I think you'll like this cake. It's super simple and it's good. It reminds me of coffee cakes I ate as a kid, only better. The crumble is finer and there's more of it, the ratio is different. And the fruit layer is thicker, making for the perfect amount of fruit in each bite. It's the type of cake you'll want to take on a picnic. Or pack for lunch wrapped in waxed paper. Or just eat, still warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.             [amd-zlrecipe-recipe:30]         + dreaming of a trip to hawaii and one to venice too this cake this cake (i made this one and you probably should too, it's really great) love this image of yossy's this parfum this coat the bowl in 2nd photo is from the HG shop and it's a beauty photos: michael graydon + nikole herriott

These days I eat less bread than I used to. Not no bread, but less. And I try to stick to the good stuff when I do. Like brioche, I love brioche. So when I found out my friend Tara was going to include a recipe for bostocks in her new book, I knew I had to try it. She's a bit of a magician in the kitchen and we have a history of searching out bostocks together. Plus I've made her chocolate chip cookies and they're fantastic. Same goes for her fried chicken, her pickled strawberry preserves and her house burger sauce. All without surprise, excellent.     Anyway, brioche (and bostocks) come with a fair bit of nostalgia for me. They remind me of my first days working in a pastry kitchen. You learn brioche (the foundation of bostocks) early on, it's one of those basic recipes you have to master, like pâte à choux or crème pâtissiére. It's also really versatile as far as application goes. Perfect the day you make it, but equally great days later.     If you haven't made (or had) bostocks before, they're essentially thick pieces of brioche, soaked in simple syrup (Tara's has orange blossom water and citrus rind) and spread with almond cream (often garnished with sliced almonds or even dried fruit). In Tara's recipe, the almond cream puffs up around the almonds themselves and melds into the soaked bread. The result is a centre that is someplace between bread, custard and a slice of cake, with the edges feeling crispy like a piece of toast. They're fragrant, but not overpowering, and perfect in hand on the way out the door.   [amd-zlrecipe-recipe:28]   + some things I like: This rug, this rug and this one Outdoor Voices This basket I just ordered this book I can't wait to try these My baking board These bags This suit I think we should get this for our patio/garden And Rosebud Multi-Use Oil   PHOTOS: Nikole Herriott

We took a few days off recently and went to our family cabin on Qualicum Beach. We drank piña coladas, ate oysters and kind of lazed around in the sun. It was surprisingly hot when we were there, weather I feel like I haven't felt in BC since I was a kid.     I cut a pile of rhubarb from my parent's backyard before making the drive up island. I brought along the Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book (shot by the super talented Gentl & Hyers) for the task of making a rhubarb pie and was SO pleased with the result!     I love that the Elsen sisters suggest to freeze the chopped rhubarb and then thaw and drain before making the pie. Such a great tip to get a little extra juice to drain from the stalks. It's late in the season for rhubarb I'm told, but there was no shortage at my parents place.     I noticed only afterward that the recipe is quite similar to the one Jen Causey made for my, For the Love of Pie series back in 2012, also by the Elsen sisters, but I'm including the recipe here  just because I think it's worth mentioning again. And if you don't have it already, go buy the book, it's great. xo, N                         [amd-zlrecipe-recipe:24]       I can't wait for this chocolate chip cookie recipe from Tara's book. Michael and I shot the new Bon Appétit Cover, find it on newsstands now! This place looks amazing. The design and photos in this story from the current print issue of Afar Magazine are beautiful. Michael snapped this in NYC the other day, I love it. This place looks nice. And we updated the shop last week, have a look. Photos: Nikole Herriott            

  We have a small strawberry patch in our garden. So small that it's not really a patch at all, more like a few strawberry plants in mismatched pots on a small deck to the side of our place.     We don't get an abundance of berries, but enough that we can eat one or two a day or if we wait, enough to have with breakfast on the weekend.     That works as I've been thinking of breakfast a lot lately. We have new maple syrup over in the shop (something we're pretty excited about!) so I've been fitting it into cooking and baking whenever I can. From that came the idea of these sweet crêpes with strawberries and maple syrup.     I'm sort of a traditionalist when it comes to sweet crêpes, but I like that this recipe has beer, something I hadn't tried before. The result is really nice texture and a pretty sort of lacy feel (you can see it well in this photo). And they're simple to make. I found that 1/3 of a cup of mix worked well when cooked on an 11" cast crêpe pan. If you don't have one, I recommend this one.       On the crêpes in the photo, I topped with fresh cut strawberries, a little sour cream and a generous pour of maple syrup. You should try it, it's so delicious. xo, N                   [amd-zlrecipe-recipe:23]

  I love a good sandwich. I especially love a good sandwich with some sort of pickle. But until recently I hadn't made my own.       I found the inspiration to give them a try when I was walking through Toronto's Chinatown a few saturdays ago. It's a brilliant place on weekend mornings. The streets are full and bustling then, the shops feel like they're overflowing with produce.       The woman I bought my onions from said she had grown them in her backyard. They were tiny and pink and sort of beautiful I thought. I like that she and other vendors form a long line up Spadina where Dundas crosses. They sell houseplants they've propagated, vegetables from their backyards and other little things. It's a hodgepodge row of tables and upside-down milk crates that runs up the curb toward College. There's something about that row of them for me, something that's kind of awesome.     All that said, try the onions. They're simple and pretty and super tasty. xo, N         [amd-zlrecipe-recipe:22] A bit of history on Toronto's Chinatowns, plus some old visuals. PHOTOS: Nikole Herriott