Not Your Mother's Cookbooks

I picked up a new bamboo stacked steamer at the Asian market. I have an antique set, but I keep that for decoration.So I was off and running looking for things to make in the new steamer baskets. Steaming fresh vegetables helps to retain the texture, color and flavor of the vegetable while keeping its nutritional value intact. It is considered one of the way healthy ways to prepare veggies.

Read More »

My friend, award-winning food writer, journalist, food scout, restaurant critic, reporter on the lam, her own t-shirt boutique pusher, dancer in the dark, dragon boat rowing in the sun, and former editorial boss at the San Jose Mercury News is Carolyn Jung, aka FoodGal. She always has the best darn recipes, from her father’s steak sauce to the best cookies and cocktails.

Read More »

Crabs are the second most popular seafood after shrimp. With the fishing limits put on Dungeness crabs, there is now a glut of King crab legs available to fill the gap.

Read More »

The gooey childhood delights composed of melted marshmallows and chocolate bars sandwiched between two graham cracker squares are one of the newest members of the creative home kitchen.

Read More »

White clam chowder remains one of the classic American soups, once regional, now transcontinental. There are Santa Cruz boardwalk clam chowders, Miami clam chowder, Nantucket clam chowder, Fire Island clam chowder, Chicago clam chowder, and of course, a New York…

Read More »

The microwave is the true home for popping popcorn. While there are quite a few specialized types of microwave popcorn poppers on the market, the good old brown bag method reigns supreme in my mind, especially if you are without any other contraption in which to pop.

Read More »

Robert is my friend Robert Lambert, who is a wiz in the kitchen. He knows his stuff about chocolate, having been a private dessert chef making designer-style, lip-smacking good fantasy chocolate desserts for the likes of Joan Collins and Lily Tomlin in his cooking-in-Hollywood days.

Read More »

Love hot chocolate as much as life itself? You have come to the right place for inspiration.

One of the taste sensations of cultural cuisine is the emergence of the combination of chocolate and chile powder. As it happens, chiles are a counterpoint to dark chocolate and accents its natural flavors just like coffee or vanilla does.

Read More »

Granola certainly has become one of the most touted of healthy breakfast cereals and what we are experiencing now commercially has grown straight out of its roots in the hippie whole grain oat-nut-and-seed kitchen of the 1960s. The name granola is a take on granula, a toasted wheat cereal touted by whole grain movement of Sylvester Graham in the 1900s. Since it is tremendously versatile, it takes to all sorts of additions and variations on the basic recipe.

Read More »

Butterscotch sauce is something you make when you want to impress guests. Authentic (not artificially flavored) butterscotch sauce isn’t like the thick stuff you buy in the jar; it is silky and pourable, not cloyingly sweet. And positively addicting as far as a sweet attack goes. Part of the nostalgic soda fountain ice cream sundaes, the retro sauce is now the rage. Since it is one of my favorite flavors, I couldn’t be more pleased.

Read More »