I cook because I love to eat. I garden because I love to cook.
Every year our friends Carl and Ly showed up at our door for Early Thanksgiving and our dog Lucy, who passed maybe eight years ago, barked incessantly…but only at Carl. It would go on for at least 15 minutes, and sometimes more, much longer than …
I am not a baker. It’s not that I have disdain for baked goods; in fact, I rather like them. It’s the precision of baking with which I have trouble. Exact measuring is not my style of cooking. Perhaps that’s why after receiving my Master’s …
Years ago in graduate school the department in which I was studying held all kinds of student-organized events so we could socialize and get to know each other. There was a Friday afternoon happy hour. We had an international dinner, when everyone brought food from …
My wife Marci loves eggs. She always has. She talks about eating a soft boiled egg every morning when she was young. When she was pregnant with our son, she couldn’t get enough eggs. One wonders if that played a role in why he is …
When I was a little kid, before the era of ready-to-eat “baby” carrots, my parents would peel three carrots and place them on a plate for my brothers and me to eat before dinner while we set the table (and fought). They tricked us into …
Growing up, my family was all about leftovers. As a matter of fact, sometimes it seemed like we didn’t eat the meal fresh, it was just put in the refrigerator with the express purpose of being served as leftovers – for what seemed like two …
I come from a family of Chinese food snobs. We would never be caught at a strip mall take-out joint or a restaurant with hanging lanterns. In college, I would announce to friends with great authority that it was impossible to find truly authentic Chinese …
Cooking for a crowd is harder than ever before, what with allergies and special diets and food preferences. Yes, options exist; they require that I put a little more time and effort into planning a menu that everyone can enjoy. And it requires some creativity. …
When I was in sixth grade going to school in downtown Philadelphia, they needed kids as extras for a scene in the movie Rocky II. Somehow I found out about it, and went with a handful of friends. There we were with dozens of other …
There are lots of famous pairs: Ella and Louis, Abbott and Costello, Fred and Ginger, Simon and Garfunkel. There are also famous pairs in the garden and kitchen, which I find often grow well together and mature or ripen at the same time. Think tomato …
