Kayahara.ca

My friend Stuart McCook, a historian who studies coffee cultivation and blogs about it at Coffee Cultures, has been called an “apologist for Robusta coffee.” Robusta is a species of coffee plant (Coffea canephora) distinct from the more widely cultivated Arabica species (Coffea arabica). Robusta is estimated to make up anywhere from 20% to 30% [...]

L’Amour en fuite (“Love on the Run”) is the creation of talented Canadian mixologist Jamie Boudreau, who currently works in Seattle at Canon. It’s one of the first cocktails he made when St. Germain elderflower liqueur was initially released, and is a perfect example of his Golden Ratio. (In fact, a drink with the same [...]

Recently, I was drinking a cup of chamomile tea sweetened with honey, and I let part of it get cold, which made me wonder: What would it be like if I changed the temperature even more drastically, say, by making it into a sorbet? I hauled out Migoya’s Frozen Desserts again for help formulating a [...]

Amaretti cookies are essentially Italy’s answer to macarons. Their name is derived from the diminutive form of “amaro” (bitter), because they’re traditionally flavoured with bitter almonds (and currently with almond extract). Unlike macarons, which are usually sandwiched, amaretti are mostly served solo. They’re also baked to a crunchier texture, and can be crumbled and used [...]

A while back, my homemade vinegar died an ignominious death. I’m not sure why, though I suspect excess free sulphur in one of the wines I used. All I know is that, at a certain point, it stopped growing a cellulose mother, smelled like a mix of vinegar and wine instead of pure vinegar, and [...]

When I recently made curry paste for a Thai jungle curry, I did it in a combination of food processor and small mortar and pestle, in batches. Since then, I’ve acquired a new, large mortar and pestle, so I promptly returned to the library to check out Hot Sour Salty Sweet again in order to [...]