The olives one can get here are ridiculously gorgeous. Anyone who goes to the market on Saturday can see the olive sellers, who must have over two dozen types of olives. I walk by and drool, and wish that I could just sample one of each. Coming from an [...]
Hummus isn’t the only bean dip out there. And while I love hummus, tahini is expensive and can be hard to find. I made this white bean and tuna dip to go with our “mezze” for this month’s Daring Kitchen challenge. I originally decided to create [...]
French cooking has 4 basic “mother sauces” – béchemel, allemande, velouté, and espagnole (though sometimes hollandaise is on the list too), and this one takes what I consider the richest of them and makes it richer. I found this recipe in my mom’s 40+ year old Gourmet cookbook and oh is this good. I don’t [...]
These were totally a spur of the moment dish that I made this afternoon – ever since purchasing rice paper spring roll wrappers for last month’s Daring Cook’s Challenge (my Fried Apple Cheesecake Pillows), I’ve been trying to come up with what to do with the rest of [...]
This week was my husband’s and my first wedding anniversary! I can’t believe that a year has passed by already, it has been SO fast! So many great and crazy things have happened in our lives in the past year, it has certainly been quite the trip, and I [...]
While it is still warm out during these last few days of summer (hello Autumn! You officially started today!), we had a family BBQ with some slow cooked hickory smoked ribs, and a delicious mango sauce. This recipe was adapted from a recipe found in one of my favorite [...]
I LOVE Indian food, but have always been a bit intimidated to try it. I’m not really sure why, because I don’t think it is necessarily very difficult. Maybe it’s because I always thought Indian cuisine required these crazy exotic ingredients that I would never be able to find. It turns out that is just [...]
Packing and moving is hard work. The last thing you want to eat after a day of wrapping dishes, stuffing boxes, and hauling stuff is something complicated and pretentious. At the end of the day, my husband and I sat down on the floor (because we had sold our [...]
“There is no greater sin than to overcook a quail.” – No Reservations
So says Catherine Zeta Jones’s character in the movie when she talks about all the different ways that she loved to prepare quail. This sounds mighty intimidating, but when done well, the result is perfection in your mouth. [...]
Paella started its renowned reputation in the Valencia region of Spain as an immensely flavorful rice dish cooked in a large shallow round pan. Spanish cuisine is one I have very little experience with (well, besides enjoying eating it!), and I was thrilled when this month’s host, Olga, [...]