Dinner invite? Gift ideas that will delight the host

It's only polite when you're invited to dinner to ask whether you can bring something. Here's a list of hostess gift ideas that stand out from the usual bottle of wine or bunch of flowers.

Back to Baking

Essentials Food Network Canada TV personality and Queen’s University grad Anna Olson has written a new cookbook called Back to Baking. It sells for $40 at Chapters, Indigo Books and The Novel Idea. Anna Olson’s first cooking love was baking.[...]

Need a hostess gift when invited to dinner? The Times' S. Irene Virbila has a few ideas

When you've been invited to dinner, it's polite to ask if you should bring something. Here are some ideas: cookies, unusual oils, vanilla beans, even a fun spoon. When I spent some months in Venice, Italy, years ago, my friend Paolo would show up at dinner parties with prosciutto. I'm not talking about a paper packet of sliced ham but a whole prosciutto di San Daniele, the famous ham from Friuli ...

Pivotal food scenes inspire an Oscars-themed party

If the simple act of eating can make movie stars seem a bit more like real people, it’s no wonder so many directors have their casts munching their way across the silver screen. This year food is frequently used in pivotal scenes to move the plot along or to flesh out a character’s personality.

JOKERS AND GROANERS

A POLITICAL CORRECT CHRISTMAS GREETING Best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most . . .