When my sister pressed her copy of Red Velvet & Chocolate Heartache into my hands last weekend, it came with a warning. “Give it a chance” she urged me, knowing that I was already slightly biased against this book.

“I will, don’t worry” I answered. But inside, I was skeptical. Come on- cakes made with vegetables instead of butter? Who’s buying that one? Read more…

Like me, my sister has a bit of a thing for cookbooks. Unlike me, she used to work for a company that published them, allowing her to indulge her habit at little to no cost. Between her own purchases and the old office freebie bin, she’s developed quite a collection, and I love browsing through it when I’m at her place. The book up for review today, The New Family Bread Book, is one that I frequently remove from its place on her kitchen shelf for my perusing pleasure. When she lent it to me for a review, I couldn’t wait to do some actual baking from it. Read more…

I must confess that I’ve never actually been to Rose Bakery, the lunch spot on the rue des Martyrs in Paris’s 9th arrondissement, beloved of French foodies and international food bloggers alike. My sister told me about it after she visited Paris last year, and while it’s definitely on my to-go list, I haven’t had the good luck to be whisked away on a surprise romantic holiday to Paris since then. Read more…

Now, I didn’t really plan on reviewing another Nigella book so soon after my review of Nigella Express. But, knee-deep in recipe testing for upcoming reviews and desperate to get something up on the blog this week, I’m turning to an old favourite. Read more…