If there's one thing--at least among my sphere of friends IRL and online--that's unifying many of us during these weeks of shelter-in-place, it's baking. Tons and tons and tons of baking. In the past decade, pre-quarantine, I may have baked brownies a handful of times, if that often. I've [...]
First couple weeks of the new year of course means that it's time to pull out those crystal balls and have a gaze at anticipated trends for the year. I tend to put about as much credence into food trend prognostication as I do my daily horoscope. That is to [...]
When I saw the information yesterday about this year's awards from the Specialty Food Association, my eyes glanced quickly passed the baking mixes and chocolates, proceeding down the page to my pet subjects (I was going to say "pet foods" but that sounded just not quite right...): salty-crunchy things and [...]
It's great when life confirms for you now and then that you are, indeed, hanging out with the right people: folks with similar outlooks on life, priorities in line with your own. I've had some recent examples of that this past week based on conversations about the weather. In someone [...]
Authors aren't supposed to have favorite book projects, or so I've heard, just as a mother's expected to not profess having a favorite kid. And of course I do have a special affection for all the books I've worked on over the years. But just between you and me, Salty [...]
Right after the new year, I headed back to Denver, the home of Craftsy, to shoot another class for this fun, dynamic platform for those who love to get creative with anything from cake decorating to quilting. And cooking is certainly a most delicious way to get creative! This new [...]
I realize Octoberfest isn't relegated strictly to the month of October, in its homeland of Bavaria in southern Germany, the beer-fueled festivities tend to start late September. But still, the act of flipping the calendar page this morning to October inspired this brief consideration of the fall festival that plays out globally [...]
It was one of those moments that I wish I had anticipated having my camera ready. The place was the venerable Canlis restaurant in Seattle. The occasion was very rare lunchtime gathering as the venue of choice for a trade gathering with Ferrari sparkling wines from the cooler northern region of Italy, [...]
It's kind of funny to me that this month I've been talking up game-day snacks as much as I have. A few years ago my cookbook Gourmet Game Night was released and I spent a lot of time explaining that the "game" I had in mind was Scrabble or dominoes, [...]
Spanish potato chips cooked in extra virgin olive oil, crackers made with pilsner and porter beers, crunchy seaweed snacks coated with rice flour, and countless variations on flavored popcorn--it was quite the snacker's paradise among the vast array of products at this year's Fancy Food Show, which wrapped up this [...]