The food gallery

A lot of pictures get taken before each post gets put up. There are lots of nice shots that never make it into the posts or some shots that get lost among all the posts. This food gallery is a place for some of those pictures to get their chance to shine.

Christmas 2018 was fast approaching and shortbread was on the menu, or at least I thought it’d be fun to do some baking.  Shortbread is always nice around that time of year so I decided to make some Shortbread.  It had been years since I made any.   The best shortbread recipe I had ever made was from the back of a cornstarch box.  It seems that box and recipe was no longer in the grocery stores, which tells you it had been quite a while since I made any shortbread!  So I had to go  searching for it.  There was no Pinterest when I last made shortbread so it took me awhile to find it and where did I find it, on Pinterest! 

Now that I had found the recipe, I made the shortbread and it was enjoyed by many.  But then I thought, “What about variations on the classic shortbread recipe? Say, chocolate chip shortbread, matcha shortbread, maple and bacon shortbread, candy cane shortbread, s’mores shortbread!” And that’s when it started, the 12 days of shortbread.  I ended up making more than 12 variations on the classes corn starch shortbread recipe, but 12 top “winners” were chosen.  You can find out more about the 12 days of shortbread and the recipes here.   Below are some of the pictures that were taken along the way.

Classic Canada cornstarch shortbread recipe image.
Image of shortbread cookies on a black plate.
Image of 3 chai shortbread cookies on a black plate.
Image of 3 matcha shortbread cookies on a black plate.
Image of cherry walnut shortbread cookies on a black plate.
Image of lemon poppy seed shortbread cookies on a black plate.
Image of cranberry almond shortbread cookies on a black plate.
Image of cranberry almond shortbread cookies on a black plate.
Image of cheddar and chives shortbread cookies being placed and arranged on a black plate.
Image of 2 candy cane shortbread cookies on a black plate.
Image of what a melon tea in a clear cup with parmesan and thyme shortbread cookies on a black plate.
Image of 4 s'mores shortbread cookies on a black plate.
Image of shortbread cookie dough being mixed in a glass bowl with a red spatula.
Image of 5 unicorn shortbread cookies on a black plate.
  Image of cherry chocolate almond shortbread cookies being arranged on a black plate.
Image of gluten free shortbread cookies arranged in a circular flower pattern on a black plate.
Image of chai shortbread cookies on a black plate surrounded by yellow tea  by Cha Yi tea shop.
Image of cheddar rosemary orange shortbread cookies on a black plate.
Image of matcha shortbread cookie dough in a glass bowl.

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It was in the fall of 2017 when I started getting back into tea.  I used to drink tea all the time but from tea bags.  Nothing wrong with a good tea bag, but not all tea bags are good. I wanted to try something different.  It really started with my father’s tea cups which I moved into my house.  This was how it all started taking pictures of my father’s teacups and sharing them on Instagram. But, I needed something to put in those cups.

I started by buying a selection of teas from David’s tea each week. $5 worth of loose leaf tea. Then I stumbled onto the Toronto Tea Festival in the winter of 2018 and I bought a lot of tea from all over the world during that festival. That’s how I moved into loose leaf tea. 

I learned about the Canadian Tea Association and Tea Academy and took a few courses from them, Tea 101 and Tea 102.  I learn alot about the different types of tea, how tea is produced, the regions of the world where tea is grown and produced and a lot more.  But the part I enjoyed the most was getting the variety of tea samples and tasting them.   You can find out more about the different kinds of tea and the history of tea on here site too.  Below are some of the pictures of the different teas I have tried since starting this tea journey.

Pictures of assam Black Tea in a glass cup on a wooden table with loose leaf black tea on the table.
Knolling image of Green Tea in a cup, dry green tea leaves and wet green tea leaves.
Image of wet tea leaves in a glass tea dish with a tea strainer in the background.
Image of 3 clay tea pots from japan on a wooden floor.
Top view image of a cup of green matcha with a whisk and matcha whisking bowl.
Tea
different kinds of tea - black tea pic
history of tea pic
cold brew
chaga mushrooms
teas of japan
maritime tea run pic1
maritime tea run pic5
Image of tea haul from the Canadian maritimes.
who are we - teapot pic
matcha
chai pic
chai product - loose leaf pic
Top view image of a pouch of hojicha dry loose leaves, a cup of steeped hojicha tea in a glass cup.
Tap view image of quiche on a yellow plate, a cup of tea and a pouch of herbal tea.
Image of apple crisp pie and a cup of tea in the background and a pouch of loose leaf tea in the foreground.
Image of tea leaves spilling out of a paper pouch beside a bean salad in a bowl and a cup of tea.

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