SOBE Wine and Food: The best of the worst

I wake up surprisingly early considering when I collapsed in bed the night before.   Ted takes pity on me and offers to pick up the coladas (cuban coffee) at Davids. Lunch arrives quickly and Ted gets us together with his friend John, his wife and their 8 month old son for lunch at Smith and [...]

SOBE Wine and Food: Feeling the heat in a cold wave

Drinking Cuban coffees first thing in the morning has been our ritual since I arrived.  I love these coladas.  Super concentrated coffee with a heavy hand on sweetness to counteract the bitter.  They have just enough caffeine to jump start your morning.  Of course we get there in Ted’s Carrera and we usually run into [...]

SOBE Wine and Food: foreplay

I got into Miami yesterday afternoon for the SOBE Wine and Food festival.  My old high school friend Ted picked me up.   He drove us to his apartment in his daughter’s Hello Kitty Audi TT.  His other car a turbo S Carrera couldn’t accommodate my luggage.  We had dinner with his daughter Charlotte (who I [...]

Why I Cook?

Recently on Michael Rhulman’s blog,  he discussed the reason why he cooks and challenged other food bloggers to do the same.  I ponder this often.  What was the original reason I chose to cook?  What was the motivation?  How did this love of cooking evolve to the present day? I first caught the cooking bug [...]

Don’t Ha ve a Gao, it’s just the inspiration for the March Deep Plate entry

Terrible puns aside,  I have been wanting to make these little shrimp Dim Sum treasures for over 6 years now.  Chinese New Year issuing the year of the Tiger seems an appropriate time.  Ha Gao are made from a wheat starch dough and can sometimes be cut with tapioca flour. One of my must stops [...]

Making Dulce de Leche in a pressure cooker

When I went to Uruguay last year I ate at the Bouza vineyard and they serve me a flan with two quenelles of dulce de leche.   I’ve read it is not hard or long to make in a pressure cooker.   So I am giving it a shot and will give you my play by play. [...]

Joyeux Saint Valentin

I just wrote a brief post for my good friend and fellow blogger Julie Mautner.   Since Valentine’s day is right around the corner, you must all be thinking chocolate and maybe wine (or Champagne).  Go check out the Provence Post and let yourself be transported to a chocolate factory in the middle of the vines [...]

Basic Equipment: Knives

Without a doubt the tool that every Chef treasures more than any is their knife.  A really good knife should last you many years and become an extension of your hand.  Knives are a very personal choice and every Chef has their favorite.  My chef Instructor at l’Academie de Cuisine Francois Dionot would often tell [...]

Cook Street September 180º Class

Here is the final slide show of the food created by the students of the September 180º class.  They were a good class on the whole and I am content the last class I had a part in teaching was a positive experience.  It really is the students and the dynamic of each group that [...]