Vietnamese-inspired Halibut w/Lemongrass, Turmeric & Onion

Vietnamese-inspired Halibut w/Lemongrass, Turmeric & Onion

The centerpiece of this month’s Supper Club was a modified version of Ca Bam. I used halibut since I had it on-hand instead of the traditional monkfish, and went for endive instead of rice crackers. I also used chili pistachios instead of peanuts. When I…

Spinach-feta Turnovers

Spinach-feta Turnovers

My mother-in-law absolutely loves spanakopita, so I looked at various spanakopita, spinach pie, spinach puff recipes and reduced it down to a basic filling that deemed would be the most tasty (and could be made with what I had on hand). I always have frozen…

Carrot Hummus

Carrot Hummus

Like a pesto where you can substitute basil for cilantro or even parsley, and the pine nuts for walnuts, you can also play around with making hummus. Even though carrots can keep for some time, I had over two dozen at one point, and found…

Cream Cheese – Chive Puffs

Cream Cheese – Chive Puffs

There is a Chinese-American dish often found on restaurant menus (at least in the Midwest) called Crab Rangoon, which is a mixture of cream cheese and fake crab meat (usually) wrapped up in a wonton and deep-fried. I think there must have been some herbs…

Quinoa and Bean Soup

Quinoa and Bean Soup

This recipe is my twist on the popular Italian soup, pasta e faglioli sans pancetta and using quinoa instead of ditalini. The result is a vegan (or vegetarian if you add cheese rind) soup that is warming and filling. I had been making regular pasta…

Burrata with Grilled Oranges and Pistachio

Burrata with Grilled Oranges and Pistachio

It’s been ages since I have posted a new recipe, but today I felt inspired to get out some of the amazing dishes that have somehow managed to still be cranked out during this post-vaccine-euphoria-turned-bummed-out-from-antivaxxers-and-Delta-variant time. I hope to write a more lengthy piece about…

Everything Bagels (updated)

Everything Bagels (updated)

It was not until I was in my late 20s that I understood the magic that comes with a warm bagel slathered with cream cheese. Of course, I had eaten bagels before then, but I grew up only knowing frozen Lender bagels. And would continue…

Matcha Chocolate Chip Cookies

Matcha Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe came about because I am going to finally see my hairdresser. She is a foodie and I often used to bring her some of my baking experiments. I felt like I could not go empty-handed. I remembered she enjoyed the matcha shortbread cookies…

Crunchy Avocado & Tomato Salad

Crunchy Avocado & Tomato Salad

There always comes the day when the avocado you bought HAS to be used. That day came for me and I was uninterested in avocado toast, and making avocado maki rolls were blown when I realized I didn’t have enough rice. I didn’t want guacamole…

Triple Red Salad: Beet & Tomato w/Raspberry-Orange Vinaigrette

Triple Red Salad: Beet & Tomato w/Raspberry-Orange Vinaigrette

I had a big beet. I had some leftover grape tomatoes. I craved a refreshing salad. I ran through the beet preparations options: raw, roast or boiled. I love the crunch of a raw beet but they need to be either super julienned or mandolin…

Dark Chocolate Pecan Toffee Crunch

Dark Chocolate Pecan Toffee Crunch

Ironically, I have more time than ever during this pandemic but I have little desire to dig into long and complicated dishes, and that goes double for sweet recipes. I was looking for a chocolate recipe that was not a cookie or brownie that was…

Roast Sweet Potato with Pickled Red Onions & Feta

Roast Sweet Potato with Pickled Red Onions & Feta

I was getting tired of sweet potato fries but I didn’t want to spend too much time on a sweet potato side dish for dinner. I was perusing various Ottolenghi cookbooks for recipes and came across one for sweet potatoes with pickled onions, coriander and…

Crispy Crunchy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Crispy Crunchy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Tate’s cookies made me appreciate the joy of a crunchy cookie. But I also like a smaller size cookie that isn’t super flat as well. I have tried many oatmeal raisin cookies claiming to be crispy and while all were flavorful, they got soft after…

Creamy Kuri Squash Soup

Creamy Kuri Squash Soup

Winter brings squashes of all sorts to the farmers markets and CSAs. Sometimes overwhelmed, I’ve been making spaghetti squash gratins, butternut squash soups, sweet potato fries, etc. etc. etc. Soups are a comforting and easy go-to. I made soup from a kuri squash last year…

Best White Pizza: Caramelized Onion, Gruyère and Bacon

Best White Pizza: Caramelized Onion, Gruyère and Bacon

Sometimes one wants variety, especially after almost a year in quarantine/lockdown/isolation. Now, I love a good pepperoni pizza with green peppers and red onions, but we were in the mood for a white pizza for a change. I began my search but looking at various…

Cheese Cracker Bites

Cheese Cracker Bites

My guilty pleasure is processed cheese-flavor snacks — Cheeez-Its, Nacho Cheese Doritos, Club & Cheddar Sandwich Crackers — you get the picture. I try to relegate consumption to one snack size bag about 4x/year. BUT I LOVE CHEESE SNACKS! And I finally found a recipe…

Pecan-Brown Sugar Shortbread

Pecan-Brown Sugar Shortbread

My hand mixer broke, really broke, as in one of the beaters had a piece come loose. I looked to see if I could just buy a replacement beater but no dice. And so in my laziness, I have learned to live without it. In…

Loaf for Toast!

Loaf for Toast!

This morning I was on the hunt for an easy bread recipe that would not be a quick bread, but versatile enough for sandwiches or just slicing and munching. Truth be told, I hadn’t liked every sandwich-specific loaf recipe (i.e. has sandwich in the title)…

Za’atar Rice with Crispy Beef

Za’atar Rice with Crispy Beef

I was in search of a Mediterranean rice-based dish, i.e. flipping through many an Ottolenghi cookbook and recipes online. But I was finding them to have more ingredients and spices than I wanted, as I was looking for a really simple pilaf or fried rice-type…

Kids Test Kitchen: Korean Beef

Kids Test Kitchen: Korean Beef

Recipe Tester: Vincent Yoh Vincent is an 11 year-old New Yorker whose hobbies include gaming, drawing and baking. Previous test recipes include Edible Cookie Dough and Vanilla Cake. RECIPE TESTED: Click here to get the recipe for Epicuious’ Korean Beef. GRADE: A WHY THIS RECIPE?…

Kids Test Kitchen: Vanilla Cake Recipe

Kids Test Kitchen: Vanilla Cake Recipe

Recipe Tester: Vincent Yoh Vincent is an 11 year-old New Yorker whose hobbies include gaming, drawing and baking. This is Vincent’s second test recipe. His first was for Edible Cookie Dough. RECIPE TESTED: Click here to get the recipe for Sally’s Baking Addiction Vanilla Cake.…

Kids Test Kitchen: Banana Bread Cookies Recipe

Kids Test Kitchen: Banana Bread Cookies Recipe

Recipe Tester: Saya Cano Saya is a 12 year-old from Kansas City who enjoys dancing, baking and hanging out with her friends in her free time. This is her second Kids Test Kitchen recipe. Her first one was for Crinkle Top Brownie Bites. RECIPE TESTED:…

Kids Test Kitchen: Crinkle Top Brownie Bites Recipe

Kids Test Kitchen: Crinkle Top Brownie Bites Recipe

Recipe Tester: Saya Cano Saya is a 12 year-old from Kansas City who enjoys dancing, baking and hanging out with her friends in her free time. RECIPE TESTED: Click here to get the recipe for What’s Gaby Cooking’s Crinkle Top Brownie Bites GRADE: A WHY…

Kids Test Kitchen: Edible Cookie Dough Recipe

Kids Test Kitchen: Edible Cookie Dough Recipe

Recipe Tester: Vincent Yoh Vincent is an 11 year-old New Yorker whose hobbies include gaming, drawing and baking. RECIPE TESTED: Click here to get the Family Fresh Meals’ Edible Cookie Dough recipe GRADE: A WHY THIS RECIPE? One of the best parts of baking is…

Orange Sherbet (not Sherbert!)

Orange Sherbet (not Sherbert!)

Sherbet — not a sorbet, not an ice cream. It’s perfect when you are waxing nostalgic for childhood treats like a creamsicle though honestly, it’s yummy anytime. I have not come across any other flavor other than orange that tastes as good, so why mess…

Food Log during COVID-19 (March to July 2020)

Food Log during COVID-19 (March to July 2020)

I started my COVID food log on March 14, 2020 since I knew I would be cooking at home ALL of the time.  And I like menu planning so I really leaned into it. I mapped out our meals for the week, keeping in mind…

Watermelon – Pimms Sorbet

Watermelon – Pimms Sorbet

Injecting booze into watermelon is a popular pastime (though I have never tried one). And there is the prevalence of summer watermelon cocktails. Why not add liquor to a watermelon sorbet? Why Pimms? My sister-in-law makes a mean Pimms, loading it up with a medley…

Strawberry – Pimms Sorbet

Strawberry – Pimms Sorbet

I’m on a sorbet roll these days! I started with a Blood Orange-Sake sorbet, which was quickly followed by a Lemon-Sake sorbet. I started to then think about other fruity and boozy sorbets I could concoct. I had a pound of strawberries that I needed…

Easy Soy Glaze for Beef & Scallion Stir-Fry

Easy Soy Glaze for Beef & Scallion Stir-Fry

Teriyaki sauce is a popular marinade but I sometimes find it too thick and overbearing. This sauce is light and versatile. You can add to stir-fry dishes or heat until it thickens and use it as a serving glaze. INGREDIENTS 3 tablespoons sake 1/4 cup…

Lemon – Sake Sorbet

Lemon – Sake Sorbet

I’ve mentioned before that I love frozen desserts. Having success with the blood orange-sake sorbet, I decided to take a go at a lemon-sake sorbet. It is lighter and a bit more refreshing than the orange sorbet. I will look to make my way through…

Blood Orange – Sake Sorbet

Blood Orange – Sake Sorbet

I love light flavorful icy treats like Italian ices, fruit pops and popsicles. So of course I love sorbets and fruit-flavored ones are my favorite. Some friends and I were fortunate to get some blood oranges recently and I started to see postings of wonderful…

Pre-Workout Energy Bars

Pre-Workout Energy Bars

What to eat before working out in the morning, or just to snack on instead of ripping open a package of something pre-made and full of preservatives? I am a fan of a blueberry cacao performance cereal from Brendan Brazier’s Thrive Energy Cookbook but even…

Beef & Barley (or Potato) Stew

Beef & Barley (or Potato) Stew

The image for this recipe (inspired by a hearty version by Cooks Illustrated) shows the stew with kale but it was with this batch that I decided simple is best. I prefer just onions (which melt into the stew, carrots and either barley or potato.…

Goji Berry-Turmeric Tonic

Goji Berry-Turmeric Tonic

My tweet of making this tonic last Sunday morning had more likes than I had seen in a long time. Clearly, the lack of access to fresh juice bars and overall minimalization of outdoor time have severely impacted folks’ daily regimen. And so I thought…

Yellow Eye Bean & Two-Potato Cassoulet

Yellow Eye Bean & Two-Potato Cassoulet

As I wrote in my review of 232 Bleecker, I was enthralled with Chef Suzanne Cupps flavorings and textures. And so, I was on the hunt for recipes and I only came across one but it was perfect given the cold winter chill that New…

Thai Red Curry

Thai Red Curry

I try to build dishes from scratch most of the time but Thai curry is one time when a pre-made paste probably can’t be beat. The trick is finding the right one. I was shopping at Bangkok Center Grocery on Mosco Street in Chinatown and…

Orange-Scented Pecan and Date Bread

Orange-Scented Pecan and Date Bread

My husband had recently been dropping hints about date nut bread after discovering an index card from his mother with a hand-written recipe. She is a foodie so I was game but it was a recipe from another time that called for shortening and where…

Supper Club: January and Aging Parents

Supper Club: January and Aging Parents

After a bit of a hiatus towards the end of 2019, Supper Club was back on our calendars for January. For our inaugural dinner of 2020, I was planning on reprising a Supper Club favorite, a Spanish bouillabaisse with lobster and clams, but upon learning…

Beet and Apple Salad with Pecorino and Pistachio

Beet and Apple Salad with Pecorino and Pistachio

This dish was born after discovering that there are endless options in creating new (and visually attractive) salads by cutting veggies into batons and adding some cheese and nuts. Beets and apples are natural friends in many salads but this salad’s preparation really shows off…

Zucchini Batons with Pecorino, Basil and Crunchy Almonds

Zucchini Batons with Pecorino, Basil and Crunchy Almonds

This recipe for Zucchini Salad With Pecorino, Basil and Almonds from Alexa Wiebel and New York Times Cooking caught my eye because of its versatility. Also, it was summer and our weekly CSA seemed to be filled with different kinds of zucchini (though it obviously…

Big Crispy Hash Brown

Big Crispy Hash Brown

I like my hash browns to be crispy and ‘fluffy’, not ‘al dente.’ And when making them at home, I like making one ginormous hash brown. It’s easier to make, to serve, and to eat! This recipe is flexible and hash browns are messy by…

Orange Pound Cake

Orange Pound Cake

I had flour, eggs and butter. . . and an orange. I was hankering to bake something. With something snack-y on the brain, I decided upon an orange pound cake. This recipe is inspired by Dorie Greenspan’s “Odile’s Fresh Orange Cake” and Ina Garten’s “Orange…

Spaghetti with Broccoli “Pesto”

Spaghetti with Broccoli “Pesto”

Looking for a new way to use broccoli that is easy? The color is so bright that I was inspired to mix it in with pasta, like a pesto.  But given the texture of broccoli, I decided not to make it more gritty by adding…

Pecan-Raisin Crackers

Pecan-Raisin Crackers

I usually prefer savory crackers but these pecan-raisin crackers are an exception. And pair excellently with cheeses, especially blue cheese. I used Melissa Clark’s Golden Raisin and Pecan Thins recipe (which acknowledges that the recipe comes from”Better Baking” by Genevieve Ko) and made a few…

Caraway Rye Crackers

Caraway Rye Crackers

Crackers are one of my favorite snack foods and a preferred vehicle for cheese. I am always bummed when I spend $8 for a small box of ‘artisanal’ crackers and I find they taste like cardboard or are always stale. I tested this batch of…

“Old-Fashioned” Bundt Cake

“Old-Fashioned” Bundt Cake

When living in Tokyo, I used to stop into Mister Donut and treat myself to an old-fashioned doughnut now and again. I recall there were several types: glazed, sugar and plain. I used to get the plain — not too sweet and the rough texture…

Matcha Shortbread Cookies

Matcha Shortbread Cookies

The holiday brought about a flurry of baking. This recipe for matcha shortbread cookies was chosen for the color, ease and most importantly yumminess. It’s my go-to recipe for shortbread. It’s almost always called out when I pack them up as a gift, and is…

Skillet Corn Bread

Skillet Corn Bread

Recently, I made corn bread in a skillet for the first time. I usually do not want to make so much, so I bake it in a smaller glass dish. That said, I have always wondered if a skillet would make the edges more brown…

Pasta with Tomato, Onion and Bacon

Pasta with Tomato, Onion and Bacon

I love pasta all’Amatriciana. It’s so simple and satisfying. But for some reason, I feel like it’s something I have to plan to make since it involves guanciale and the traditional dish uses bucatini pasta, which for some reason, I find less enjoyable than regular…

Labneh with Black Olives and Za’atar

Labneh with Black Olives and Za’atar

I recently met with a friend who spied a picture of this dish. I wrote about it in a Weekend Cooking post and said it was inspired from a recipe from Mokonuts on the Saveur site but did not really go into much more detail…

Crispy Pan-Fried Potatoes

Crispy Pan-Fried Potatoes

Potatoes have always been a personal fan-favorite. When I was young, when asked if I could bring one thing to a desert island, my answer was a potato and I would regale over how I could eat french fries, baked potatoes, mashed potatoes and so…

Simple Risotto with Crumbled Sausage

Simple Risotto with Crumbled Sausage

Risotto is a real workhorse dish. It is delicious as a standalone and can also be fortified and easily changed up with simple toppings. You don’t need much of anything so it’s a great way to use up some loose ends in the fridge. This…

Gussed-Up Instant Ramen

Gussed-Up Instant Ramen

I do enjoy instant ramen noodles. Mind you, that is not to confuse it with cup-o-noodles. My go-to economy brand is Sapporo Ichiban Original flavor; and my splurgy brand is Myojo Chukazanmai Shoyu flavor. The instant noodles themselves give off some starch and oil so…

Weekend Cooking

Weekend Cooking

Ah travel! The food, the sights, the food! For me, a holiday abroad is like a culinary tour — morning, noon and night. But I have to admit that it’s nice to return to home cooking. After our holiday in Tokyo, I was looking forward…

Summer Cooking

Summer Cooking

I neglected my Weekend Cooking posts for most of the summer but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t cooking!  I had the great fortune of having friends and family staying with us which meant I was able to draft menu plans keeping in mind my guests…

Weekend Cooking

Weekend Cooking

I happily pondered recipes and meals as we spent the weekend with our friend S. S is an omnivore but most days were hot and sultry (i.e. HUMID) and so making cool dishes was top of mind. As mentioned in a previous Weekend Cooking post,…

Supper Club: June and Travel

Supper Club: June and Travel

June brings the end of school and the beginning of summer in earnest.  In other words, it is actually a bit more hard to schedule a time that works for all three of us.  T was traveling in Europe and M was in Asia. We…

Weekend Cooking

Weekend Cooking

As I have mentioned before, I love making menus. We had a friend, J, in town from LA and staying with us to attend a wedding, and I immediately peppered her with questions about food preferences.  While she is an omnivore, she was making more…

Matcha, Matcha

Matcha, Matcha

I first tasted matcha in Japanese tea ceremonies.  I was about eight years old and my mother would allow me to join her. It was how and where I understood the wondrousness of sweet (wagashi or Japanese sweets) countered by bitter (matcha tea).  I loved…

Supper Club: May and Pets

Supper Club: May and Pets

May brought rain and more rain–I think we ended up one non-rainy day for every ten rainy days. The keywords for this month’s Supper Club  with M and T would be cheer and relaxation. I reconfirmed T’s seafood allergy list and settled on a Hawaiian…

Weekend Cooking

Weekend Cooking

The weekend was a parade of rain clouds and sometimes just clouds.  Maybe that was why it was hard to do anything that required too much fussing, as well as fussing over.   About every six to eight days, I need to make our dog,…

Supper Club: April and Life’s Work

Supper Club: April and Life’s Work

Spring is officially here but the weather has been mixed.  For April’s Supper Club with M and T, I looked through my pantry and fridge, and decided on an Indian menu.  My friend had given me a loads of Indian spices and this best-selling cookbook…

Weekend Cooking

Weekend Cooking

Some of the most fun I have in the kitchen is when I have focus, or purpose. This may come from concocting something from ingredients I want to use up in the pantry or fridge, or when I have a specific audience to cook for.…

Weekend Cooking

Weekend Cooking

Weekends are my favorite times to cook and bake. I had a burst of productivity and cranked out all sorts of dishes.   A friend came over for dinner on Friday night, and relied on making a menu that relied on ingredients on hand (pantry…

Supper Club: March and Mean Girls

Supper Club: March and Mean Girls

Two of my oldest and dearest friends (M and T) and I started calendaring regular dinners to make sure that too many months would not go by without us reconnecting.  At first, we would pick restaurants based more on location on the day that worked…