I love bundt cakes. The pans give a unique look and they tend to be easier than regular cake because a quick glaze at the end is all that’s needed rather than frosting. I’ve made many bundt cakes in the past (including a Pumpkin bundt cake that’s perfect for fall) and was sure I could figure out how to make a festive one for a holiday party that had red and green colors in it that weren’t from food coloring. Continue reading
Category Archives: Food and Drink
Exploring Tokyo, Japan: Food and Drink
Japanese food is delicious. I didn’t realize how delicious until this trip. So much more than sushi and ramen – the food is varied with traditional dishes like miso soup, outside influences like gyoza (originally from China), curry (India) and tonkatsu (US), and wonderful ingredients like fresh wasabi, miso paste, burdock root, etc.
Tokyo was our first taste of Japan and what a splendid one it was. Three days of new and interesting flavors and textures in restaurants, markets and tiny food stalls. Continue reading
Thai-style Fish Cakes Recipe
Thai food is delicious and a consistent rotation in our house for dinners. Curries and pad thai are the usual suspects, with heaps of steaming jasmine rice. But there is so much more to Thai food than those popular dishes. One dish we love is Thai fish cakes – flavorful and easy to make at home, too! Continue reading
33 and It Feels Great!
Trust me when I say that I feel lucky every day. Not every day is perfect, but gratitude is a major pathway to happiness and I am on it. But this year for my birthday had me feeling so incredibly loved and thankful. I put this blog together with some photos to make sure I captured this special time and my wonderful husband.
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New Bites: Giant
With Chicago being named the best restaurant city of 2017 by Bon Appetit, I knew we’d have to go to some special spots during our October trip. When we saw Giant on Bon Appetit’s list for best new restaurants in America 2017, I knew we’d found our spot. With something like a “fried super uni shooter” on the menu, how could we go wrong? Folks, Giant restaurant is the latest in my New Bites series. Continue reading
Next Chicago: The World’s 50 Best Restaurants
Sean’s dad and stepmom invited us to have dinner with them at Next when we were in Chicago – very generous of them and a great experience to share together. Next is a unique restaurant that completely changes concept 3 times per year – for example it can go from completely vegan to modern Thai to Hollywood-themed in a single year. Very cool! This instance it was dishes from the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, requiring Next to get recipes, tips, special ingredients flown and in one case even the seeds to grow their own from 16+ of the world’s top restaurants. What a project.
In addition to the 16+ courses, we shared 2 of the premium wine pairings. This was first time at a true fine-dining restaurant and it was fabulous. I’ve included a photo, description and the wine pairing for everything we had below. You can be jealous, it’s ok. 😉 Continue reading
New Bites: Lan Zhou Ramen
We’d been hearing lots of buzz about this new “hand-pulled” noodle spot on Buford Highway for awhile. I go back to our Bangkok, Thailand food tour and remember the “kitchen” of a restaurant that was back in an alley with the cooks tossing noodles in woks over garbage barrels and the little Thai women sitting nearby, pulling the noodles.
Lan Zhou Ramen’s hand-pulled noodle experience isn’t quite that epic but it is still pretty good. We didn’t have the regular noodles, but I hear those are good as well. Continue reading
Easy Pressure Cooker Chicken Stock Recipe
For years, I’d been making my chicken stock in the slow-cooker – 24 hours on low, getting to be more of a bone broth. I thought it was the best out there – no other method could beat it. Enter the pressure cooker and my recognition of a superior way to make chicken stock at home. It’s even easier, too! Continue reading