When I was growing up, my mother had the splendid idea to teach my sister how to cook by letting her prepare lunch for all of us for a few summers in a row. It was a little stressful at times – both for my mom and for my sister – but the outcome is that my sister learned to master the skill of cooking. Today she takes on any kind of recipe, but is particularly good at picking the ones that are fast, easy and taste great. This is a selection of her favorite recipes, made specially for us this New Year’s Eve. They are better suited for the occasional dinner party than the every day evening meal, but worth having in any repertoire. She has shared them with her friends in the form of holiday letters over the last few years; I am excited to be able to share them today. I guess this is my long deserved reward for spending several summers eating my sister’s less than stellar training lunches. Come and cook with us (and my sister)! Continue reading “A New Year’s Eve Meal to Remember”
Happy Holidays
With the main event behind us, we now have time to enjoy our families and friends and turn our mind to what is ahead: 2013, with all its promise and still so full of potential. We all have our passions and ours is to continue to write about food, cooking and health. Sounds pretty boring on paper, doesn’t it? But Jessica and I will do our best to be inspirational, to make it fun and to be prolific in sharing our ideas.
Writing about why a little dirt is good, why lemon is actually less acidic than sugar and what cooking apps are best are just a few of the topics we have on our agenda. And to keep it useful, we will continue to provide you with lots of easy and delicious recipes next year.
But right now, it is best to lay back, enjoy the break and dream of what the future might bring. We will be back in 2013 to continue to nudge you in what we believe is the right direction. Happy holidays and best wishes for a great 2013 together.
Fragrant Dreams of the Bosphorus
My quest for adding different ethnic flavors to my traditional European fare is never ending, and one of my new favorite hobbies is cooking Middle Eastern food. I remember my first trip to a Lebanese restaurant in London over a decade ago; as I bit into my first meze, I realized that Italian food, while delicious in its own right, really couldn’t hold a candle to the spices of the Middle East. I literally could not put my pitas down. In the town where I live now Italian seems to be the local favorite so to keep my taste buds in the Middle East I’ve stocked up on some cook books, visited a spice store, and gotten busy in the kitchen. Today I would like to share a favorite recipe of mine from the Eastern Mediterranean cookbook, “Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume” by Silvena Rowe. The delicacy is called red lentil kofte, or meatballs of the Lebanese vegetarian variety. Come and cook with us! Continue reading “Fragrant Dreams of the Bosphorus”
Happy Hanukkah
When I grew up in Italy, we didn’t think twice about Christmas. Everybody celebrated it as 99% of the population was Catholic, which was our “state” religion. Without going into the merit of separation between state and religion – this is a blog about food after all – one of the things I appreciate the most about living in the USA, particularly New York and now the Bay Area, is its cultural diversity. We just spent the morning celebrating Hanukkah at my younger son’s school with kids hearing about the history of this holiday, making a menorah-inspired art project, listening to a story and, this is where I helped out, making and tasting the food that is traditionally eaten on this holiday. Come and make latkes with us! Continue reading “Happy Hanukkah”
Really, Dr. Oz?
The cover story of this week’s issue of Time Magazine, “What to Eat Now; The Anti-Food-Snob Diet” by Dr. Mehmet Oz, piqued our interest (link:). As food and health lovers who continually study (and write about) what to eat, information from such a well recognized, well respected doctor and television personality is important to us. We were not, however, prepared for the rubbish that Dr. Oz was spouting in this mis-informed, or dare we even say biased article. And we don’t want you to take what we have to say as gospel, so here is a link to the article online. Below please find our open letter to Dr. Oz and Time Magazine. Whole food lovers unite; fresh spinach actually is better for you. Come and cook with us! Continue reading “Really, Dr. Oz?”
Come and Cook with Us 