Over the years I have built up a substantial collection of cookbooks and food magazines. While the list of my cookbooks would be too long to mention here, the following are some of my favorite food magazines: Fine Cooking, BBC Good Food, Gourmet Traveller, ABC Delicious, Dish, BBC Olive and Good Taste. I have a…

This is our tenth year living in Asia and we’re always asked what our favorite Asian cuisine is. That’s a tough question as we like Chinese, Singaporean, Thai, Indian, Malaysian, Japanese, Indonesian etc. Having said that, for me, I always come back to Chinese food and in particular, dim sum. Dim sum is a Cantonese…

My all time favorite, easy to make, cookie! And, who hasn’t made a batch of these cookies at least once in their cooking lives? Chocolate chips were invented in 1933 by Ruth Graves Wakefield. She added chunks of semi-sweet Nestlé chocolate bar to a cookie recipe and they were a huge success. She reached an…

Moussaka is the best known of all Greek foods. Greeks believe that moussaka was introduced when the Arabs brought the eggplant, although Arabs, especially in Lebanon, think of this dish as a Greek dish. Moussaka is also found in Turkey. Some Moussaka recipes show potatoes as part of the ingredients. However, potatoes would never have…

One of my all time favorite desserts! A quintessentially French dessert that is easy to prepare ahead, is rich in flavor and extremely delicious! Use the darkest chocolate you can find for an intense chocolate flavor. Dark chocolate is rich in flavonoids, which are antioxidants that keep cholesterol from gathering in blood vessels, reduce the…

I’ve only ever tried quinoa once before and really loved the crunchy texture. Quinoa (pronounced keen wa) was an ancient food staple for the Inca civilization and has been cultivated for more 5,000 years. Today, its health benefits are huge. It contains more proteins than any other grain, is a good source of dietary fiber,…

Orzo (barley in Italian) is a pasta that’s similar in size and shape to rice. Orzo is used traditionally in soups, but this versatile pasta has been widely adapted by chefs in Italy and America for main courses and side dishes. Click here for other recipes using orzo.Serves 6 (as a side dish)recipe from Fine…

Looking for brunch ideas for Easter or how about enjoying a lazy Sunday morning breakfast devouring this delicious meal. If you’re not fond of salmon, top the Rösti with shaved ham instead. Rösti is a potato dish from Switzerland and was a common breakfast eaten by farmers. Click here for more Rösti recipes. Serves 8…

I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t sure what the difference was between an octopus and a squid. They both have eight legs and while the squid can grow to be bigger than the octopus, it’s hard to tell when they’re small and in a display case full of ice. The squid (I just…

Yakitori refers to grilled (yaki) bird (tori) and is a street food favorite of the Japanese. It’s a popular dish and many Japanese on their way home from work grab a yakitori and a beer from the vendors selling them. Shiitake mushrooms are now one of the most popular sources of protein in Japan and…

This was one of the meals I had from the left over pork roast. The flavors here are amazing especially with the garlic lime mojo. The Cuban sandwich has been around since the 1500’s. In the 1900’s it became a common lunch food for workers in cigar factories and the sugar mills of Cuba. With…

I like roast dinners but most cuts of beef are far too big for a small family (unless you live near a butcher) and pork is such a versatile meat to serve as a base for future meals. Left over pork can be used in stews, pasta and salads. Sometimes, though, pork can be a…