I’ve been posting more frequently over at Amazon’s Al Dente blog lately. And, this morning, I posted a pitch for The New Doubleday Cookbook.
I’ve had this book for fifteen years now so it isn’t exactly  “new,”  but it’s a timeless resource that I turn to again and again. I constantly pull this culinary “encyclopedia” off the [...]

It’s time for my culinary year in review.
Now that it’s January, I like to go through my mental file cabinet and revisit some of  my taste memories from the prior year. 
It’s also when I like to make mental predictions about the year ahead.  I ask  myself, what was my most special meal for 2009?   What will [...]

The season is short, and the time was ripe.
I was at  Metropolitan Market yesterday and simply couldn’t resist purchasing one of their seafood specials–the Alaskan Red King Crab Legs. 
Shipped fully cooked and fresh, not frozen, these massive crab legs hail from Dutch Harbor, Alaska.
The short and tumultuous Bering Sea king crab season officially kicked off [...]

Now that fall is here, I am admiring the massive displays of winter squash and edible pumpkins. At the grocery stores and at the local farmers markets, we’ve been blessed with an array of varieties–Butternut, Acorn, Spaghetti and Jack Be Little to name just a few.
I like to include these vegetables in my repertoire, but [...]

While shopping at my neighborhood market earlier this week, I stumbled upon a really good loss leader sale on Northwest pears.
The sale price of 58 cents a pound not only inspired me to buy a variety of pears, the sale also inspired me to do some research and write a couple posts for Amazon’s Al Dente [...]

It’s that time of year again. My pumpkins are ripe, and my winter garden is exploding. My tomatoes, however, are starting to wither.
Last September when we were in the beginning of the financial crisis, I decided to save my green tomatoes. I had never done this before, but as I watched the breaking  news [...]

It’s that time of year. School has started, and I’m craving local apples. For the last 13 years or so, I have been buying my certified organic apples from Kurt Tonnemaker of Tonnemaker Hill Farm in Royal City, Washington. Kurt is an easygoing guy who is carrying on the orchard legacy started by his grandfather, [...]

Thanks to Seattle’s warm sunny summer, I now have a tomato glut!! Indeed, that’s a great thing, but it’s made my brain think harder than ever.
When you harvest 10 to 15 pounds of tomatoes every couple days, it’s hard to eat that many fresh. So, what have I been doing? Here’s a brief
round up:
Roasted [...]

Looking for a quick and easy blueberry cake that uses basic ingredients and a standard 9-inch
square pan?
If so, then check out my recent post on Amazon’s
Al Dente blog. Thanks to cookbook author, Norene Gilletz, I’ve featured just that!
The cake is made in the food processor and can be assembled and oven ready [...]

Here in Seattle, we are lucky to have a relatively mild maritime climate. Indeed, we get many dreary rainy days during the winter, but this mild climate also makes it possible to grow a wonderful winter garden full of dark leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables. I’ve been planting a winter garden for many years now. [...]