Cooking with Alison

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Cooking with Alison is now an Amazon Influencer!

In Random, Reviews on February 2, 2019 at pm

Hi everyone,

As you know, I love sharing my favourite food, restaurants, and cooking-related products with others. Now I am formally sharing my favourite Amazon.ca products through the Amazon Influencer Program. Categories include cooking/baking/kitchen, as well as home and décor, smart-home and other electronic devices, health and beauty, travel, dog products, and other fun stuff for adults and kids!

To check out my recommended lists, which will be updated periodically, please go here:

amazon.ca/shop/cookingwithalison

 

Thanks so much!

Disclaimer: If you do happen to purchase an item through my Amazon.ca storefront, I may earn a small amount of Amazon credit at No extra cost to you.

 

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Versatile Ingredients #1 – Semolina Flour

In Breakfast, Cookies, Desserts, Grocery Budget Challenge, How-To, Pasta, Rice, and Doughs, Random on October 8, 2018 at pm

One winter, I bought a bag of semolina flour to make cookies. The cookies were great! But after making just 2 batches of cookies, the remaining semolina flour sat in my cupboard, taking up precious storage space, for longer than I’d like to admit. So one week, I made it my mission to use up all of the semolina flour. Here are some things that can be made with semolina flour. I’d love to hear what you use it for!

 

The Versatility of Semolina Flour

Here is a list of things that can be made with semolina flour. Please note that I have not personally tried all of these suggestions.

  1. Cookies
    • I made delicious shortbread cookies (recipe here).
  2. Creamy Polenta
    • I usually use cornmeal for my polenta, but polenta can be made using a combination of cornmeal and semolina flour (see recipe here).
  3.  Pasta
    • I used semolina flour to make angel hair pasta. The semolina pasta had a great, substantial texture!
    • Semolina flour can also be used to make gnocchi.
  4. Cake and Muffins
  5. Bread
  6. Pancakes
    • I used the recipe here. The texture of the pancakes was more dense and grainy than pancakes made with all purpose flour, but they were still great!

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How else do you use semolina flour? Please let us know in a comment! Thanks in advance!

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Toronto’s Best Coffee Competition at the Coffee and Tea Expo (and an Interview with Barista Brian)

In Random, Reviews on April 6, 2017 at pm

Toronto Coffee & Tea Expo

Toronto’s first annual Coffee & Tea Expo will be held this weekend, April 8-9, 2017! It will take place at The Glass Factory, 99 Sudbury Street. I LOVE coffee and sample it everywhere I go, so I’m sure you can imagine how excited I will be to attend the event and provide social media coverage! Be sure to follow me on social media (details here) and check out my Introduction to Coffee Tasting.

At the expo, you’ll be able to try free drink samples, purchase coffee beans and tea leaves, experience the culture and new trends, and learn new recipes, tips, and tricks. I am most excited for the Best Coffee Competition! I was lucky enough to have a chance to interview one of the judges, Barista Brian, prior to the event. At the event, you will also meet other coffee and tea lovers, baristas, roasters, sommeliers, blenders, distributors and retail stores.

If you purchase your tickets online, you will get a 25% discount! See here. Tickets are already starting to sell out!

Photo of Barista Brian from his Instagram page (@baristabrian). Provided by and used with permission from Toronto Coffee & Tea Expo.

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UCC Chef Battles, The Gentlemen’s Expo, and an Interview with Chef Joe Friday

In Random on November 6, 2016 at pm

Updated: April 6, 2017. Check out the Cooking with Alison Instagram page for more photos from the event!

The Gentlemen’s Expo (November 10-12, 2016)

I can’t even describe how excited I am for The Gentlemen’s Expo! There will be something there for everyone, especially foodies! The line-up of celebrities and entertainment (from the culinary world and otherwise) seems endless. Perhaps one of their biggest attractions will be the Underground Chef Company (UCC) Battle and industry panel discussion. I had the privilege of interviewing the founder of UCC, Chef Joe Friday.

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The National Buffalo Wing Festival (Part 3 – Go for the Entertainment Alone!)

In Random, Reviews on October 16, 2016 at am

The National Buffalo Wing Festival runs every Labour Day weekend in Buffalo, NY. Even if you don’t love chicken wings, go for the entertainment alone. This is part 3 of 3 posts that I’ve shared about my experience at the 2016 festival. (Please see here for more general information about the festival. Also, I tried the food from almost every single vendor reviewed them here (part 1) and here (part 2).)

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The National Buffalo Wing Festival (Part 2 – Reviews of Almost Every Vendor Continued)

In Random, Reviews on October 3, 2016 at am

I had the BEST time at the 2016 National Buffalo Wing Festival in Buffalo, NY. I tried the wings and other food items from almost every single vendor over the 2-day festival. I’ve shared my reviews below. Please see here for Part 1 of the reviews and for more information about the festival. It runs every Labour Day weekend. If you’re thinking about visiting Buffalo, see here for my top 10 favourite reasons to road trip there. (See here for my post about the entertainment at the festival, which was just as good, if not better than the food. And that’s saying a lot!)

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The National Buffalo Wing Festival (Part 1 – Reviews of Almost Every Vendor)

In Random, Reviews on September 22, 2016 at am

The National Buffalo Wing Festival is held in Buffalo, NY (the birth place of the buffalo chicken wing sauce) every Labour Day weekend. In 2016, the festival celebrated their 15th anniversary and they pulled out all the stops! It was attended by over 70,000 people! It was my first time attending and I had the BEST time. I made it my mission to try at least one wing flavour from every single vendor at the festival. The vendors at the festival made the best wing sauces that I’ve ever had in my life – and I used to eat chicken wings at least 5 times a week! Here is Part 1 of my reviews! (See here for Part 2 of the reviews. See my Top 10 Reasons to Road Trip to Buffalo, NY here.)

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10 Reasons to Road Trip to Buffalo, NY

In Random, Reviews on September 11, 2016 at pm

I live in Toronto, ON, Canada, and plan road trips multiple times a year. Before the Labour Day long weekend in September, 2016, I told a co-worker that I was planning a road trip to Buffalo, NY, USA. She looked at me surprised and said, judgmentally, “Why?”. I realized then that a lot of people don’t realize how much Buffalo has changed in the last few years. So here’s a list of my top ten reasons for visiting Buffalo, NY.

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How I Styled my Hutch and Cabinets

In Random on September 10, 2016 at am

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Once it became apparent that John and I would be living in our condo for longer than originally planned, I did some redecorating with storage solutions in mind. For our open concept kitchen, dining, and living area, I purchased affordable bookcases with partial glass paneled doors (see Ikea’s Billy bookcases here). I was so excited to take (some of) my beloved serveware out of storage boxes. It took some research and many tries before I was satisfied with how they were displayed, so I’m sharing some tips on how to style your dining room hutch and kitchen cabinets. I would LOVE to see photos of your arrangements!

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Favourite Toronto Wedding and Event Vendors

In Random, Reviews on April 20, 2016 at am

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John and I got married in September, 2015. The wedding planning process was much more difficult than we anticipated, so in hopes of helping other people with their event planning, I wanted to share a short list of our favourite wedding vendors in Toronto, ON. We were very lucky that all of our vendors worked out, but the ones listed below were truly outstanding or unique. Let me know if you have any questions! (For more wedding photos, check out my instagram account @cookingwithalison)

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Introducing Cooking with Alison’s Social Media Accounts!

In Random on March 28, 2016 at am

Hi everyone! Cooking with Alison is becoming more active on social media!

All accounts will have slightly different focuses, so I hope that you will ‘like’ and subscribe to them.

Thanks very much!

penguin (33)

Twitter

@cookingwithali – I plan to use twitter to tweet about my favourite restaurant dishes, product brands, and wine recommendations.

Facebook

Cooking with Alison – On the ‘Cooking with Alison’ facebook page, you will see current food-related news, cooking tips and tricks videos, and some of my favourite older recipes. Furthermore, all future food blog posts will also be publicized on the facebook page.

Instagram

@cookingwithalison – On the Instagram account, I plan to share photos of restaurant meals, wine recommendations, recipes (old and new), and favourite lifestyle products (e.g. make-up, kitchenware, serveware, etc.). You can also find some of my wedding photos on Instagram.

Snapchat

@cookingwithalis – Follow me to food events and festivals through Snapchat!

Pinterest

Don’t forget to keep pinning your favourite Cooking with Alison recipes!

Zomato.com

@cookingwithalison – This is where you will find all of my reviews for restaurants in and around Toronto.

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Introduction to Chocolate Tasting

In How-To, Random, Reviews on March 13, 2016 at am
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Chocolate tasting samples at Lake Champlain Chocolates, Burlington, Vermont.

I went to Burlington, Vermont in the fall of 2014 for a family road trip. We ate and drank our way through the city and Lake Champlain Chocolates was one of my favourite discoveries. I really like their dark chocolate, because it doesn’t contain milk products (I don’t like chocolate that has a lactic sour taste). Also, their white chocolate is the best I’ve ever had. The best part about Lake Champlain Chocolates is that they offer complimentary seminars on chocolate tasting. Their chocolate is available for sale at many Whole Foods locations. We really enjoyed their introduction to chocolate tasting and, although I’m a bit late in sharing this information, I hope it helps you enjoy, appreciate, and choose wisely from the abundance of chocolate that this coming Easter is sure to bring.

(On a side note, check out my Introduction to Coffee Tasting here.)

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Cocoa pod, cocoa beans, cocoa nibs.

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