About Alison Gillmor:

Alison Gillmor is a Free Press writer.

• Easy, economical, healthy soup

  THIS week we have more soup, and I have to say, whenever I make soup I wonder why I don't make it all the time. It's easy, economical, healthy and there's such a range of flavours. This week we have a hearty beef and lentil soup from Helen Pitura and a creamy broccoli soup from Beausejour's Edna Mroz. We have a request in for vegan baking recipes -- that means without eggs or dairy products, which can be a bit of a challenge. If you can help with a recipe request, have your own request, or a favourite recipe you'd like to share, send an email to recipeswap@freepress.mb.ca, fax it to 697-7412, or write to Recipe Swap, c/o Alison Gillmor, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. Please include your first and last name, address and telephone number.

  View Full Column | 02/8/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Famous first words

  James Franco is a busy man. An actor-director-curator-Gucci model-Oscar host-drag queen-grad student-General Hospital guest star-conceptual artist, he keeps collecting those hyphens. His most recent add-on is "novelist." Now, maybe Franco is just an extreme example of the new reality, where everyone seems to be juggling jobs and gigs in a multitasking, multimedia universe. The guy has Napoleonic sleep habits -- a couple of hours a night -- and an irrepressible creative energy. But still, a book deal?

  View Full Column | 02/4/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Speedy pasta soup packs lots of flavour

  Krista Paulson was hoping to find a recipe for the peanut butter-chocolate chip granola bars at the late, lamented Bread & Circuses. Thanks to Lila Powell of Grandview for that recipe, which is a favourite at her house. We also have a tortellini soup from Heida Bottrell, with more soup recipes to come next week. Thanks to everyone who sent in their best recipes. Also, I should mention that during the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies, I printed a recipe for white chocolate-orange dream bars. I couldn't find a name attached to the recipe, but it looked so good I put it in anyway. It turns out the dream bars were from Edna Mroz, one of Recipe Swap's regular contributors.

  View Full Column | 02/1/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• When you're smiling... the whole world smiles with you

  Black-and-white and almost wordless, The Artist is a mash note to the era of silent cinema. A sweet, uncomplicated film, it might be a bit precious if it weren't for the smile of its leading man, French comic actor Jean Dujardin. That smile says a lot for a man who says nothing. Irresistible, infectious, amazingly adaptable, it has probably gone a long way in snagging Dujardin's Oscar nomination for Best Actor.

  View Full Column | 01/28/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• An environmentalist before it was trendy

  In her new biweekly column, art historian Alison Gillmor looks beneath the surface of newsworthy art. What it is: Impasse: Dog Team at Chasm Edge, one of almost 200 works by Manitoba artist Clarence Tillenius in the collection of the Assiniboine Park Pavilion Gallery Museum.

  View Full Column | 01/28/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Popular cake can be kept on the go for days

  THANKS to the many readers who wrote in reply to Dolores M.'s request for sour cream coffee cake, including JoAnne Baccus, Janet Martin, Shirley Rypp, Marjorey Dwornick, Linda Vincent, Florence Bouchard, Audrey Showdra of Swan River, Linda Snider of Glenboro, Elisabeth Laing and Edith Taylor. (Edith's husband sent the email and added that she had been making her recipe -- "a little gem," he calls it -- since before they were married, or "45 years and counting.") There were only a few minor variations among the recipes, and most readers cited community cookbooks or old family recipes for their sources. You can see why this would be a very popular recipe: It's the kind of cake you can keep on the go for a few days, for brunch, afternoon coffee or dessert. I tested one version that can be baked in a 9-inch square pan, as well as a larger bundt version, and I've added a few tips from the different recipes.

  View Full Column | 01/25/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Serve delicious African snack with spiced tea

  THANKS this week go to the people at Age & Opportunity, who have put together a cookbook called The World at My Table. Made up of contributions from students in English as an Additional Language for Older Adult classes, the recipes come from all over the globe. This week, in honour of our special edition, we have two recipes from Africa, one for spiced tea and one for maandhazi, a wonderful sweet fried bread, from Hawa Abdulahi of Somalia. The cookbook is a fundraiser for the organization and can be purchased for $20 through Age & Opportunity at 956-6440. Donna Riguidel would love a recipe for spinach salad like Grapes restaurant used to make, and she's also hoping that a Mennonite cook out there might have a recipe for summa borscht (or potato borscht). If you can help with a recipe request, have your own request, or a favourite recipe you'd like to share, send an email to recipeswap@freepress.mb.ca, fax it to 697-7412, or write to Recipe Swap, c/o Alison Gillmor, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. Please include your first and last name, address and telephone number.

  View Full Column | 01/18/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Barbie's Dreamhouse meets Hoarders

  WHAT It Is: Barbie Trashes her Dreamhouse, in a funny, dark little series of photographs by Carrie M. Becker. The St. Louis, MO-based artist has turned a Barbie Dreamhouse into a nightmare, messing up Barbie's cute furniture with tiny garbage bags and wee boxes of crap. Everything is hand-constructed to Barbie scale, meticulously arranged and then carefully photographed. What It Means: As a doll, Barbie's main life lesson -- besides "math class is tough," of course -- is that shopping is fun. Becker teases out the messy underside of Barbie's shiny pink consumerism, turning all those clothing purchases into compulsive clutter. (In the laundry room we see a blue jacket, last vestige of that seemingly undentable Barbie glamour, about to be swallowed up by a tide of junk.)

  View Full Column | 01/14/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Secrets & spies

  I'd heard that the new movie version of John Le Carré's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy was a little confusing -- all that betrayal squashed into two hours! -- so I thought I'd prep by reviewing the 1974 novel and the 1979 miniseries. Far from clearing things up, my one-week Le Carré binge just got me more confused, each of the three formats offering its very own brand of bewilderment to the mix. My Tinker Tailor immersion also made me realize that this feeling of confusion -- which I totally enjoyed, by the way -- is really the point of Le Carré's work. I'm keeping good company. Le Carré's unlikely super-spy George Smiley -- a portly, melancholy middle-aged cuckold who's been forced out of MI6 in the dwindling days of the Cold War -- is also confused. "Poor George," says his wayward wife Ann at the end of the miniseries, "Life's such a puzzle to you, isn't it?"

  View Full Column | 01/14/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Butternut squash dish a salad, vegetable side

  Debby Lute-Storey answered Richard May's request for butter chicken made like at Clay Oven. Debby is also a big fan of the restaurant, and she tinkered and tinkered to replicate its recipe at home. Mildred Giesbrecht sent in a winter salad that's a favourite with her family. Adapted from a recipe by the wonderful food writer Ina Garten, it's made with butternut squash and a warm vinaigrette. Please keep recipes for salads and soups coming in, and Dolores M. is looking for a sour cream coffee cake recipe, the kind with streusel on top and in the middle. If you can help with a recipe request, have your own request, or a favourite recipe you'd like to share, send an email to recipeswap@freepress.mb.ca, fax it to 697-7412, or write to Recipe Swap, c/o Alison Gillmor, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. Please include your first and last name, address and telephone number.

  View Full Column | 01/11/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• Do you promise to love, honour and respect... until next Friday?

  If Kim Kardashian has any manners at all -- a doubtful point -- she should be writing a nice thank-you letter to Sinead O'Connor this week. The Irish musician's recent blink-and-you-missed-it 16-day marital union to Dublin addictions counsellor Barry Herridge (and her even-more-recently tweeted reconciliation) may have taken some of the media heat off Kardashian, whose massive $10-million reality-TV wedding to Kris Humphries infamously dwindled into a meagre 72 days of marriage. The quickie marriage is something of a celeb specialty. Elizabeth Taylor's early forays into the form -- like her eight-month marriage to hotel heir Nicky Hilton -- now seem positively quaint compared with the speedy marriages of today, which can often be counted in days or even hours. (Take Britney Spears' matrimonial express train with childhood pal Jason Alexander, which was derailed within 55 hours by Team Spears roaring in like a Victorian papa and obtaining an annulment.)

  View Full Column | 01/7/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• You just might go wild over these soups

  RESPONDING to Diane Mayes' request for a wild rice soup, Barb Gmitrowski sent in a roux-thickened version from one of her co-workers. (Their workplace has put together a communal cookbook, which is a terrific idea.) Heida Bottrell sent in a pureed version, which uses the rice itself as a thickener. Both soups showcase the earthy, nutty taste of wild rice. And with the New Year and its resolutions ringing in, how about some recipes for healthy soups and winter salads? (I personally need to recover from 12 lovely days of Christmas cookies.) If you can help with a recipe request, have your own request, or a favourite recipe you'd like to share, send an email to recipeswap@freepress.mb.ca, fax it to 697-7412, or write to Recipe Swap, c/o Alison Gillmor, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. Please include your first and last name, address and telephone number.

  View Full Column | 01/4/2012 1:00 AM | 0

• We laughed, we cried

  In a year that saw its share of pop culture kookiness, here's a (fairly arbitrary) list of the highs and lows, the breakups and breakdowns, the happy surprises and sad goodbyes. Maybe baby: As usual, celebs celebrate their blessed events with outlandish, attention-grabbing baby names. Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon's bundle of joy is christened Moroccan, an adjectival name that inevitably leads to the question "Moroccan what?" Mike Myers names his kid Spike, which seems a bit butch for a baby. Animal-loving Alicia Silverstone favours Bear Blu. And, in a dubious gift to literacy, the Beckhams' decision to name their daughter Harper boosts sales of the novel To Kill a Mockingbird.

  View Full Column | 12/24/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Old meets new

  For bakers, Christmas means the big shortbread questions. Do you handle the dough like pastry or do you knead it for 20 minutes? Do you pare things down to the three traditional ingredients -- butter, sugar and flour -- or do you get fancy with add-ins like dried cranberries and white chocolate chips?

  View Full Column | 12/20/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• The art-house apocalypse: more existential than explosive

  It used to be that end-of-the-world movies involved directors like Michael Bay or Roland Emmerich blowing things up real good, while bullet-headed Bruce Willis or wise-cracking Will Smith went into emergency Earth-saving mode. Catastrophe cinema meant kick-ass action, can-do American attitude and a whole lot of special effects. Recently, art-house directors have been offering some angsty, introspective, decidedly depressed alternatives to the conventional cataclysm genre. Mopey, moody and fatalistic, choreographed to Wagner rather than Aerosmith, these takes on global destruction tap into our deepest fears.

  View Full Column | 12/17/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• No-bake cookies

  It's always a good idea to have some no-bake cookie recipes on hand for those days when the oven is busy. This rich-tasting treat, from Winnipeg's Donalda Johnson, is also good for anyone living with egg, dairy or wheat allergies.

  View Full Column | 12/15/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Bake your fruitcake and eat it, too

  BRENDA ENGBAEK wrote in requesting the recipe for dollar fruitcake, a recipe that goes back to the 1930s and has been reprinted many times in the pages of the Free Press. Based on the absolutely overwhelming response, this is a tried-and-true Recipe Swap favourite, and I thought I'd offer it once again, while adding an optional icing. Thanks to Mary Ann Richter, Anne Thoroughgood, Joan Gohl from Flin Flon, Bonnie Lenton, Madeleine Bedard of St.Pierre-Jolys, Emily Lucko, Christine Hansen, Cheryl May from Keewatin, Linda Sutton, Bev Russell and Selkirk's Beverley Bell. (I hope I haven't left anyone out.) Diane Mayes from Pierson recently enjoyed a bowl of wild rice soup in Fargo, N.D., loved the nutty taste and texture and is hoping someone might have a good recipe. And Nadja Fernando wants to know if anyone has a recipe for Gunn's sugar bow ties, also called kichlach. If you can help with a recipe request, have your own request, or a favourite recipe you'd like to share, send an email to recipeswap@freepress.mb.ca, fax it to 697-7412, or write to Recipe Swap, c/o Alison Gillmor, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave. Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. Please include your first and last name, address and telephone number.

  View Full Column | 12/14/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint Cookies

  Thanks to Cecile Olivier of Dufresne for this recipe, which updates the traditional thumbprint cookie with kid-friendly PBJ flavours.

  View Full Column | 12/13/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Cooking like a Brit at Christmas takes a bit of translation and a lot of goose fat

  I find British cookbooks delicious but puzzling. Courgettes? Strong flour? Gas mark 4? At Christmastime, however, they become a truly festive mix of the tantalizing and the frustrating. On the one hand, the English really know their Noel. In terms of food, much of what we now think of as Christmassy goes back to Charles Dickens. The Victorian novelist wrote about yuletide food as only someone who had known deprivation could. His 1843 classic, A Christmas Carol, is chock full of detailed descriptions of "cherry-cheeked apples," sage and onion stuffing, figs and French plums, candied fruits, roast goose, mince pies and "pot-bellied baskets of chestnuts."

  View Full Column | 12/10/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• The great archaeological swindle?

  What Is It?: Graffiti, mostly done by the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten (a.k.a. John Lydon), on the wall of a central London flat where the iconic punk band lived and worked in the 1970s. The drawings -- caricatures of band members, impresario Malcolm McLaren and Rotten himself -- are being studied by University of York archaeologists. Team leader Dr. John Schofield views them as valuable historical artifacts and part of Britain's "anti-heritage." What Does It Mean?: Street art and graffiti have long since made it into the postmodern canon. (Banksy, that masked and anonymous stencil genius, is one of the most interesting and inventive artists working in the U.K. today.) And Lydon's doodles do possess a rude, raucous, anarchic energy that's totally punk.

  View Full Column | 12/10/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• What a cake! It makes its own sauce

  A reader called Lyla recently phoned in with a request for a self-icing spice cake. One reader, who prefers to remain anonymous, sent in a recipe for spice cake with a baked-on meringue topping. It comes from the cookbook she learned to cook with, and she's been making it for 50 years. Another recipe came in, without a name, in answer to a request for cottage pudding a few months back. It's a version of that self-saucing moist cake with spices and a caramelly sauce. Brenda Engbaek is hoping for a recipe for "1930s Dollar Fruitcake." And please keep holiday favourites coming in, sweet or savoury. If you can help with a recipe request, have your own request, or a favourite recipe you'd like to share, send an email to recipeswap@freepress.mb.ca, fax it to 697-7412, or write to Recipe Swap, c/o Alison Gillmor, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. Please include your first and last name, address and telephone number.

  View Full Column | 12/7/2011 10:54 AM | 0

• Atlas's chakras out of whack?

  222And why is his name suddenly appearing on the shopping bags of Lululemon, the Vancouver-based purveyor of pricey yoga gear? John Galt is the world-conquering industrialist hero of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand's melodramatic mash note to unfettered free-market capitalism. A favourite tome on the libertarian library shelf and a Glenn Beck must-read, this 1957 novel -- complete with Galt's turgid 90-page speech denouncing altruism and advocating radical self-interest -- seems like an odd fit for the yoga set.

  View Full Column | 12/5/2011 3:19 AM | 0

• A few stollen moments for delicious baking

  A few weeks ago I confessed to my problems with yeast bread. Many kind and helpful readers wrote in, some telling me about their own yeast troubles, some offering valuable advice for overcoming my yeast-challenged ways. This week I'm trying out a recipe for stollen bread, which my mom made every Christmas morning when I was growing up. (This was delicious but also confusing, since in my child's mind it was called "stolen bread," which didn't jibe with my mother's honest character.) Thanks to Balmoral's Janet Meads, Glenboro's Linda Snider, Anita Miller and Anna Stein. The recipes they sent in used very similar ingredients and techniques, so I've combined some of their best aspects. (Linda's recipe puts marzipan in the middle for added flavour, while Anna's version brilliantly advocates plumping the raisins in brandy.) I've also included a recipe for stollen scones from baking maven Rose Levy Berenbaum, which I used to get the flavour of stollen while neatly avoiding the yeast issue. These are tender, rich and a good option when you're pressed for time.

  View Full Column | 11/30/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Warm & fuzzies: The Muppets are the perfect, no-strings-attached, scandal-free stars

  The Muppets are everywhere these days, promoting their peppy, popular new Disney movie. Kermit the Frog made an appearance at WWE wrestling. Miss Piggy did a recent fashion spread for InStyle magazine. She and Kermie have been working the red carpet, doing the talk-show circuit and guesting on SNL. The Muppets have their own line of nail polish and M.A.C makeup. In fact, the only place you don't see the famous felted entertainers is on the cover of the tabloids. If you need scandal-free celebrities, try puppets.

  View Full Column | 11/26/2011 1:00 AM | 0

• Hot and sour, hearty Italian soups ready to fill bowls

  THIS week we're trying out two soup recipes. Jeanette Johnston from Keewatin answered Ruthie Lepp's request for Ciao's pasta e fagioli soup -- a hearty Italian soup of noodles and beans -- with a quick, easy recipe. (For anyone who still craves the Ciao version, Antonio Anastasio wrote in to say that former Ciao chef Orlando Pepé is now making his famous version at Cafe 22.) And Debby Lute-Storey responded to Barb Gmitrowski's search for the perfect hot and sour soup. Debby started making this version when one of her sons was dating a vegetarian. As often happens, she found "the vegetarian option" was being devoured by the family carnivores. This week, Richard May is hoping for a recipe for the Clay Oven's butter chicken. (I'll second that request!) And please keep those holiday cookie recipes coming in. If you can help with a recipe request, have your own request, or a favourite recipe you'd like to share, send an email to recipeswap@freepress.mb.ca, fax it to 697-7412, or write to Recipe Swap, c/o Alison Gillmor, Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6. Please include your first and last name, address and telephone number.

  View Full Column | 11/23/2011 1:00 AM | 0

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