I have a love hate relationship with sourdough. Freshly made, warm sourdough is wonderful but for a non-baker, it also represents a ton of work, prep and uncertainty — it’s over a day before I know if all that hard work came out right or not.

That being said, it’s pretty awesome when it does come together. I’ve been slowly trying to collate my notes and document the steps and conditions and I think I’ve got to a ‘checkpoint’ where I can bake a somewhat predictable loaf.

I went down the rabbit hole of making cheese ciabatta buns and then all the wonderful sandwiches that can follow. For me, I found ciabatta to be far less stressful and far more repeatable than something like sourdough. And ciabatta sandwiches definitely are a lunchtime highlight for me!

A really tasty soup that pairs well with a lot of main courses but with an awesome secret: you can totally used canned pumpkin for this to make it super easy.

I stumbled upon Wicked Thai soup as a wine-pairing during an icewine festival. Unfortunately (for icewine sales), I was far more interested in the soup rather than the icewine. I tried a few variations of this soup and they are all wonderful and belly-warming in the winter!

Every time I’ve made these fries, it’s been a total hit: they have just the right amount of outer-crunchiness vs inner-softness. It’s definitely a bit more work than throwing some frozen fries in the oven but one thing is for sure: once you go down the path of making fries like this, you won’t be able to go back!

A super easy dessert that really follows the ‘set it and forget it’ school of thinking, this berry flognarde is a hoot to introduce to guests purely on its name alone. Most will do a double-take on the name and some might even proclaim that you are pulling their leg.

Everything about the pork wellington feels off — the steps are fairly straightforward, ingredients list is simple (and much cheaper than the mighty beef wellington!) and it’s still a crowd-pleaser.

Tonkotsu ramen was always a dish I wanted to try out but I was afraid it was going to be super-involved, super-intricate and require a lot of ‘hands on’ work. Turns out I was wrong and there’s actually a lot of waiting around. Which is great as it makes this so much more approachable.

Unless I’m in a specific mood for it, I’m generally not a fan of super sticky/saucy wings. Even when I’m in the mood for sauce, I’ve never been a fan of the sauce packets - so this was a first attempt at trying something slightly saucy and a step up from sauce packets.

Made using leftover lobster shells, this soup is rich, creamy and might taste more like lobster than lobster. The best part is that lobster shells are very affordable and most of the effort involved in this recipe is sitting around a simmering pan.

If you're a fan of bread, cheese and butter (let's be honest - who doesn’t?) check out this easy to bake loaf! Having a mixer is convenient but totally not necessary -- I made this for years mixing by hand: this is a super beginner friendly bread to make and is great for munching, as a potluck or as a gift. As you get more comfortable, there's a lot of experimenting you can do to make this loaf your own!