Blog Review: I Adore Food (and a good sleep too)

Alexandra Corriveau

This post first appeared in Apartment613.

Eating and sleeping are some of life’s greatest pleasures. In our fast-paced world, however, many of us don’t pay enough attention to what we put in our mouth, or for that matter the beds on which we sleep.

Local blogger Alexandra Corriveau is someone who spends a lot of time thinking about food and mattresses. In fact, you can say that she was born into the dream business.

“We make organic and custom mattresses,” says Corriveau about Obasan, her family’s business that is based in Ottawa. ”Organic meaning that we use organic wool, organic cotton, and natural rubber.”

The company, she tells me, sources their wool from Argentina, cotton from Peru and rubber from Sri Lanka. This experience of working with natural materials from around the world got Corriveau thinking about how people eat, and what she could do to promote good food.

“What goes into your mouth is very important,” she tells me in a phone interview. “So I started researching how our food is grown.”

This exploration of food production was one of the reasons she created I Adore Food, a foodie blog filled with recipes, travel posts, product reviews and fun food facts. The site has also had contests in the past.

If you are looking for some kitchen inspiration, then this site can tell you how to make many delicious meals. For instance, the roasted blueberries, maple pecans and chèvre crostinis sound lovely, as does the creamy dijon and chicken linguine.

People with a sweet tooth, meanwhile, will be in heaven, as there are tips on how to make such savoury treats as lemon and lavender curd frozen yogurt, and the scrumptious sounding hazelnut and vanilla cake.

Eating great food, however, is not limited to what is on your plate.

“Food is not only about eating well, it’s also about getting family and friends together and this is one of the main reasons why I love cooking/baking,” Corriveau tells me in an email that she sent following our phone conversation.

“I love picking each veggie/fruit, thinking about what i’m going to make with it. Cooking is really the best form of art (in my opinion) because you get to eat your masterpiece after you’ve finished making it!”

Interested in promoting Ottawa’s culinary scene, Corriveau plans to start another blog soon in which she will post reviews of local restaurants, cafés and food-related boutiques.

“When I went over to Europe I fell in love with our city, with all the restaurants that we have,” says Corriveau during our phone interview.

Finding this comment curious, I ask her to explain. Corriveau replies that during a recent extended trip to Europe, she started noticing online all the news about Ottawa’s growing culinary options. Seeing how Ottawa’s food scene was growing, she became excited to document all of the changes.

“I’m a food nerd, what can I say!” she later adds in her follow-up email.