Mother’s Day Ideas
Consider getting Mom a great BC cookbook and preparing something special for her:
Simply Love: A Family Cookbook by Vancouver writer Ginny Love.
Simplicity is the latest buzz-word in the culinary world. Forget exotic ingredients, elaborate preparation, elegant plating: the trend now is for healthy, delicious food, prepared and served with a minimum of fuss. Ginny Love cooks this way naturally. A busy mother of four herself, with a background in catering and running a restaurant, she has developed recipes and methods for making food preparation simple.
Apples Under The Bed: Recollections and Recipes from B.C. Writers and Artists, edited by Joan Coldwell.
This collection of original essays by B.C. writers and artists throws light on little-known aspects of their lives and creativity. Invited to reflect on how and when they learnt to cook, the authors responded in a variety of styles, some comic, some moving, all illuminating. It includes recipes remembered from earlier times and far-flung places, from Scotland to India, from northern B.C. to war-time England, from Armenia to the prairies, from Finland to eastern Canada and the U.S. Among the thirty contributors are Pat Martin Bates, Shushan Egoyan, Bill Gaston, Pauline Holdstock, Catherine Jameson, Don McKay, P.K. Page, Briony Penn, Manish Om Prakash, Carole Sabiston, Phyllis Serota, Fred Wah and Rachel Wyatt. With full-colour illustrations from the artists, the book is a unique compendium of art, memoirs and cookery.
Special Cookbook by Mary Patterson & Illustrated by Shawn Shepherd
Special cookbook combines an assortment of splendid recipes assembled by chef Mary Patterson with 19 colour reproductions of still life paintings by artist Shawn Shepherd. Mary who has previously worked at Bishop’s and Rebar Modern Foods, shares a delightful collection of seasonal recipes, food related quotes, and lore. Mary and Shawn came into the store several years ago and I noticed Mary looking at a display of BC cookbooks at the front of the store. I asked if I could bring any out for her and she told me that she had a recipe in all but a few of them. I told her that I’d like to have her cookbook at Plenty and Shawn reached into his briefcase and pulled out the draft for this great collaboration of culinary art.
Fabulous Fairholme Breakfast & Brunches
There is nothing better than a lazy Sunday brunch… unless it’s a lazy Sunday brunch at the Fairholme Manor Inn, here in Victoria. In Fabulous Fairholme: Breakfasts and Brunches, Sylvia Main, Fairholme’s owner, helps recreate the magic of the inn’s breakfasts and brunches.
Fabulous Fairholme reflects the elegant hospitality guests enjoy while staying at the inn, while providing readers with practical tips to capture the flavors of Fairholme. Recipes for dishes such as the following are decadent, yet simple, straightforward and perfect for a Mother’s Day brunch:
Baked raspberry French toast
Fairholme’s eggs benedict
Lemon ricotta pancakes
Zucchini and oregano frittata
Sweet marscarpone and strawberry lemon turnover
Poppy seed bread cups with scrambled eggs.