I have this friend Miranda, and she is wonderful. Why, you ask? Well, for starters we are very similar in many ways and we get along very well, but put all of that aside, she is going after her dreams. This is something that I respect. Miranda is taking Culinary at George Brown part-time, works at Summerhill Market in their kitchen, and is just finishing up an internship at Chatelaine Magazine in their test kitchen. I know, I know, you want to be her friend too, but no, I won't share. To change careers is scary, but to go after your dream and happiness is what life is all about. Passion+food=love.

Recently, I decided that I wanted to go check out what they do at the test kitchen and asked Claire Tansey, the food editor at the magazine and someone I enjoy following on Twitter, if it would be okay if I came in one afternoon. 

Claire is one of those rare people who occasionally make me hungry from her tweets, and I believe it was a tweet about testing lasagnas that got me. They are always cooking up interesting recipes that go out monthly to homes across the country. What a job, right? In my chat with Claire, in the bright space that houses the test kitchen at the Rogers Campus at Mt Pleasent and Ted Rogers Way, I flat out told her she has the best job in the world. How could she not agree? They get to play in a kitchen all day, and taste all of their yummy creations. 

On the day I visited the test kitchen they were working on four recipes for upcoming editions of the magazine. Risotto, glazes for baked hams, a strata, and an orange almond cake with a whipped cream and rhubarb topping.

Here is a little peek at the process, with the ladies discussing the cake.

In the kitchen, they test recipes until they get them right. They are, after all, going out to families across the country. The kitchen is relatively simple, trying to mimic a home kitchen. No overly fancy equipment or ingredients. This recipe might end up being prepared by a family in Kamloops, Wolfville, Flin Flon, Ottawa, or Regina. They are very conscious of this, and when a recipe calls for something that may not be readily available in every community, they try to provide the best alternative to still provide the same flavour.

When I arrived, Claire had open some archives of copies of the magazine from decades past, very cool. We talked about how food has changed over the years, from the 30’s to the 60’s and into the 70’s and beyond. Remember, ingredients in the 30’s did not come in cans, there were no microwaves, no short cuts, just simple food. It is really interesting to track the changes in recipes throughout the years, and I would love to spend days browsing these catalogues, as I do sometimes at home with some of the older recipe books I have in my home library.

I like to feed people, those who know me can attest to this, so I did bring some treats to the kitchen for the ladies. I baked some Chocolate Covered Pomegranate Shortbread, for which I will include a recipe shortly on my blog, I just want to try out one more variation before writing about it. Also, I shared with Miranda a while ago a very special chocolate bar that I brought back from my trip to Israel, and she brought it in to the kitchen to share. I was told that everyone that tried it loved it, so I picked up a few more to bring with, along with some other savoury Israeli snacks, Falafel flavoured Bissli and Bomba. Two of my personal favourites and they were a big hit.

If only I could go play in the test kitchen at Chatelaine every day, as it is one of the most fun places on earth. Le sigh.