We don’t cook pork in our house very often. When we do, it’s typically either a picnic shoulder rubbed with zillion of spices and herbs and slowly roasted or thick cut bone-in chops.  It has been a while since I made a good ‘ole pork stew.  In fact, I can’t even remember when I did […]

My mom used to make this beautiful chicken meatball soup. It literally had nothing else but meatballs and broth.  Broth was light golden in color and clear as crystal, and meatballs were very soft, yet never falling apart. She used short grain rice to give meatballs extra body, and shredded carrots and onions for added […]

If cooking were a religion, the soupmaking would, no doubt, be one of its greatest sacred rites.  Soup is a quest for perfection, a mystical transformational and peacemaking ritual through which ingredients, different in color, texture, density and flavor are compelled to slowly reveal their essence, enrich one another, and enter the state of harmony.

Last year I had to limit vegetable gardening in anticipation of the interstate move.  I knew that my garden boxes will need to turn into flower beds mid summer, so I only planted lettuces, sorrel, and garden peas and didn’t bother maintaining them.  The weather switched from very cold to very hot without any transition, […]

Sometimes you find things don’t always look picture perfect, and that’s the only thing that stops you from posting about them. Taste is there, texture is there, but the looks are just not reflecting this, no matter what you do. When this happens, I just write down the recipe, but don’t post pictures. But the […]

Day four of the great Atlanta snow in. The fridge scavenger hunt continues… Objective: quick dinner after a long day of work Found: a frozen clump of sweet Italian sausage, shallots, five red potatoes, a few squashes, shredded cheddar I can’t call the concoction below a Shepherd’s Pie, because according to Wikipedia, it usually involves […]