Did you know there are SO MANY ways you can decorate for the Holidays using Food that AREN’T weird little marshmallow snowmen?! Check out my 2020 Centerpiece and let me know which ones you would try! It was surprisingly difficult to find inspiration on the interwebs on NICE and CLASSY ways to decorate a table…
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I think we can all agree it’s BEEN A YEAR… So I’ve been giving thought on how to keep this years’ Holiday decorating for simple, small gatherings uplifting and peaceful. 2020, I’m kinda over you … I don’t think 2020 could have been crazier if it’d tried! I’m over it – are you?! But, as…
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Building Traditions Traditions are the foundation of a society hopeful in a string of ‘tomorrows’. Creating an event with a group of cherished family or friends, meant to come back to time after time speaks of consistency, dependability, glorious expectation. While I don’t recall many specific traditions growing up other than heading to Nana’s every…
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Visiting 20 Countries in 4 Months Sounds like a Contiki tour LOL but NO – even tied to the house for 2020-2021, we WENT PLACES!! Who says you can’t GO anywhere during a hard year or a quarantine?! With memories in hand of previously traveled places – and dreams of places I still hope to…
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It’s another quarantine-induced quandry… How to feed a larger household 3 squares a day without killing myself – or someone else – but also to recognize and be grateful that food does bring us together… To treat it all in a way that the work of food and eating won’t turn us into tired, hungry,…
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What’s your typical Mother’s Day about? Do you have kids at home? A Mom – or even Grandma – nearby? Friends and sisters who are Mom’s you support? Do you have traditions or do you keep it simple? We don’t have a specific tradition, but the day has traditionally been kept simple. This year marks…
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Better late than never! This was last weeks ‘Quarantine Eating’. I’ve been so busy cooking, I’m behind! I’m as stubbornly determined as ever to make my way through at least one of our freezers and the pantry. I feel like it’s a losing battle, trying to eat our way through this COVID-19 quarantine. Yesterday I…
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Needing some food ideas / tips for this crazy, quarantine time-out? It just feels strange writing that… But this is our world as of March 2020, I suppose. I’m very fortunate in general – I have a warm house to seclude in, work I do from home, and 3 freezers worth of food to get…
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Do your “open plan” spaces sometimes feel a bit TOO open for intimate dinners? Feel like just being cozy for a night? I have just the solution! Sometimes my house is too full of LEGO and Nerf Bullets and I really don’t want to clean it ALL just for one dinner, or I’m just too…
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Learning how to adapt your favorite proteins into every seasons fresh fruit and veg is a HECKYEAH! If you’ve been reading (and I SEE YOU all clicking that ‘follow’ button!! Heeeeey!!), you know I love cooking with Duck Breast. I love the taste, I love that ducks are infinitely more sustainable than cows as far…
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One of the reasons I’m planning to go all-out for my big 5-0 next year is that I know that the decade after that will be chock-full of engagements, weddings, babies, and other big life markers (not necessarily in that order LOL) from my own daughters, I’m sure, to my younger friends such as my…
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Are you a menu-planner, or a wing-it kind of person?I’m definitely somewhere in between – I start out all plann’y, but always end up winging it. Sometimes it works, but sometimes I could have used a little more planning LOL. There was no rhyme or reason for Sunday’s dinner for 10 – just things I…
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It isn’t every night a world-famous Artist of proud Mexican heritage offers to teach you an authentic dish! Ok, so it happens this is our third such meal, but who’s counting?! Bring.Em.On. After the lovely Miriam Aroeste had led previous dinner crowds through Tortilla Soup (and yes, we crisped all the tortillas ourselves!) and Pozole,…
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Who here loves a good theme party?! Ok, now tell me if your hand was up… Friends (who hosted) and I had such a great time at last summers private garden “Diner en Blanc” party, that – after much wine – by the end I had offered to host a “la Nuit Noire” counterpart, 6…
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I mean, not to brag or anything. BUT I’m not a Ramen person, so it literally was the BEST Ramen I’ve ever had! LOL. Ramen noodles tend to be too heavy for me – I prefer the lighter vermicelli noodle in Pho, but that said, last night I SLAYED on a table for 10, hot-pot-style…
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HAPPY New Years 2020!!Who else is excited for a whole new decade?! My 2019 ended with another e p i c a l l y delicious NYE dinner with fellow cook, El Jefe Chef Fong, and our “sous-chef’s” May and Jenny. The “NYE Cookathon” tradition began when we had small boys at home and didn’t…
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Things shifted this Christmas, and I’m totally ok with that. With the loss of my beloved Nana, it was also an opportunity to renew traditions that had been on for decades. And this year, that meant my sister and myself taking over Christmas Dinner! Tired of turkeys since Thanksgiving and other meals (including our 50-60+…
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I serve a lot of dinners for just the fam (of 6), and I often entertain in small dinner parties for 6-12 people, but 4 times a year it’s a literal big group free-for-all in my home. Open invitation to family, friends who think they’re family, and friends who don’t have family locally (typical in…
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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… OK, it wasn’t THAT bad, but when trying a new dish – especially a slightly technical one – with guests is always a bit of a dice roll. I DID warn them all that we might end up ordering pizza by the end…
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Do you find you spend more time in the Kitchen while guests are over, than actually sitting with your guests? I often do! I’m constantly trying to figure out perfect menus where I can pre-prep 95% of the meal, and simply finish off and serve once guests start arriving, so I can be sitting, relaxing,…
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