Rubbishy Cookery

  The best matcha latté I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a lot of matcha lattés!) was from Lady Baker’s tea stand at the Charlottetown Farmer’s Market made by the fabulous former tea barista, Willow. Willow kindly shared her secret ingredient with me and now I will share it with you. Sweetened condensed milk. Now hush! 🤫  Ingredients:  In honour of this shared secret ingredient and out of loyalty to Lady Baker’s Tea, I continue to buy their matcha, but you can buy matcha almost anywhere these days. Directions: Heat some fresh filtered water but not to a boil. I have a kettle that can be programmed for specific temperatures and I’m using my “green tea” setting here: Alternatively, you can just boil your water and then let it cool down a bit. You don’t want to shock the delicate matcha with boiling hot water! Next, if you happen to have a device for stovetop steam foaming milk, get ‘er going: If you don’t have this milk steamer device, there are other ways and means to foam mil...

  We recently got a little Ukrainian grocery store in our town, and I finally checked it out yesterday. I found many treats and treasures, but the most exciting find for me was roasted buckwheat groats, known to my people as kasha. If the word kasha sounds vaguely familiar to you but you don’t know why, it’s because it was the running gag in an old Seinfeld episode. Everyone who entered the home of George Costanza‘s parents noted the scent of something,… was it… kasha? Now your home can smell like kasha too! Ingredients: These are my basic ingredients. If I had fresh or dried mushrooms, I would add them too. And while I was making this batch I remembered that, instead of plain water, it’s extra good with stock, so: Directions: Let’s ignore the directions on the bag, even though they’re simpler than mine, and come in three languages: And instead, make kasha the way my Bubbie did. First, pour a cup of buckwheat groats in a pot, and add a raw egg: Turn the stove heat to medium, and st...