Pad Thai and a Special Thai Dinner

                            







I can always eat Thai food. Spicy, sour, sweet. So last week when I was invited by a close friend to a 5 course wine and food Thai dinner given by students at University of Denver, well, you can imagine that I jumped at the chance to go. The dinner was part of a course they were taking where each student has the opportunity to design a meal and work with a

Green Onion Garlic Chive Skillet Cornbread with Ancho Chile Butter

I’m a Northerner. I like my cornbread sweet. Even then I still like to add honey, because honey is good with anything. Cornbread to me is one of those comfort foods. It goes perfect with baked beans, fried chicken, chili, soup. Yes, it is great with spicy food because the sweetness helps keep that spice under control. So why did I bake cornbread this week? I entered a contest sponsored by

Cinnamon Rolls

                               



Cinnamon Rolls

When I grew up the only kind of yeast dough in the house was from a can. You know the rap on the counter pop ‘n fresh kind. Now granted, there was a lot of fun when it was your turn to rap that container against the counter. In fact it always made my heart skip a beat when it exploded while spilling its contents. But somehow I remember never

Pantry Soup and The Sorcerer's Apprentices

Pantry Soup

Pantry Soup and The Sorcerer’s ApprenticesAs a mother, a wife and in the past a supplier of daily meals, I often felt like a sorcerer. That is it was up to me to conjure something to eat from whatever might be in my refrigerator or pantry that day. Sometimes it might be something as easy as pancakes, another day we might end up with chicken curry. I was never a meal planner but I

Tomato Sauce

Tomato Sauce

The truth is that I hated tomatoes as a kid. My mother always kept them on the window sill in the summer and even had a few tomato plants. They  smelled so good but I just never wanted to taste a mushy ripe tomato. However I loved ketchup. I ate it on everything. I ate it on steak and chicken and turkey. I think my mother always wondered what I’d look like as an adult with

Zergut Chicken or What I Found in My Fridge

Zergut Chicken


Zergut Chicken or What I Found in my FridgeYou may know that I have mentioned in the past that I am not good at cooking for myself. However because I have started a blog I feel compelled to at least try. Otherwise there really isn’t much point to this, is there?  Anyway about a week ago I raided my fridge and what you see is what I had for dinner. Not bad if I say so myself. A

Marshmallows and Matzoh S'mores

Marshmallows and Matzoh S'mores


                            A smiling face is half the meal. (Latvian Proverb)



Marshmallows and Matzoh S’mores



The truth is I really don’t like marshmallows. My daughter loves marshmallows. She likes those Peep things that are in the really bright colors. So I make these for her. And this year I made them pastel pink. (A little food coloring is OK, right

Macaroons

 




 


When I walk into my kitchen today, I am not alone. Whether we know it or not, none of us is. We bring fathers and mothers and kitchen tables, and every meal we have ever eaten. Food is never just food. It's also a way of getting at something else: who we are, who we have been, and who we want to be.


Molly Wizenberg, A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, 2009

Okonomiyaki (It's what you want!)

                        Okonomiyaki  (It’s what you want.)



It was 85 degrees in Denver on Sunday. You might say it was just a bit warm for Denver on April 1st. Nature’s way of joking with us. Of course today it is snowing which is really typical for spring in the Rockies. I say, Mother Nature, bring it on! We need the moisture. In any case; Sunday found me going to the grocery and buying