A visit with Mairlyn Smith

I am a huge fan of Mairlyn Smith. Why, you ask?

1. She's funny. 
2. She's a home economist, which means her profession paved the way for mine. 

(Thank you!)

3. Her recipes are healthful, whole food focused and accessible enough for real people (aka, me!) to actually be able to cook her food for their families on a regular basis. 

Mairlyn was in town last week to promote her new book, The Vegetarian's Complete Quinoa Cookbook, and I had the pleasure of sitting down with her for a little chat. The book was a compilation of recipes from the Ontario Home Economists Association and represents a huge range of cooking styles and flavours. I will review the book and hopefully share a recipe with you next week but in the mean time, I thought it would be fun to share a little rapid fire Q + A. 

What is your favourite, little known fact about quinoa?

If you don't rinse it, it tastes like hell! Don't trust those packages that say pre-rinsed, rinse anyways.

Name one food you can't live without.

Chocolate!

One recipe from the new book that everyone should try.

The Brownie Bite. I was jealous of that one; I tried to recreate the "two-bite brownie" in the past and it never worked.

Name one food that reminds you of childhood.

Anything creamy...my mother made the best rice pudding I have ever had.

What makes someone a good cook? 

Love. You have to love what you're doing.