•    Garlic oil: take fresh garlic cloves, cover them with olive oil, and cook slowly over low heat. You want the garlic very soft but not caramelized. Keep them covered with olive oil in a jar in the refrigerator.

•    A large pot, a sharp knife, a good frying pan. Everything else is secondary and redundant.

•    Sea salt: It’s cheap. It tastes great. It doesn’t have additives.

•    Black peppercorns & a pepper mill.

•    Dijon mustard.

•    Good bread: from bagels to baguettes, Montreal is blessed with amazing bakers. Don’t take them
for granted.

•    Patience: good cooking takes time.

•    A thesaurus: throw out food if it is burnt and inedible, but everything else can be saved. Just call it a different name. A soufflé falls, happens all the time. Voilà! a frittata! The pizza topping is falling off? Fold the dough over. Seal the edges and serve a calzone.

•    Chocolate: keep on hand and indulge as required. It’s cheaper than a psychiatrist.