Garlic Chili Noodles

My friend gave me a jar of homemade chili oil. A few days later I found myself in a food pinch – scrounging around in the pantry to see what I could use to whip up a meal. I came across a package of rice vermicelli and that jar of chili oil, added a few…

Lettuce Wraps

I find myself drawn to lettuce wraps when I see them on a restaurant menu. But they’re also pretty easy to make at home, and people are so excited when I serve lettuce wraps. You can pre-assemble them, or just put out all the elements and let people build their own. Interactive dishes are always…

Veggie Bowl with Apple Carrot Dressing

In the last couple years, it seems like “Assemble Your Own Bowl” places have popped up everywhere. It got me thinking that I could buy my own favorite ingredients, whip up a tasty sauce/dressing, and for the price of one restaurant bowl have a large enough quantity to share with friends. My friends immediately declared…

Panang Curry

Panang curry is my favorite Thai curry. Panang curry paste has peanuts blended into it so that it has a nuttiness that mellows the spiciness a little. Combined with some coconut milk and sugar, it is a salty sweet treat that’s perfect over a bowl of rice. You can put whatever meats and vegetables you…

Soy-Ginger Dinner Scramble

Cookbook Club – Virtual Potluck Well, COVID-19 happened, and that made dinner parties impossible… almost. But we can’t let anything stand in the way of Cookbook Club, so we figured out how to do a virtual potluck. We provided some recipe options from Bon Appetit for “when there’s nothing in the fridge”, and then we…

Lemon Chicken Sauce

Grocery store shelves continue to be pretty bare as this COVID-19 craziness continues. But I did get a load of lemons from a friend. She threw them in my trunk as we waved at each other through the window of my car, which was a surreal social interaction I never thought I’d have, but thanks…

Snap Peas with Chives and Bamboo Shoots

One time I over-bought chives for a recipe and ended up with a leftover bunch. I happened to also have snap peas and a jar of seasoned crispy bamboo shoots, which I threw together in what came to be a favorite go-to veg dish that I’ve made again and again. Super simple to make, but…

Japanese Curry

When I was in Japan I had some fantastic curry, and was surprised to learn that many people use packaged Japanese curry roux (Golden, Vermont, and Java are a few popular brands), which they dress up with other ingredients to give the curry a rich, deep flavor. It’s so good! Usually Japanese curry has potatoes…

Flowering Choy with Lime and Fish Sauce Vinaigrette

Cookbook Club – Holiday Year in Review We’ve found that the December Cookbook Club is the perfect time to celebrate the holidays and look back on all the food and fun we’ve had throughout the year. For our Holiday Year in Review event, any recipe from any of the cookbooks we’ve used in the past…

Sticky Asian Eggplant

My favorite kind of eggplant is the long thin Asian variety. They are so good in this sweet garlicky sauce. Guessipe 2 Asian eggplants, sliced into angled 1-inch thick pieces 1 tsp salt 1 TBSP corn starch Neutral oil SAUCE 1 TBSP kecap manis 1 TBSP soy sauce 1 TBSP brown sugar 1 TBSP water…

Spicy Sweet Cabbage and Noodles

This spicy sweet noodle dish is a great side dish, but also hearty enough to be a main course. You could add fried tofu or your favorite meat to make it even more robust. I love meat, but when I’m in a pinch and don’t have any on hand, this dish still does the trick….

Papaya Cream Pie with Amaretto Blueberry Topping

It’s become something of a Thanksgiving weekend tradition for my cousin Doug and I to see the latest Pixar/Disney movie and invent a pie. Last year, we saw Coco and created an apple persimmon pie with a goat cheese and pistachio topping, but in the Thanksgiving frenzy I failed to document the Guessipe… we’ll have…