Mardi Gras is intricately associated with New Orleans and nothing says Mardi Gras and like a King Cake! This cake is actually a sweet, yeasted bread decorated with the purple, green, and gold colors of Mardi Gras. It’s traditional to kick off the season of...

Have you ever encountered a chocolate cake recipe that used neither eggs nor butter, but relied on vinegar and baking soda for leavening? Apparently, the recipe has been around for ages. We first discovered a version of it in a magazine called Cuisine at Home,...

One of my early memories as a kid was eating piles of Alaskan king crab legs in restaurants. Dipped in lots of melted butter and served with a lemon wedge I rarely used, it was tons of fun pulling big chunks of rich, luscious crab...

This post is written in behalf of Red Gold Tomatoes.  Nothing against sledding and snowball fights, but there’s no better winter activity than sitting down with your family for a hearty, comforting meal. After all, winter doesn’t seem quite as long when you’re enjoying your...

Hot and sour soup is a lot like chili; every family has their own recipe, and each family thinks that theirs is the best. When I was in the local Chinese market perusing the mushrooms I asked one of the other shoppers, a tiny and...

What to do when your 8-year old nephew comes to visit? Make pizza, of course! Well, not of course, actually. I didn’t think of it until we exhausted Sorry, Monopoly, and gin rummy. But it did turn out to be a brilliant idea as my...

The first time I had chai, I was in a small rented room in the Chungking Mansion in Hong Kong (notoriously cheap accommodations). Our little cel block area probably had 4 bedrooms, and one little old Chinese lady who sat in the entryway and managed...

  At first glance, it seems like the common butter knife does almost everything an offset spatula does. But when it comes to frosting cakes and cupcakes or spreading batter in a pan, once you have an offset spatula you’ll never reach for that butter...

  Are you a convert to cooking rice in your Instant Pot? If so, you should know that there’s a whole world of other grains you can pressure cook, too! From amaranth to wheat berries, here are the cooking times and tips to know. How...