Hi – I’m Mardi – a full-time French teacher at an elementary school in Toronto.
I was born in Adelaide, Australia and have lived and worked as a teacher in Australia, Hong Kong, England, France (where I spent nearly 6 years in Paris not completing my PhD in French literature like I was supposed to be doing!) and I now call Toronto home, having followed Mr Neil, aka Master Butcher and Winemaster (most of the articles on wine and food pairings and/ or coverage of wine and beverage events have been either written by Neil or with a great deal of his help as *I* learn all about wine!) back to his humble abode after we met in Morocco in 1999. Neil is a Certified Sommelier since May 2022. We were proud parents to Cleo, a loud Burmese cat for 21 years (April 2001 – May 2022) and are now parents to a quiet but rambunctious Bombay cat, Cole.
As part of my job, I run cooking classes 7-12 year-old boys, Les Petits Chefs which have been online since April 2020.I’ve also contributed to JamieOliver.Com, written cookbook reviews for RecipeGeek.Com. and was a contributor to FoodNetwork.ca for many years. In my spare time. I teach (mostly French) pastry and cooking classes around Toronto.
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Buy my books! In the French kitchen with kids and French Food for Everyone: le goûter (after school snacks), le dîner (dinner) and le petit déjeuner (breakfast) are out now!
Click here for details and how to order!
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I originally started this blog as something to do in the year between my MA and PhD because after being chained to my desk for 2 years as I completed my MA, I had so much time on my hands – after all, I love to eat, cook, take pictures and write so what better platform. eat. live. travel. write. has kind of taken on a life of its own since its inception in May 2009 and I couldn’t be happier. Spending a few (all right, a lot of) minutes a day to do something for me and be creative has been the best refuge from the sometimes stressful life of a teacher and (former) grad student.
Follow me in my culinary adventures, near and far.
You can get in touch with me using the “Contact” form here.