Have you caught the new show from the Next Food Network Star winner Melissa d’Arabian? It’s very good. I also liked her final challenge pilot quite a bit, too. Her food tips are amazing. I’ve been a home cook for over 20 years and yet I’m always finding myself learning a few new tips every time she’s on.

Her new show, “Ten Dollar Dinners with Melissa d’Arabian,” is all about making dinner for under ten bucks. Now, I’m pretty frugal and do this probably every single night for my family, but you know what? I …read more

Growing up, I never had the inclination to learn how to cook. Living in the tropical country with no airconditioning in the kitchen, I couldn’t really be bothered with literally boiling while cooking or baking something in the kitchen. Besides, my mom was a great cook and we had a full-time cook to assist my mom so there was nothing really that compelled us to help out.

These all changed of course when I moved to New Zealand and left the comforts of my parents’ place and full-time house help. Here in New Zealand, I had to learn how to be …read more

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know from my TwitPic that Sunday I was making Old School Chicken and Sausage Jambalaya from the new cookbook Real Cajun by Donald Link. It was fabulous, by the way. Worth every second of standing by the skillet while I deglazed and deglazed and deglazed.
I think cool, rainy, lazy Sundays call for slow-cooked and fussy meals. Warm, sunny days, of course, demand something grilled. And once Pepper Place farmers market opens here, we’ll have locally grown fresh vegetables all weekend long. (Last year I did a Summer Soup Series with a new …read more