Bread

One of the first things I always think about on a beach trip is getting my toes in the sand and listening to the calming sound of the ocean waves rolling in. On my recent travels to Maui I spent quite a bit of time beachin’ and bakin’! Turned out to be great combination of […]

The credit for this Tomato Tart goes to Jose Andres. I’ve been following Andres, founder of World Central Kitchen, for quite some time now. He is not paying me to write this or share his recipe. But – hey, “Jose…..wanna collaborate?” In 2019 he published his latest cookbook titled “Vegetables Unleashed”. This recipe is from […]

Meet the “#1 Chef of Cuba”, Alexis Alvarez Armas. Triple AAA – I wonder if his lovely mother chose his name with that in mind? I’ll begin by telling you how I found Alexis. Then I’ll share my experience at his home as he prepared an 18 dish dinner for that blew my socks off. […]

Last year I attended Community Table 2018, Triad Local First’s fund-raiser, as a behind the scenes blogger. This year I am co-charing the event. Without a doubt last year was a fantastic time with local chefs, breweries, farms, distilleries and foodies buzzing about like hungry bees. This year will be an over the top event […]

A challenge I notice through my involvement with “food” is the mispronunciations of food words. Working in the spice shop I hear customers doing their best to pronounce food words they aren’t familiar with. Many times they preface their mispronunciation with a comment like,” I’m not sure I’m saying this right”. I’ve been checking to […]

Baking a loaf of Cranberry-Nut bread is an excellent way to use up any leftover or frozen cranberries you have from the Christmas holidays. I froze a couple of bags since these tart berries seem to be harder to find after the holidays. I like to keep a loaf of some type of quick or […]

One of my Christmas gifts from my man, Dan was the Cook’s Illustrated Baking Book! It was a welcome surprise! Back in the fall when we attended an Octoberfest party the hostess showed me this book and I’m sure I made the comment, “I need this book”. My husband is good at making note of […]

I’m at it again – food touring! Recently I took a trip to Miami and signed up for the Little Havana Food Tour with Miami Culinary Tours. This is my second time to tour with this company and they do it up right! The guides are knowledgeable and personable and the food….well I’ll tell you […]

Black Onyx zucchini cake may be my favorite zucchini recipe to share with you. You probably thought that I was finished sharing zucchini recipes but no! This is the most moist, deepest, darkest chocolate zucchini cake ever. It pretends to be an overly indulgent cake but in reality it is simple, easy and not overly […]

This post was sponsored by LaFarm Bakery in collaboration with NC Blogger Network. As always, all opinions are mine and mine alone. LaFarm bakery and master baker Lionel Vatinet caused me to consider becoming a baker, only with his tutelage however! But when I heard that the bakery begins to put loaves of shaped dough […]

Recently I learned to make Maneesh, a Middle Eastern Flatbread that makes a perfect edible spoon for dips such as hummus, baba ganoush, tabouleh or for soaking up juices from meats and sauces. I’ve long been intrigued with the spice blend called Za’Atar. Now I know precisely how I like it best! One bonus of […]

Here is the scoop on brunch at Main Street Kitchen, as promised, from my dinner post on Main Street Kitchen, Walnut Creek, California. After my daughter LuLu and I enjoyed such a delicious dinner and friendly service under the stars on a lovely Saturday night we could not resist returning for brunch the following day. […]

One chilly weekend morning I was hungry for a breakfast sandwich – one like those found at fast food restaurants. An Egg McMuffin type sandwich to be exact. I am not a fan of fast food restaurants. In fact, I don’t “do” fast food restaurants! I couldn’t begin to tell you the last time I […]

When my daughter LuLu and I stumbled upon Main Street Kitchen in Walnut Creek this past Saturday something drew us in. It wasn’t just the delicious aroma drifting out to the adjacent sidewalk, or the bright blue umbrellas inviting al fresco dining. It wasn’t the warm ambient light glowing inside or the blackboard touting brunch. I am […]

Fresh and dried herbs are swell additions to many foods, recipes and dishes. How to use herbs is something many of us are familiar with. Some of you may use herbs everyday and many of you may be uncertain how to incorporate them into your meals. If you grow herbs you are more than likely […]

It’s the little things……“It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important.” ― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. Don’t misunderstand me The Food and Wine Conference, that will take place in Orlando May 13-15 is anything but little! I am super excited to be attending […]

In mid-July I traveled to New York City for the BlogHer15 conference. The conference schedule is non-stop but I found that I had a few free hours midweek to explore the city. Having lived in NYC for a couple of years, back in the day, I wasn’t interested in merely pounding the pavement and hitting all […]

Pumpkin Loaves. This recipe is from the first cookbook I obtained as an adult, well if you consider 19 adulthood. I did way back then, but of course that was before I had kids of my own. The book needs to go to a book binder and be put back together. It is so well used it’s […]

Eggs, toast, and roasted asparagus all in one pan and perfect for a freezing-cold morning breakfast. The snow is back and it was unpredicted. Weather forecasters often get a bad rap for not predicting our weather correctly and today is a classic example of why! On last nights weather report, on two different channels, snow […]

Food words are often mispronounced. I attribute this to the fact that so many of the foods we enjoy are not “American”. We love foods from so many countries here in America that we need lessons in how to correctly pronounce some of these words! How about “Ancho” or “Anise“, “Croissant” or “Boudin” (one of my […]