Holiday and Hosting

Crisp on the outside and marshmallowy inside, meringue pairs with rich mascarpone cream and fresh, juicy fruit in perfect balance of textures and flavours. Pavlova always lands well, whether you make one large centrepiece or a batch of minis like these.

Crisp, nutty meringue layered with praline pastry cream and dark chocolate ganache — this intensely rich and indulgent dessert is like a refined chocolate bar in cake form!

Soft and chewy marshmallow nougat studded with add-ins like biscuits or cookies, freeze-dried or dried fruits, matcha or nuts — every combo yields a chewy yet lightly crisp bite that will have you reaching for just one more.

A luxurious stew with plump shrimp, briny clams, tender white fish and morsels of sweet lump crab meat simmered in a deeply flavourful tomato and wine broth. You’d be surprised how simple this dish is to make at home.

White chocolate and cherries make a delightful pairing, coming together in this twist of a familiar Italian classic. Think, billowy white chocolate mascarpone cream meets a bright cherry compote meets the aromatic bitter notes of coffee-soaked lady fingers. Sublime!

Every bite of this one-layer lasagna is loaded with hearty tomato meat sauce, melty cheese and crispy, golden edges that everyone loves. And without the tedious layering, this is so much faster and easier to make. It’s a definite win-win.

Charred cabbage wedges topped with creamy miso mushrooms make a luxurious and flavourful vegetable dish. The cabbage turns tender with deeply browned edges while the mushrooms soak in a rich, umami sauce. This is anything but a mere side kick on the dinner table!

A French beef stew made with red wine, tender beef, mushrooms and carrots in a rich and glossy sauce. It is comfort and decadence in every bite. Serve with mashed potatoes, egg noodles or crusty bread.

This Dill Pickle Bacon Pasta Salad is a flavour-packed summer main or anytime side dish — combining crunchy dill pickles, smokey bacon bits and a creamy pickle brine dressing tossed with tender pasta. It’s always a winner with my people and at every gathering!

Basil (and parsley) crepes rolled around creamy, herby Boursin with pops of briny ikura on top, these are beautiful savoury bites to serve for an elevated brunch or party appetizer, just in time to celebrate the warmer season ahead.

This Confit Garlic and Scallion Dip is a creamy, savoury dip that combines the rich, mellow sweetness of confit garlic with the bright punchiness of scallions. It’s the kind of thing that has everyone digging in and then asking you for the recipe.

All the vibes of a classic sweet potato casserole presented in irresistible mini stacks with a crumby streusel topping and lots of caramelized edges (aka the best part of roasted sweet potatoes)!

Pommes Anna (or Potato Anna) is a classic French dish of buttery sliced potatoes stacked into a cake-like form that is baked until tender on the inside and crisp on the edges. The signature presentation of a Pommes Anna is flipped over onto a serving dish where the golden brown bottom becomes the top. You must have a really good non-stick pan or a really well-seasoned cast iron pan to pull it off. Do practice this dish before serving it to guests at a dinner party. Once you can comfortably pull this off, it is a rather satisfying culinary triumph!

This BROWN BUTTER APPLE STREUSEL CAKE is tender, brown buttery, and apple-forward thanks to the generous chunks of apples in the batter. It is essentially a classic French Apple Cake where melted butter is replaced with nutty brown butter, and topped with a chunky almond streusel topping. Because if there are two truths I believe in, is that brown butter and streusel are always good ideas!

These Crispy Potato Stacks with Garlic Herb Butter come out of the oven with ruffle-y, crispy edges around a tender and creamy centre. They are the perfect side dish for the holidays or for hosting dinner guests you really want to impress.

Crisp meringue topped with billowy whipped cream and macerated strawberries creates a sublime trifecta of sweet, tart and texture. This Strawberries and Cream Pavlova is always a show-stopping favourite whenever I serve it!

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.

These are the easiest spring rolls you will ever make! No filling to prepare and cool before assembling, these Easy Shrimp Spring Rolls are inspired by one of my must-get dim sum items — but simplified. Golden and crunchy exterior with a succulent bite of shrimp inside, you won't be able to stop at one or two or three!

MOUCLADE is a divine dish of steamed mussels in a mild saffron curry cream sauce kissed with cognac. It originated from La Rochelle in south western France and is my favourite way to enjoy fresh mussels! In my version, it is a bit lighter (and almost dairy-free) by using oat milk instead of the traditional heavy cream. Lighter, but ever so luscious and flavourful. A fresh, crusty baguette is a must for sopping up all the saucy goodness.

These SHANGHAI SPRING ROLLS are exactly the kind I grew up eating so they are, hands down, my favourite type of spring rolls! My paternal Shanghainese grandmother used to make it and my dad makes it. We usually make a big pot of simple meatless congee to go with it for a weekend lunch everybody looks forward to!

A light and airy dessert featuring a spongy meringue rolled around whipped cream kissed with honey and orange blossom water, dribbles of luscious mandarin curd, and fresh juicy mandarin segments. The only word to describe it is sublime.

Shatteringly flaky puff pastry, rich decadent tahini frangipane, sweet apple slices and crunchy almonds. Altogether, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts! And one of the easiest bakes to have in your repertoire.

May I interest you in an epic recipe perfect for the holidays? Actually, it is ideal for any dinner party at any time of the year, for that matter. Yes? I’m so glad! Because today I’m sharing this recipe — the second of my six-recipe collaboration with All-Clad Canada — a succulent Whole Roasted Duck with Plum Butter Glaze + Slaw made with All-Clad Canada’s Large Roaster with Rack. This was such a fabulous meal that everyone loved. I highly recommend this recipe if you’re into impressive, delicious, and NOT the same-old-same-old!

Last week I threw a little tapas dinner party and it was sooo much fun. Not to mention, utterly delicious! I made some of the greatest hits and you know what, they are all surprisingly easy to prepare, as you'll see in the recipes below. Are you ready for this epic, six-recipe blog post featuring some of the most popular and best loved tapas? I promise the deliciousness you're about to encounter will make your tastebuds extremely happy!

SPOILER ALERT: This dairy-free and vegan chocolate mousse involves NO tofu, NO avocado, NO aquafaba and NO praying that the coconut cream will whip up properly. It is luxuriously rich with that dreamy fluffiness of traditional mousse. It is SUBLIME.

When I set out to make a dairy-free and vegan chocolate mousse, I deep-dived Google and Pinterest and came across a multitude of recipes using one of the four aforementioned ingredients: avocado, silken tofu, aquafaba (brine from canned chickpeas) and whipped up coconut cream. But I really, really wanted to create a version that steered clear of all of them. I wanted a recipe that uses more conventional dessert ingredients AND a fool-proof method, while still achieving a mousse that delivers the same intense chocolate flavor with a billowy texture that slightly melts on the tongue. No compromise.

I think there is a certain consensus among those of us who are living through Winter right now that citrus fruits are basically the best part about it.  The other features of our winter - air so cold it hurts any exposed skin, shoveling and de-icing all the things all the time, extremities that are always cold even while INDOORS, plus a few other things that make you swear under your breath - I can live without!    

WHUT.  Christmas is less than a week away, and the year is done-zo in less than two!  How are you feeling?  Are you getting holiday stress?  I had myself a panic moment a few days ago when Aubrie asked me why there are still no presents under our tree.  I mumbled something about not wanting them to poke around the presents and wreck the wrapping like last year, instead of the truth, which is I was procrastinating the mundane task of wrapping them up.  On the actual gift-buying side, I had 90% of gifts purchased by early December but the last 10% is by no coincidence, the most difficult.  People like my dad, dad-in-law, etc are impossible to buy for.  So I'm still working on that last 10% ... kiiiinda cutting it close, I reckon.  Socks?  Again?

I'm giddy with excitement this time of the year when holiday season is in full ramp-up mode!  It's my favorite.  I love that the season is about giving to others.  While I don't condone frivolous over-consumption (which is admittedly a huge downside associated with the holidays), I really enjoy putting careful thought into the gifts that I am giving to the special people in my life.  There's a dizzying joy and smug satisfaction when I just know I've found the perfect gift for someone. 

I'm still giving myself pats on the back for the Aesop hydrating cream for my mom / sister, and the fold-able (brilliant!) vegetable spiralizer for my brother-in-law last year.  We won't talk about the socks I gifted my dad tho - he's a hard one to buy for!