In honour of International Women's Day tomorrow (March 8), I wanted to share how much of an inspiration one of the women in my life, my Mom, has been for me in the kitchen. When I was growing up, my Mom was a pretty good cook, but occasionally there were some misses. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't for lack of trying. She always made my brother and I home cooked dinners, sent us to school with homemade lunches full of healthy fruits and vegetables (no pre-packaged lunches for us) and always made sure we had a hearty breakfast. However, I have distinct memories of dry, over cooked chicken, interesting flavour combos (chick peas, peanut butter and orange juice anyone?) and rubbery tofu (we were vegetarian for a few years and as a kid I hated tofu, but now I love it). She also liked to use the newest kitchen technology of the time - the microwave, and had great success with this Canadian Living Microwave Cookbook. However, my Mom's prolific but sometimes unsuccessful cooking did inspire me to get in the kitchen. At the age of 4, I was scrambling eggs on the stove under a watchful eye. I loved helping her make muffins (one of my Mom's favourite things to bake) and as I got older, I started taking over some of the cooking for the family. Over time, my Mom has turned into a very good cook. She loves to spend time in the kitchen baking and cooking and there are far fewer misses these days. She enjoys good quality ingredients and frequents her local butcher and farmer's markets. One of her favourite things to make and eat is this Sticky Date Pudding, I even made it for her birthday one year. [caption id="attachment_10575" align="alignnone" width="580"] Sticky Date Pudding with Irish Whiskey Toffee Sauce
Photography by Yvonne Duivenvoorden[/caption]   So, Thanks Mom for inspiring me to cook and have confidence in the kitchen! [caption id="attachment_10576" align="alignnone" width="377"] My Mom
Photography by Casey Patrick (Rave Images)[/caption]   Follow me on Twitter.