• Avoid reusing cookie sheets until they are cool. Otherwise, you risk over-browning the bottoms of the cookies.
  
  
• To ensure nice, big chocolate morsels after baking, add the chocolate to the bowl last. Make sure the chocolate is cold and just barely stir the morsels in--over mixing will warm them up and break them down. 
  
  
• If you want a beautiful soft-centred cookie, drop the dough in large clumps onto the baking sheet using an ice-cream scoop. Flatten the top only a little and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Bake them at 375 degrees until the edges are slightly brown and you will get your wish.
  
  
• To maximize the flavour of your cookies, put them back in the oven at 300 degrees for about five minutes prior to serving. Heat releases the flavour of both the chocolate and the nuts. (Never added nuts? Try it next time for a little variety.)

2. Which oil has the higher burning or smoke point, canola or olive?

3. Which flavour doesn't belong in this group: ouzo, fennel, Pernod, cumin, sambuca and anise.

4. True or false: Celery seeds are not seeds at all but tiny dried fruits.

5. Name the vegetable pictured on the right.

6. Which one of these people is not an internationally known chef: Gordon Ramsay, Marc Miron, Tetsuya Wakuda, Daniel Bolduc, Bobby Flay.

7. True or false: Garlic is a member of the lily family.

8. True or false: Garlic salt is not made from garlic at all, but salt flavoured with much cheaper (and easier to process) dried white garlic beets.

9. Pepitas can be found in a Mexican dish featuring a) habanero peppers, b) pumpkin seeds, or c) green and red peppercorns.

10. This sentence "Get me some gravlax!" is more likely to be uttered by a) a Swedish gourmand, c) a French pastry chef or c) someone in need of "relief."

11. Saltimbocca is a) thinly sliced veal, b) a salty cheese, c) something you drank too much of in university.

12. True or false: A fish boil is a traditional Newfoundland celebration held at the end of a successful fishing season.

Answers

1. Celery! Where's the starch? In the celery root (often called celeriac).

2. Canola takes longer to burn than olive oil. A better use for olive oil is to drizzle it on for flavour after cooking.

3. Cumin is the odd man out as all the others have a distinct licorice flavour.

4. TRUE. Really tiny dried fruits.

5. If you guessed celery, I'm afraid you'd be mistaken, but only by a little. It is a vegetable called lovage, one of celery's weird cousins.

6. Daniel Bolduc is not a chef--at least not one we've heard of (but Daniel Boulud is).

7. TRUE. Garlic is a member of the lily family. If you know lilies, you know they are also very pungent.

8. FLASE. There is no such thing as white garlic beets. Garlic salt is made from garlic powder and salt.

9. Pepitas are edible pumpkin seeds and are very popular in Mexican dishes.

10. While  gravlax may or may not keep you regular, it would most likely be uttered by a Swedish gourmand as gravlax is a Swedish specialty of raw salmon cured in salt, sugar and dill.

11. If you said saltimbocca was something you drank in university, you are confusing it with sambuca, an anise-flavoured Italian liqueur. Saltimbocca. is thinly sliced veal.

12. FALSE. A fish boil is a mixture of herbs and spices specifically created to complement fish and shellfish.

1. Boil the potatoes, mash them with a potato ricer and keep them warm.
2. Pour the flour on a clean surface creating a volcano-like crater.  In the crater, add the semolina flour, mashed potato, eggs and cheese.  Kneed to a smooth texture being careful not to overdo it. 
3. Cut dough into small balls and roll to create little sausages using a bit of semolina flour to prevent them from sticking to the work surface. 
4. Cut the sausage-like rolls into small, 2-cm-long pieces (just under an inch) and poach in salted boiling water. (They will rise to the surface when cooked. 
5. Remove from water and place on an oiled tray, cover and refrigerate until the purée is ready. 
6. When needed, sauté the gnocchi in olive oil with the onion, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and sage.
7. When the gnocchi are golden brown, add spinach, toss a couple of times and season with salt and pepper.
8. Serve on squash purée (see recipe below).
   

1. Sautée the onions and squash until the onion is soft.
2. Add chicken stock and nutmeg and cook until squash is tender.
3. Purée using a hand blender. 
4. Correct seasoning.
5. On a warm plate, lay down a bed of puréed squash. Top with gnocchi and serve.