I cook because I love to eat. I garden because I love to cook.
I love all things dumpling, and every culture has their own; Italian ravioli, Jewish knishes and kreplach, Indian samosas, Tibetan or Nepalese momos, Polish pierogies, British pasty, Chinese wontons. The list goes on and on, and I love them all. As a teenager, I discovered …
My wife Marci’s grandmother was French Canadian. When Marci was young, her family often had Sunday dinner at her grandmother’s house, and to hear her tell it, it was a grand affair. Fresh vegetables from her grandfather’s garden, a fresh made apple pie, and never …
There are times when adding a salad to the menu of finger foods is a great offering when having a party. But salads are messy – partygoers need a plate and a fork and two hands, making it difficult to hold a drink, all while …
My daughter doesn’t like Thanksgiving – neither the holiday nor the food. Never has. It’s not because of the people or the family gathering, but rather it’s because of her birthday, which is always during the same week as Thanksgiving. Some years, including this year, …
It is always better when food looks good, in addition to tasting good. In upscale restaurants chefs have to be artists on two fronts; each course is a meticulously prepared work of art, not just in terms of flavor combinations, but also as a fleeting, …
When I was in high school, my friend Dave and I would drive miles to 12th and Shunk, deep in the heart of South Philadelphia, just to get water ice at Italiano’s. It was the best water ice we could find. A plethora of flavors …
The extra hour gifted to us this morning by switching from daylight savings time to standard time makes it perfect to cook a big breakfast – including skillet vegetable hash topped with a fried egg. Except in my family we don’t get the extra hour, …
Maybe 21 or 22 years ago, shortly after my wife and I purchased our first home and before kids, we got a free turkey; supermarkets used to give them away a few weeks before Thanksgiving when you spent a certain amount on groceries. We didn’t …
When I was younger I could never get tomato sauce right; it was always thin and watery. I tried fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato puree…it just wasn’t right. I gave up, in part because almost every strip mall on Long Island, where I …
Every once in a while, a recipe jumps out from nowhere and sticks; it becomes an instant classic in my repertoire, one I make over and over. That is the case with Chicken Piccata. Many years ago, my wife and I were at a friend’s …
