As I sit at my computer thinking about this next post, I can come up with any number of credible reasons why I chose to make Pear and Pepper soup this week: The nearness of Valentine’s Day inspired me to create a soup out of bell peppers as red as roses. Because my youngest daughter […]
My wife’s style is all about color. Not that I’m an expert or anything, having failed every single test for color blindness the last time I went to see the eye doctor. But anyone you ask will tell you the same thing: her gift for combining colors from the same palette or from different ones […]
I don’t know what to believe anymore. I’d like to blame the messenger, but since damning the media is fast becoming the new national pastime, I’m reluctant to follow suit. In fact I can’t really blame them. There is so much competing for our attention these days, that the talking heads have to resort to […]
I found artichokes priced three for a dollar the other day, and that, without further adornment, was the genesis of this week’s soup. As someone who claims to do improv in the kitchen, I take inspiration from ingredients I find at the grocery store. Yet because my efforts result in spectacular failures on occasion, price […]
Summer has always been the worst time to be sick. When I was a kid, the loss of valuable vacation time to something as trivial as a cold, was enough to bring on bouts of childhood depression, also known as whining. When I became an adult, it got worse. Not that I’m whining. That’s a […]
I know it’s pathetic but I was looking through my old clippings last week and I stumbled upon the first menu I ever wrote for the Los Angeles Times (it’s here if you’d like to see it). It had a Spanish vegetarian theme and featured empanadas, garlic soup, and a great Catalan dish with grilled […]
In keeping with my goal of using vegetables that are in season and, the season being summer, keeping kitchen time to a minimum, I bring you the summer squash. One squash in particular, actually: Zucchini. I’ve been a fan of zucchini ever since I was a kid. No surprise there. It’s what you might call […]
