Brainstorming for a side project with a friend, we realized that the simple process of roasting an entire fish is one of the most intimidating things to home cooks. Of course, if someone asked me to serve up an entire tuna, I’d be worried… However, 2-3 lb white fish—the ones widely available at local fish [...]

Spend an hour with me and you’ll know how much of a tortilla fan I am. Flour, corn, fresh, from the super market… when it comes to tortillas, I like the majority of them. It’s something about the soft texture and shape in relation to how it fits in your hand and how one can [...]

I’d almost forgotten how heavenly a tarte Tatin could be when I found myself sitting at the charming bistro Juliette in Williamsburg. Laden with butter and sugar, it’s a rich luxury under the guise of a refreshing fruit finish. This caramelized apple tart, invented in the late 1800s in the Hotel Tatin by the proprietress [...]

It’s my older brother’s birthday in a few days, so do him a favor: If you know him, make this Mexican pork dish and drop it at his house or office. He’ll really love it. The recipe is inspiration from the puerco at Dos Caminos, where he really likes it and is served with sautéed [...]

Searching for some dried pears (which is harder than you might think) one afternoon, I wandered into Trader Joe’s. It was the 5th place that I looked and it felt like a dream when I found them. However, my pear pleasure was overwhelmed when I found, directly below the pears, dried fuji apples. Chunks of [...]

About three years ago, I had something made by Kurt Gutenbrunner using Quark. I kept meaning to look up exactly what Quark was. I knew it was some kind of cheese, but that was the extent of my knowledge.
Long overdue, I can finally cross off this Central European cheese from my to-do list. The cheese [...]

Strawberry Shortcake is a sure way to get me to pucker up… and I have a feeling I’m not the only girl who sees the fluffy, creamy pink poof and leaves her morals at the door. The stuff works better on me than date rape drugs. I like it the old fashioned way, with sweet [...]

If you are taking your guy or gal to Madison Square Garden for any Valentines Day treat (which would be the Keith Urban/Carrie Underwood show on February 13th, Matchbox Twenty on February 14th, The Harlem Globetrotters on February 15th, or the Rangers game on the 16th) and feel like you’re not doing something romantic enough, [...]

For a very red and pink and white dinner, consider taking your date to Milos. The Grecian estiatorio displays your dinner selection on a bed of ice, and you can literally point to what fish you’d like to eat. Last time I went, I split a pink snapper, imported straight from Greece that afternoon. I [...]

Recently in Naples, Florida, I had the pleasure of a complete lunch of stone crab claws. I adore crabs of every make—from soft shell to king to imitation you find in California Rolls. But the stone crabs were truly a treat. It was my first time eating them, and so I learned a little about [...]