One of the simplest ways to add flavor to a dish is to use wine. While not every food benefits, there are many items you cook that can see their flavor enhanced with a bit of the “fruit of the vine.” It’s low-fat, gluten free, and high flavor.

Some recipes call specifically for wine, in detail: [...]

1. Cooking With Booze (and Even Putting Some in the Food) I love cooking with alcoholic beverages. I sometimes put...

This is the time of year when way too many of us are thinking Diet. Unfortunately, too many of us are looking for a quick fix; the gym’s such a drag, and actually eating less is even worse.

Which means, some folks are trying things that are stupid, dangerous or both. Okay, the raw food diet [...]

“Hey, let’s go grab a sandwich” is a simple way to gather up some friends and break for lunch. Americans probably consume more sandwiches per person than any other country. We’re the fast-food nation, after all, and a large proportion of fast foods are sandwiches of some sort. If you toss in things like tacos [...]

Wasabia japonica is an amazing root. I have no clue how the Japanese figured out you could actually eat the stuff. I suppose some starving peasant was digging around looking for something, anything, edible, and wasabi was what he brought home to the wife. No word on whether he recovered fully from the beating, but [...]

Yes, today’s National Cashew Day. I wonder what lobby got that one declared? Anybody? Anybody? Bueller?

Anyway, it’s okay. They’re quite nutritious, actually. (Get it? NUTritious? Man, I CRACK me up. A lot.) Without the doughty cashew we wouldn’t be able to make bad jokes. No cashew, no cashew chicken or cashew shrimp.

The world would [...]

1. Today is National “Talk Like a Pirate” Day; Prepare to Be Boarded… Yep, it’s that time again; time to “Arrgh!” with...
2. An Exciting Week: A Holiday for Presidents, National Chili Day and More You’ll have to go far to find a month...

The Congress is at it again. They want to be able to count pizza and French fries as vegetables on school lunch menus. Well, even that’s not entirely true; it’s the tomato sauce on the pizza that would count.  (Everybody knows that no self-respecting kid, [...]

1. Scattering to the Winds: California Pizza Kitchen, then Home By early this morning, the Symposium gang had scattered...

A disturbing new trend in Europe these days; specifically, in French school cafeterias. Ketchup has been banned from the kitchen and tables there! And this is a direct slap at the condiment that Americans use the most. Never mind that ketchup was invented in the [...]

I don’t know if this has ever happened to you: You bite into your favorite hand-fruit and within minutes you’re not feeling so well. Oh, you’re not in agony; just itching like crazy, and maybe your throat feels a bit constricted. Or you’re sneezing your head off.

What happened?

Well, you may be a victim of [...]

Coriander. Chinese Parsley. Cilantro. Yan Shi. Whatever you know it by, this herb is widely used in many cuisines. Some folks love it, some hate it…

Growing up in central Texas, I was a teenager before I realized there was such a thing as “Tex-Mex” or Mexican foods. It was part of the standard meal [...]

Here’s a short picture-article online that lists nearly a dozen foods that have developed a bad reputation over the years, but are in fact quite healthy. How did they get the bad rap? I’ll go out on a limb here and say it’s usually bad science, or worse yet, fair science that gets mangled [...]

1. Foods That Affect Rheumatoid Arthritis (Good, Bad and Tasty) Arthritis is no laughing matter. Oh, if you’re like...