When I think of diner food, the first thought that comes to my mind is greasy spoon, traditional diner food that’s great for comfort but not healthy, and that’s what I said to Robert Giaimo, Founder and President and CEO of Silver Diner, Inc. I have eaten at Silver Diner, but it’s been a while [...]
The Cook's Garden Gift Certificate Giveaway
March 5, 2010 By 37 Comments
This year’s unusually cold winter and several feet of snow kept the ground frozen and prevented us from doing our typical winter prep, though we can see grass now on most of the yard and in some of the garden, a hopeful sign of a warm spring to come. And of course that turns our [...]
The Art of Eating In Book Giveaway
February 8, 2010 By 23 Comments
Cathy Erway gave up eating out in New York and started cooking for herself, a two-year experiment she chronicled on her blog, Not Eating Out in New York. Restaurants, take out, and street carts were out, cooking for herself, foraging, and freeganism was in. Cathy’s story is interesting for anyone trying to live frugally by [...]
Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day
December 9, 2009 By 1 Comment
To say that the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day method changed the way I bake bread for my family is an understatement, because suddenly we had buckets of dough hanging out in refrigerator rather than containers of sourdough starter. My starters always seemed temperamental, or more likely I didn’t do such a good [...]
Three Cookbooks That Focus on Easy, Healthy Meals
November 30, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Cooking weeknight meals can be challenging for busy families trying to balance work, school, and family, and believe me when I say our family is not immune to those challenges. Some days are so busy that it’s difficult to get us all together at the dinner table or even find time to cook. If you [...]
Hog Wild Chopsticks for Kids
October 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment
My chopstick collection began innocently enough, just a bag of cheap restaurant-style wooden chopsticks to use and reuse at home, but I had long admired the heights of functional artistry that some chopsticks achieve: the sleek design of metal chopsticks, the colorful surface of lacquered chopsticks, the Zen feeling of carefully smoothed wooden chopsticks. They [...]
The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving
October 3, 2009 By 4 Comments
In a moment of weakness I snagged this book off a table at Costco a few weeks ago, as if I really needed another book on canning and preserving. I blame the title for luring me in because many home cooks make jams, jellies, and other preserves in small batches, unless you are like my [...]
Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker
September 4, 2009 By Leave a Comment
My parents had one of those old-fashioned ice cream makers where the large metal canister sat inside a wooden bucket. Dad would bring home dry ice and we knew Mom was going to make ice cream, often banana, which was our favorite. Mom and Dad had to mediate the arguments between all of us kids [...]
The New Portuguese Table
August 18, 2009 By Leave a Comment
My love for authentic regional foods prompted me to accept an invitation to review David Leite’s new cookbook, The New Portuguese Table. Though I have eaten Portuguese food, I never made it until now, and I somehow managed to miss the Iberian Peninsula on my trip through Europe in the mid 90s. Leite’s book has [...]
Rosa’s New Mexican Table
July 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Whenever I shop at a TJ Maxx, Ross, or Marshall’s, I always check the books section because occasionally I stumble across a good cookbook bargain. On my most recent visit, I found a copy of Rosa’s New Mexican Table for just US$7.99, and knowing the restaurant’s reputation and the book’s James Beard Award nomination in [...]
