It was a fun April over here with lots of cooking and baking at home, plus a life highlight thrown into the mix:

• THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA came to Toronto!!! I’m going to write a separate post on the event where I try to adequately express all of my emotions about Ina, because I can’t be contained to a couple of sentences here. While I waiting for her visit, I cooked exclusively out of her books and documented everything on my Instagram stories (saved in Highlights on my profile if you want to check it out!). My favourites from what I made: Mushroom Risotto, Roasted Pepper & Goat Cheese Sandwiches, Omelet for Two (really a frittata) and Shrimp Scampi Linguine.
• Why hasn’t anybody told me about the sheer delight of the Bon Appetit You Tube Channel? I found this via BA’s Twitter when I clicked on a link of Ina in their test kitchen making Chocolate Pecan Scones, and fell down a rabbit hole. My favourite series is Gourmet Makes, where Claire makes gourmet versions of various junk food items like Skittles, Snickers and Cheetos. I’m obsessed!
• I met up with my friends Weedy & Krishna at Rhum Corner where we had some much needed tropical cocktails in this cold, gray, lingering Winter, plus some tasty snacks.
• Libby organized a private dinner at Luke’s Underground Supper Table, and it was the best meal I’ve eaten this year. She wrote a post on the night and has great pictures and descriptions of all the dishes we ate, so I’ll just direct you here. Everything was absolutely delicious and it was so fantastic to be with all my foodie girls again.
• Kristine and her siblings threw their mom a surprise 60th birthday party and I was excited to make the desserts: Coconut Cake, Lemon Squares and Marbled Banana Bread. Everything was great BUT I was annoyed that the Coconut Cake recipe I used did not even taste like coconut! WTF!
•  After missing out on Valentine’s baking this year, I was super excited to make some Easter treats to bring to work. I brought in the Rice Krispie Squares pictured above which had Easter M&Ms and Golden Oreos mixed in and they were a huge hit! I also made some Mini Egg Chocolate Chip Cookies covered with sprinkles which were pretty cute and fun.
• Quick Easter Recap! Joel & Tara hosted this year and made the turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes and carrots, and my contributions were my go-to Stuffing, Green Beans with Almond Pesto (a green vegetable! and people ate it!) and Honey Corn Muffins (recipe from Baked Explorations). Dessert was the traditional Easter Fortnite Birthday Cake.
• To wrap up, here are two new things I cooked this month that I really liked: Honey Garlic Shrimp & Hawaiian Chicken Tacos.