So…you may have noticed that I haven’t blogged in awhile. To be precise, my last blog post was on October 29 (three weeks ago). I originally had a full line-up of blog posts coming throughout November (coconut whipped cream! lobster party! more cookbooks!) but then things happened… bad things.

I don’t really spend a whole bunch of time on personal things on this blog, preferring to keep this mainly food-focused, and I don’t want to dwell on the negative side of life, but I did want to explain why I’ve been offline so much lately.

Long story short – my mom had a stroke on November 3. A pretty big one. I’m happy to report she’s making an incredible recovery and is already in rehab and almost about to start walking again (she was initially left paralyzed on her entire left side – my mom is AMAZING) so there’s definitely a happy ending to this story! But as you can imagine, my life has been basically spent either at work or at the hospital, leaving almost no time for the kitchen or any other food adventures.

Of course, my main focus right now is helping my mom get well enough to return home (we made her promise us she’d be home for Christmas). In the meantime, I’m incredibly thankful and grateful for Paul (for keeping me sane), my sister and my dad (we make a good team!), my friends (both in real life and online) and the various hospital staff who have helped my mom get through this.

I promise things on kitchen frolic will get back to normal (kind of) and I have lots of fun blog posts planned, including:

• coconut whipped cream!
• a stack of cookbooks waiting to be reviewed! (and some to give away too!)
• the return of the Cookie Recipe Advent Calendar!
• a fun announcement about me and Amoda Tea!

I felt like I had to post something on here to explain my absence because kitchen frolic (and YOU) are a big part of my life. What started as a little personal blog has led to some incredible friendships, acquaintances, partnerships and opportunities. Thank you all for reading, tweeting and instagramming with me!

A special hug and shout out to the Belly Monsters crew – Adrienne, Chanry, Davindra, Judy, Justin and Sid – for their unwavering love, support and crazy humour and Alexa for posting a TBT that made me happy.