Bacon IS a trail snack.

I was flipping through the 9000 available channels that I have on Direct TV and finally landed on a rerun of Nigela Lawson's cooking show. Although it's shot and edited very well, the content itself is deceiving to me.   Now, don't get me wrong, I love watching cooking shows as much as the next person and heck if I had a dime for every time I've been asked to do my own cooking show, well, I'd have a  lot of dimes!  I think it's a fairly big stretch to ask people to "try this recipe" when it involves appliances they do not or ever would own; ingredients they've not only never heard of but there's a snowball's chance in Hell that they will find them at the local market... ...and let's be serious, who has 4 hours to marinate anything let along remember to do it as you are running out the door with your toothbrush still in your hand, hoping that you put on underpants! I think, what folks need is a solid...

At least twice a month I'm asked, approached, emailed or texted this question, "What is your favorite dish to make? You have to have a favorite right?" Not once have I hesitated to reply, "Everything.  Everything is my favorite." It's true.  Even dishes I haven't tried yet, made yet or heck, even heard of, those are all my favorite.  For me it's all about the process.  What kind of mood am I in that day? Before I leave for work I take a couple of minutes and make a mental note of what is in the fridge/freezer/garage beer fridge (which really only exists for party platters, let's be honest about that).  But of course the thing I've been craving all day could very easily go along the wayside if I read an article that immediately piques my interest in something else.  Nine times out of ten I have everything I need already in the house however, there may be a certain wine pairing to investigate or that one very special ingredien...

We start cooking class up this Thursday and you know what THAT means?  A house full of wine drinking, knife wheeling women catching up on the comings and goings of the past few weeks.  Since it's been unseasonably cold here in Los Angeles this winter, I decided we should do the next 7 week series on SOUPS.  Who doesn't love soup?  (Communists possibly... their loss I'm sure). Some folks are frightened by making soup. They think "Oh, I don't have 6 hours to make soup"... well, I'm here to tell yah, some of the greatest soups are made in 15-30 minutes.  True!  I'm not talking about the tripe that they make in most restaurants that comes from a powder mix that sits in a walk in fridge for 8 months out of the year.  I mean the kind that you can go to the farmers market early on a Sunday morning (Deirdra) buy a bunch of things you like, and cook it up for lunch :o) There are two Farmers Markets I frequent on the weekends; the Hollywood F...

I often wonder what happened to the man who MADE the Food Network what it is today?  In the late 1990's early 2000's you couldn't get away from "BAM!" or being told to "Kick It Up A Notch!"   He was everywhere and to that I say bravo to his marketing and branding team... they did an amazing job.   In 2007, the Food Network said good-bye to Emeril...dropped him like a hot potato actually. Sad I thought, since he nearly single handedly launched the little cable network and made it what it is today. I have to thank Emeril for re-igniting my interest in food... food as a celebration!  I watched his show religiously, writing down the recipes, trying them out and, I'm not embarrassed at all to tell you I was failing miserably.  That was until I started to read, and I mean REALLY READ cookbooks.  Of course I had all of Emeril's cookbooks;          I hig...

What is it that makes a sandwich so popular?  Where did the sandwich originate from?  And really, who DOESN'T LOVE a sandwich?   Everyone has a favorite sandwich.  I have two that are tied for my "go to"... one is a Toasted Western Sandwich (I've yet to find this on any American menu's as I believe it's a Canadian creation) and two, is my infamous "11PM on Thanksgiving night turkey on focaccia sandwich"...it's more than a sandwich at this point... it's practically a religion. But before we talk about how to make those, let's first, let's go back and find the origin of the "sandwich"...  Once upon a time, the 4th Earl of Sandwich was on an all night gambling binge and requested something to eat from his cook. This meal required no utensils and could be eaten with one hand, leaving the other free to continue the game. It was sliced meat between two pieces of toast.  Sadly, the name of real inventor of the s...