My inspiration for this toast came from my month stay in Portugal. In the US, fancy toast on restaurants menus is often limited to the ubiquitous avocado toast. Not in Portugal! Many brunch restaurants and coffee shops had multiple fancy toasts on their menus: thick, flavorful bread piled high with veggies, spreads, and eggs with…
Category: Europe
How to Plan a Month-Long Stay in a Foreign City
Have you ever dreamed of living abroad for a month or more? About two years ago, my spouse and I came up with a life plan. He’s a teacher with 2 months off in July-August, while I work remote and can work from anywhere. We decided that we needed to take advantage of this by…
Cheddar & Gouda Beer Fondue
As I look outside watching large flakes of snow drop from the sky, nothing sounds better than curling up and dipping stuff in warm, gooey cheese with family and friends gathered around the pot. I’ve been making fondue for years. One of the first pieces of cookware I owned was a fondue set, gifted to…
Mushroom & Lentil Vegan Lasagna
My mom is known for her lasagna. Family gatherings, parties, holidays, she always made lasagna. I have many memories of making lasagna together, trying to pull out the cooked noodles from the pot without breaking them in half (it always happened anyway) and setting it in layers. Mom recently shared her lasagna recipe with me….
One-Pot Vegan Zuppa Tuscana
If you’ve ever been to the Olive Garden, you know Zuppa Toscana soup: spicy Italian sausage, kale, and potato stewed together in a hearty broth. When I was growing up, The Olive Garden was my favorite restaurant. No lie, I loved it. And my favorite part was never the main courses, but their Zuppa Toscana…
Kir (And More About Blackcurrant)
Last year, I visited Cassis Monna & Filles, a wine cellar and gourmet foods boutique. Located on the Île d’Orleans, an agriculture island right outside of Quebec City, they make an incredible assortment of products made from blackcurrant/cassis including wines, liqueurs, jams, syrup, vinaigrette…if you can make it out of cassis, they probably sell it…
Ooey-Gooey Carrot Cake Loaf
It’s a big week for the United States: both Easter and Passover. Both holidays are times when we go to religious services, visit our family and friends, and eat great meals together. But this year, because of the coronavirus, most of us can’t see our loved ones this week. It’s odd to be celebrating the…
Grilled Eggplant & Halloumi Salad
These days I go back and forth between eating super healthy and eating junk food. Sitting at home all day, stressing about the end of the world, it’s just an emotional eating disaster. But our bodies are at their best when we feed them nourishing, nutritious meals and while there’s no scientific proof that healthy…
Fresh Mozzarella Bruschetta
Do you have a recipe that you’ve been making for so long that you don’t even know where it came from, or when you started making it? Have you ever pulled a recipe out of the archives to find that it was so utterly delicious that you couldn’t believe you ever stopped making it? That’s…
Butternut Squash & Spinach Quiche
Spring is here! The temperature passed 70 degrees for the first time yesterday, and I for one cannot be happier that the cold gray winter days are behind us. And while I wish winter good riddance, I always miss the comfort foods – especially anything with butternut squash! What better way to give a farewell…
Marissa Makes Food 