Anna Varriano - Perfect Resonance

12/24/2025

12/20/2025

Let's face it. We all want to enjoy everything that comes with the holiday season, and there is a way to do that without depriving yourself or going overboard and regretting it later. If your schedule is anything like mine, the challenge is that the holiday parties and get-togethers started a few weeks ago, and are running right in to the beginning of January. The Twelve Days of Christmas has become more like The Thirty or More Days of Christmas! With that in mind, check out my Twelve Tips of Christmas Holidays that will help you stay on track throughout the festive season ... and beyond!

I recently hosted my first holiday celebration, and one of the items I served was the veggie Christmas Tree pictured above (instructions are at the end of this article if you’re interested). You’re probably thinking: “Oh brother. Anna’s going to tell me that the only thing I should indulge i...

12/19/2025

I’m trying a new flavour combo for my most recent batch of kombucha - ginger and rosemary. It smells amazing!

Check out my website at www.perfectresonance.com to find out how you can make your own kombucha. Just use the search bar and type in ‘kombucha’. While you’re there, check out my latest blog on my homepage entitled ‘The 12 Tips of Christmas Holidays!’ Oh! … and if you type ‘holidays’ in the search bar, you’ll get a list of great recipes and tips to help you eat, drink and be merry and healthy over the holiday season!

12/14/2025

Update! Done! Photo proof in comments! 🫠😂

Only 70 more to go! All my nutrition guidelines are out the window with these gingerbread cookies - especially the royal icing part! At least the gingerbread is made with organic butter, free range eggs, ground cinnamon, ginger, and cloves, organic blackstrap molasses, and only 1/2 cup of brown sugar. 🎅🏻🎄☃️

12/09/2025

I put a Japanese spin on my breakfast this morning which somewhat helped with the traditional Japanese breakfast separation anxiety I am having. 😂😂😂 It was actually delicious!

A fried egg (great source of protein and heathy fat) with some Japanese fermented plum spread (aka umeboshi, a source of probiotics) wrapped in a large nori sheet (a great source of iodine which is critical for thyroid health).

When you buy big sheets of nori or the small snack-sized ones, make sure you read the ingredients and avoid those that have added vegetable oils (often inflammatory vegetable oils like corn oil). Roasted seaweed should be the only ingredient.

I used Google translate on the photo I took of the front of the plum sauce jar. Obviously, something was lost in translation!

12/04/2025

We just got back from a trip to Japan. What an amazing time! I have so many ‘favourite things’ about Japan, with the food being one of them. Whether it was a fancy ryokan meal or a meal at a little hole in the wall or a fast food place (including grabbing meals and snacks from the many 7-11 stores), all of it was delicious. Generally, when we travel and are eating all kinds of foods, we often experience some digestive issues. Didn’t happen a single time during this trip - I have my theories. What do you think they are? 🤔

11/16/2025

This is something we have control over …

This study evaluates the association of the consumption of ultraprocessed foods and the risk of early-onset colorectal cancer (

11/10/2025

Hmmmm…

Do we need a new season?

autumn + winter = aunter

or

fall + winter = falter

🍁 ❄️🍁 ❄️ 🍁

11/10/2025

Did you know that potato skin contains more nutrients than the inside of a potato? It contains high levels of fiber for digestion, and resistant starch for gut health. The skin also contains vital nutrients like potassium, and vitamin C and other antioxidants.

I rarely eat potatoes, but last night I discovered we had two russets left over from Thanksgiving dinner. Russets are one of the best potatoes for making mashed potatoes - which are always requested at Thanksgiving and which are not my favourite thing to eat.

If I’m going to eat potatoes, I prefer to have them roasted and with the nutrient-rich skin still on them.

So ….

I cut each russet into 6 length-wise wedges. I then put the wedges in a bowl of cold water for about 30 to 45 minutes (this draws out excess starch which results in a crispy exterior and a fluffier interior). In the meantime, in another bowl, I combined 4-5 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, a tablespoon or so of freshly chopped rosemary, and one chopped up/minced medium-sized clove of garlic. I gave this mixture a good stir and then let it sit so all the beautiful flavours came out and blended together. 

When I took the potato wedges out of the cold water, I patted them dry with a dish towel, threw them in the bowl with the olive oil mixture, and tossed them until they were well coated with everything. Then I placed them on a parchment paper lined baking tray, ensuring that they didn’t touch each other, and made sure that any goodness left in the bowl was spooned over the wedges. Then I sprinkled the wedges with coarse sea salt and fresh ground pepper and roasted them in a 375F oven for 30 minutes, turning each one over after 15 minutes.

The result was a delicious and crispy potato wedge that is perfectly cooked/fluffy in the center. They were served with a small ribeye steak (which we shared), steamed broccoli, and a big green salad.

As delicious as these wedges are, I likely won’t make them again until we find ourselves with leftover russets!

Remember moderation and variety when it comes to food/nutrition!

11/09/2025

The green tomatoes I brought in a couple of weeks ago are almost all ripened now! I lined a laundry basket with newsprint, threw in a banana each week so that the ethylene it releases while it ripens would encourage the tomato ripening process, covered the tomatoes with another sheet of newsprint, and voilà! Enjoying garden tomatoes in November!

11/08/2025

The kitchen smells amazing as my sous-chef and I prep a huge batch of chicken curry to feed tonight and tomorrow night’s dinner guests. Cook once, eat twice (or maybe more than twice because we made a huge batch and it freezes beautifully).

Here’s the link to the recipe (it’s one of my Top 10/most viewed!):

https://perfectresonance.com/one-pot-winner-winner-coconutty-chicken-curry-dinner/

11/06/2025

Dinner prep is done. Took about 30 minutes. Now the oven does the rest of the work. On the menu tonight…

Crispy chicken thighs with roasted cauliflower, broccoli, and sweet potato slices. The link to my crispy chicken thigh recipe is below. The vegetables were tossed in olive oil and a bit of salt. I added some dried thyme to the broccoli and cauliflower and some dried sage and savory to the sweet potatoes. Theyll take about 30 min in a 350/375F oven and I’ll flip them over halfway through. Yum yum!

Here’s my crispy chicken thigh recipe:

https://perfectresonance.com/crispy-chicken-thighs/n