Some people buy lots of shoes

Life is a bit tricky and messy right now.

In this uncertain time you’ll find me where? …In the kitchen, of course. How about you?

Some people buy lots of shoes. I buy fresh fruit and vegetables……

Experiencing and working with what nature provides is my passion. Striving and thriving on massive amounts of three-dimensional connection with family, friends, customers, the wild world, and freedom to create is my thing. And it’s hard to do now.

You know that my mission is Vinarterta. It is more than cake. It is us. It is our expression of pure love and pioneer spirit whenever and wherever you and I share it. That idea and reality lights me up everyday.

In the fall I go a little wild making and baking in the kitchen. Here’s a bit about how and why I do.

I’ve gone deep to understand what sets me on fire. And why colour, and texture, variety of shape, structure, taste and inspiration in the form of good-life-nurturing food, culture, and design is where it begins.

On Thanksgiving weekend twenty-three years ago I made a ‘budgetary’ decision to abandon restaurant food, almost entirely. I know you have had days like I had after I tragically lost my husband. Spaghetti and a jar of tomato sauce felt like too much work, but a ten dollar hamburger was not helping us.

My father would show up for weeks on end to make a dinner for us of perfectly fried eggs and bacon, his only recipe. He insisted everyone must dip the bacon carefully in the egg yolk to eat it. He knew how to make simple things wonderful. I took my lead from there.

It was incredibly important to me to ensure that my children had an abundance of healthy homemade meals without shortcuts. I focused on the best high quality, pure, ethically raised and sourced food I could find at a reasonable price. It was a tough time for many years affording to feed, cloth and house their quickly growing bodies for education, everyday activities and sports too.

Fortunately, I became completely bored with cooking up a pork chop, potato and little pile of green peas. Many of the recipes I grew up with at home I repeated and expanded. I explored hundreds of recipe books, both old and contemporary. Found hidden gems in Church fundraising cookbooks. Discovered chefs who wrote fabulous recipes and methods, and experimented. Spent many a day making pates, elegant tureens, roasting fowl and beast, poaching and grilling fish, making irresistible salads, dressings and soups, trying different casseroles, breads, cakes of all kinds, cheesecakes, pies and jams.

It was a day like today when the trees were red and gold that I discovered bliss in a green tomato pie. Turned out that for me, cooking, baking and sharing food with family and friends is therapeutic nutrition for ailments of the head, heart and soul.

It was a day like today when I started rolling dough to heal a broken arm. That’s how the Vinarterta business was born. Six weeks later I had so much cake I had to figure out what to do with it.

It was a day like today when I made cranberry rhubarb jam for Thanksgiving. And decided it was the best new flavour for Vinarterta.

I think about all this and realize that life may be a bit tricky and messy,
and sometimes lonely, but we are built for this!

And we get to choose how many shoes we buy…..(or vegetables 🙂

Thank you for being with me on this journey!
Thank you for being the amazing human you are!
Thank you for lighting me up!
Best wishes for an excellent Thanksgiving in Canada and a beautiful fall weekend to my friends everywhere.

For my idea of how to eat well, and for a couple of recipes Click Here….

(Includes a great side dish for your Vegetarian Friends and Family.)

 Sending lots and lots of love,