A look at how the Food Bytes blog started -- and a farewell from the crew. This is our last post.

Early last summer, I had a glut of cherries from my backyard tree and was looking for ideas to use them. Pie seemed obvious, but my pastry skills leave something to be desired. Hearing my lament, a friend suggested a cheat called Robin Hood Flaky Pie Crust Mix.

It was the raspberries that sold me. Deep red and rich gold, they were begging to be picked in the backyard of a house we looked at in late September.

Recently I moved into a new place, meaning there's no shortage of tasks around the house that need my attention. But give me a spare hour or two and rather than ponder paint chips or organize my books, I'll duck into the kitchen to avoid the whole thing. Instead, I'll bake. 

To get their hands on local foods this winter, downtown workers in Toronto will have a new market to get a fix of meat, cheese, produce and and baked goods.

By Elizabeth Bridge, CBC Digital Archives

A couple of weeks ago, my husband came home with a second-hand score: an enormous slow cooker. There was no manual, but with just two settings – High and Low – and an Up/Down button to control the cooking time, how hard could it be?

By Elizabeth Bridge, CBC Digital Archives

Baking is something I've always done for one of two reasons: because I need to (I've agreed to bring cheesecake to a potluck, or I must be sure exactly what's in my morning muffin) or because I want to (I came across an appealing bread recipe, or I just felt like making cookies).

By Elizabeth Bridge, CBC Digital Archives

I had a "plate o' shrimp" moment recently. (For the uninitiated, this is a reference from the 1984 movie Repo Man.)

By Elizabeth Bridge, CBC Digital Archives

The imminent release of the movie Julie & Julia has renewed much interest in cookbook author, TV show host and bon vivant Julia Child, the woman who is credited with introducing Americans to French cooking in the 1960s.

Over at CBC's Digital Archives website, we dug up a 1991 radio interview with Child.