Because it’s soup season, I’ve taken to roasting whole chickens (generally the organic, air-chilled, fresh variety). One challenge is that I actually don’t own a proper roasting pan (as an aside, I like to serve in the dishes I cook in whenever possible, and an au gratin pan will work just fine thankyouverymuch), and have [...]

A few weeks ago I joined a good friend of mine at the montessori school she works at to help with her “Friday Feast”–a cooking activity she plans every week to help teach the kids about food, cooking, and nutrition. She asked me to come in as a guest and plan the “feast,” so [...]

On a budget of $120 for four people, a good friend and “astro-twin” who claims herself as a vegetarian but eats seafood and strangely, bacon, asked me to make a belated birthday dinner for her friend (my acquaintance). Because of the graces the bay area allows us in grocery shopping, and with many thanks to [...]

For two, Spanish Spicy Shrimp:
10 shrimp–shell & de-vein them yourself
8 slices baguette, toasted with raw garlic rubbed on them
5 cloves garlic, minced coarsely
1/2 cap san marzano tomatoes or package fresh cherry tomatoes (cut in 1/2)
olive oil
vegetable stock
1/2 tsp thyme
salt
pepper
chili flakes
Two skillets: start one cold with olive oil & chili flakes (about 1/2 tsp), heat [...]

A friend of mine kindly not once but on two different occasions recently provided my cocktail-sipping self with much needed pizza delivered to my hand inside a bar (it was from the “outside”), and to thank him for not only 1. going to get it but 2. paying for it, I offered to cook him [...]

The week before last I was asked to come and cook for a good friend of mine and his roommate. I gave my friend–who I love to tease and challenge–a complicated grocery list that would send him shopping in at least three places, one of which was Japan Town in San Francisco. He procured everything [...]

A few weeks ago my roommate’s friend hooked us up with free VIP tickets to The Treasure Island Music Festival. To thank him, I promised to cook dinner.
The menu looked like this:
Watercress Salad with Spring Carrots
Garganelli with heirloom tomato sauce & asparagus
Quesedilla of Vella’s Dry Jack, habenero peppers, & zucchini blossoms w/ avocado mash
Assorted Cheesecakes [...]

We’ve enjoyed dinner with my friend Peter before, but about two weeks ago I worked hard (read: begged) for another home cooked meal in the city.
Friend and I headed from Berkeley to the city for pre-show dinner at Peter’s (we were to catch the MF Doom/Pigeon John performance at the Independent, but when we arrived [...]

I walked tonight from my somewhat new home to my good friend’s new home for a late-night housewarming party and found it quite romantic. Berkeley at night, when the air is still and quiet, smells of all the many flowers growing wild in million dollar homes’ yards’. Jasmine, blooming orange trees, calunda.. It smells sweet [...]

A few days ago, I moved to a great location in Berkeley, between downtown & the “gourmet ghetto.” Since then, I have been gleefully enjoying my neighborhood–one I was previously familiar with, but always drove in to, hasseled with parking, and felt like a visitor in. After just three nights here, it feels like home.
In [...]