cooking

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Orange is the new mashed

Move over Mr. Potato Head. There’s a tastier tuber taking over this town.

Sweet potatoes are back with a sizzle. Whether fried or flambé they are rustling russets and leaving them spinning on the cutting board.

These beautiful on the inside, rustic on the outside potatoes are hallowed to me. They were the very first food my mom feed me when I was 6 months old. Mom said she would wrap a sweet potato in alumni foil and bake it in the oven until it was soft. Then she said she would scoop out the center, mix it with a  little Pet Evaporated Milk and that was my din din. She said I loved it. Continue reading →

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Kitchen Cassoulet makes the cut

wowAll I can say is wow!

Look what a little, lonely rotisserie chicken sitting in my fridge along with a few other kitchen pantry ingredients can grow up to be – a recipe for an easy Kitchen Cassoulet that is now among the top finalists in the Extended Stay America Away From Home Cooking Challenge!

The challenge was simple: Submit a dish that can be made in the Extended Stay America kitchen. The recipe may contain no more than ten ingredients, and cannot require baking or use of an oven. When I saw the challenge, I entered my recipe. Continue reading →

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Cook fearlessly, eat well

Cook fearlessly

It’s a simple but courageous motto.

I will try anything in the kitchen. No limits. No boundaries. No fears. And while my culinary victories often – well always – make me break out in the happy dance, my culinary faux paws always give me a good laugh. I just shake it off and keep trying until I get it right – that is right with me. Continue reading →

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Chicks with Knives make salty so sweet

CWK Rachael

Chef Rachael Narins, Chicks with Knives

Ahh the virtues of salt. It seasons, it preserves, it makes ice cream and you can cook on a block of it.

I recently attended a Cooking with Salt class in Santa Monica, California taught by Chef Rachael Narins who along with her business partner Chef Suzanne Griswold, are better known as Chicks with Knives. Continue reading →