I cook because I love to eat. I garden because I love to cook.
My freshman year of college I resided in the dorms, and as would be expected, I ate in the college cafeteria. The food was acceptable, more quantity than quality. We occasionally used the dorm kitchen to cook a meal or two, but I consumed mostly …
I am hesitant to talk about the current state of my garden in the same way that when traveling I don’t discuss the traffic, lest a sea of red taillights appears around the next bend in the highway. I don’t want to jinx anything. But …
The meatloaf sandwiches that my brothers and I were compelled to take for school lunch – lest we starve – were lacking in several components that make sandwiches such fine fare for a midday meal. In fact, they were so bad that they have become …
I grew up in Philadelphia where the reining sandwiches are cheesesteaks and hoagies. However, there is another Philadelphia sandwich that gets far less attention – roast pork. Comparable in design to a cheesesteak or hoagie, thin sliced pork is stuffed into a long, crusty Italian …
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 …
I didn’t eat lobster until I met my wife Marci in graduate school. She is from Boston, and was weaned on lobster; she tells tales of eating twin lobsters as a child, because one was never enough. When we were in graduate school on Long …
Gardeners and gourmands wait all year for August tomatoes, and right now we are thick in the middle of tomato season. For many, they are the main event of the year; meaty and juicy, they are a gardener’s dream. Since they are so good and …
Banh mi, a Vietnamese sandwich made on a toasted French baguette, may be the world’s most perfect sandwich. There are a riot of flavors and textures in every bite that balance each other perfectly. It is sweet and crispy from the daikon radish and carrot …
I love a good grilled cheese because it hits all the right notes – salty, crunchy, greasy, and sometimes even sweet. Many Americans have eaten grilled cheese since they were young. In my youth, I used to think they were called girled cheese. But a …
