Cure it yourself

Since my recent post on our fabulous Porknography dinner as part of the Rusholme Park Supper Club people have asking where they could find Guanciale.  The truth is I live in Corso Italia and I'll be damned if I can find it in any of our neighbourhood shops.  I think the easiest way to get your hands on some would be to cure it yourself.  But if you're having a hard time finding pork cheeks pancetta makes a great substitution.  Back in the early days of Folks Gotta Eat I did a series of posts on making pancetta at home.  Home-curing is seriously easy and I've been making my own pancetta on a regular basis ever since.  

Soup Sisters

Porknography

While Valentines Day itself was a bit of a low key affair around our house (it being a weeknight and all) I still wanted to do something special for the Hubs.  He puts up with a lot of crap from me and these hounds so he deserves nice things. Recently we've been more and more disinterested in buying stuff for each other.  We bought a small house on purpose - having a big house would just tempt me to fill it up with crap we don't need.  So our gift giving of late has focussed on more experiences we can share together.  These types of gifts are so much better, the wine tastings, knife skills classes and trips to festivals and the things we learn from them last far longer than a bottle of perfume or a sweater ever could.

Brown and Wild Rice Pilaf

Remember my pantry challenge?  It was super successful.  I got linked to by Tracy of Shutterbean herself and the Homefries blog and we got a lot of new readers and comments.  But then of course my somewhat naughty sounding title led to an onslaught of spammers of the X-rated kind.  Doh.  Anyway the pantry makeover was also successful in opening my eyes to all the good stuff I had right under my nose (and for pointing out some of my obsessive shopping habits but I digress).  I've since been dedicated to eating things in the pantry and I'm not allowing myself to buy anything new until I've checked to see what's in the pantry and if anything we've already got could be used instead.  For example if I want to make homemade Mac n' Cheese and we are out of elbow macaroni I am not allowed to go to the store when there is perfectly usable penne in the pantry.

Sweet treats for your Sweetheart

When I met the Hubs (for the record that would be on the internet back when internet dating was not something you told your mother lest she fear you were going to wind up wrapped in a tarp in an alley in your own very special episode of Law & Order SVU) I came home from our first date and my roommate asked me what he was like.  I hesitated and said he was very nice but I wasn't sure I could date someone so skinny.  Fast forward almost 9 years and I've fattened him up like an Easter Ham.  I guess the way to a man's heart is really through his stomach.  

Cold weather comfort

We've been having an unseasonably warm winter here in Toronto.  We've had a few smatterings of snow but nothing has stayed. It was a green January and I've only had to bust out my big parka a handful of times.  It's hard to deny climate change is a thing (that and the um science).  However this weekend right before Valentine's Day we finally got two dumps of snow that look like they are staying.  After taking the beagles for a winter wonderland walk and watching them make snow beagles (like snow angels but more adorable) I wanted to hole up and bang out some real comfort food.

Feel better granola