As a food photographer who shares in the belief of the importance of local food and supporting our farmers that grow it, there are few things more totally awesome than being welcome to shoot a few food and local farming people enjoy a fabulous lunch in a farmers garden of all places.

This is what I had the opportunity to photograph, prior to Michael Pollan’s talk and book signing on his latest book, In Defense of Food. Having written about his books in previous blog posts, and since then seeing his name pop up in documentaries and casual conversations with friends, it’s clear that people identify with what he’s saying. To quote Michael and the premise behind In Defense of Food:

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

The day was beautiful, the food was delicious and nutritious, and the company was inspiring. Thank you Barbara Jo and Carol for welcoming me and for organizing the event; and to Mark & Samara for hosting everyone at UBC Farm, and to Vikram & Meeru Vij for filling our stomachs with such tasty Indian cuisine (and for that chick pea & mung bean recipe that I have yet to perfect, but will continue to try!). And thank you of course to Michael Pollan for being part of this movement towards more local, more nutritious, food.

This week’s What’s Your Favorite? points to ethnic foods: Chinese, Irish, Japanese, Turkish, Jamaican, Indian, Thai, Welsh…what’s your favorite ethnic food?

Mine definitely used to be Chinese, but lately I’ve been wanting to experiment with foods from my Irish heritage so I’ve been researching lots of soup, stew, meat and potatoes recipes. I’ve also come across some interesting Irish food blogs.

So…what’s your favorite ethnic food? Leave a comment and let us know!

A steady stream of house guests this past year, some for just a few hours and others for up to a week, has got me thinking about being a host and when I most like cooking for others. So what we want to know this week is:

What’s your favourite occasion to cook for?

Is it a certain family member’s birthday? Is it your one night a week with the girls? Or with the boys? Or do you love cooking for yourself best?

Leave a comment after this post and tell us!

* What’s Your Favourite? Fridays is posted every Friday in an effort to get our readers talking and inspired about their favourite foods, drinks and recipes as the weekend approaches. If you’ve got an idea for an installment of What’s Your Favourite? Fridays just leave us a comment!

…and just in time for the holidays. I’m not sure if your family was particularly proactive at getting together over the Christmas seasons, or any holiday for that matter, but my family (despite our differences) have always managed to get together over Christmas and share a meal.  The meal being key, we really love to eat good, home cooked food. And it certainly doesn’t stop at the savory, sweets have always been huge. This week’s edition of  ‘What’s Your Favorite Fridays’ is dedicated to your favourite holiday treat, and will hopefully give you inspiration for any holiday baking still on your to-do list. Me? Shortbread, as seen below.

~ j

What’s your Favourite Fridays has taken a couple of long weekend holidays…and it sincerely apologizes.

Back into the regular rhythym now though, and due to our recent gloomy and rainy weather we’ve been enjoying a variety of warm beverages. I am more of a dairy-free hot chocolate/any kind of tea person, while my other half can’t live without his twice-daily americanos. But what about this whole Matcha thing? I see matcha lattes everywhere, but they involve milk, and sadly this is what makes them off limits to me.  I noticed them first when we were in China in August, they love their matcha and their Starbucks over there and since ordering anything in mandarin beyond something we could point at was nearly impossible, ‘green tea’ got me 3 scoops of ground matcha powder with hot water. And, actually, it wasn’t half bad and I have since become hooked on it.

So, what’s your favourite soothing comfort drink?

This Friday, I am under the weather. The change in seasons always seems to give me a little run for my money, but this time I wasn’t able to kick it in the pants. So, I’ve been enjoying soups, crackers, and a whole lot of liquids. If I knew this was coming I would have made my favourite…tomato basil soup, with extra EXTRA garlic. Not to give soup a bad rap..I love soup, even when I’m feeling in tip top shape, soups give me that warm and cozy feeling anytime. I should definitely learn to make more soups when I’m feeling better.

So you know the drill….What’s your favourite comfort food?

Oh…and I hope you’re all much healthier this weekend than I am.

This Friday, I am under the weather. The change in seasons always seems to give me a little run for my money, but this time I wasn’t able to kick it in the pants. So, I’ve been enjoying soups, crackers, and a whole lot of liquids. If I knew this was coming I would have made my favourite…tomato basil soup, with extra EXTRA garlic. Not to give soup a bad rap..I love soup, even when I’m feeling in tip top shape, soups give me that warm and cozy feeling anytime. I should definitely learn to make more soups when I’m feeling better.

So you know the drill….What’s your favourite comfort food?

Oh…and I hope you’re all much healthier this weekend than I am.

What’s Your Favourite? is posted every Friday in an effort to get our readers talking and inspired for some favourite foods, drinks and recipes as the weekend approaches. If you’ve got an idea for an installment of What’s Your Favourite? just leave a comment!

I hope it’s sunny where you are right now, we’re still getting sunshine and it’s fabulous. In celebration of the many BBQ’s that hopefully you had over the summer holidays, and maybe are still continuing to have if, Basil Gazing wants to know:

What’s your favourite BBQ dish?

Leave a comment and tell us!

(Mine is, after careful consideration: BBQ corn on the cob, only complete when paired with a lot of salt and butter. Delish!)

What’s Your Favourite? is posted every Friday in an effort to get our readers talking and inspired for some favourite foods, drinks and recipes as the weekend approaches. If you’ve got an idea for an installment of What’s Your Favourite? just leave a comment!

I hope it’s sunny where you are right now, we’re still getting sunshine and it’s fabulous. In celebration of the many BBQ’s that hopefully you had over the summer holidays, and maybe are still continuing to have if, Basil Gazing wants to know:

What’s your favourite BBQ dish?

Leave a comment and tell us!

(Mine is, after careful consideration: BBQ corn on the cob, only complete when paired with a lot of salt and butter. Delish!)

What’s Your Favourite? is posted every Friday in an effort to get our readers talking and inspired for some favourite foods, drinks and recipes as the weekend approaches. If you’ve got an idea for an installment of What’s Your Favourite? just leave a comment!

So I realize the weather in a lot of places has been a little unlike what we are used to experiencing in July…ok, I’m going to be blunt: it’s been downright gross, rainy and cold. I wore my raincoat and wool socks today for crying out loud. But, in the spirit of positivity and things improving as we move from today through the weekend, Basil Gazing wants to know:

What’s your favourite chip dip?

Leave a comment and tell us!

(Mine is a heavy garlic & tomato guacamole…made best by my better half, and he knows it. It’s like a mexican vacation on the edge of a tortilla…what could be better?)