After struggling with a pool of tomato stain, I scrubbed and soaked… My board almost looks like new. Hopefully a few more sessions will make it more bearable. (more…)

Vying to buy kitchen gifts for me I might not have, my sister-in-law has bought me various pieces of silicone bakeware over the past few years. Unlike others, always wanting to try the latest and greatest, silicone wasn’t even that intriguing to me. I’ve found that you have to be selective in what you bake in silicone. Very selective. (more…)

Got some going-soft bell peppers in the fridge? Don’t toss them quite yet. A little kosher salt, olive oil and basalmic vinegar does the trick. (more…)

Wondering what to do with all that leftover stuffing after the holidays? You could freeze it for later, but it can also be used to make a tasty appetizer for the next day’s dinner. (more…)

I buy most of my veggies and fruit in bulk, and that goes for tomatoes. With the Florida heat, I often have to store these babies in the crisper, but cooler days tricked me into leaving them out, thus staining my beautiful, golden brown cutting board. (more…)

Like the ever-genius Alton Brown, I’ve gone through several oil misters. Since I use olive oil daily, it’s easy to get those nozzles clogged to the point where they do nothing. Of course, the worst was when the bottle itself split, leaving a pool of oil to drizzle all over the cupboard. (more…)

Brushing beaten egg white on a loaf of bread, or melted butter atop a pastry, is a simple task. While a pastry brush serves specific tasks, smaller, simpler jobs call for a cheaper approach. (more…)

I don’t often buy recipe books or magazines (though I do subscribe to Cooking Light). I get most of my recipes and ideas for concocting my own fare by watching Food Network and surfing the Internet. Last year, though, I couldn’t pass up Martha Stewart’s Holiday Cookies special publication. I found myself having to improvise immensely. (more…)

The original conception of this classic appetizer was nothing like what we eat today. Pigs in a blanket was originally pork and rice inside cooked leaves of cabbage. It was German fare, which the British altered using sausage, bacon and dough. (more…)

The other night I had some defrosted, cubed chicken that beckoned, “Cook me, or throw me out.” In an effort to savor every dime of food in the fridge, I whipped up a make-shift bourbon sauce and turned on the heat. (more…)

Whether it’s in effort to save money or storage space, many stock their kitchen with one type of baking sheets. It’s usually Teflon coated. It’s no wonder so many people burn their cookies. (more…)

This last Christmas I baked up a storm. Varying deadlines for cookie baking and deliveries, along with a lack of extra baking sheets and only one oven, left me in a bind for timely baking and hand-offs of fresh-made treats. (more…)

Whenever I visit LA, I have to stop at Jerry’s Famous Deli. It is, by far, the best deli I’ve been to, and just thinking about the brisket sandwich makes my mouth water. Last night, with my new GPS unit in tow, we ventured to the Miami location. We were sadly disappointed. (more…)

Last night brought just five of us into our living room. We had some no-shows, no-calls, and for a moment I was irritated about all the additional food and drink we’d just bought to accomodate a larger group. (more…)