The Cruelty of Shoes

Unless, of course, you'd like to try the cruel shoes – Steve Martin

I’m working again.


After a 10 year hiatus playing Mr. Mom (and occasionally catering and teaching) I’m back working. Donned the togs and sharpened the knives. Playing with food once again. I’m working at Premier Gourmet - purveyor of fine foods and beverages, and very fine cooking equipment for almost 40 years.

The Thrill of The Grill–A Note To My Fellow Root Down Farm Shareholders

The hobo pack takes its place alongside a tuna fish sandwich and Jell-O as one of my earliest recipes -Chris Schlesinger

A few weeks back, toward the end of a CSA week, I found myself in possession of a variety of vegetables needing to be used. Half a head of Napa cabbage, some scapes, a few green onions, some cooking greens, etc. There was even a bulb of fennel. complete with fronds. What to do with them? That’s easy. I created a hobo pack.

การรับประทานอาหารที่ดี/Ăn uống tốt

I just love Chinese food. My favourite dish is number 27 - Clement Atlee

I would like to thank everyone who joined me today at An Chau Asian Market as part of the tour sponsored by Slow Food Buffalo Niagara International Institute of Buffalo. I hope everyone found the event informative and enjoyable. I know the owners of An Chau were thrilled to see so many new faces.
As promised, here are some helpful links to assist you in continuing your adventure in the wonderful world of Asian food. The following are some sites with helpful information about the various ingredients used in Asian cuisine:

China: http://www.china-family-adventure.com/chinese-food-ingredients.html
Japanese: http://www.savoryjapan.com/ingredients.html
Korea: http://www.maangchi.com/ingredients
Thai: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/
Vietnamese: http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/
Asian: http://www.ming.com/food-and-wine/ming.com-guide-to-asian-ingredients.htm
Asian: http://asiasociety.org/lifestyle/food-recipes/food

The reference books mentioned were:

Bruce Cost: Asian Ingredients: A Guide to the Foodstuffs of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam
Ken Hom:Asian Ingredients: A Guide to the Foodstuffs of China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam

You can find a link to Andrea Ngyuen’s “Asian Market Shopper” app here.

My Buffalo rising article on fish sauce can be found here. My blog post on Red Boat fish sauce and a link to Andrea’s recipe for nuoc cham is here. And as an extra bonus, especially for those who bought a jar of tamarind chilli paste, I also give you a link to my recipe for really great Thai inspired dressing.
Thank you all again for coming, and remember life’s too short to eat bad food.

Jedi Kitchen Tricks

This recipe is certainly silly. It says to separate the eggs, but it doesn't say how far to separate them - Gracie Allen

My Mommy’s was brass.


I don’t know if it was really made of brass, it could’ve been brass-plated or brass colored. I just remember it being brass. I had no idea what it was for, though I am certain that on several occasions, when my Jungle Jim became a Spaceship, that it was useful as some implement of an intrepid space explorer.

I’ve never purchased one myself, but there’s always been one in my kitchen. There’s one now - made by Tupperware. I’ve never used never used it.

An ex-girlfriend of mine once brought me back one as a gift from Britain. It was ceramic and interesting looking. I never used it for its intended purpose. Became a scouring pad dish as I recall. (That same girlfriend also ran my wok through the dishwasher when I was out of town. We didn’t last long as a couple).

Jedi Kitchen Tricks

Good gracious! Who left the mop running? – Flora (Sleeping Beauty)

This weekend I finally got around to getting the big barrel grill up and running for the season. For the first time out this season we picked some St. Louis cut spareribs we had in the freezer.

I pulled the ribs out of their Cryovac, wipe them with paper towel and applied a nice layer of my favorite dry rub across all surfaces. I set my woodchips (pecan) and herb stems to soaking and started a lump charcoal fire with my chimney starter. I got all my tools prepared.

And then I brought out my mop.

The Spice Shelf

Variety's the very spice of life, That gives it all its flavour. - William Cowper

The Spice Shelf is a random selection from amongst the useless potpourri that inhabit my skull.

One of the adjustments I had to make when I first made Buffalo my home, more jarring than adjusting to the needless insertion of the article “the” before route numbers,  was comprehending that it was a far more Catholic place then any place I had lived before. This is not said in judgment, but rather as an observation of reality. News of the Church lives on the front page of the newspaper, and the Friday Fish Fry has achieved totemic proportions.

Reflections on a Frozen Pizza

Hey kool aid and frozen pizza / It's a work of art I ain't talkin Mona Lisa - Mac Miller

We knew that last Sunday was going to be a “lazy day”. I had spent the previous day “Masoning”, Scottish Rite in the morning and reliving my past by participating in the installation of a friend’s son for DeMolay in the evening. Trish was at the annual Gala at Shea's.

We knew both of us were going to get less sleep than we usually got. We knew that Sunday we would be tired and planned accordingly.

As dinner approached it was obvious that cooking wasn’t going to be in the mix; at least serious cooking. Under these circumstances we would often choose takeout pizza, but Ellie and her friends had one the night before. As no one in this house ever objects to pizza, we went to the backup plan of pita pizza.