Cooking Articles

Patio Produce: Lettuce

You don't need acres of land to grow your own fresh, healthy and delicious produce. In fact, you don't need any land at all. If you have a sunny spot on a patio, you're in business. And while you aren't...

Big Hearts Come In Small Packages

Whoever the first person was that decided an artichoke was edible must have been both masochistic and extremely dedicated. When that first person made it past the layers of spiny leaves, no doubt pricking...

A Most Unusual Birthday

Birthdays and birthday cake. They pretty much go hand-in-hand here in America, right? Well, sure—if the birthday person likes cake, that is. Who in the world doesn’t like cake, huh? Well,...

Roasted & Toasted: Good Campfire Grub

It is thought that sticks were the first cooking tools—and that roasted woolly mammoth might have once been a delicacy of our ancestors who lived in caves. Whether your cooking stick is pre-made and...

To Bean or Not to Bean: The Great Texas Chili Debate

At a workplace potluck recently I ate, for the first time, Texas chili. I have never really cared for the stuff because, where I'm from (Georgia), the chili has kidney beans in it, and I am not a fan...

Larb From Another Land

It is a rare and happy occasion to discover a restaurant serving food that evokes a specific fond memory. The meatballs that taste just like your Italian grandmother’s. The pie that your mother made...

Chocolate Discovery

My seven-year-old daughter recently chose a topic to create an educational display for an end-of-year annual learning fair. Her choice? Chocolate. Chocolate lovers that we both are, this was the...

Wok Don't Run

Writing about the necessity of tools in the kitchen a few weeks ago got me thinking further: call this Kitchen Equipment Article Part II. Except this is about one item in particular. I was thinking that...

Squash, That Impulse

I’m always picking up random items at the grocery store. I’m a big believer in variety in my diet, and whenever I feel like I’m picking up the same items grocery trip after grocery trip, I’ll pick...

Your Slow Cooker: The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

Being a lover of all things bread, I can rarely pass up a slice from a fresh baked loaf. But I had yet to try my hand in making bread in the slow cooker until this week. You see I have been somewhat...

Pies, Pudding and Curry: A Jubilee of British Food

The Queen's Jubilee has me in a nostalgic mood. I spent four months of my college life enmeshed in British culture, taking in West End shows at discounted student prices, free museum admissions, and long...

Tilapia, the Other White Fish

I have a confession to make. As a former seafood snob, I never gave tilapia the chance it deserved. When this type of fish became popular in the late 1990's, I tasted it once and relegated it to the category...

Grocery Store Bacheloring, or, Cheap Eye for the Single Guy

As I've written before, grocery shopping can be quite a challenge for the single guy, especially if you don't have any steel-toed boots to wear. It never fails that almost every time I step into a grocery...

Edible Landscaping Part Two: Should You Really Be Eating Those Flowers?

Edible flowers have become so common that I can now buy them in little plastic clamshell containers at the local grocery store. Many restaurants feature them on their menus and bakeries adorn cakes with...

Magical Mushrooms

Okay folks, here goes. I am about to share with you a very powerful recipe. One that must be acknowledged as truly magical before you use it. It must be used only for pure good. If it is used for evil...

Firehouse Cooking

Over the last year I have gotten into the habit of going to the grocery store right after hitting the gym in the evening. I know that the story is that you should never go shopping for food when you are...