Sticky, Gooey, Creamy, Chewy

After living in  South Florida for more years than I care to remember, I’ve gotten used to the subtle clues that signify the  change in seasons.  They’re hard to define, but over time one gets better at identifying them.  Some years, however, it seems like Mother Nature is downright …

Have you noticed that I’ve been MIA around here lately?  Frankly, I didn’t realize just how long it had been since my last post.  There’s a good reason, though.  A couple of months ago Jeff Houck, food editor at the Tampa Tribune and organizer of TECHmunch, Tampa, invited me …

As I write this post, I’m hanging my head in shame.  You see, dear readers, I’ve been holding out on you.  Not intentionally, mind you, but holding out just the same.  The other day, as I was sifting through recipes to include in my Easter brunch roundup, I re-read …

Of the great triumvirate of Christian holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter),  Easter is my favorite.  While I love eating myself into oblivion at Thanksgiving, and  Christmas (the gifts are nice too), I actually enjoy the fact that Easter isn’t as food-centric.  I find it to be a much more …

I’ve sat on this post for three whole days, debating whether or not to publish it.  It seemed like a good idea at the time I wrote it, but then I started to get cold feet.  I suspect that there are at least a few of my fellow food …

Although he grew most of the vegetables we ate, my father wasn’t really much into cooking.   He was in charge of salads and made eggs on Sundays, but that was pretty much the extent of it.  Dad did, however, have a few signature dishes that he  loved to prepare …

In my family, we always knew it was a special occasion by the telltale aroma of lasagna baking in the oven.  Neither my grandmother nor my mother made it often.  A traditional lasagna is a labor intensive dish that takes several hours to prepare – even longer if you …

I’ve always been somewhat of a food purist.  I’m probably the only person over the age of five that actually prefers a plain cheese pizza to one with a zillion toppings.  Pasta nirvana for me is a bowl of spaghetti with Marcella Hazan’s three ingredient tomato sauce.   And, I …

Next to the temperate weather, one of the nicest things about living in Florida is the abundance of citrus fruits we have here.  Several years ago, I planted a kumquat tree in my front yard.  It’s a spindly, sad-looking, little thing.  But, every year around this time, it give …