Hungry Times Two

Little did I know when I eagerly applied to take part in The Bitten Word' s Cover to Cover challenge that the task would be so...explosive. Learn all about it and my little mishap with Bon Appetit' s Brussels Sprouts Kimchi in their latest post, Cover to Cover 2013: Sides Dishes and Condiments. I'd follow the recommendation by the first blogger featured in the roundup and also slice the sprouts thin. Halves just don't cut it -- you wind up with big crunchy bites of spicy brassicas that find a way to kick your ass later too, if you know what I mean. (Ugh, I felt the need to leave that out of my submission, probably better for it, right?) I cook a LOT from BA these days. Their restaurant features are a bit too " so hot right now " but the recipes are usually right on the mark of challenging enough to be interesting but not so much that I can't find the ingredients or the tools to try them. And lots of vegetables usually, since that's a big goa...

Looking for something different to snack on? Need a break from that cheese tray or chips & dip rut? C'mon, you're better than that. Check out my guest blog post on We The Eaters for a lovely Italian pickled Giardiniera. It's a simple pickle featuring carrots, cauliflower and red peppers, but with enough zing to tell your taste buds to get happy. You know you need to eat more vegetables. So get canning!

Last week I went a bit bonkers for anything a mason jar can contain. Perhaps it's my participation in Bitten Word' s Cover to Cover '13 (they're cooking the entire September issue of Bon Appetit , y'all), or because We The Eaters invited me to share a post for their canning challenges. I just decided I needed some can-therapy, and put my stash of jars to good use on Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday.

Hard to believe three weeks passed since my trip to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. Time flies by, but luckily I have the photos to remember a lovely trip with my Mother Margaret. (I have a hard time typing "Mom," ok? I may call her "Mom" but really, she's totally a Mother Margaret. Below is the image to prove this.) Nova Scotia blew me away with its food offerings, from the fresh seafood (I tried nearly everything that has gills or a shell) to the fresh produce. Mom and I flew in to Halifax, and spent six days toodling around in a rented Toyota Corolla. We put some miles on that economy car, as we went up the eastern coast, then around Cape Breton counterclockwise on the Cabot Trail, down the Ceilidh trail on the western side, took a ferry to Price Edward, and roamed from Charlottetown to Cavendish, and then back over on the ferry back down to the Halifax airport.