This Week's Candid Canuck is Jacquelyn from The Gourmet Housewife. Check out our interview with her..
Tell us what inspires your recipes.
I subscribe to over 75 cooking blogs and 3 magazines. I love pouring over other recipes, which give me ideas for food I want to make.
What made you start a blog?
Not only do I love cooking, but I love sharing recipes too. I always have people comment about how my food is so "fancy", when it really isn't. I wanted to show that it is possible to cook restaurant quality food at home, with very little time and effort. You don't have to be a 5 star chef to move away from pan fried pork chops and boiled peas.
Have you ever tried a recipe that just did not turn out? Tell us about it.
Oh yes. Many times. Those ones just don't get documented. ;) I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so most times it's actually perfectly edible...and it drives my husband crazy that I'm so critical of myself.
For actual failures, there are two that stand out clearly in my mind:
#1: I used to make this chocolate cake as a kid, but every time I did, it didn't hold together and kept falling apart. It was still delicious, but you had to eat it in a bowl with a spoon. The recipe called for "1 cup sour milk (1 tsp vinegar)", which I assumed meant: "If you don't have sour milk, just put in the vinegar." I didn't understand that I was supposed to add the vinegar TO the milk to make buttermilk.
#2: I am TERRIBLE at doubling or halving a recipe. I always miss one ingredient. I made oatmeal cookies using the recipe on the back of the Robin Hood bag. They were flat and see-through. I kept ranting, "You would THINK that the people who made the oats would know how to make oatmeal cookies!" Turns out...when I was doubling the recipe, I forgot to double the oats.
Is there something you want to try but have not had a chance to do it? If yes, what?
So much! A couple on my list to try soon are making my own homemade chèvre (goat cheese) and dumplings.
Why do you dislike cilantro so much? If a recipe calls for it, what do you use?
I used to be okay with cilantro, but something changed about 10 years ago. The smell actually gives me a headache. I keep trying to train myself to like it, so I can handle it in small quantities, but I find that for me it adds nothing to a recipe. Most times I just omit it from a recipe, though once in awhile I'll substitute fresh parsley instead.
Surviving Canadians winters, what can you simply not live without during the wintertime?
My oven. There's just something about snowy winter days that makes me want to bake. It's always going full steam during the winter months, popping out bread, cinnamon buns and cookies on a weekly basis. My husband and coworkers love it. ;)
Thanks so much Jacquelyn! Want to be one of our featured Canucks? Sign up here.
Right now, link up your Canadian blog and social media accounts, find some new reads and new friends!
