Your Turn

Gulp!  After ordering Kung Pao Chicken many times over a decade or so of takeout, it finally is time for the blog to attempt this beloved Szechuan classic.  This is it, the course exam.  Will today’s offering be anything close to what professionals prepare every day in kitchens spanning the globe? It might be, if…

Where the Sea Greens the Desert

Though the Sahara dominates North Africa, people living along its Mediterranean coast enjoy a lusher, milder climate and a more varied menu than do their inland cousins.  This truth applies particularly so to Algeria, where every village, in fact every family, has its own way of creating charmoula, a vivid spice blend that emphasizes flavor…

Smother Me

2018 opens with Crawfish Etouffee, a Creole classic that helped establish New Orleans as one of the world’s foremost dining cities.  Anywhere French influence is as pronounced as it is in Louisiana seems destined to produce great food. Add in the Crescent City’s vibrant kaleidoscope of other influences, from American, to Spanish, and even a…

Look at Granny, Slicing and Dicing

Spring has arrived and summer’s bounty isn’t long behind.  Fresh produce already is in abundance now, and only will improve and become more plentiful as the days lengthen and continue getting warmer.  What better time to expand our salad repertoire and take things in a new direction? You see one of those experiments above – Crabmeat, Apple and…