The Tastee Inn in Sioux City, Iowa where you can get a Sloppy Joe or Loose Meat Sandwich for $2.00 The Sloppy Joe is hardly anyone’s idea of gourmet food. This may lie in the fact that making one requires virtually no culinary skills of…

         At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the stir-fry is the savior of every harried home cook.  When you have to get dinner on the table in as short a time as possible, a stir-fry’s hard to beat.  It’s all a matter…

         No matter how gray a day it’s been, coming home to a dinner of beautifully pink and gold shrimp paired with sweet peas, fresh scallions and ginger medallions is a visual treat.  The simple salting and rinsing of the raw shrimp gives them a…

         Alright, I cheated little on this one.  The actual recipe is for something called “Pork Larb” but, when I first said that I was going to make a dish by that name, Andrew made a face and suggested that, for appetite appeal alone, I…

Sandra Lee with another plate of SemiHomemade food           My friend Barbara gets practically apoplectic when she hears the name “Sandra Lee”.   Whether this has anything to do with the “Semi Homemade” hostess’ debacle over something Ms. Lee called her “Kwanzaa Cake”, I am not…

         The other day, when I opened a post from Bee at www.rasamalaysia.com, along with Bee’s recipe for Moo Goo Gai Pan came a flood of memories.  It instantly took me back to my childhood in Montreal.  Not that I ever ate Moo Goo Gai…

Sugar Snaps have joined the Asparagus at The Farmer’s Market           You may wonder how much more asparagus I can possibly eat this asparagus season.  The answer is I’ll eat as much as I can.  I love the fresh flavor and texture that asparagus brings…

         One of the great joys of cooking has to be the amazing things you learn when you use an ingredient that is new to you.  In this case, our dear friend Richard arrived from Hong Kong recently and presented us with a sealed plastic…

Center this dish on your dining table and stand back.         Chinese New Year is upon us.  This Sunday, February 10th is the start of the Year of the Snake. Despite all the negative connotations of snakes and snake-like behavior,  according to…

As some of you may know, I am now writing a blog with www.Sokolin.com, a superb wine e-tailer which is located on the East End of Long Island.  From their 30,000 square foot ‘wine cooler’, they ship fine wine to collectors all over the world.…

        I have some good friends whose families are Filipino. And although for some time, my friend Ethel has threatened to kidnap me and take me to Queens for some Filipino restaurant food, we haven’t made it yet.   Come to think of it,…

        I remember a friend telling me that once she gave her husband a Wok for Christmas, it was pretty much Wok-around-the-clock from that point on. As I remember, he was one of the first men I knew who’d taken over the kitchen and cooked…

        Ten years ago, I got a call from a friend named Ethel, who, at the last minute, couldn’t use her tickets to a big bash given by The Film Society of Lincoln Center.  My work partner, Cathy, and I promptly called our respective spouses…

            I can’t get enough of Fatty Crab www.fattycrab.com  2170Broadway (76th-77th St.)212-496-2722 for reservations or https://www.opentable.com/), the spinoff of the original West Village restaurant (634 Hudson Street, between Horatio and Gansevoort Sts., 212 352-3592 (No reservations are taken).             Now that it’s made the trek north…