From Scratch

I’ve been writing a couple pieces about supermarkets and the tricks of the their trade, which I’ve written about often over the years. But this is different, a concept Jacques Pépin calls cuisine d’oppportunité. He employs it and so do I, enjoying significant savings and little waste.
Only two things are required: the willingness to try something new with […]

I wish I could say the glass inside my oven door is always spotless, that I clean up splatters on the scorchingly-hot window immediately so nothing ever becomes baked on, but I can’t. Nor can I say my kitchen is chemical-free.
Nothing short of running the self-cleaning cycle — an energy hog and an option I didn’t […]

These wonderful, jazzed-up turkey burgers are on my grill every summer and in my grill pan every winter. Often, turkey or chicken burgers end up bland and dry, even when not overcooked, but these don’t. Sometimes ground poultry doesn’t hold together the way ground beef does, but these do without the overhandling that leads to […]

At long last, the Pennsylvania primary has come and gone. It wasn’t the blowout for Hillary it seemed it would be a month earlier, but it wasn’t a squeaker either. So she lives to fight another day, despite Obama’s likely insurmountable lead in delegates.
I’ve come to think of the primary as Spinsylvania and, apparently, so […]

Nothing racy here, just chicken thighs, and their name’s a bit of a misnomer because they’re flavorful but gently seasoned.
I mentioned a few days ago that I’ve been cooking with ginger and this was on the “to try” list. It’s another winner from Perdue and uses a touch of chili powder and some cumin along […]

This is just as ludicrous as the hotdogs sold already in the buns.

Yes, indeedy, just in case you don’t have any bowls in your kitchen — just in case you don’t know we’re probably in a recession — you can have this 10″ melamine gem by visiting your nearest Linens N Things or going to […]

My cyberfriend roadsofstone is back from a recent ski vacation in the French Alps, where he found fabulous spring conditions and, of course, fabulous food. He’s written about it in such glorious detail, complete with photos, that I suspect he’s a foodie at heart.
The tartiflette sounds and looks amazing; that’s his photo (please click to enlarge) I […]

Do we eat enough fish? Consider this. The cod fillet in the photograph is more cod than the average American eats in an entire year. It was a 12-ounce fillet before cooking; Americans ate an average of just over half a pound each in 2006, the most recent year posted at All About Seafood.
In 2001, shrimp […]

Carl Bernstein wrote an incisive opinion piece the other day for Anderson Cooper’s 360 blog. Bernstein, author of the Hillary Clinton biography, A Woman in Charge, is a CNN analyst this year and appears on Cooper’s program.
His post is so damning that Clinton loyalist Lanny Davis requested and got the chance to rebut.
In speculating what a Clinton […]

I am not a fluffy person but I don’t take myself very seriously either, so when my friend Juan tagged me for this fun meme, I was happy to play along. This is more about me than you ever wanted to know.
5 things found in your bag:
wallet
lipstick
a little mirror for the lipstick
gas coupon to save 10¢ […]

After what seems like months, not weeks, of increasingly-nasty campaigning, the Pennsylvania primary finally is at hand. And one issue I can’t believe even became an issue refuses to go away, especially among small-minded xenophobes.
Keefe of The Denver Post summed up my thoughts on Thursday with just a few strokes.

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To all who observe it, Happy Pesach.

A friend and I came up with this quick and easy recipe a couple years ago, when we decided to cut back on carbs and lose a little weight. A little is all we lost — how does anyone go weeks without fruit? — and it wasn’t lost for long, but I still enjoy this […]

Bravo has just begun the search for cast members for the next series of Top Chef, with open casting calls in major American cities and via audition tapes submitted by mail.
Self-taught cooks, as well as formally trained chefs, are welcome to apply. Full details and a downloadable application form are here. Good luck!

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Cindy, Cindy, Cindy. I’m sure you won’t mind if I call you that; you told me to, the times we met in New Hampshire when you were standing by your man in his quest to become president.
I always liked you and admired your smarts, your easy charm, impeccable grooming and appearance, although the New Yorker […]