- Documenting the journey through my kitchen, a pinch of salt at a time.
Posted in Appetizer, Italian, Recipe, Vegetables on Nov 12th, 2011
A world without tomatoes is like a string quartet without violins. – Laurie Colwin The days of fall and summer have been rapidly fading away in Ithaca, yet I was able to hang onto the last bits of warmth through a few fortunate days of sunshine plus the last batches of tomatoes from our Community [...]
Posted in Italian, Main Dish, Pasta, Recipe, Vegetarian on Apr 26th, 2011
If Italy had contributed nothing but pasta dishes to the world of cuisine, it would have been sufficient for immortality. — Craig Claiborne Spring has finally arrived in upstate New York! It’s about time. Today it was sunny, 70+ degrees Fahrenheit, just like the way it should be at this time of year. In any case, [...]
Buon cibo, buon vino, buoni amici – Unknown When there’s a blizzard outside, having warmth, good food, wine, and company is priceless. A fireplace adds a nice touch as well. There are many foods that comfort the soul, but today’s choice is heavily influenced by my favorite person in the world who happens to come [...]
A man seldom thinks with more earnestness of anything than he does of his dinner. – Samuel Johnson There are days when you crave nothing but simple comfort food for lunch or dinner. For some, that could mean a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch or cereal for dinner. It usually starts after a [...]
Posted in Cantonese, Main Dish, Poultry, Recipe, Vegetables on Aug 12th, 2010
Feeding people graciously and lovingly is one of life’s simplest pleasures: a most basic way of making life better for someone at least for awhile. — Anna Thomas Black bean sauce reminds me of traditional Cantonese home-style cooking. I grew up having a variety of dishes made with black beans and black bean sauce, including [...]
Life itself is the proper binge. — Julia Child And then there is dessert, another brilliant binge that we all shamelessly enjoy. Even for those who say they don’t like sweets, custard with fresh summer berries is a pleasing dessert for anyone to indulge in. This is exactly what panna cotta is all about. It’s [...]
Posted in Recipe, Side Dish, Vegetables, Vegetarian on Jul 6th, 2010
Hello, Summer! Along with a great season comes great produce such as asparagus, at least for another couple of weeks. While our country is generally very season-agnostic when it comes to produce, I am fortunate that I was able to catch the tail end of asparagus season, which is typically April through June. I am [...]
If you are what you eat and you don’t know what you’re eating, do you know who you are? – Claude Fischler As you may have already guessed, there is really no such thing as a baby turkey, or at least people don’t serve it. The story behind the phrase goes back to my childhood [...]
We all have our default, go-to, quick fixes when it comes to food. For those of us who like sweets, there is probably a mental list of one to five things that we consider our guilty pleasures. You know, those things you cannot resist from a dessert menu even though you already need to unbutton [...]
Posted in Cantonese, Main Dish, Meat, Recipe, Vegetables on Feb 22nd, 2009
I promised one of my readers that I would create a post and recipe for a more Chinese version of beef broccoli, so here it is! The main difference in this version is the type of broccoli used. In my family, Chinese broccoli is as common as eating spinach or lettuce — a weekly staple, [...]
