Cooking Articles

From Freezer to Table

Can you imagine a world without frozen food? I pondered this very question after recently finishing Mark Kurlanskey’s fascinating account of the frozen food pioneer, Clarence Birdseye. This book details...

Table For One

Many moons ago I left small town-California to take my place with other like-minded young people in the coming-of-age ritual know as college. We had come from the four corners of the United States to...

Kids Who Don't Like Veggies

Okay, I’ll admit it: My kids thought it was odd that Mary Kate and Ashley were singing that if they were president, they wouldn’t have to eat their vegetables (in Our First Video, filmed circa 1993)....

Mighty Mushrooms

Brightly colored fruits and vegetables are the first to catch my eye when I’m shopping for produce. Their dazzling colors quickly grab my attention. Not so for the mushrooms. Their beige and brown colors...

A Fall Calling For Composed Salads

Salads are in order at all times of the year. Winter calls for hearty greens mixed with roasted root vegetables. Spring brings baby lettuce tossed with artichokes, peas, and asparagus. Summer is a fool’s...

Eggspert Advice, Part IV

You asked for it, so you got it: more Eggspert Advice. In this fourth and final installment, we will take a look at the art of frying eggs and the chemistry of cooking with eggs. Sunny Side Up, Over...

Garden Jewels

Toward the end of summer and into the middle of fall, my garden reminds me of a jewelry box filled with sparkling gems. The bright canary sapphire yellow and ruby red of the tomatoes, the amethyst of...

Like Bees to Honey

This past week I was walking along with my dog in the park, when all of the sudden a little bee got tangled up in my clothing. Next thing I knew, I felt a painful stinging sensation through my shorts,...

Speedy Spiedini

In Turkey they’re called kebabs and in Thailand they’re called sate. If you are in Italy, or an Italian restaurant around the world, and meat or fish is served skewered and grilled it is called spiedini....

Peanut Butter and Jelly 101

When you ask many kids what their favorite lunch is, I’m guessing more than a few will tell you the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Now that the busy school year is underway you probably have made...

The Icing on the Cake

Teaching cake decorating in an article is an impossible task, and there are certainly plenty of books on the subject. But I'm going to give you some helpful tips that I've learned that will make icing...

Chinese-Style "Clay Pot" Slow Cooking

Lately, I have been on a Chinese food kick. So naturally my thoughts have turned to how I can replicate some great Chinese-style dishes in the slow cooker. You might say, Wait, aren’t most Chinese...

Summer Bounty Meets the Fall Harvest

September is the limbo month. Monday can mean a scarf and gloves and by Friday the heat might have you back at the beach for some end of summer sun bathing. The morning’s crisp air brings the excitement...

Cooking Without a Kitchen

Recently, we decided to take the plunge and embark on a kitchen renovation to upgrade our current kitchen. That means my home kitchen is under construction and seeing that I have no way to bake, roast,...

A Meal Fit for the Fall, Drink and All

Do you ever buy the dress to match the shoes? How about making dinner to match the cocktail? It is that time of year when the fashion mags are three inches thick, the stores have changed their displays...

Lotta Chocolate Love

We just love chocolate around here. In fact I’ve been seriously considering buying more than one or two packs of chocolate chips at a time. For it seems like whenever I need to bake a batch of cookies...