Cooking Articles

Camp Cooking In The African Bush

For the past two weeks I have been living out of a car. Not just any car, a gold Toyota Corolla packed to the steel frame of its capacity with luggage, camping gear, and food for a two-week journey. ...

Preserving Summer's Bounty

As this summer draws to a close, backyard vegetable gardening enthusiasts are celebrating the bounty of the season. If you had a good year in the garden, then right now your kitchen might be flush with...

The Secret BBQ Condiment, Heavy on the Garlic

If you are looking for the ultimate summer condiment, all I can say is, don’t plan on making out with anyone later in the night. Have you ever had a chicken shawarma, those layers of seasoned, smoky...

Homemade Pickles In a Hurry

There is nothing like the taste of homegrown fruits and vegetables. If you have a successful vegetable garden at home, then you are probably in the midst of enjoying the fruits of all your labor right...

No Whey!

Call me lazy, call me super-efficient, but I'm always looking for short cuts and easy ways to entertain and still maintain my high standards for culinary perfection. Fruit curds are a simple way to add...

"Old Clothes" In The Slow Cooker

There is a Caribbean recipe that my sister recently introduced me to -ñ Ropa Vieja -ñ an aromatic, seasoned shredded beef dish that is often served over rice with a side of beans, which has...

I Heart Fish in Parchment

If fishing was easy it would be called catching, or so said a bumper sticker I read somewhere. Truth is I kind of wish fishing was more like catching. Fishing may be as all-American a summer pastime...

Knee-High By The Fourth of July

On the east coast, every year about this time we start to see fresh corn at the local farmstand. Corn is one of those foods that really shows how much better local and in season produce can be. Buy it...

Eggspert Advice, Part I

Eggs are so essential to the art of cooking and baking that without them we might as well all throw in our whisks and give up. So often eggs are used to thicken, bind, and coat, but they are equally multi-purposeful...

Preserving Tomatoes

Right now, I am having a love/hate relationship with my tomato plants. For weeks, I could hardly wait for the first one to ripen. Now, at the peak of their harvest, as I lug boxes and boxes of them from...

Instead of Chicken, Instead of Turkey

Keeping chickens is not something I ever thought we would do. Ever. Isn’t life funny like that sometimes—especially when you have kids. We end up doing, saying and getting involved in things that...

Summer's Encore Performance: Peaches

It’s one bite that is the quintessential taste of summer: the chin-dripping, ripe goodness that is also my favorite fruit. Peaches. Whether eaten fresh out-of-hand, in a crisp, cobber, pie—or even...

Superchili!

As I've written before, every time I move to a new state I attempt to master the local cuisine. I grew up on Georgia soul food, so I have the collards and deep-fried this-and-that down. When I moved...

What Do I Do If . . . ?

Have you ever had an accident in the kitchen? Of course you have. You’re only human. We all have been there. There are so many things that can happen, whether they are your fault or not. Lids from...

Some Thorny Advice In An Easier Package To Swallow

You may not know it, but sometimes I am a bit of a philosopher. This particular trait of mine manifests itself on occasion, especially at parties and/or after consuming a bottle of champagne plus some...

Poppy Seed, Poppy Do!

I recently went on a long road trip, by myself. I don’t mind traveling solo. In fact, there is something therapeutic about facing the world and the road totally on your own, with only your thoughts and...