My younger son, Noah, has always been a fish fan.  At one point, I thought I had a pescatarian (someone who eats fish but not meat) on my hands.  Thankfully, I don’t–I say that only because my other son is a huge carnivore and will not eat fish.  Fortunately, Noah eats almost everything, but he […]

General rule, cakes need to be trimmed before frosting.  This is especially important if you are making a layer cake of any kind.  It is not your fault when you bake a cake, it does not come out of the oven with uniform height: one part may bulge, or some other part may sink, Making it […]

Since I was a young kid, I have always enjoyed artichokes.  I liked them because, unlike everything else I ate, they did not require a fork (and obviously the melted butter too!).  Now I make artichokes often.  My kids now enjoy them for the very same reasons.   It was not until I was a grown-up that I […]

I credit Mario Batali for the inspiration behind this simple tomato sauce.  Batali, one of the most respected and recognized chefs worldwide, gained recognition early on for his focus on simplicity and using quality, fresh local ingredients.  I had the pleasure of meeting Batali many years ago when I was in culinary school.  He was […]

You know what I’m talking about right? You reach for some bananas, but in doing so, your arm grazes a vast assortment of odd-looking specialty fruit.  Brightly colored, with spikes, prickly, some even flower-like in appearance.  What are these crazy looking fruits and what the heck do you do with them if you are adventurous […]

My husband is a big pie fan. Huge actually. His theory is: eat it in the morning for breakfast so you have the whole day to burn off the calorie bomb.  I find this particularly funny as my husband is 6”2 and on the slim side—weight, you could say, has never been his concern.  Lucky […]

  I have never loved yogurt.  It was not the texture or tartness; to me, yogurt has always been too sweet.  And then I went to Iceland… Greek yogurt started a whole thick-and-creamy yogurt trend.  Fage introduced their yogurt to the market in the late 90’s.  By the early 2000’s, it was all the rage. […]

Gazpach is a raw vegetables soup and served chilled.  Gazpacho is believed to have originated in the Southern Spanish region Andalusia, but is commonly seen all over Spain and Portugal (where it is known as “Gaupacho”).  Historically, the most well-known versions of gazpacho (or “soup-salad” as it has been called) come from Seville and Córdoba.  Traditional ingredients were simply […]

I discovered Cotija cheese several years ago when I hosted my husband’s 40th birthday party, which had a Mexican theme and was catered by Tacolicious, a fantastic California-style taqueria in San Francisco.  Cotija has become a staple in my house ever since.  Cotija is a cow’s milk cheese named for the small Mexican town in which […]