CONFESSION: I know nothing about wine. Not even a little. I just know that red wine is good for cooking with red meat, while white wine is better for cooking with lighter meats and seafood. The good thing about this is, I’m totally not a snob. This allows me to try all sorts of new [...]

Heavens it’s good to be home! Extensive work and traveling have put the blog on hold, but I’m finally back home with time and resources to cook! Shopping for fresh ingredients isn’t the best idea when nobody’s going to be home to cook them, so I’m thrilled to finally be able to shop for the [...]

When I discovered Pastoral Artisan Cheese, Bread and Wine, a wonderful cheese shop / sandwich shop near where I was working recently in Chicago’s Loop, I was ecstatic! I’d been searching for a great source for my favorite serrano ham and manchego cheese for awhile to make a really special treat. We enjoyed it today [...]

Thanks to a super hectic schedule and working lots of weekends, today was our first trip to the Oak Park Farmer’s Market this year. Soon after we arrived, however, we remembered why we love it so. We often settle on a theme — tiny food, abnormally large food, speckled food, things we haven’t tried [...]

CONFESSION: Nearly all my über-gourmet ingredients come from the Clearance Bin. I can’t help it; I simply can’t pay full price for gourmet ingredients, and I don’t really care how fancy they are. $10 for infused grapeseed oil? Tell me $4 and we’ve got a deal. $6 for Japanese Panko breadcrumbs—hell no. But for $2, [...]

Tonight I discovered a new favorite recipe. It’s super simple and really has no business being so delicious! I love canned artichoke hearts and wanted to include them in tonight’s entrée, so I found a great recipe on AllRecipes.com and modified it slightly.
I served it with a spinach risotto made from some leftover spinach, chicken [...]

TOO MANY PUMPKINS! A friend of a friend had a fall wedding and left my friend, the maid of honor, with dozens of pumpkin gourd favors left by guests. She decorated her home with them and wondered what to do with them. I didn’t actually believe I’d do anything with them, but I shocked myself [...]

This is one dinner with SOUL! I love making soul food once in awhile, and this dinner was a true test of the term “non-perishable food item”. After doing inventory of my pantry, in the back I found two cans of crabmeat that were at least 3–5 years old. Scary stuff, but still worth a [...]

This favorite recipe is modified from a pretty well-known basic recipe using Lipton Onion Soup Mix, but it’s an easy winner when you want a comforting stew and you didn’t prepare things ahead of time.
I served this over some mashed purple potatoes acquired at the Oak Park Farmer’s Market. The result is a bit [...]