It doesn’t take a lot to make us happy—white peonies, a French interiors magazine or freshly pressed sheets.

A website called kiss my spatula has the same affect. The photographs alone on this delightful food blog are enough to make you want to dive into your screen with a giant spoon.

Indeed, an abundance of delicious recipes await, from almond-plum galette to satsuma sorbet to freshly baked breads. Blogger Giao Trac even makes music suggestions to pair with each dish.

You know what else makes us happy? Warm baguettes for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

www.kissmyspatula.com

Step inside Ladan Pastry and Nuts and face a welcome assault of smells and colour.

This tiny Lawrence Avenue East shop is stuffed with pistachios, pecans, dried food and spices. Shelves are lined with traditional Persian pastries, and hard to find food products like quince jam, yellow fava beans and barberries. The chickpea dumplings and almond baklava are delicious.

Warning: don’t shop on an empty belly.

Ladan Pastry and Nuts, Lawrence Ave. E., Scarborough, 416-288-0253.

Mommy dearest,

I do love your kedgeree, but we’ve had it three days in a row. Lola says my diet should be varied, organic, local and sustainable. Let’s discuss. I’m free after Capoeira. Love, ME.

Alex Johnston’s new grocery service focuses on fresh, regional food delivered straight to your door. Provenance Regional Cuisine is the perfect solution for time-pressed parents and professionals who care about what they eat.

Three meals are delivered every week and dishes include sustainable fish soup with saffron, HOPE Eco-farms thick cut heritage pork chops and Lovell Springs rainbow trout fillets.

That’s dinner sorted. Now, what to do about the precocious nine-year-old?

A single order costs $140.00 for the four-week cycle ($35.00/person/week).

Provenance, 800 Dundas St. W., Toronto, www.provenancecuisine.ca

We’re trading in our usual recipes for ones that’ll send the taste buds soaring.

The Spice Trader’s lovely new location is crammed with exotic flavours from Ajowan seed and Amchur powder to pungent Cubeb pepper.

Sprinkle a little Marash powder into your Mexican chili or try the Bangkok blend in your next shrimp stirfry.

Don’t miss out on the gourmet olive oils, mouthwatering cookbooks and cocoa bites from Taza chocolate.

Now we're sugar, spice and everything nice.

The Spice Trader, 877 Queen St. W., Toronto, 647-430-7085, www.thespicetrader.ca

The sap is rising and already we’re fantasizing about fiddleheads, rhubarb and wild leeks.

But until the crocuses pop we’ll keep stuffing our bags with gourmet delights from these fantastic year-round farmers’ markets:

• Dufferin Grove (Thursday 3 p.m.-7 p.m.)
Fresh breads, sheepmilk cheeses and lamb pies.

• St. Lawrence Market (every Saturday from 5 a.m.)
Ewenity Dairy cheeses, red fife pasta, seafood, spices and flowers.

• The Stop’s Green Barn Farmers’ Market (Saturday 8 a.m.–1 p.m.) 

Raw cocoa beans, honey, artisinal crackers, mushrooms and more. 

• Regional 'n' Artisanal Food Market at CBC, (monthly until April)
Organic spelt flour, jams, baguettes and local artisan cheeses.

If an apple of day keeps the doctor away, we've got an MD in Triple Jim's Crispy Organic Apple Chips.

Grown and manufactured in B.C., these tasty apple chips  are completely natural—and addictive. They make a perfect afternoon snack or post-dinner sweet treat.

Apples for dessert? Aren't you clever now.

Triple Jim's Crispy Organic Apple Chips, $3.99 (or 2 bags/$5 on sale now) at Whole Foods, www.wholefoods.com

We love nothing more than a plate full of homemade pierogies, but if the thought of rolling, stuffing and pinching dough all afternoon turns you off, head to Zagloba Deli for delicious dumplings like Babcia used to make.

Run by a family of Polish immigrants, the Deli (as long-time customers call it) is known for its Ruskie pierogi ($4.80/dozen)—delicate dough filled with the perfect amount of potato and cheese.

With row after row of fresh, homemade food, you’ll have a hard time choosing. We love to warm up with a bowl of delicious bean soup ($2.99) and follow up with a traditional cabbage roll dinner with mashed potatoes and kapusta ($6.99).

Polish off your meal with a pint of Zywiec.

Zagloba Deli, 2555 Dixie Rd., Mississauga, 905-279-9925.

With charcuteries and burger joints landing on every corner, there has never been a better time to be a butcher.

That’s right: meat is in, and we’re grilling steaks tonight.

New to Kensington Market, Sanagan’s Meat Locker (in the former Max & Son location) is offering fabulous, local meat at reasonable prices.

The butcher’s window is a carnivore’s delight, filled with oxtails, pork chops, veal osso bucco, sausages, liver and goat meat for stewing, all sourced from small Ontario farms.

As for those steaks, we’ll season with salt and pepper and place them on a hot griddle for about three minutes each side, plus a five minute rest. We’ll serve them with creamy mashed potatoes and french beans.

We know our way around a meat market.

Sanagan’s Meat Locker, 206 Baldwin St., Toronto, 416-593-9747, www.sanagansmeatlocker.com

Bread and butter; fish and chips; peaches and cream—some things are meant to be together.

What’s a chunk of cheddar without a cracker to sit on? Made from an old family recipe, Evelyn’s paper-thin crackers (lovingly made by Toronto local Dawn Woodward) come in various flours such as spelt or Red Fife and are flavoured with honey, paprika or pumpkin seeds.

The Cheddar Crispies, made with a local, aged sheep's milk cheddar and coloured with hints of paprika and nigella seeds, is a favourite.

Top it with more Ontario Cheddar and you’ve got a match made in heaven.

Available at various fine foods shops in Toronto, www.evelynscrackers.com

Shhhh. Don’t tell the girls at Vitamin Daily Montreal but until this week, we’d never been converted to the delight that is poutine.

A Haiku in two parts to mark the occasion of our first taste:

Temptation in a bowl
Rich. Gooey.
A messy feast
Hot on a cool summer’s eve

New to West Queen West
Poutini’s House of Poutine
Hell for my waistline


Traditional Poutine ($7) at Poutini’s, 1112 Queen St. W., Toronto, www.poutini.com