In the early 1970s, Susan Restino and her husband moved to a remote farm in Nova Scotia with their two small children. Already familiar with European cooking techniques from her time spent as a au pair in France, she spent the next few decades learning to cook for her family with what the farm provided. Mrs. Restino's Country Kitchen combines those two chapters in her life, with recipes from around the world and right next door. Both traditional and experimental, the meals here include chicken with chanterelles, rice dry-roasted instead of fried, salads and stir-fries with seasonal ingredients, and desserts that are good endings to meals, not meals in themselves. There are also sections on making wine and brewing beer, bread- and cheese-making, drying herbs, and operating a wood burning stove.