Watermelon Lavender Martini (source: Self Magazine)

This past weekend, an impromptu BBQ party was looming (#10 on my list) and I was thinking of what to make. I had a generous slice of watermelon in my fridge, and I had visions of mint and feta swirling in my head.

I was inspired by  Chatelaine’s Watermelon Tostadas recipe, but since mayonnaise isn’t my favorite ingredient, I decided to adapt the idea, rather than the execution. Lemon Garlic Shrimp and a homemade balsamic-reduction made the dish absolute perfection, as well as being stunning to look at.

It was pure simplicity.  I served it alongside marinated flank steak (recipe another time), a broccoli slaw, amazing Ace Bakery Bread (Olive Boule is my favorite) with red pepper hummous. To drink, the grown-ups had Pimms Cocktail and a lovely Pinot Noir. The kids, after eyeing the Pimms (it’s so pretty), stuck with bubbly lemonade.

PS in case you didn’t know, Pimms is like British Sangria, only really delicious. I first tasted it when I was a barmaid in London. But that, my friends, is a story for another day.

Pimms Cup and Watermelon Salad with Grilled Shrimp

Pimms Cup

What You’ll Need:

A bottle of Pimms

1/2 a large navel orange, cut again in half and sliced

1/2 a large lemon, cut in half again and sliced

1/4 english cucumber, sliced in thin rounds

several sprigs of mint, washed

Bubbly lemonade (or regular lemonade and bubbly water)

What You’ll Do:

Place the fruit, mint & cucumber in a large pitcher

Combine the Pimms with the lemonade on a 3:1 ratio (unless you want to fall over, the 1 is the Pimms, silly people)

Serve over ice. Relax. It’s healthy. It has fruit in it.

Grilled Shrimp over top of Watermelon, Feta, and Avocado Salad

Watermelon Salad with Grilled Shrimp, Feta, Avocado, Mint and Balsamic Reduction

What You’ll Need:

For the shrimp :

Large black tiger shrimp, peeled and deveined (I did about 10-12)

3 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped

1/2 a lemon cut in thick slices, pits taken out

Olive oil, freshly ground sea salt and black pepper

For the salad: 

Seedless watermelon cut in just-a-bit-larger than bite-size chunks (how much? I used about 6-8 cups)

About 1 cup of goat’s milk feta, cut in 1 inch pieces (I use a mixture of slices and cubes for interest)

1/4 cup of mint chopped in a chiffonade 

1 ripe avocado, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

1/4 cup balsamic reduction

Freshly ground black pepper (if desired)

What You’ll Do:

Shrimp:

Place the chopped garlic into a medium bowl. Squeeeze the juice out of the lemon slices, then place them in the bowl too. Smush the pulp into the garlic with the back of a spoon. Add one or two swirls around the bowl of olive oil, and plenty of salt and black pepper. Mix and then add the shrimp. Let them marinate for about 15 minutes.

Using a flat grill pan with holes, BBQ the shrimp until they are pink (I use the tinfoil ones because I’m lazy, but you can buy great ones at any store that sells bbq supplies.) If you like, you could skewer them, but this is easier. Place shrimp on top of prepared watermelon salad.

Salad:

While the shrimp are marinating, arrange the salad. On a large platter arrange the cut pieces of watermelon. Scatter avocado and feta cheese over top. Add shrimp. Sprinkle the mint around the dish, and drizzle everything with the balsamic reduction. If you want, add some black pepper.

Stand back and let everyone be impressed.

Hint:

to dice an avocado, slice in half. Use a knife to pull out the pit. While still in the skin, cut in a cross-hatch pattern, without breaking the skin. Scoop out with a spoon. Voila, you have diced avocado.

To make a balsamic reduction:

In a non-stick saucepan or frying pan (not too large), heat two cups of good quality balsamic vinegar. Add in about 1 tbsp of coconut sugar (or nice honey). Stir, and bring to the boil. Lower heat to medium, and continue to boil until the mixture has been reduced by two thirds. As it cools it will thicken almost to a syrup.

To get ready for the weekend, I’ve got some fantastic recipes to share with you from the Good Eats Fridays girls. Mouth. Is. Watering.

Good Eats Fridays Long Weekend Edition

We’ve got two amazing BBQ dishes to fire up your grill. First, from Life in Pleasantville, your mouth will be watering for Nanny’s Chicken and Ribs. Now, apparently, these are the absolute best ever, so give them a try, and come back and let me know how they are. To make sure there’s something for everyone, why not add in these simple Chicken Wings from Kitchen Counter Chronicles? They look super easy, and to tell you the truth, that spice rub is something I’d keep in my kitchen all the time. The flavours look fantastic.

Finally, while wine is a fruit, and beer is a grain, it’s important to provide your patio guests with a well-rounded meal. So, Ghetto Foodie (the queen of fab, Mrs. Clooney herself, Cocktail Deeva) hopes you’ll try her Apple-Bacon Slaw with your chicken, chicken and ribs (oh wait, there’s apple in it too? More fruit. Extra healthy.)

Of course, there’s always the morning after. Weekend brunches wouldn’t be complete without a fabulous breakfast. Now, Ottawa Valley Moms was thinking we’d grill up some flank steak and pour this Bearnaise sauce over it. But me? I’m gonna make some Eggs Benedict with it. I’m a rebel, what can I say?

Bearnaise SAuce

What are some of your favorite BBQ plates? Do you have a secret family recipe that you’d like to share? We promise, we won’t tell anyone.

Marriage Quote by Rita Rudner
Celebrating 20 years of marriage

Twenty years. What can a person accomplish in 20 years?  Well, apparently, and somehow, against all odds, being the child of multiple divorces, I have accomplished a marriage.

Today is my 20th anniversary.

Twenty years ago today, I was wearing a gigantic white satin Eve of Milady dress that was so large it required it’s own bedroom in my Mother’s house, and three people to hold it up so I could pee, and chomping at the bit for my turn down the aisle. I was excited. No jitters for me. This was my moment.

20 Years of Marriage

The party was planned down to every last detail, including tiny white rosettes which were glue-gunned onto black and gold napkin rings made from the same ribbons used in the bouquets. My event was going to go off without a hitch. Never mind the band didn’t know how to play OUR SONG, More Than Words by Extreme. Everything else was going to go great. Not to worry that my father was late, and I walked in on him and my mother in the bathroom and after 20 years of divorce she was helping him get dressed, which was completely weird. That was all secondary.

20 years before: under the Chuppah

It wasn’t even just about the wedding. It was about the marriage. Me, and Jack, and making a family. I knew that a lot of brides lost sight of that, but I wasn’t going to.

Marking 20 Years of Marriage

I knew that I was getting MARRIED.

That I would be a WIFE.

That it would be WORK.

That there would be UPS and DOWNS and even SIDEWAYS. I knew all these things, but I really had no idea what they would mean. I was 25 years old, in love, and excited to embark on a grand adventure. One that was beginning with three weeks in France and Italy. That’s reality.

Twenty years. Three children. Four dogs, two houses. Jobs, careers, career changes, romance, arguments, making up. Socks thrown (better than books or dishes, right?) screaming, laughter, tears, and love. Roadblocks, understanding, headbanging, wallbanging (you know what I mean), making out, making up, and the odd “Get the hell out.”

Twenty years of compromise and respect, and the occasional disrespect. And understanding that you can love someone but not like them for that moment.

All those years, and I didn’t really get it. I mean, I got it a bit, because we’ve made it through some pretty interesting times. But, until last week, I didn’t understand the depth of it. The reason it’s lasted 20 years.

Have you read The Gift of the Magi by O.Henry? I have read it so many times, but it has never truly resonated with me. Until now.

In the story, James and Dilla want more than anything to buy each other the perfect Christmas present. But, they don’t have very much money. Life is tough  but they have one another to lean on. This one time, though, they want to do something special for their true love, to make them happy with a ‘thing’. But, as they find out, it’s really the thought, the mutual sacrifice, that really matters.

The Gift of the Magi, the irony of the gifts that James and  Dilla gave each other, the offerings that they would make to ensure their partner’s happiness above their own. That is what marriage truly is.

After 20 years, I know this. Because I’ve just experienced it.

So, I believe, that’s why we stay together, no matter how many fists are clenched in frustration, how many nasty retorts are bitten back or complaints are made about an unloaded dishwasher or a forgotten call home. When we’re both stressed to the max and have nothing left over, when we ask too many questions, or not enough. When all we can feel and see is that feeling of “Who IS this person? And why? Just why?”

No matter all of that, when my husband would sell his proverbial watch to buy me a jewelled comb for my hair,  I know that he loves me. That we’re meant for each other.

That is what you can accomplish in 20 years.

Perfectly Roasted Chicken and Roasted Potatoes

When I was 22 years old, I spent six months living in London, England. I’d gone on vacation to Israel and Greece, and then decided to ‘stay’ (read: I met a guy and ran off with him to pick grapes in France, hitchhike to Oktoberfest, and then work as a barmaid in London.) This time in my life was really the first that I was completely independent and responsible for myself. I was a grownup, with an apartment (well, a bedsit with a bathroom down the hall), that boasted a teeny tiny kitchen that was crowded when one person and a dishcloth stood in it.

But, that kitchen was where I first began experimenting with food. It was in that little space, with the smallest gas-powered range that you’ve ever seen, that I learned to make what the Brits call ‘Sunday Roast’, or in my case, to roast a perfect chicken.

Roasting a chicken is both difficult and easy. If it’s cooked too long, then it’s terribly dry and flavourless. Cooked too short and it’s well.. raw. Not seasoned well, and it tastes like nothing. Overseasoned..well, you can’t really overseason a roast chicken, especially if you don’t eat the skin, which I don’t. But, just like anything else, with a bit of practice and intuition, you too can master a perfectly roasted chicken.

Some tips:

• Don’t stuff with stuffing. Stuffing makes the chicken take longer to cook, and by the time the insides are done, the outsides are dry like paper. Instead, place aromatics inside your bird, like 1/2 a lemon or orange, garlic cloves, spice rub, and some herbs.
• Don’t have a roasting pan with a rack? No problem. Neither do I. I raise my chicken 1/2 inch off the bottom of the pan with sliced lemons or even tubes of tinfoil (rolled and then slightly flattened).
• Rinse your bird with white vinegar. I don’t know why, but a friend once told me to to it, and I’m obedient. For some reason it makes the chicken really moist.
• Fresh herbs are great on the inside, but tend to burn on the outside.
• Put liquid, such as combinations of orange juice, water, white wine, or beer, in your pan. It just steams moisture into the chicken.
• Heat the oven to a hotter temp then lower it when you put the chicken in. This sears the outside, and then cooks it evenly without drying. I use this technique for a lot of my roasting.
• Keep washing your hands while you’re working with the chicken. You don’t want to poison anyone!

What You’ll Need:

3-4  lb whole chicken

White vinegar

Olive Oil

Spice rub: Kosher salt (not ground), freshly ground black pepper, garlic powder, Hungarian paprika, herbs de provence (optional)

1/2 a lemon or large orange

Fresh herbs of your choice, such as Thyme, Sage, or Rosemary

Another lemon, sliced in 1/2 inch rounds

About 1 cup of orange juice plus water to equal 1 1/2 inches of liquid in your pan

What You’ll Do:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Prepare your roasting pan by placing sliced lemons in it to form a base or platform for the chicken. Pour in your liquid over top, to about 1 to 1/2 inches up the side of the pan.

Mix the spices in a small bowl. Proportions are to your taste, but should be somewhat equal. You should have about 1/2 cup of spice rub.

Rinse the chicken inside and out first with water, then with white vinegar. Dry it with paper towel. Coat it with about 1 tbsp of olive oil and massage the oil into the chicken. Make sure to put some oil in both cavities of the chicken. Rub the spice rub generously all over and inside the chicken. Place your lemon or orange inside the bird, along with the fresh herbs you’ve chosen.

Perfect Roast Chicken Ready for Roasting

Place the chicken breast side up (that’s the more meaty side as opposed to the more bony side) on top of the lemon slices, and slide it into the oven. Immediately turn the oven down to 400 degrees.

Cook approximately 20 minutes per lb, or as the Italians say, until it’s done.

How to know it’s DONE: You’ll see the juices run clear from the leg, and the skin will be pulling and separating from the side of the chicken, even if it’s tied on. You can also use a meat thermometer, although I can never seem to find mine. Canadian government guidelines say 185 degrees, but I’d go for 165 degrees, because you’re going to let the chicken rest, tented with tinfoil for about 10 minutes before cutting.

When you’re pretty sure the chicken is done, remove from oven, cover with foil, and let sit for 10-15 minutes before carving. If you don’t think it’s cooked when you’ve cut it up, put the pieces back in the liquid, cover with foil, and roast another 10 minutes.

Beautifully Perfectly Roasted Chicken

For the Roasted Potatoes:

Cut Yukon gold potatoes in chunks. In a large bowl, mix with JUST ENOUGH olive or vegetable oil to coat, but not be pooling in the bottom of the bowl. Generously season with freshly ground sea salt and black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika. Mix thoroughly. Place on parchment covered baking sheet, and roast around 1- 1/12 hrs in same oven as chicken. DO NOT STIR THE POTATOES. They will be crispy and amazing and people will love you if you listen to me.

Do you have any tips for roasting the perfect chicken? 

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Stratford Festival Pinballapalooza

Are you a Pinball Wizard? The Stratford Festival wants you to think so. Join them this Thursday, May 16th to have fun and help make history! They’re out to break a Guinness Book of World’s Record for the Largest Pinball Play, and they’re inviting YOU to join in. How much fun is that!? Plus, you’ll get a sneak peek at the show, with two special cast performances.

What:  One hundred pinball machines will fill the main lobby of First Canadian Place for a Pinball Party to celebrate the Festival’s 2013 production of Tommy.

When: Thursday, May 16 between 9 am and 6 pm.

The Fun: Play a free pinball game. Enjoy performances by the cast at 12:15 and 1:15 on the Waterfall Stage.

Join the conversation – tweet about @stratfest’s Pinballapalooza using hashtag #sfPinball.

RSVP on the Facebook event page: HERE

Stratford Festival Pinballapalooza

Boo HOO. This event looks so amazing. Unfortunately, I probably won’t be there, because I’ll be AT the Stratford Festival (total coincidence) seeing another big favorite of mine, Fiddler on The Roof. It’s my 20th Anniversary, that day, by the way. And what better way to celebrate than a little Sunrise, Sunset…So, please go, and tweet your pinballing like crazy.

MADE YOU SMILE, SUNDAY

First, a very special Mother’s Day video from one of my favourite Youtube channels, Kid Snippets. Sort of reminds me of what my Mothers Days are usually like.

In the ‘WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE DONE FILES’, otherwise known as 5 minutes you won’t watch back, look what happened when the Jay Leno’s Pumpcast News and an extremely game-on couple intersected. I always sing at the pumps, but I definitely don’t sound like this. And, my husband would have peeled off like a bat out of hell. Too bad we’re not as much as fun as these two. What would you have done?

Being a Mom is really hard. That’s why Huggies Brazil has created this app that lets parents know when their babies pee in their diaper. Because, you know, it’s really hard to just feel the diaper. It doesn’t feel warm, or full or anything when there’s pee in there. As the writer on Upworthy says, what if it checked for poop. Now that would be sad. It’s almost a parenting right of passage to hold your baby up to your face and sniff.

dog sniffing butt

This one is not really Mother’s Day related, other than the person in question is a mother-to-be. There are a lot of pics going around about Kim’s fugly dress, but this one was the funniest. I actually snorted.

Who wore it better? Kim Kardashian or the sofa

And, lastly, not related to Mother’s Day at all, other than the fact that I’m definitely adopting Bitchfoxly into my regular vocabulary to describe some of my daughter’s outfits, is a list of Words That Need to Be Brought Back Into Fashion from the Huffington Post.

Happy Mother’s Day EVERYONE!!

We’ve got a Pinterest Board you can follow too. But, to make it easy, I’ll pick four dishes each week that have tickled my taste buds.

Good Eats Friday May 10: Bacon, Zucchini, and Breakfast for Dinner

This week, I’ve got bacon two ways (my boys will be thrilled), my husband’s absolute favorite comfort food, and stealth health. So, without further ado…

Spring greens, eggs, bacon.. How good do those sound. Not only does Foodie Prints share a delicious recipe for Spaghetti Carbonara, she gives lots of tips and tricks for the preparation of this deceptively simple dish. If you love Carbonara, but don’t want to prepare it with raw eggs, this is is definitely the recipe for you. Did I mention bacon? My teenagers will eat anything as long as there’s bacon. 

Next, is my personal favorite supper for when I’m too lazy to cook: Breakfast for Dinner. Becky at A Bit of Momsense rustles up a gorgeous but quick meal that includes bacon potato hash, a perfectly fried egg, and something called Thorbread. Her food always looks so gorgeous too. (And fried potatoes are one of my secret indulgences. You didn’t know that, did you…)

If I like breakfast for dinner, my husband absolutely adores comfort food. When we were first married, I used to make tuna casserole for him. I did sometimes cheat with boxed macaroni, but what did I know. I wish I’d had this amazing recipe from Ottawa Valley Moms. MMM. Good. Personally, I think this is a great meal to make for your kids tomorrow night so you can go out on the town.

Ever wonder how you can get some extra veggies into your kids? How about grating some zucchini into chocolate quick bread? Personally, I can’t think of two ingredients that are better suited to each other, and neither can Canadian Moms Cook. Zucchini and chocolate are a match made in heaven. Give it a try.

Will you make any of these amazing recipes this week?

Shizzle I can Do Cuz I’m a Mom

So, I’ve been a Mom a pretty long time now. In fact, if my Mom-ness was a person in the Province of Ontario, it would be able to drive, vote, and buy alcohol. Which is good. Mothering teenagers requires several boxes of wine per quarter. And you have to drive to the liquor store. You don’t want to take your boxes of wine on the bus. Or your cupcakes. They might get squished.

Since I’ve been in the game for a while, I’ve learned a few things. Not about motherhood, per se, because motherhood is crafty.

The only truth I’ve learned about actual mothering during my tenure is this: As soon as you think you’ve got the skills down pat, those kids change the game. They do something like get older or change who they are, or whatever. And then it’s back to square one. That place otherwise known as ‘Oh crap. What do I do now?’

No, what I’ve learned is about me (really, it always boils down to me). It’s been a voyage of self-discovery, this Mom & Pop operation. So, what have I found out in the last 19 (OY!) years besides the fact, as I mentioned, that I don’t really know what I’m doing and yet I seem to be doing it fairly competently (as evidenced by the fact that nobody is flunking out, on drugs, in prison, or banned from anyone’s house.)

I’m totally a super-hero. I know things, without even trying to know them. I can fix the most terrible boo boos with cold water, the promise of a rainbow, and a kiss.  I can hear things that are whispered, even when people aren’t at home. I can just sense when something is off-kilter or feelings are hurt. I can also do imaginary things that don’t exist except for the most special of us, like cause dishes to move into and out of the dishwasher, enable the cleaning and folding of clothes, activate the food-in-the-fridge program, and most difficult of all, turn off lights and close doors and cupboards.

I can make something from nothing. Well, not really, but it’s un-freaking believable what kinds of feasts I can create with a carrot, milk, some cheese, a few noodles (sprinkled with Mama glitter, of course. Don’t ask why the cupboards are bare, because it’s not that I didn’t have time per se to go grocery shopping, but more  due to the fact that I didn’t actually want to.) I can also procure bristol boards at 10:00 on a Sunday night, make igloos out of glitter glue & some styrofoam, pull kleenex from the air, and make a pair of shorts out of jeans that are too small.

I can shape shift. One minute I’m Florence Nightingale (see point #1) and the next I’m a teacher (You said WHAT? to her? No, that’s NOT how you do it. First, you call her up and…), then I’m Mrs. Fix-it (amazing what one can do with duct tape and a pair of dress pants), and a few minutes later I’m Mr. Rogers (Welcome to my neighborhood, won’t you please come in and eat all my food. No problem, I can just buy more…)

I’m a super-sleuth. I am all-knowing and can figure out mostly everything with my magical unicorn powers. And, what I don’t know, I can google in the bathroom, on an iPhone, while pretending to pee. I can also find anything, no matter where it is. Even if it’s not there, I can find it, and it doesn’t actually have to exist for it to show up when I cause it to. I don’t even have to twitch my nose or snap my fingers.

I can shoot daggers out of my eyes. If I’m mad, I don’t even have to say a word. I can just stare, emitting the most poisonous Jewish-guilt-tipped death rays. These looks are able to pierce even the most unrepentant child’s heart and conscience, and are far more effective than raising the voice, (a fact which has taken me 18 2/3 years to learn.) **Probably my greatest accomplishment as a mother***

I can travel time. I’d never have imagined it, but I can be in more than one place at the same time. It’s truly amazing. You know, I can be on a school field trip, the dentist, yoga, and my kitchen–all at once. Sometimes the time-travelling is just in my imagination, often during a particularly long and boring story about someone’s teacher’s sister and their project that..Tahiti…The gym…Adam Levine’s House…And sometimes the time travelling is on the wrong day, like that one time (or was it twice) I took my son to a Bar Mitzvah and it was the next weekend.

What else have I learned as a mother? Well, the usual stuff: what true love really is, patience, kindness, and understanding; fear, hope, and that no matter how many kegels you do when you’re pregnant, you’ll still never really be able to jump on a trampoline with confidence.

Oh, and also, that no matter how hard you try to keep it from them, your kids will eventually find out what you really were like in high school. They’re smart like that. Really smart.

And you? What shizzle can you add to your Mom-sume?

Get Grilling: Everything You Wanted To Know About Chicken Marinades

It’s Barbeque SEASON!! And that means marinades. Here’s my perfect primer to marinading chicken.

Maybe it’s because my nickname is Chicky, but I’m a big fan of the chipper chicken. Oh, sure there was that time that I was a lacto-ovo-pesco vegetarian for about four years (it’s a long story which can be blamed on a fashion designer and a plate of sweetbreads.) During that sad and dark period, I didn’t eat anything that had a face (as Linda McCartney used to say.) Yes, fish have faces, but they’re squished, and I wasn’t giving up shrimp and lobster for anyone.

Anyways, I’m back on chicken in a big way. But, as Franck (Father of the Bride reference), said, while chicken can be cheerful, it can also get boring. Luckily, I’ve mastered the art of the marinade. (Marinahde if you’re getting fancy.)

Marinades make everything taste better. And, it’s so easy to change up the flavours, depending on your mood and the other dishes you plan to serve. Make sure you prepare your chicken and marinade it for at least one hour before grilling or baking.

I’m not a chemist, but this is what I know what a good marinade needs to have:

• An acid (vinegar, lemon juice, wine)
• A moisturizer (like olive oil, vegetable oil, sesame oil, mustard)
• Flavourings and herbs (Garlic. Always garlic)

• Balsamic vinegar (I seriously put balsamic in just about everything).
• Mustards (grainy mustard, green mustard, horseradish mustard. Mustards are perfect for adding flavour and moisture.)
• Worcestershire sauce (for some reason, this hard to pronounce-and spell-brown sauce makes marinades sink in a work faster. Unless it’s asian flavours I’m after, I alway add a splash.)
• Garlic, garlic, and more garlic

Chicken Marinade ingredients

 

One more tip: Don’t marinade in BBQ sauce. The sugar content will make the outside of your meat char before the inside can cook. Brush on about 3/4 through the cooking process and you’ll be as good as gold.

 

Now, I know some of you are not of the ‘pinch of this, pinch of that’ school, so here are some guaranteed to be hits marinades for you to try.

 

If you want to go real simple:

• Olive Oil
• A splash each of lemon juice, balsamic, & Worcestershire Sauce
• Finely chopped fresh garlic
• Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper
• A handful of freshly chopped herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage)

If you want to be me…

• Balsamic Vinegar
• Grainy mustard
• Generous amounts of La Grille Montreal Chicken Spice
• Once around the bowl with Olive Oil and a generous splash of Worcesteshire Sauce

If you’re after a taste of the mediterranean…

• Olive oil
• Fresh lemon Juice
• Green mustard (you can buy it at some specialty grocers. I get mine at Longos Markets in Toronto.)
• Once around the bowl each of balsamic vinegar & Worcestershire sauce
• Finely chopped fresh garlic
• Oregano
• Freshly ground sea salt & black pepper

If you’re a Canuck…

• Balsamic Vinegar
• Maple Syrup (not too much-see the point about bbq sauce)
• Beer
• Finely chopped fresh garlic
• Rosemary
• Olive Oil
• Freshly ground sea salt & black pepper

If you’re looking for the slow boat to Asia…

• Soy sauce
• Finely chopped fresh garlic
• Freshly ground black pepper
• About 1 tbsp of chili garlic sauce (more garlic more garlic more garlic)
• A good splash of sesame oil
• Finely chopped fresh ginger (optional, my husband hates ginger)
• About 1 tbsp of chopped cilantro (optional)
• You can sprinkle with sesame seeds if you’re baking, or garnish with them if you’re bbq’ing

 What’s your favorite chicken marinade?

Chicky’s Great Reads for Moms: Penguin Canada

Today’s picks for Moms are for true fiction lovers. These four treasures, as recommended by Penguin Canada, are perfect for that special woman in your life. They’re chock full of fashion, romance, art, family, and awakening.

Just know that once she has one (or more) of these amazing reads in her hands, you’ll probably be making your own supper. And breakfast. So, be warned.

For suggestions from some of our other favorite publishers, check out recommendations from Simon & Schuster Canada, Random House of Canada, and Harper Collins Canada.

(Also, for some non-literary Mother’s Day Ideas and to find out what I’d like for Mother’s Day, click here.)

Studio Saint-Ex by Ania Szado

Studio Saint-Ex by Ania Szado
Penguin Canada

In the Glittering world of Manhattan’s French expats and 1942 Quebec, a twenty-two-year-old fashion designer on the cusp of launching her career is swept away by the charms of French writer and war pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry … and enmeshed in the schemes of his beautiful, estranged Salvadoran wife, who is determined to win back her husband—at all costs and seductions.

With Paris under occupation by Hitler’s troops, New York’s Mayor LaGuardia vows to turn his city into the new fashion capital of the world—and Mig Lachapelle leaves Montreal for New York to make her name. She finds herself pulled into a fiery romantic triangle in which ambitions, creativity, and passions catch a literary giant between two talented, mesmerizing women and imperil the fate of his work-in-progress, The Little Prince—a poignant tale of a young boy’s loneliness and love among the stars, one of the best selling and most beloved novels of all time.

For fans of The Paris Wife, Loving Frank, and Rules of Civility, Ania Szado’s Studio Saint-Ex explores themes of ambition, devotion, and inspiration in deft, sophisticated prose.

The Book of Stolen Tales by D.J. McIntosh

The Book of Stolen Tales by D.J. McIntosh

In 2011, D.J. McIntosh took the book world by storm with her debut novel, The Witch of Babylon. Praised for its “stellar research” and “superb writing”, it introduced readers to John Madison, a rakish New York art dealer with a past, who uncovered a fabulous treasure trove of antiquities in the hills outside of Baghdad and the truth behind a famous story long believed to by a myth.

In the highly anticipated sequel, New York art dealer John Madison travels to London to purchase at auction a rare seventeenth-century Italian book of fairy tales for an anonymous client. Before he can deliver it to the buyer, he is robbed by a mysterious man claiming to be the book’s author. When his client disappears and the book’s provenance is questioned, Madison realizes that the only way to find the buyer, recover the lost book, and save his reputation is to immerse himself in the world of European aristocracy and bibliophilic obsession. Along the way, he discovers that a well-loved children’s tale contains a necromancer’s spell and the truth about an ancient Mesopotamian plague.

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell
Penguin Canada

Rose Baker seals men’s fates. With a few strokes of the keys that sit before her, she can send a person away for life in prison. A typist in a New York City Police Department precinct, Rose is like a high priestess. Confessions are her job. It is 1923, and while she may hear every detail about shootings, knifings, and murders, as soon as she leaves the interrogation room she is once again the weaker sex, best suited for filing and making coffee.

This is a new era for women, and New York is a confusing place for Rose. Gone are the Victorian standards of what is acceptable. All around her women bob their hair, they smoke, they go to speakeasies. Yet prudish Rose is stuck in the fading light of yesteryear, searching for the nurturing companionship that eluded her childhood. When glamorous Odalie, a new girl, joins the typing pool, despite her best intentions Rose falls under Odalie’s spell. As the two women navigate between the sparkling underworld of speakeasies by night and their work at the station by day, Rose is drawn fully into Odalie’s high-stakes world. And soon her fascination with Odalie turns into an obsession from which she may never recover.

The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani

Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafa
Penguin Canada

It is 1930, the midst of the Great Depression. After her mysterious role in a family tragedy, passionate, strong-willed Thea Atwell, age fifteen, has been cast out of her Florida home, exiled to an equestrienne boarding school for Southern debutantes. High in the Blue Ridge Mountains, with its complex social strata ordered by money, beauty, and girls’ friendships, the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is a far remove from the free-roaming, dreamlike childhood Thea shared with her twin brother on their family’s citrus farm—a world now partially shattered. As Thea grapples with her responsibility for the events of the past year that led her here, she finds herself enmeshed in a new order, one that will change her sense of what is possible for herself, her family, her country.

Weaving provocatively between home and school, the narrative powerfully unfurls the true story behind Thea’s expulsion from her family, but it isn’t long before the mystery of her past is rivaled by the question of how it will shape her future. Part scandalous love story, part heartbreaking family drama, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls is an immersive, transporting page-turner—a vivid, propulsive novel about sex, love, family, money, class, home, and horses, all set against the ominous threat of the Depression—and the major debut of an important new writer.

ENJOY ALL OF THESE GREAT READS!! AND HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!!