My mother always told me that she found the act of cleaning and preparing vegetables therapeutic. At the time of that statement, as I watched her remove hundreds of tiny, hair-like roots from a huge mound of creamy white bean sprouts destined for a hot blast in the wok, I didn’t quite get it. More [...]
Latest Posts
May 13, 2012
Pulling Mussels
April 2, 2012
Spring, Shoots, and Leaves: Seasonal Styling With Photographer Clarissa Westmeyer
March 29, 2012
Test shoot: Carrots
March 18, 2012
A pinch of this, a stir of that
March 12, 2012
Chicken Croquettes: The Real McCoy
March 5, 2012
A Taste of Chacala
February 4, 2012
Thai Flavors Fried Hominy
January 29, 2012
The Baked Hot Chocolate
January 14, 2012
Glorious Granola from Eleven Madison Park
December 16, 2011
Recipe Test Wrap
Categories
Category Archives: vegetarian
Hot off the Grill: Grilled Plantains with Salty Cheese and Guava Paste from Steven Raichlen’s latest, Planet Barbecue
April 15, 2010 – 7:18 am
April showers brought May flowers, and also the long-awaited release of Steven Raichlen’s Planet Barbecue: 275 Recipes, 53 Countries, 6 Continents of Great Flavors. Steven, his assistant Nancy, myself and a couple of other conscientious crew busted out the recipe-testing portion of the book while tucked away in the lush tropical enclave of Coconut Grove, [...]
Coconut Cake with Chocolate Chunks and Coconut Drizzle
March 21, 2010 – 9:42 am
Coconut. Chocolate. Drizzle. Those three words of sweet promise grabbed you by the tastebuds and pulled you in – right? They did for me as I’ve had my eye on this recipe culled from Bon Appetit’s January ’10 issue since the end of December and I’m not interested in protracting the temptation one moment longer.
Warm up With a Spicy Dish, Hot Flow and a Cleveland Yoga giveaway!
March 5, 2010 – 9:41 am
Returning to the brutal cold and snow of my Motherland, Cleveland, after spending a lazy sunkissed week in the Mexican Yucatan was just plain old rude re-entry for this self-proclaimed freeze baby. Brrrrr. One snow angel at the first deep snowfall and I am DONE. Once home, I dropped the backpack that carried floaty little [...]
Very Special Baked Apples From James Beard
November 19, 2009 – 2:50 pm
A simple treasure culled from my mom’s recipe box, as written:
Black Tea Prune and Walnut Bread
May 22, 2009 – 10:28 am
This gently sweetened, dense and moist quick bread was a perfect vehicle for the cultured butter I made last week. Inspired by a recipe for Date and Walnut Bread found in Patricia Well’s book Vegetable Harvest, I used what was in my cupboard swapping plump prunes for the dates. Giving the prunes a pre-soak in [...]
A Beautiful Soup
January 14, 2009 – 6:08 pm
Some cooks learned their skills from the pages of Julia, some from Jacques, but I developed my skills and penchant for foods from every corner of the globe via Cuisinart’s (defunct) Pleasures of Cooking magazine. I’m sitting here with my little 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″, slightly grimy issue from November 1978 ($2.00), stunned with [...]
Nana Claire’s Holiday Treats
December 30, 2008 – 2:44 am
Pillsbury G-E Bake-Off Contest Host, then-actor, President Ronald Reagan, and Bake-Off contestant, my Nana, Mrs. (Claire) Nathan Robb From The Cleveland Press, August 1959: Shaker Heights Woman Competes With 99 Bakers By Florence LaGanke, Press Food Editor “LOS ANGELES: Not even a Geiger counter could keep track of the butterflies that are harbored by the [...]
Simple Abundance
July 17, 2008 – 2:51 pm
The morning began with a series of revolved balancing twists. I communicated with my breath. Ideally, my yoga practice serves as a meditation where the chattering mind can blissfully find a place of stillness. However, sometimes stuff just comes up and I can’t help but to acknowledge whatever it may be then try to let [...]
Cookie Power
April 17, 2008 – 10:52 pm
She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me. She loves me not. She loves me not. She loves me not. “Mom, it’s my turn to bring a treat on Thursday can you pleeeeeeeease make those oatmeal cookies, please? Those really yummy ones that are my favorites? [...]
