Food and Drink

Dear Eric: Silly question, but is popcorn still a vegetable? Marilyn When Marilyn's question first came in my first thought was yes, this is a silly a question.

When I was a child, my Latvian-born father would sometimes for lunch spread butter on rye bread and top it with sardine-like smoked sprats or pickled herring.

Dear Eric: Many decades ago, I heard my mother telling my father that a dish cannot be called “au gratin” unless it is topped with breadcrumbs.

Last week, I attended the Weber Mobile Grill Academy with two Times Colonist readers, Carole Richer and Norman Thomson, who won our draw for tickets to the event.

Dear Eric: My adult son’s birthday is coming up and he requested roasted beef bone marrow be served. Would you have a recipe? What kind of bones do you buy? Cindy Cindy, your son is in good culinary company by requesting roasted beef-bone marrow.

If you’re in the mood for a fairly easy-to-make, naughty treat that uses plump, in-season B.C. cherries, this column is for you. That treat is brandied cherries, and I call them naughty because you do, of course, have to lace them with that spirit.

Dear Eric: I enjoyed reading your column on making vinaigrette. Olive the Senses, a business in the Hudson Building, 1701 Douglas St., has become one of my favourite places to shop and browse.

Dear Eric: In your article on vinaigrette you used Dijon mustard in the dressing.

Rich, savoury sauce for meats — handed down from Aztecs — is enhanced by cocoa

My wife and I love to visit places we’ve never been and have a strategy to quickly forget travel woes endured getting there.