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End of Summer Raw Corn Salad

By Sarah on September 1, 2015 in Farmers' market meals, Side dishes, The Sideshow

A friend of mine Facebook-shared this New York Times article about the end of summer, and reading it felt like taking a walk through my late-August psyche. Summer always begins with such promise for me–there will be at least five ferris wheel rides, I say, and a couple of weekend trips out to wine country. Plus patio dinners every weekend, barbecues with friends, boat rides and bike rides. This will be the summer I buy a new bike, I tell myself. Oh, and berry picking too–not a May goes by when I don’t make plans to pick strawberries in June and raspberries in July.

From the perch of spring, summer always looks “as wide open and shimmering with possibility as the summers of childhood.” Continue Reading →

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Meals from the Farmers’ Market (Part I)

By Sarah on August 4, 2015 in Farmers' market meals, Side dishes, Veggie night

Kiwi almost left me over a farmers’ market incident. He has never come out and told me straight, but I’m quite certain it’s true.

Years ago we were in Quebec City—our first trip as a couple, I think—and I casually suggested that we spend the morning at the local farmers’ market. He slowly looked up from his hotel breakfast, clearly bewildered by this idea, and shocked that he had managed to fall in love with someone whose idea of a vacation-worthy morning was a trip to a grocery store. Continue Reading →

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16 Crowd-Pleasing Summer Salads

By Sarah on July 22, 2015 in Side dishes, The Sideshow

If you have ever been on the receiving end of that “maybe just bring a salad?” email, then this post is for you. You know what I mean: friends invite you for a summer barbecue, you ask what you can bring, and the answer tends invariably to the salad end of the culinary spectrum.

And while no inviter dares specify what kind of salad they want you to bring, they surely don’t intend for you to show up with a clamshell of mixed greens and a bottle of ranch dressing. Right?

So when summer potluck season calls for something more impressive than a tossed green this list has got your back. These are the ultimate in crowd-pleasing summer salads: fresh, simple, flavourful and portable. Continue Reading →

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Wild Rice Salad with Cherries, Mint and Feta

By Sarah on July 9, 2015 in Lunch, Side dishes

This was my view last Saturday evening: the sun setting over a vineyard at the edge of the Niagara escarpment.

The kiddos had been tucked into bed after a long day of sunning and swimming; wine glasses were full; and looking at the smiles on our faces, you’d never guess that just an hour earlier there were 7 kids, 5 and under, tossing pizza into the pool. Continue Reading →

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