I had put together my first rough design of Confessions of a Pop Culture Addict, I posted this sentence in my journal: Jordan Knight, of the New Kids on the Block, is playing The Red Dog in Peterborough on January 31. Tickets are $20. No, this isn’t a joke. I am so totally there. When I was 13 or so, miserable, the least-cool kid in the village where I grew up, I was a super-huge fan of Jordan Knight and the New Kids on the Block. I had the requisite t-shirt, the wall covered with photos carefully ripped from the pages of Tiger…
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Apple Pie
Easy-peasy, lovely and delicious, Apple Pie is the perfect thing for just about every day, if you feel like it. I know oldsters and orchard-owners will tell you all kinds of things about which apples make the best pie, but I’d say that MacIntoshes and Granny Smiths are the absolute best apples for pie making that are regularly available in most grocery stores (in Canada, anyway). I know other apples hold together better in the pie, but taste is my issue, not texture, and you can’t beat Macs and Grannies for perfect sweet-tartness. If you want a pie that tastes less like a straight-ahead old-fashioned version and more like candied…
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Baguettes
Baking bread can be really, really simple. Just let yourself give this recipe a shot – I never get really beautiful-looking baguettes out of this, but I do get delicious fresh bread straight from the oven. This recipe makes 4 loaves (you can freeze them and thaw them later if, like me, you don’t go through 4 loaves in a day or two – or they make really good French Toast, if they’ve gone a little stale). Ingredients 1 teaspoon dry active yeast 2 cups warm water 4-5 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons salt Directions Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Stir with a fork. Set aside for…
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Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
This cheesecake is the most dreamy, delicious cheesecake I’ve ever eaten – and I’m not a cheesecake person, so it takes a lot to tempt me. The water bath is the secret to a smooth, lovely texture, as it makes sure everything bakes evenly. This recipe is so simple, a beginner could easily handle it; don’t be intimidated by springform pans and all that; it really is the simplest thing possible. Ingredients 150 g Oreo cookie crumbs 75 g butter, melted 600 g cream cheese 150 g icing sugar 3 large eggs 3 large egg yolks 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice 250 g chocolate chips…
