One morning my husband and I are having breakfast in a booth at the coffee shop of the Radisson Hotel in downtown Prince George. I’m nursing our three-month-old baby daughter. Little Jessie has what you might call healthy survival instincts, but not necessarily the daintiest of table manners. I’m trying to be as inconspicuous as… Read more »
It seems strange to say so now, but growing up in small town Southern Alberta in the 1970s and coming from a family of German and Norwegian heritage, there was a time for me when authentic Italian cooking was something that seemed indescribably exotic. I still remember going for dinner at the home of my… Read more »
I do not adapt easily to gender stereotypes. During my years of living the single life, I was not one of those women, who for instance, follow a dating strategy of preparing elaborate romantic meals to impress potential partners. No, I was not one of those women, despite the fact that I love good food…. Read more »
My husband and I have a system worked out with our daughter, who is in grade two. Each day, one of us either bicycles or walks the six kilometres from our home to her French immersion elementary school. Six kilometres twice a day, when you’re seven years old, that is a pretty fair amount of… Read more »
Forgiveness is something we all grapple with in one way or another. The U.S. songwriter Howard Dietz (1896-1983) surmised in 1953, “all the world is a stage,” to which I would supplement that one or more of life’s stock characters – the abusive parent, the backstabbing co-worker, the gossiping friend, the bullying boss or the… Read more »
Firstly, part of my gradual maturing process as an individual is learning how to admit when I’m wrong, so here it goes… In a column a couple of weeks ago, I took a pretty sniffy attitude towards those people who have a keen appreciation for high quality wines. Quoting the cheeky and sardonic American writer… Read more »
I generally don’t give a lot of credence to people who are always talking about the “good old days,” when children were supposedly more respectful, and life in general was seen as somehow better and safer. In my experience, that kind nostalgic nonsense is usually just a mask for some sort of narrow-mindedness, or a… Read more »
As much as I enjoy a good glass of red wine every once in a while, the idea of spending more than ten or twelve dollars on a bottle of vino is something that very rarely occurs to me. Despite what the movie Sideways and my wine snob acquaintances have to say, I agree with… Read more »
Once every month or so, on a Saturday morning, my daughter Jessie and I get up early and head off to Commercial Drive for coffee, orange juice and a shared Spanish Omelette with Portuguese sausage at The Havana Restaurant. The Drive, as it’s known, is Vancouver’s funkiest street; a vibrant, truly multicultural neighbourhood filled with… Read more »
There’s a common misperception out there that it is cheaper and easier to eat crappy, mass produced supermarket foods than to eat high quality, hand-prepared meals with fresh top-quality ingredients. Kraft dinner and wieners may not excite the taste buds very much, but after a long day’s work and with several more meals to go… Read more »