Most of the time, I love to cook. I love creating food, either new recipes or tried-and-true classics. I love anything that gets my hands (and counters) messy - kneading bread dough, hand-rolling sheets of pasta, cutting biscuits. I love the repetitive tasks like slicing cabbage into thin slivers for raw slaws, dicing onions, and shelling beans. To me, the b[...]
Sometimes winter food can get a little monotonous because of a lack of fresh flavor and limited produce variety, but one great way to combat the winter food blues is an indoor herb garden. Little pots of thyme, rosemary, sage, and basil sitting by a sunny window can be a great kitchen asset, ready to give even the most bland root vegetables a kick of flavor. There really is no comp[...]
Tastes of winter are creeping in left and right these days. This week, Denver got its first snow. This was no wimpy little dusting, but at least two inches of wet powder that coated the lawns outside our apartment. Mike discovered it first. I discovered it second when Mike threw a snowball at me as I sleepily emerged from our cozy bedroom. Fall weather has been in full swing for sev[...]
Stocks and broths have traditionally been used as a remedy when people are feeling under the weather, and modern medicine is showing that this isn't just an old wives tale; there are actually a lot of proposed health benefits to drinking homemade broth/stock when we're ill. Many nutrients that our bodies require end up being stored in our bones, so it makes perfect sense that simmer[...]
When I spent a few weeks studying in Italy in college, I had the privilege of meeting Carlo Petrini, founder of the international Slow Food movement. Slow Food is a non-profit organization created cultivate interest in local traditions, where food comes from, and how it tastes by inspiring people to return to their kitchens. It emphasizes bringing people together in the home thr[...]