Cheesecake with Strawberry Sauce

January 12, 2021.Reading time 6 minutes.

Every year without fail, lots of students want to make cheesecake in class. With students being at home, I wanted to make more videos and recipes that they can use as a reference. With the kids working at home, my classroom now typically has me running around, logged in to multiple devices, trying to do live cooking demos with my students. I also have a camera set up with a tripod and try to film the whole process for those students that weren’t able to make it, (and as a resource for students in the future).

Duck Duck … Duck Proscuitto

January 3, 2021.Reading time 7 minutes.

2020 was all about self-improvement: getting in better shape, improving on current skills, and learning new ones. With all the closures and the stay at home measures in place, Megan and I suddenly found ourselves with more free time. To keep busy, we signed up for a bunch of online courses that we had always meant to try (Bee keeping 101, Hunter’s Education Course, and some pastry stuff). Hopefully the situation will begin to improve, but regardless we hope to continue to do this in the new year. Just before the shutdown, I was also fortunate enough to get the chance to have a one-on-one crash course in soppressata-making from a past member of Culinary Team Canada Juniors. His name is Robbie Aggarwal, and he owns his own charcuterie company in the Niagara Region called Beniamino Meats. With the success of my very first batch, I was excited to continue learning and to try out more recipes. I didn’t know it at the time, but this first experience would come in handy later this year.

Dipping Chocolate

December 23, 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

Story time! Every now and I then when I’m meeting new people in the pastry world, the question of how I got started often comes up. I worked in kitchens for many years before getting involved in pastry. It started almost 11 years ago when I was attending teacher’s college in 2019. I had recently gotten into sugar work, and when I went to a restaurant trade show I was asked if I’d be interested in participating in a chocolate competition. I said yes without any hesitation, not realizing that I would be competing at the National selection of World Chocolate Masters – the winner would get to represent Canada and compete for their country in Paris. Fake it till you make it, right? The thought of winning never crossed my mind, knowing that I lacked a few skills here and there.

Butter Sauce

November 30, 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

This year marks my tenth year teaching high school, and it has been a little different than most years for obvious reasons. I’m still doing in-school lessons, but now I’m also teaching some students completely online, which requires some adjustments. Prior to this new teaching model, I have always wanted to create more videos of our class recipes so that students can continue to refer to them, and create them at home with their families. I have finally started to make some progress on this. Every now and then I say to myself, why didn’t I do this sooner?? Perhaps I’m lazy, maybe because there always seems to be something else to do…But now, with the pandemic (and currently, lock-down), I figure I have no more excuses. I’m going to try to post more recipes, more frequently. At least for now, until we can go out and do things.

White Chocolate Brownie

November 15, 2020.Reading time 1 minute.

This recipe is based on a popular dessert from my days working at Moxie’s a lifetime ago. Still a crowd favourite!

Smoothies & Sundaes