As December rolls around, it can be a little cold and I can really start to miss the warm beautiful weather. This year I have a wonderful solution—I’m going to escape winter by going to the Florida Keys in January as a chef for Kayak Amelia (information is at www.kayakamelia.com). You are welcome to come along and have me as your chef for a week. But even if you can’t ...
Sauces, Gravies & Rubs
Gobble-gobble it up…Shallot Gravy for your turkey
BRINING YOUR THANKSGIVING TURKEY: One of the things that creates the most fear and complaints at a Thanksgiving feast is a dry turkey! I have an excellent way to avoid that: Brining is a wonderful way to add moisture and flavor to your bird before you cook it...by soaking it in a solution of water, salt, and a variety of other ingredients that may include sugar, wine, hot ...
Pineapple Sweet and Sour Sauce
Now, 14 years, two kids, and many frequent flier miles later I feel like I too can claim kamaina (that's Hawaiian for local). If you added up all of the time we have spent there, it is almost 6 beautiful months filled with sun, sand, sushi, and adventures. When I first met my husband and he told me he was from Hawaii, it didn't really sink in. I thought he meant Hawaii, Ohio, ...
Let the Flames Begin!
May is National Barbecue Month and grilling is one of my favorite ways to cook. Actually, to be honest, my husband does the cooking when the grill is involved. (Bonus! It tastes delicious and I can do something else while he tends the flame.) But there are quite a few tools that we've found over the years—some that we love, some that we'll pass on. Later this week, I will ...
Passover Feast
Sometimes you hear about something your whole life but don’t really understand it, or you think it is an outdated practice that no one does now. Passover was like that for me. When I was a child, I considered Passover itself a fascinating but horrific story from the Bible. Can you imagine, if you were a good Israelite kid and you had good parents but they forgot to put the ...
