The Flavours of Edmonton CBC Cookbook

In my work at CBC radio I've been lucky enough to do a lot of writing and interviewing people about food. It is probably one of the best parts of my job. Right now I am working on a new venture at the CBC - a cookbook.

CBC is on the search for recipes for an Edmonton cookbook. It's a fundraiser for the Edmonton Food Bank. We are looking for your family's favourite recipes, and the stories that go with them.

Almost every good recipe has a good story, right? Maybe it's something your Mom or Dad used to make, a dish your kids love, or something that always shows up at family parties. Maybe it's something you tasted while traveling in a foreign country and then recreated at home. It doesn't need to be fancy or complicated (in fact, simple is probably better). It could be a main course, an appetizer, a dessert or a baked good. Just make sure it's something original and never-published. Of course, almost all recipes start out published somewhere, but usually you put your own spin on it. What we want is something that's not copied word-for-word from a cookbook or magazine.

Submitting your recipes is easy. Just go to this link on the main page of CBC Edmonton. From there, simply fill out the recipe form with your story. You could have your family recipe published in the final cookbook!

This is a really fun project to work on, and we're hoping communities across Edmonton get involved. So spread the word and tell your friends ... sharing recipes is one of the best parts of cooking!

Update: Any recipes that have been published on a blog are allowed to be submitted.

Orange Love

You know what I am loving these days? Oranges. I know winter is nearly over, and oranges should not be my fruit obsession but frankly, we are still months away from strawberries and raspberries and peaches that taste good, even months away from the plucky rhubarb, so oranges are it. Oranges so juicy that when you peel them, you end up sucking pockets of juice from your cupped hands so you don't waste it. Soft, succulent oranges with thick, fragrant skins. Or tiny, jewel-like oranges with thin skins and miniature sections almost too cute to eat (almost). Or the exotic blood oranges, whose taste I don't actually like that much (kind of musky to me) but whose colour of sunsets is too beautiful for words, and makes me marvel as I open them. 

We have been inhaling oranges around here lately. Also a lot of kiwis. As far as our local food convictions go, this is a no-no. But this winter, we just couldn't do it. We caved. We couldn't subsist on only apples, the same apples from the Farmers' market, apples that ended up turning brown and soft by week's end, apples that just discouraged me. We stopped buying the pears that never seem to ripen but stay hard as rocks. I decided not to feel guilty about buying oranges. Why should I? I decided it was more important to eat a lot of non-local fruit than to let the local apples sit in the bowl and get mushy.

We have oranges piled around the apartment. In a shallow green pottery bowl on the side board, in a black metal slope of a bowl on the high shelf. They look beautiful, glowing and bright. They make me happy. For now, the apples can go into muffins and cakes. I'll eat oranges and kiwis until the first fruits of the summer.