Food Connections

Mussels with Fennel and Cream Moules and frites, or mussels and fries, are a favorite of ours. I think we first ate them in Paris years ago, and fell in love with the whole process of prying open the shell, extracting the small mussel, dipping...

Linzer Cookies It's raspberry time again. This year, my garden is bursting with berries, and after last year's pathetic crop, I'm ready. Besides the fun of picking berries and popping them into my mouth, my very favorite use for fresh berries is...

Oats Cake Sometimes the most wonderful things are found right under our noses. I come from a family full of bakers. My aunts and grandmas and sisters and mother, my father and brother, and uncles were/are terrific bakers. Most of the cakes,...

Home Grown Tomatoes This has been a crazy gardening year. I'm typically a neglectful gardener, but this year, regardless of my lack of attention and care, my tomato plants have gone crazy. They are huge and laden with big, plump fruit on one,...

Fresh Cherry Pie I was born in Billings, Montana, where my family lived until I was six. I have many fun memories of that place: ice skating with the boys across the street, jumping on the inner tube in the back yard, picking...

Coconut Caramel & Rum Flans Lounging on the couch on a Sunday afternoon, the newspaper discarded on the floor, a cocktail in my hand and sweets on my mind. I had coconut on the brain, which isn't an unusual craving for me. It was just...

Chile Relleno Casserole Chile season is wrapping up. From August until maybe mid-October, it's not unusual to find large roasters set up along the side of the road, at Farmer's Markets, even in front of grocery stores, filled with roasting chilies. The chilies...

Lamb Burgers Lamb seems to be a challenge for some people. It's not unusual for me to meet people or clients who say they dislike lamb. I always think that they must not know what they're missing. I grew up eating leg...

Cherry Upside Down Cake A few years ago, we began noticing what appeared to be cherries growing on a tree in our backyard. Sure enough, after a couple of weeks, cherry pits littered the path beneath the tree. And was I ever excited. I...

California dreaming... I moved to Colorado from California 27 years ago. There is a lot to love about California: the beach, the year-round flora, the magnificent landscapes, the climate, the abundance, the interesting people. And, of course, the food. California has made...

Smoked Pork and Margatinis It's a pork invasion at my house. I came home from Costco with 9 pounds of pork shoulder this last week. You see, it is April in Colorado. Oh, I know, it's April everywhere. But, though I grill year round...

Paella I'm in love. With Paella. I'm dreaming about it. I'm spontaneously buying ingredients for it, on the off-chance of having an opportunity to make it. And now finally, I'm ready and able to create this Spanish classic. I received an...

Wowwed by Mussels As I was grocery shopping for the fam today, I was gazing at the fresh seafood behind the counter, waiting to order some tilapia for dinner tonight and noticed a net filled with unusually nice looking mussels. They looked fresh,...

It's Roasted Chile time again!! It's September. The nights are cool, the days warm and clear. The leaves are changing all around and the smell of fall is in the air. Or is that the smell of roasted chilies? Along Federal Blvd, close to any...

Raspberry Rhubarb Pie My raspberry canes are numerous and unruly and spread further every year. Instead of neat, accessible rows. they are a tangle of thorn-covered canes, with black or red berries hiding beneath the leaves. I can't resist reaching ever-further to pluck...

Yummy Fromage Fort I love the Food Network. There is so much to learn and to drool over! One of my favorite shows is Alton Brown's Good Eats. It combines interesting recipes with the science behind the ingredients, a fascinating combination. I caught...