Am I mad?!  I’m pulling a full Jamie Oliver and I know it.  I’m even excited about it.  If you aren’t aware of the clamor from the entire

Fresh from a trip to London and inspired by my penultimate meal of Indian food, I needed saag paneer.  Fresh, homemade, cheese made from whole milk, made golden

I am not lying when I say that this is the quickest meal that I’ve cooked, from scratch of course.  Yes, I am going on the record to

Full disclosure: this will be a short post and mostly me raving about how great this recipe from Smitten Kitchen is.  In addition, if I didn’t take advantage

Jamie Oliver couldn’t have have picked a better adjective for this recipe…it is so good that indeed it is BONKERS, just as Jamie describes.    I have had this

If you haven’t noticed, I am a bit mad for macarons.  A bit obsessed one might say.  The delicate almond, egg white, and sugar cookies area  perfect nexus

Mussels – they seem scary.  They really do!  How do you know if they are good or bad?  How does one clean them?  What does a restaurant do

Thank you Lorraine Pascale.  Thank you for your beautiful self and your beautiful tv program with your beautiful food porn, done with music that is actually enjoyable and

Nothing fixes whatever ails one like a nice slice of homemade cake with rich, creamy, and sweet frosting. In my case it was a pulled back muscle and

I’m setting myself up right for healthy eating this week.  I already have a refrigerator full of delicious items from Chef Grifka at calitable.com for that extra helping hand

It always starts with a simple curiosity, doesn’t it?  A whim, a capricious thought, a lingering wonder, a down right primal urge to know exactly what is being sold

Even I will admit: you may not want to “Take My Life and Eat It” on this one.  Or maybe you will.    Either way it’s been a

Sometimes you need to get up early and make dark chocolate chip pancakes with sliced banana on top. This morning was one of those mornings. I needed the

Inspired by the chefs over at Canal House Cooks Lunch, I was inspired to do a little simple “this is what I ate for lunch” post. I needed

I recently added NPR to my Facebook feed and am really liking the gems they post, but arguably my favorite one so far was the post “Yes, It’s

Recipe to follow on this one! I had a few chicken breasts in the fridge and hated the thought of having them plain and boring. I googled “ground

So when one opens there big fat trap on facebook, one ends up giving a “cooking lesson.” Never tease someone about their burnt pizza or inability to boil

How did I go from not liking kimchi as a child to loving it as an adult.  No, “not liking” isn’t strong enough – hating?  DETESTING.  Yes.  Ridiculing

August – hot, muggy, unbearable across the mid-Atlantic coast.  What does the entire populace do?  Migrate down Hwy’s 158 and 12 to the Outer Banks, NC on a

I’m behind.  Way behind.  Specifically on keeping this blog up to date, but being behind isn’t a new thing to me. I will never forget the grand dame

I’m going to get some grief from some by calling this a paella.  It’s not the paella that people think of with the beautiful prawns and mussels you’d

What to bring to a housewarming barbeque after recently returning from Spain earlier in the week?  Something Spanish flavored of course.  But to write about it?  It would

It’s hot out. Well, all things considered not THAT hot. It’s not Death Valley hot. It’s not even El Cajon hot. Ok it’s just kind of warm and

Typical for me, I started my Saturday morning off making a tortilla española.  For anyone who’s been following my blog for any length of time, you will know

This lunch started as some simple okayu, or Japanese rice porridge. I had felt the beginning of a sore throat over the last few days and needed some

I need to stop eating these.  Wait, do I need to stop eating these?  I’m so confused!  They are chips.  But they are kale.  HELP!!! The garden gave

Ok, kimchi is a little scary.  Especially if you have childhood memories of your dad bringing it home from the wife of someone at work and it’s the

The dreaded puff pastry.  Most everyone will say, “Don’t bother.  Go buy it.” At best, you get a “Well maybe do it once but never do it again.”

It’s been 3.5 weeks since I had shoulder surgery and I’ve been out one left arm, put up in a sling for a month to heal. I’m paying

If you read my last post, you know that I had a jar of preserved lemons sitting on my counter that were ready to go.   You also

I can already tell you, the $95 spent on my citrus tree was the best money I’ve spent in a long time.  In itself, it is the coolest

I’ve said in the past that I don’t cook anything twice for company.   This recipe is the exception to that rule.  IT IS SO DARN GOOD AND

How does one recover from getting bad news regarding a shoulder injury, i.e. you find out you are going to need surgery?  Take home made sweet potato gnocchi

Thank you Aida Mollenkamp.  Thank you for combining two of my favorite things, gnocchi and sweet potato.  Thank you for writing a recipe that would finally enable me

So who knew that when I decided to make this variation on shepard’s pie it would be in the 80’s?!  Bad timing.  And to top it off the

You all know I love making a good tortilla española. Well I got the urge again and decided to throw one together for a late lunch on my

Tough day… the universe was really poking at me, working my last nerve.  But it rewarded me with some garden goodness when I got home.  I pulled up

After my favorite run/surf/yoga buddy’s law school graduation, I got the Asian mother guilt when I hesitated to accept the family invite to join them for lunch. WOW!

So I mentioned I had lots of garden fresh fava beans and no idea what to do with them and my friend came to the the rescue –

Every now and then I attempt to make pizza from scratch.  I had the itch again, and made the dough for a Sunday night pizza fest.  Unfortunately, I

What’s a guy to do whilst waiting at home for a remediation company to come out to dry the ground under his house and have a plumber fix

…I say arugula walnut pesto!! And that’s what I did when my favorite chef/business owner/philanthropist/volunteer organizer gave me a HUGE box of leftover arugula (rocket?) from Specialty Produce

I have always loved sweet potato fries, but wanted to make them healthier at home and not use a ton of oil. So I’ve tried many ways to

You know it’s bad when you do things like this when your home spending a Sunday on the couch sick. Yup, not only do I have a cold

I think it’s time I got to a pickle makin…

What’s a boy to do with left over pineapple from a luau and fresh anaheim green chiles from his garden? Make marmelade!! I found this recipe on line

The roofing continues – back half of the house. And I continue to get further behind at work. I was able to cull though some of the email

After an epic yet enjoyable family visit/early 40th birthday party/4th of July holiday I did not return to work today. I stayed home. To have my roof repaired

I’m not a huge fan of biscotti for some reason. I think because by the time I get them (out of their plastic wrapper) they are super dried

I just got back from my niece’s college graduation in Wooster, Ohio. We had a few hours and went into Amish country. Not even that far and it

Ahhh, Friday night. I decided to try a bottle of sake I got at the Japanese store when I was shopping for Hello Kitty supplies for my Easter

I know I’m supposed to clear my mind in evening yoga and I try. I swear, I really try. Inevitably dinner pops into my head and I’m going