From Scratch

This delicious cake is from Nigella Lawson’s Feast and I’ll be making it again for St. Patrick’s Day, the fourth year in a row. The recipe was in the The New York Times in late 2004 and it was such a hit — people inhaled it — I bought the book.
With its chocolate base and […]

Don’t worry, there are no spoilers here. I just watched Episode 1 of Top Chef Chicago, Season 4, and I think we might be in store for a good season.
The days of caterers and culinary students competing seem to be over; nearly all the 16 contestants have some serious experience and some are working at […]

A reminder the new season of Top Chef begins tomorrow night, March 12, at 10/9c on Bravo. Season 4 is from Chicago and the first episode will run 1:15 the first two plays then one hour thereafter. A Season 3 marathon begins tomorrow morning at 8.
Judges for the first episode are said to include Anthony […]

We all know childhood obesity is a major problem in America, but did you know that only 2% of those between the ages of two and 19 are fulfilling the dietary recommendations of the Food Pyramid? Two percent. I was staggered to read that in an article about Eat This, Not That. The authors also cite […]

In her “kitchen sink” approach to attacking her opponent, Mrs. Clinton has acquired a recent fondness for saying, “I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience to bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in […]

Topic A this week among most people I know was not delegate math but the sort of math that hits much closer to home, the kind that wallops us in the wallet when food and energy prices escalate. Gas prices are on another upward spiral and Bob Englehart of the Hartford Courant seems to have […]

I don’t know if food prices are rising in your country but they are in mine, and quite sharply. Sometimes the only way to stay within a budget is to use more economical cuts of meat, the really flavorful ones that are tough from frequent use on the animal but which become fork tender when cooked […]

In the food section of today’s Washington Post, Jane Black test-drives the Knork and other new utensils, including a clever one called a ramen spoon, for eating foods with noodles and broth, and Curvware, an ergonomic take on the humble knife and fork. She gave all of them a test-drive and the increasingly multi-media Post allows us to watch. [embedded video]

Anyone interested in my take on last night’s primary results can find it at Barry!, a new political blog of mine. It’s called Reality Check for Hillary.

It’s so easy to get into a rut, isn’t it? We have a few favorite recipes for certain foods and make them time and again until someone hollers uncle. Well, what to do with it this time?
A fabulous-looking recipe on my friend brightfeather’s blog reminded me I’m close to being in a rut with spinach, […]

If John McCain becomes the Republican presidential candidate as expected, he’ll have to sell the electorate on one of his key positions. And it could be a hard sell, as RJ Matson sketched on Thursday in Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill.

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Iron Chef America is more bogus than even I had imagined.
Restaurant critic Robert Sietsema in The Village Voice February 19th. He attended a taping of the one-hour show — it took about half a day — and spilled the beans about everything from whether the challenger’s choice of Iron Chef is spontaneous (no) to whether […]