I cook because I love to eat. I garden because I love to cook.
I’ve always been an adventurous eater. From a young age I helped my father cook all manner of Chinese food and we ate homemade refried beans with tortillas for dinner twice a week. But as a kid, I was not enamored with Indian food. I …
When my wife was pregnant with our children many years ago, there were foods she would eat and those she would not. The ones she ate, she ate all the time. The dishes she would not eat, I sometimes cooked anyway as she stood in …
There are some vegetables I don’t grow in my garden. It’s not for lack of trying or because I won’t eat the result. Rather, I just can’t get them to grow. I try for a few years. Nothing. Modify my technique. Failure. Finally, I give …
I talk to my high school Biology and Environmental Science students all the time about food, cooking, and my garden. I mean not all the time; we do have other work to do. But sometimes it does overlap with the course material. For example, I …
Asparagus, a perennial that returns year after year if properly cared for, is one of my most cherished crops. Last year in late spring, when the harvest was over and the plants were maturing, sending their frilly leaves out to collect sunlight to transport food …
There is a divide among us. Nothing serious, depressing, or consequential like the political chasm we currently face, but rather a divide about how we adorn our soup. There are those among us who top our soup with crackers, croutons, and fried noodles so we …
In my youth I can’t say that I was a fan of mushrooms. I would never eat them outright. If someone insisted on a pizza with mushrooms, I would reluctantly manage, although pizza-topping mushrooms back then were mostly wet, slimy, canned things, with little to …
As we approach a year of pandemic quarantining, hand sanitizing, and masks, it is wearing on us all more than ever. We are tired, lonely, and frankly a little depressed. We miss our friends and family and going out to a restaurant for a simple …
Small Plates Saturday Night has become a tradition in our household, even more so since the pandemic has made dining out a gamble we do not feel is worth the risk. I cook three, four, five, six small dishes, while relaxing and pushing the pressures …
My family has been eating at the same Chinese restaurant – Lee How Fook – going on 40 years. Located on the edge of Philadelphia’s Chinatown, generations of the same family have cooked for and served us, just as generations within my family have dined …
