NEAROF

Near as our calendar app can tell us, it’s Christmas Eve. That means it’s time to hunker down in front of the fireplace, snuggle up with your special someone, and enjoy a warm mug of spiced apple cider. This recipe, from the lovely Aline, is easy to make, and the aroma fills a house with [...]

It’s that time of year again, isn’t it? It’s hard to believe this is the third annual NEAROF! gift guide. Every year, it’s getting harder to write this thing, probably because I’ve included all sorts of great stuff in prior years. Be sure to check out the 2010 guide, as well as the 2011 guide. [...]

Goodie! It’s that time of year again when a few hundred square feet of every grocery store becomes a temporary enclave of Christmas snacks, full of icy squares, Turtles and Toblerone bars the size of fence posts. I can’t say I’ve ever tried to find peanut brittle outside of the holiday season, so I’m not [...]

Wait, what? Since when has Ocean Spray been making chocolate-covered Craisins? Why did nobody tell me? I only recently found these in the produce section at several grocery stores in Calgary, in the spots where you’d normally find regular Craisins – look for salad toppings, croutons, etc. In case you’re unfamiliar with Craisins, they’re essentially [...]

After last year’s lacklustre taste-test of So Nice’s dairy-free Noel Nog, I figured my chances of finding a decent soy-based eggnog alternative were slim to none. After all, how many alternative nogs can there possibly be? The soy nog market must be small, and – pardon my generalisation – when it comes to products that [...]

A lot of people hate corn syrup for a lot of different reasons. For an overview, watch King Corn, a recent documentary that’s both interesting and mildly shocking. While it’s hard to eliminate all corn syrup from your life, there are a few easy fixes. Giving up most corn-syrup-sweetened soft drinks, say. Goodbye, too, to [...]

A nice, hot cup of mint hot chocolate really hits the spot around this time of year. I’ve talked about the Candy Cane Hot Chocolate at Tim Hortons before, but I find it way too sweet for regular consumption. This Chocolate Mint Hot Chocolate mix from Second Cup, on the other hand, allows me to [...]

I did one of these Christmas gift lists last year, and I had fun doing it, so why not give it another go. Don’t be surprised if you spot items that seem vaguely similar to things from the 2010 list. BOOKS Larousse Gastronomique: I’ve been meaning to get a copy of this for years. Not [...]