Cooking with my mother in her kitchen was among the best activities of my childhood. As her helper, I got to participate by measuring mostly, then graduating to mixing and churning ingredients in bowls and pans. The biggest thing, and most childhood helpers would probably agree, was observing how mom prepared the family dishes and having that ingrained in memory. Later in life as a college student and an adult, we would sit down together as she prepared a dish and write down ingredient amounts, preparation tips and other advice for making a particular dish. I took notes and eventually... Continue reading

Risotto makes for a wonderful, warming and easy to make winter dinner This month’s selection for the Cook the Books reading/cooking club is Undercooked: How I Let Food Become My Life Navigator and How Maybe That's a Dumb Way to Live by Dan Ahdoot, inspired by his obsession with food. In a chapter devoted to his travels in Italy he writes about a car expedition through northern Italy “where prosciutto and parmesan cheese were invented. Man were we stoked. We replayed the episode of Chef’s Table where Massimo Bottura, a charismatic chef, tells the story of how he single-handedly helped... Continue reading

Apples and cranberries are such a good match that they make this bundt cake a baking success I confess to getting a late start to Fall this year. I’ve refused to accept the change of seasons and it’s been so warm that it’s felt like a continuation of summer till just now as the leaves have started to turn and the night-time temperatures have dropped. With Halloween Trick or Treat’ers coming our way this weekend, it’s time though. And the garden cleanout got done while it’s still been warm and sunny. So I guess I’m ready to face the November... Continue reading

Usually I think Summer ends at the strike of September 1st but this year, September on the East Coast has featured record-breaking high temperatures into the 90’s paired with suffocating humidity. In any case, it sure has felt like the continuation of high Summer rather than a transition into Fall. So when I was asked to bring a dish to a recent potluck, I was thinking about what would be refreshing rather than what would be hearty or filling. A friend posted a recipe recently for mini cheesecakes which would be the size of cupcakes and I thought, wouldn’t that... Continue reading

What better munchie than a few Mexican Taquitos? For an East Coast girl of Italian heritage I’m awfully fond of Mexican cuisine and seek out the real deal when I’m in a part of the country where it’s truly authentic, in other words not along the East Coast. This is how I ended up at the El Indio Restaurant in San Diego which has been in business for over 80 years. I was visiting family there and heard they offered the real deal. That scuttlebutt was totally accurate – they do indeed offer masterful Mexican food. So when I read... Continue reading