I have officially dubbed this TOMATO SALAD WITH TOASTED ALMONDS AND DATES the salad of the summer! My summer, at least. And maybe yours too, once you try it. This salad centers thickly sliced, juicy tomatoes, a big handful of baby arugula and an incredible toasted almonds and dates topping. It’s so good there is always inventory shrinkage before it gets to the salad.

This ROSÉ TTEOKBOKKI features chewy-tender rice cakes smothered in a rosé-coloured gochujang sauce that is the perfect balance of creamy, spicy, sweet and umami. Add bacon bits, melty cheese, soft boiled eggs and scallions. Need I say more?

This 20 MINUTE ONE-POT SCALLION NOODLE SOUP is an easy noodle meal with a tasty pork topping in a rich, peanut butter scallion soup that will have you slurping away in 20 minutes. It is basically an amalgamation of my dad’s scallion soup noodles and Dan Dan Mein. Or, two of my favourite noodle dishes in one! 

This GREEN BEANS WITH MISO BUTTER BRAISED ONIONS is side dish perfection. Onions are cooked until nearly melt-in-your-mouth in a simple but flavourful 3-ingredient braising liquid of butter, miso paste and water. To serve, the tender onions are served over green beans, under a blanket of the umami-rich, unctuous sauce.

This EASY ONE-POT CHINESE NOODLE SOUP is the answer when you need a nourishing and soul-soothing meal that requires hardly any cooking and is done in 20 minutes. Literally, the only skill needed is the ability to throw everything into a pot and boil them!

Ketchup hits so many of our taste senses: sweet, tangy, salty and umami. In Japanese SPAGHETTI NAPOLITAN (aka Japanese Ketchup Pasta), it is cooked with smokey bacon, earthy mushrooms, sweet bell peppers and onions in this unique pasta dish. Unique to the Western palate, I mean. This isn’t the ketchup pasta you might give a picky toddler and it certainly isn’t a pasta you’ll find at an Italian restaurant. I know it sounds sacrilegious but I’m telling you, don’t knock it til you try it!

This SIMPLE KALE AND SAUSAGE PASTA is a perfect back pocket recipe to make on busy weeknights, involving only 6 ingredients but always super tasty. My biggest tips for this dish is using quality sausages and taking the time to brown the tomato paste to max out its umami.

This easy and hearty TACO SALAD will be a hit with the whole family! If there’s one meal that will get the children and adults in your life (and yourself lol) to gobble down a huge pile of salad, THIS IS IT. Crispy lettuce, crunchy tortilla chips, hearty beef and beans and creamy ranch dressing…these flavours and textures play so well together in this addictive TACO SALAD.

This SPEEDY CHICKEN KATSU DINNER features juicy chicken cutlets served with freshly steamed rice, crunchy shredded cabbage dressed in a 5-minute sesame dressing, and sweet-tangy tonkatsu sauce. This is a meal I can throw together in 30 minutes!

This SHANGHAI “VEGETABLE RICE” is a simple comfort food of my childhood. It is the kind of humble home cooking that I love nd crave. The name of this recipe is a direct translation of its name in Chinese, 上海菜飯. Actually, the character 菜 (pronounced cài in Mandarin or choy in Cantonese) in this context refers specifically to leafy vegetables versus the broader definition of vegetables. Growing up, we simply called this “choy faan” or leafy vegetable rice.

This MUSHROOM AND EGG “GYUDON” JAPANESE RICE BOWL is an easy, healthy 30-minute meal perfect for weeknights. King mushrooms are an amazing swap-in for meat because of its inherent “meaty” texture and ability to soak in loads of flavour. My favourite way to prepare king mushrooms is hand-shredding into strips and sautéing them with a little bit of oil in a searing hot pan until they’re nice and brown on the edges. This technique brings out their flavour and make them satisfyingly “meaty”. If you haven’t tried this, you MUST. I highly recommend it 🤌

This EASY CHINESE TOMATO EGG NOODLES is a dish you should most definitely have in your weeknight arsenal. It’s so quick and easy to prepare, and satisfying to eat. Summer tomatoes are glorious in this tomato-forward dish. But honestly I make this all year round because it is such a no-fuss meal I can throw together in 15 minutes. We all need more of those, am I right?

The universe has not given canned Mackerel the love it deserves!

Mackerel has long been one of my go-to sushi choices. But as far as shopping in the canned fish aisle of the grocery store, I’m guilty of reaching for tuna most of the time, with sockeye salmon and sardine being my second and third choices. Why? Habit. Little did I know until now, canned mackerel is equally if not even more habit-forming. Case in point: these super simple and suuuper tasty Tartines with Mackerel and Refried Butter Beans are loved by my family and my foodie adult friends. The refried beans are creamy and savoury, and the mackerel fillets flakey and umami-packed. The parsley salad’s acidic and herbaceous freshness perfectly balances the other rich and creamy elements for a seriously delightful bite!

Considering how much this Apple and Tahini Frangipane Tart blew my socks off, it has taken me too long to post the recipe here! Imagine the flavors and textures of these layers: shatteringly flaky puff pastry, creamy decadent frangipane, sweet apple slices and crunchy almonds. Altogether, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

A pavlova always makes a grand impression. This PEACH + PASSIONFRUIT PAVLOVA is probably my all time favourite version of the dessert! The sublime combination of juicy peaches and tart-sweet passionfruit, billowy whipped cream and chewy-crisp meringue, is certain to make you swoon.

It's mid August which means Toronto is bursting with summer produce. Our local farmer's market is, to me, almost like a candy store to a child. Tables are piled high with an abundance of fresh and colorful fruits and vegetables hitting their peak. I am in heaven!  In particular, tomatoes are having their long-awaited moment in the sun, literally and figuratively. :) 

With the start of school and adieu to summer vacation, I begin to accept that Fall is just around the corner.  Every year when I spot the first copper-y dried leaf fallen on the sidewalk, I think of (lower your device's volume if you're at work haha) this old KFC commercial where the woman is screaming and pointing at something. The camera then turns to the sidewalk in front of her, showing a single fallen maple leaf on the ground with the voice-over saying "summer can't last forever".  She then bolts in the other direction.  I feel exactly the same way!  Does anyone else (Canadian) remember this one?  Best.  Commercial.  Ever.  My favorite. :)

Does the internet really need another 'spaghetti sauce' recipe? For a year and half since I started this blog, the answer to myself was consistently NO. Yet here it is.

Instead of seeing it as too pedestrian to be blog-worthy, I now see it as invariably delicious, nourishing and actually an excellent representation of what we eat hence what I like to bring to the blog. A ragù (an Italian term) is a sauce made with ground meat and vegetables usually used for pasta. This is my take on the ubiquitous dish. It is uncomplicated yet deliberate in ingredients to maximize both taste and nutrition. It is beloved in my universe (my family). It is tried, test and true.

This BRAISED RICE CAKES WITH NAPA CABBAGE, SHIITAKE AND PORK recipe is an easy one-pot meal that is also total comfort food. The magic happens in the final simmering when the starches released from the rice cakes combine with the liquid cooked out of the cabbage to create a velvety, luscious sauce. Utterly delicious and satisfying!

Today is the last day of August.  The hazy warm days of summer are still with us but there is no denying the trend of shorter days, fading summer blooms and a mounting dread of what is to come.

Winter is coming.  Pleck.

The only solace is the few months of Autumnal pleasures we get to enjoy before that, like pumpkin spice everything, over-the-knee suede boots, crisp cool days and good-bye to the summer bedtime debate with the children why they have to go to bed before Mr. Sun does.