Tired of that drab old salad?  Give it a whole new lease on life with Nonna Pia's Balsamic Reductions.

Like every great balsamic, the story of Nonna Pia’s vinegar begins in Modena, Italy where it’s cultivated. But once it arrives to Whistler, B.C., it's aged for six years, and then slow-cooked for hours while infused with fruits like figs and strawberries, herbs and all things delectable through the process. And Nonna Pia herself? She is the family’s matriarch and culinary inspiration behind the recipes.

Oh, la dolce vita! —Anya Georgijevic

Order online here; for a list of retailers, click here.

Now you can shop like a chef at The Dirty Apron Cooking School's new deli and general store where they sell the very same ingredients (like nubs of melting chocolate) and kitchen tools that the chefs of Chambar, Medina and the cooking school use. 

The house-brand olive oil ($25, pictured), imported from a friend's grove in Italy, makes a swank gift in its stainless steel packaging, and the jarred spice rubs, like Juniper Clove Blend ($11.65), are made from the restaurant's own imported spices. 

So now that you've got your shopping done, pick up a daily roast or packaged boeuf bourguignon and a tub of the house-made vanilla bean bourbon ice cream, and you're done like dinner.

The Dirty Apron Cooking School and Delicatessen, 540 Beatty St., Vancouver, 604-879-8588, www.dirtyapron.com/Shop

Sure your kids have tried to convince you that candy is the fifth food group.

But in order to stave off a Hallowe'en dinner of Smarties and Twizzlers (with the attendant sugar crash two hours later) we suggest filling the kids up with these ghost-shaped stuffed pastas called sacchetti, tossed with lemon zest, olive oil, parmesan and fried capers.

Boo!

In Vancouver at Bosa Foods and Italian grocery stores nationwide.

Their contemporary Indian cuisine continues to elicit eulogy, and now the dynamic duo behind Vij’s and Rangoli restaurants, Vikram Vij and Meeru Dhalwala, have penned a second cookbook, Vij’s At Home: Relax, Honey. We sat down with them in hopes of squeezing out some secrets.

Who’s the better cook?
Vikram Vij: I am.
Meeru Dhalwala: Personally, I think I am. But Vikram loves meats and I do believe he is a better cook of meats.
VV: And vegetables.
MD: No way. Absolutely not. Your strength is meats. Mine is the vegetarian.
VV: Let’s just say that I am the better cook.

What’s your favourite place to eat in Vancouver right now?
MD: Home, when Vikram is cooking for me, because he’s such a good cook [she says cheekily].

Meeru, you sing the praises of goat meat as the leanest of all meats, do you cook it at home and who’s your source?
MD: He loves cooking goat meat at home.
VV: I do. It’s my meat of choice. On Granville Island, Tenderland Meats has goat meat.
MD: A lot of the ethnic markets do too.

What’s your favourite dish from the book?
MD: Right this very minute, the Rapini and Shiitake Mushroom Curry. Probably because it’s September right now and it’s a very fall tasting curry.

What key ingredients do you work with when cooking at home?
MD: The basics are tomatoes, onions, garlic and butter. From the spice point of view, for me it would be turmeric, cumin, some cayenne pepper, because I like a hint of spice in the food, and coriander.
VV: For me the basic ingredient is alcohol in the cupboard, because after you’ve had a couple glasses of wine, everything else flows very easily.

What’s the key ingredient to a long, happy life?
MD: Eating a good meal and eating it together.

Read and watch more of our interview on today's Editors’ Diary.
Vij’s At Home: Relax, Honey ($35) at Barbara-Jo’s Books to Cooks, 1740 W. Second Ave., Vancouver, 604-688-6755, www.bookstocooks.com

That tender, magnificently moist, fall-off-the-bone pork rib you had at a Michelin three-star years ago, but still remember every morsel of—chances are it was cooked Sous Vide.

The French-invented method that locks in juices and nutrients by cooking vacuumed-packed foods in a water bath at low heat for longer hours was once solely found in fancy commercial kitchens, but is now possible to have at home. Two U.S. nutritionists consulted with world-renowned chef, Heston Blumenthal to create The Sous Vide Supreme ($449). Similar to a bread machine it fits on the countertop, but the salmon, steak and poached pear cooked within it that we sampled was some of the most succulent and full-flavoured we’ve ever bit into.

It’s a cooking trend Vide highly recommend diving into.

Preorder the Sous Vide Supreme at www.sousvidesupreme.com

With so many mouth-watering restaurants in Vancouver, our resolution to cook more meals at home is waning. Not ones to go down without fight however, we’re bringing out the big guns.

The big guns being the award-winning crew at West who have gathered their best recipes for chefs-in-training to try at home in West: The Cookbook. Grouped by seasons, recipes in the gourmet tome are bolstered by instructions on how to make the not-so-basic basics like pasta dough and stocks from scratch, as well as wine pairings for each course.

If we only manage to mix our cocktail of choice, Pear-agon, we still claim victory.

West: The Cookbook ($31.50) at Amazon.ca.

If your last dinner party was more like an episode of Kitchen Nightmares than Iron Chef, help is here.

Cioffi’s Meat Market and Kitchen—so new it’s still waiting for its sign—is the sleek and modern sister store to the original Cioffi’s two doors down, and the best kept secret of chefs from Yaletown to Whistler.

Find real Italian bocconcini (soft and creamy and easy to rip into pieces), organic pork, Polderside ducks and chickens, organic, non-medicated turkeys for Thanksgiving or, if you’re game, quail, squab, pheasants and guinea hen.

Next month, the Italian kitchen will be offering mama’s meatballs, baked lasagnas, roasted chickens and more.

Having problems deciding what to order? Here’s our tip: ask the butcher what he’s having for dinner tonight. There’s your order right there.

Cioffi's Meat Market & Gourmet Kitchen, 4142 E. Hastings St., Burnaby, 604-291-9373, www.cioffismeatdeli.com

Now that the greens are getting tender, here’s the never-before-published recipe for the Mimosa salad by the late Jean-Claude Raymond’s Smoking Dog bistro. Enjoy.

Mimosa Salad (serves 4)
1 head butter lettuce (washed, leaves intact)
2 boiled organic eggs grated or very finely chopped
1/2 cup Dijon vinaigrette

Dijon Vinaigrette
1 1/4 cup cold pressed extra virgin olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T Dijon mustard
1 shallot, finely chopped (optional)
Pinch salt and pepper
3 T Perrier

Method
In the largest metal bowl you have, whisk vinegar, mustard, shallot, salt and pepper together. Continue whisking (in one direction to avoid splitting the dressing) adding olive oil in a thin stream—about 1 minute. Whisk again for 45 seconds. Dressing should emulsify and stick to the whisk. Taste and season more if necessary. Whisk in Perrier one tablespoon at a time to get to a pouring consistency. Pour into a hinged jar and store in fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Toss lettuce and eggs with dressing and serve immediately to much acclaim.

Are you so swift with a spatula that your friends call you Janey Oliver?

OK, so the Food Network isn't knocking down your kitchen door (yet), but you can still share your culinary prowess with the masses via a new Vancouver–based website called www.makemysupper.com.

Like a gustatory YouTube, post videos of you whipping up your famous pisaladière or flambéing prawns in tequila—and maybe even hook up with that cute guy who makes the mean lemon tart for dessert.

www.makemysupper.com

You’ll go zip trekking in Botswana next year.

This year, it’s more about upping your culture quotient than shocking your friends with your daring vacations and litany of vaccinations.

While others are getting bitten by malaria mosquitoes, you could be getting personal lessons from world-famous visual artist Nick Bantock in a restored mill surrounded by olive groves in Southern Spain.

From spring to fall, local outfit A Flavour of Spain hosts such cultural excursions, each with an emphasis on cuisine, painting, language or literature.

A two-week vacation is less than $3,800, including classes, meals, wine, excursions and accommodation.

There is a free information session tonight in West Vancouver. Read more at www.aflavourofspain.ca or call 604-986-2262.