This is a recipe I found and adapted from Saveur a few years back, while preparing for a cocktail party. Frankly, this is one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. Learn how to make this well and you will never need to learn another appetizer recipe again (unless you are serving vegetarians, of course). It is the perfect combination of salty and sweet. It's even yummy enough to be a dessert. And you only need four ingredients! No seasoning or oil! The only thing I would say is use the finest, highest quality ingredients available. The main difference I have found between a good bacon wrapped date and a bad one, is the quality of ingredients. Since there are only four, make them all of the highest quality.

For each single bacon wrapped date, you will need:

1 Slice of Thick Bacon

1 Date

1 Almond

About 1/2 Teaspoon Goat Cheese

Optional: Toothpicks (Makes for easy serving)

(When making them for a party, I would plan on 2-3 per person)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. With a small, sharp knife, slice one side of the date lengthwise.

Place an almond inside.

Fill the rest of the date with goat cheese.

Wrap a piece of bacon around the date and secure with a toothpick.

Repeat the above steps until all of the dates are stuffed and wrapped, placing them on a roasting tray as you go along. Bake about 10-15 minutes, until bacon is completely cooked and golden brown. Cook a few minutes longer if you like your bacon extra well done. If you bacon is burning (looking more black than brown) turned oven down to 425.

Your guests are gonna flip! xx

The Great White North, as my Canadian husband calls it, is a land of nice people, clean bathrooms, fresh air and a lot of heavy drinking. I'm more of the heavy eating type. They have a saying in Calgary, "if you don't like the weather, just wait a minute, it'll change." But most of our recent trip included below fa-reezing temps, so we ventured into the city for some hot chocolate, and ran our frozen California selves right into Analog Coffee.

Mila is very serious about hot chocolate.

For lunch, we happened upon what I would call the Bottega Louie of Calgary, Corbeaux Bakehouse. Chef Keith Luce oversees the culinary experience. He's cooked for President Clinton and won the James Beard Rising Star award. Enough said, right?

Mila overseeing bakery production.

Our next adventure was a daycation to Canmore. Although I believe it's better suited to an overnighter -- you really need that fireplace to kick off your snow boots in front of and play some board games. But this time we took the day and ventured out to behold the natural beauty that is Canmore. Known for the Three Sisters mountains (a trio of peaks), it's a beautiful little mountain town situated right next to the world-famous Banff. They're gorgeous but pictures don't do them justice so I haven't included any here (laugh).