Autumn Outing: Apple Orchards in Saint-Joseph-du-Lac, QC

Despite being mere weeks from my due date, I couldn't resist a prepartum venture to the apple orchards. Fall is just glorious here in Québec, and since I'll be a lactating zombie throughout October I saw apples in September as my last prematernal hurrah. My checklist was simple: doughnuts, cider, within an hour away.

Mom's Zucchini Bread

My mom, probably like everyone else's, has made zucchini bread for as long as I can remember. Funny thing is we never grilled zucchini, never sautéed zucchini, never even threw zucchini in a casserole. No matter how much zucchini sprung from the garden, it has always been reserved exclusively for quick bread in Mom's kitchen.

Regardless of whose oven it comes from, her zucchini bread conjures up so many special summer memories: 

Country Potato Soup (copycat la Madeleine recipe)

Without a doubt what I miss most about Texas is the food. Naturally, you would expect me to miss the Tex-Mex, the juicy chopped brisket, the deep fried Southern cooking, and the incomparable Mexican food. But I also miss the less expected--like la Madeleine's potato soup.

La Madeleine is a charming bistro style chain restaurant that I first encountered in Texas. Apparently, it was actually started by a Frenchman who found himself in Dallas. (Gotta feel for that guy!) As to the present day authenticity of these "French" restaurants, friends who lived in France for decades merely noted that, "They try very hard." But when you're stuck in living in Texas and unable to cross the ocean, la Madeleine lends even more variety to the already amazing regional fare. 

New-to-Me: Cooking with Leeks

I learned so much by watching my mom in the kitchen. That's where she was (and still is) often found, either scrambling to get a weeknight dinner on the table, mixing up baked goods from memory, or experimenting to recreate something new she tried at a restaurant. She had worked in food service in various capacities over the decades, making her an incredible short order cook and an overflowing fount of knowledge when it came to tips and tricks.

Fall Fun at Cidrerie Vergers Léo Boutin (Mont Saint-Grégoire, QC)

Hoping to make the most of our first Indian Summer in Quebec, Bryan and I visited Cidrerie Vergers Léo Boutin the last Saturday in September. The weather was perfect—high 70s to 80s (mid to low 20s C), bright sunshine, the occasional breeze. While the fall foliage hadn’t yet reached its peak, the countryside was nonetheless adequately adorned in oranges, yellows, and reds. 

Lynnelle's Chicken Salad

We all know cooks who can just make things. No script, no measuring, just experience and instinct. As much as that sort of free cooking baffles little ol' anal, ahem, precise me, that's exactly how Lynnelle's amazing chicken salad came to be. No recipe, no precise measurements, just good taste and know-how.

Like many home cooks, my dear friend Lynnelle loves trying new things in the kitchen. In preparation for a Memorial Day picnic several years back, she decided on chicken salad: quick, easy, and portable. Using fresh ingredients she had on hand and her undeniably good palate, she inadvertently created what was (and still remains) the best chicken salad that I have ever had. 

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

I distinctly remember the first pumpkin whoopie pie I ever ate. A friend's fall wedding had brought me to her hometown of Lancaster, PA, and her mother graciously treated us out-of-towners to whoopie pies, both the traditional ones and the pumpkin ones. She had a large bowl full of both varieties, all individually packaged with plastic wrap.

I had almost forgotten about pumpkin whoopie pies since immediately after my friend's wedding I met the marvelous man that would become my husband. It was a happy coincidence a year later when, after my own wedding, another friend from the Northeast shared her pumpkin whoopie pie recipe. I made them immediately, and they have since become a fall tradition for our little family.