NEAROF

Lactose and me, we don’t see eye to eye. Milk has always caused me tummy trouble, and I mostly gave up on it until I discovered pre-treated Lactaid milk. Finally, I could eat bowls of cereal and make lattes at home again without my stomach rebelling. I recently decided to switch to organic milk at [...]

Not too long ago, sweet potato fries were the sort of oddball dish you’d only find at a funky neighbourhood restaurant, the kind of place decked out in retro diner decor and frequented by booth after booth of insufferable hipsters. It’s only within the last two or three years that sweet potato fries popped up [...]

Three factors influenced my trying a handful of Tassimo products in the past year. Canadian winters are cold, and fetching coffee outside isn’t fun in -25 C weather. I work strange hours, and most of the cafes near my office close early, making it a pain to grab a hot drink during the second half [...]

I’m not exactly a vegetarian, but I don’t eat a lot of meat. I also happen to like sandwiches, which means I sometimes struggle with what to put in them. Simple sandwiches with mustard, cheese and deli meats aren’t much of an option if I’m not big on meat, but I can’t help my cravings. [...]

Frothing milk with an espresso machine’s steaming wand is not particularly difficult, once you get the hang of it. It is, however, messy. There’s a wand to clean, a steaming pitcher to take care of, etc. If I’ve got friends over, or if I’m in the mood for a tasty cappuccino, sure, it’s more than [...]

Passion fruit isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I think of jam from Canada. Raspberry, yes. Ditto for strawberry, blackberry, blueberry and peach. Those are the grocery store standards. If you’re lucky, maybe some homemade crabapple jelly from your creative neighbour’s fall canning marathon. But passion fruit? Why, that’s about as Canadian [...]

If you haven’t already noticed, I drink a fair bit of soy milk. I got into the habit a few years ago after I started thinking about nutrition and calcium and all those things that are supposed to matter to grown ups. And yet, the taste of regular soy milk turns me off — I [...]

I picked up the Red River Cereal habit as a kid living in Winnipeg. It’s sort of like oatmeal porridge, but with a mix of different grains standing in for the oats. The ingredient list couldn’t be simpler: Cracked wheat, cracked rye, flax (cracked and whole). That’s it. Preparation is just as simple. Put water [...]