The From Scratch Era

I am excited to announce that, this Friday, I am launching a new feature at My Favourite Number, a weekly posting that will explore and celebrate the joys of buying seasonal, fresh and local food, of trying new things and of cooking and baking gluten-free.  “The From Scratch Era” will be, in one simple word, a celebration.  A celebration of healthful eating. A celebration of creating and experimenting.  A celebration of being active and involved with food and of making a mess in the kitchen.

The From Scratch Era is a collaborative project between my husband, Daniel, and myself.  The inspiration for this new endeavour comes from how we spend many of our free moments (and how we spend much of our pocket money).  As a family, we love to be in the kitchen.  We love to try new flavours.  And we love to eat great food.

When I’m not writing, reading or editing, and when Daniel’s not composing, grading or sitting in class, the majority of our time is spent with food.  Every weekend, we visit local farm markets and purchase freshly laid eggs, picked-that-morning produce and island-raised, free range meat.  We cook. We bake. We peel. We purée. We chop. We dice. We whisk. We pour. We simmer. We sauté.  And then, we grab our forks, delve in and, more often than not, groan with gustatory pleasure — even when things don’t turn out quite as we’d initially imagined.

Good food is such an important part of living a healthful life and, as a person with both type 1 diabetes and celiac disease, I can not overemphasize how monumentally important healthy food choices are in my day-to-day living.  This is not to say that I don’t enjoy cookies and chocolate and ice cream (believe me, I do!).  But, I also strongly believe in balance and moderation.

Each Friday, the From Scratch Era will celebrate a single culinary topic, something that Daniel and I have been exploring during the week — a specific dish or baked good, a seasonal vegetable or fruit, or a recently tried cooking methodology.  We may also stray slightly from the “from scratch” path and promote cookbooks that we enjoy or great, gluten-free products that we discover.

All in all, the From Scratch Era will be a celebration of great tasting and gluten-free food made with care and made with love.

We hope that you will — as we have — find joy in the From Scratch Era.  We hope you will take inspiration from this new venture and be inspired to get into the kitchen and get some dishes dirty.