I cook because I love to eat. I garden because I love to cook.
Gardening can be incredibly rewarding, but also unbelievably frustrating. Some crops are reliable, always a success from year to year. Green beans, for example, are one of the easiest vegetables to grow. I get a large harvest every summer, often more than I can use. …
It’s been two years since I retired from teaching and one year since I started my personal chef business. I am happy to say this second career has exceeded my expectations. I didn’t know what to expect when I opened my figurative doors last June. …
My wife Marci and I just returned from a lovely trip to Portugal. The weather was beautiful. We saw lots of churches, met interesting people, walked up and down miles of hills through narrow streets, had astonishing views, listened to amazing music, saw beautiful tile …
There are lots of things I never understood about the high school students I taught for 30 years. Chief among them was why they ate the pizza served in the school cafeteria. Long Island, where I live, is the land of excellent pizza. Virtually every …
Over my 30-year career as a teacher I’ve used many diverse techniques to help my students. But I was always at my best when I could relate a topic to something a typical teenager could understand. Often it was food. There were several themes that …
Growing up, my family did not invest vast effort in celebrating holidays. We didn’t have a barbeque on the 4th of July and my father was usually asleep by 9:00 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. We weren’t pious by any stretch, so holidays having to …
If I have a free day – no appointments, chores, or obligations – I’ll probably spend it eating my way through Flushing. In north-central Queens, Flushing is the largest of New York City’s nine Chinatowns. It is bustling, crowded, and chaotic, a dazzling thrill. And …
We have all seen or met famous people at various times in our lives, and while the interaction may be nice, neutral, or negative, it’s usually exciting to run into stars. We were once warned to stay away with a serious stare from Martin Scorcese …
The best cantaloupes I ever ate were from Martin’s Farmstand on the side of a road outside Kutztown, Pennsylvania. They never disappointed. Juicy, supple, and floral, they were nothing like the crunchy, virtually tasteless melons from the supermarket or those presented hopefully, but always disappointingly, …
Many years ago, my wife’s colleague from work taught me to make her family tomato sauce. It was the recipe I had been looking for, hearty, flavorful, and not too soupy over pasta. I finally had a perfect, homemade pasta sauce, and I cooked it …
