It takes all kinds..of food

Everybody has different tastes and nowhere is that more apparent than when you talk about tastes in food. Sometimes your tastes are guided by your early food experiences (another great reason to encourage playing with food in your children). For example, my Mom never made lamb, so I never had lamb until after I was married and I never had a beef roast that was actually roasted - we had either eye roast or chuck roast that was braised. I grew up eating mostly canned vegetables, and usually they were cooked untill they were soft. We did have some fresh vegetables, but that consisted mainly of tomatoes in the summer and veggies for dip. A salad was a once in awhile thing and always included iceberg lettuce.

It is funny how some things that you associate with childhood become comfort food to you, but other people just don't get it. One of my favorites is what I call graham cracker cereal, which is basically graham crackers broken up in a bowl, with milk poured over and eaten. See, you don't get it either. Neither do my kids, but for me it takes me back to my childhood.

My daughter Bridget thinks the combination of potato chips and chocolate syrup is great, but she can't eat it in front of me! My husband will take a perfectly delicious serving of shepherd's pie, and slather it with ketchup - I just don't get it. My daughter Katie mixes her juice half and half with water AND drinks milk with ice, neither of which appeals to me.

At least two of my children think mayonnaise is great to eat with french fries and two others mix ketchup and mayo together for their fries! I love asparagus, but Molly says the smell makes her gag.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I remember that my grandfather Knighting loved to top just about everything with vinegar. His house always had that pungent smell - he put it on eggs, greens, green beans. To this day I wonder if he had some type of deficiency that made vinegar taste so good to him. This the man who did not know who I was when I went to visit him in the hospital after he had a stroke... until I told him I was "Slickhead", a name he had given me as a baby (I was bald!)

If you are around weird food habits enough, you even start picking them up. My husband is a great fan of peanut butter... on a spoon! He will fill a spoon with peanut butter and eat it like a lollipop, and unfortunately I have picked up this habit as well, so now there are two of us grossing the kids out!

Okay, so now you know mine (and my family's) weird food tastes. Now it's your turn. What do you eat that no on else gets? It's okay... different strokes for different folks or as my kids would say, it's all good.

Men and food

In a recent post I talked about how my children, most now grown, have inherited a healthy and adventurous attitude about food. When my husband saw this he asked "What about me?" I really wasn't aware of any special recipes that he had, but I didn't want him to feel left out, so we started talking about his cooking and his "special recipes". As the youngest of five siblings, he had really not had to learn to cook because there was always someone to cook for him. And since our marriage 32 years ago, I have primarily been the one playing with food.

However, there are some things about my husband and cooking that I would bet are fairly common among men. The first is a great mystery of men and cooking. Why is it that my husband can cook anything on a grill, but nothing on the stove? On the grill he has made tea-smoked chicken, ribs, steamed oysters, herb-stuffed fish, venison, rabbit, and countless hamburgers and steaks. But once he comes inside... hot dogs and grilled cheese is stretching his culinary ability. It's like once inside, he enters the no-cook zone. This seems to be a trait closely associated with the Y chromosome, because I have talked to many other women who experience the same thing.

I have to say, though, that once inspired, he does a great job. For my daughter's high school graduation, we had the idea of doing a pasta bar with different pastas and sauces to order ( you will hear where that idea came from in another post). We had all the ingredients, and he was better than Bobby Flay at the grill, sauteeing ingredients, sauce and pastas to order for all our relatives, friends and neighbors, and not complaining once even though it must've been 150 degrees at the grill that day. (I'm not sure Gordon Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen could have been any more demanding that our guests!)

His grilling skills were put to the test during the 2 weeks we had no power after Hurricane Isabel. Friends and neighbors brought over food their "cook or toss" food and night after night we feasted on cheeses, grilled rabbit and buffalo, whole free-range chickens. While I wouldn't want to experience a storm like that again, there was something special, at the end of a day of working together to clear debris, about the cluster of men cooking outside, while women cooked and kids ran around the yards playing, acting like we were on an extended camping trip.

My husband's indoor specialty is Stouffer's lasagna from our local Sam's Club and fixes when I have to travel out of town or have had a tough day and don't want to cook. But his most popular dinner with the kids (and with me) is when he decides to chuck it all and take us out for a meal as a treat. Then... he is definitely our favorite chef!

Firehouse chili, and other cooking disasters

Part of the reason for this blog is to make playing with food accessible, and I realized that I might have given the impression that I know all about food and cooking. You might say- oh it's easy for her to experiment, she is an experienced cook, that will never work for me. First of all, I try to learn all the time - that is the main reason I started this blog. It helps me to share my ideas and experience... and allows me to benefit from the ideas and experience of all of you. While there are some natural cooks, most of us have to practice, practice, practice. And the results of those practice sessions are not pretty.

In my case, much of my earlier experimentation was done in my teens. I had a working mom and three younger brothers, and so I started by cooking dinners, looking through cookbooks and picking things to make that I thought they would eat but often my experiments did not always work out. During those years, I learned that combining a lot of biscuits into one large biscuit for hamburger stroganoff did not work (hard to believe, but I tried this), and that Pyrex could not be used to heat milk, even briefly, on top of the stove( I am lucky that I wasn't picking glass out of my face for a week).

As a young wife I was anxious to demonstrate my domestic skills to my new husband. I was so excited to make my first bread, following the recipe and what I had seen my Grandmother McKinney (she was a great bread baker!) do. I mixed, I kneaded, I rested , I rose, I baked. The finished product smelled heavenly and yeasty. It was perfectly browned and looked just like a magazine picture. I could hardly wait to serve it. I sliced it, slathered it with butter, and...It was like a brick... and about as tasty!

Even after years of practice, there were still some interesting dishes. One of my favorites was when we lived at our house in Hilton Village. I made a new recipe for a Firehouse Chili, that you made in the oven. I was so excited, since the recipe sounded really great and as it started cooking the house smelled great... for awhile. Then we started to smell something that smelled like burning rubber. Smoke was coming out of the oven!! When I looked inside, the top heating element was arcing!! We called the fire station and told them what was happening, that it was contained (it was working its way around the entire element) but we thought we should let them know. We began to hear sirens getting closer and closer, and then two fire trucks pulled up and three firemen were in our kitchen. The most danger anyone was that they would bust a gut when I told them what I was cooking in the oven.

Just like in science, when you experiment with food, the result might not be what you had hoped. Such was the case when I made a recipe for Cauliflower soup that my sister-in-law had raved about. Truly, when we tasted it we wondered if this had been her idea of a joke. It was awful!

So don't be dejected if things don't always turn out the way you want. Cooking is like life that way. The best laid plans... And when those plans don't turn out, at least you can have a good laugh!

Kitchen Gadgets I can't do without!

It can be intimidating when watching Martha or Emeril or Rachael to see the myriad of tools, appliances, gadgets, and cookware that they have. However, I am sure they all would agree that it is one thing to cook in a TV kitchen where everything is laid out especially to prepare one meal and a real kitchen with dishes in the sink and kids and dogs running through, like the ones we all have to deal with. Since Cuisinart, Calphalon and Le Creuset aren't sending me free appliances and kitchen gear to try, I have to be selective in deciding where to spend my money in order to make my kitchen the best it can be to support my family's cooking lifestyle. I want to show you a few things I use in my kitchen all the time and I hope you will write to let me know what you use to make playing with food easier.

My Dacor dual fuel range- This was the one "luxury" item I could afford when we added onto the home we bought over five years ago. The oven is roomy, I love the gas cooktop (I was able to cook for myself and my neighbors for the 14 days we were without power after Hurricane Isabel), and Dacor has incredible customer service.

My Kitchenaid mixer - This was the one time that my husband violated the "nothing that plugs in" rule for a gift for me that I wasn't upset! This is an appliance that is worth the price and you can now get them at warehouse stores like Costco or even on Ebay at a bargain price. The dough hook makes making dough easy and quick. You can buy cheaper mixers, but if you are a serious cook or if you have a large family, the Kitchenaid is economical because they last forever!

A good (and large) cutting board-I got mine at Frank Spicer, a cooking supply store near me, and I opted for a large acrylic board that can be thrown in the dishwasher after cutting a variety of foods.

My Smart Spin - okay, don't laugh! Be honest- how many times have you opened the cabinet above your stove (or fridge or microwave) only to be bombarded with a shower of lids, Cool Whip tubs and Tupperware? My mom sent me this as a gift and I totally love it because it organizes these containers, the lids fit all sizes and it fits in a small space. The only down side is that you can't get additional containers and you know what happens to plastic food containers - they walk out the door and often don't come back!

My new silicone accessories - I got potholder/trivets and silicone baking pans for Christmas (they are Kitchenaid and Farberware and came from BJs) and after I got over thinking that they would melt when I used them on hot pans, I have become addicted to them. They have absolutely no heat transfer unlike even the thickest cloth potholders. After getting these I got some silicone spatulas and a silicone pastry brush, all of which work great.

My Magic Bullet - All right, another infomercial product, but I use this all the time. As a woman enduring my own personal year-round summer, I have been trying to include more soy protein in my diet and I can make incredible protein smoothies, and iced coffees with my bullet. It is also great for grinding hard cheeses, coffee, or spices and even my husband can make his own sugar-free, fat-free pudding in it (now that is magic!)

My cast-iron griddle - I ordered mine on Ebay, but you can also get them at Bass Pro Shop. This thing is great and you can read more about why I got it in my post about "Good David" and his PAM warning.

My Foodsaver - Now that I think about it, this started as an infomercial item too! My Mom gave me this as a gift and I use it all the time. Since we shop at warehouse stores for our food, I can break down packages of meat, blocks of cheese, etc. into portions that are easy to defrost and cook, and since all the air is removed, the food can be kept longer. Another great use for us is preparing to go camping, you can seal anything- matches, for example- and keep them dry no matter what. These can also be bought at buying clubs like Costco and Sam's Club. Great way to make the most of your food budget.

These are some of the things I use to make life in the kitchen easier - let me know what you couldn't live without in your kitchen!

My kids cook!

One of the best things about making food fun is that hopefully, some of that spirit of adventure will rub off on your children. That way, by the time they need to be self-sufficient they won't be known by name at the KFC/Taco Bell drive-through. Of my six children, almost all of them are adventurous eaters and some like to cook on their own, one even makes his living as a sous chef.

Colleen loves to eat and try new things. She likes the exotic, and loves to dine out. She is a good cook when she dives in. She is great for my ego because she is always calling me to ask for this recipe or that.

Katie is an avid home chef. She loves to take a recipe and play around with it until she makes it her own. She likes to try all kinds of ethnic foods and she even made all the food for her best friend Kari's bridal shower - bruschetta, crab-stuffed mushrooms, and one of her specialties, goat cheese and chicken pizza. A picture of the spread she made is on the right-it not only tasted fabulous, it looked great too.

Gavin is a "real" chef and he is a natural. He started out as a busboy in a local restaurant and by watching and learning in his time at the restaurant and playing at home, he worked his way up to become a sous chef. He can make something great out of whatever you have in your fridge, I guarantee. It's a gift. (The picture at left is only a representation- My son is a tall and thin, great-looking fashionista.... and not Chinese!)

Andrew is my fast-food afficionado. Occasionally he will cook and he can make anything on a George Foreman grill. But sometimes he can surprise you. Once he invented some great jalapeno poppers using peppers, velveeta and wonton wrappers, that we can convince him to make once in awhile that really turned out great. Even so, he is not an adventurous eater.

Bridget likes to cook and she is good at putting things together. Her first hit was her stuffed mushrooms and she has invented an incredible breakfast sandwich. Bridget is a sushi addict and she loves Chinese food and makes a delicious hot and sour soup that any restaurant would be proud to sell.

Molly is going through a fussy stage where she doesn't seem to want to try anything new. She goes through food phases. She does like to bake, especially if she gets to do it herself, and she is a whiz with our Magic Bullet. Her favorite meal is beef lo-mein, but she does like to make a salad... as long as it doesn't have pine nuts..or avocado...or peppers...

I am including some of their recipes so you can see for yourself and let me know what your kids do in the kitchen (as long as it fits on a food blog!)

Katie's Work-Week Tomato-Basil Soup

2 cans cream of tomato soup

1 soup can fat-free half and half

1 soup can of skim milk

2-3 tablespoons of pesto

1 teaspoon of crushed, chopped garlic

2-3 chopped fresh tomatoes

Mix ingredients together and bring to a boil to cook fresh tomatoes. When well combined and creamy serve topped with parmesan cheese. Serves 6

Gavin's Tomato Delight

Slice 1 tomato per person and place slices on cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Sprinkle with real bacon bits (I usually use the packaged kind to save time), and then top with grated pepper jack cheese. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbly. This is a great side dish, and especially good when you have that bumper crop of tomatoes in the summer.

Bridget's Awesome (but messy) Breakfast Sandwich

For each breakfast sandwich, toast an english muffin, spread with neufchatel or cream cheese, add a bed of baby spinach, top with an egg over easy, add sliced avocado and top with other half of English muffin. To be truly decadent, add sliced bacon or ham. Go ahead, experiment, Bridget would!

Andrew's Out-of-the Fridge Jalapeno Poppers

Jar of whole hot peppers (jalapeno or cherry will work)

Velveeta or cheddar cheese cut in small cubes that will fit into peppers

Wonton wrappers

Vegetable or canola oil for frying

Dry off pepper as much as possible with paper towels. make an opening in each pepper and stuff with cheese cube. Roll up in wonton wrapper and gently twist ends dampening ends with water to stick together. Heat oil until cube of bread browns quickly. Fry peppers in hot oil until brown, and then drain on paper towels and enjoy!

Fun with food and Fellowship

Not many of us associate going to church with fun whether we be Christian, Jew, Unitarian, Muslim or the many variations thereof. First of all, going to church means you have to get up on a day when what you really want to do is sleep. And yet, no matter what your faith, there is no denying that church is an important force in family life. I recently stumbled on a way to make going to church something that is more fun and encourages my kids to want to go. And guess what? It involves food.

Some friends of ours (Anthony, Julie and Lilly) joined our parish and since the children's liturgy was at 9:30 we decided to meet at the same Mass and sit together. When Mass was over, my husband leaned back and said , "Why don't you guys come over for breakfast?" We all trekked back to our house, and for an hour I turned out bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs with spinach, neufchatel and cheddar, and stacks of pancakes. There was conversation, laughter, teasing, discussion, but most of all... fun! My gosh (see I said gosh!), my kids (and Lilly) were making memories of church that are pleasant. Years from now, they won't remember how we rushed them out the door to avoid the "nosebleed" seats at 9:30 Mass. They will remember sitting around that table with family and friends, laughing and enjoying the food and great company after Mass.



I really wish I had stumbled upon this sooner. I know that attending church and doing right will reap eternal rewards, but I have to say that some shorter-term rewards don't hurt as a motivator to take time out and give thanks no matter what your age. In fact, as I looked around our kitchen this morning, at our family and friends sharing breakfast casserole, fruit salad, coffee and fellowship ( and some warm Krispy Kreme doughnuts), it gives us even more to be thankful for! (This morning's spread, sans Krispy Kremes at left)

Whatever your beliefs, I encourage you to use your Saturday or Sunday service to build a relationship not only with your God, but with your friends and family as well. Not a church person? Sunday mornings are still a great time to have people over, share food and good conversation in a relaxed atmosphere. Invite your friends and neighbors and start a Sunday tradition. Another advantage- it is an inexpensive way to entertain. A dozen eggs, some cheese and a little ham and bread and you're ready to go. Check out my favorite breakfast/brunch recipes:


Breakfast Casserole
A loaf (or the equivalent)of white or any other bread or rolls that you might have to get rid of (I've used white bread, French or Italian, even bagels or leftover sandwich rolls- whatever you have on hand) torn into pieces
6 eggs beaten (or 1/2 container of eggbeaters) with 2 cups of milk or half and half
1 /2- 3/4 cup salsa
2 cups shredded cheddar (or any other type of cheese you like) plus 1 cup for the top of casserole dish
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups cooked crumbled sausage



Mix eggs, milk, and salsa and salt together. Put torn bread in a large mixing bowl, add sausage and liquid ingredients and mix well. Stir in all but reserved cheese and pour into a casserole dish. top with reserved cheese and refrigerate overnight for best results. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until center is set and cheese is bubbly. Serve with salsa on the side. Serves 6 (regular people, not Dowds)

Note: You could make a sweet version of this by leaving out the meat and cheese, adding 1/2 block of neufchatel cheese cut up in chunks,1/2 stick butter melted, adding 1/4 cup of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, and even a dash or rum or bourbon or a handful of raisins. Bake as directed and serve with maple syrup or whipped cream.



Whatever you've got fruit salad
I serve this with a fruit salad that starts with a can of chunky mixed fruit and add whatever fruit you have on hand (In the version picture above I added fresh pineapple, bluberries and bananas). Mix in a little lime juice and honey (a tablespoon of each is great) or stir in a container of lemon yogurt.

Crazy mixed up scrambled eggs
1 cup breakfast meat (chopped up ham, loose cooked sausage, even leftover steak would be good)
6 eggs, beaten with 1/4 cup half and half
fresh or frozen chopped spinach cooked and drained
1/2 cup chopped onions or scallions
1/2 block of neufchatel cheese cut into hunks
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese or whatever you have, even a couple of slices of american, torn up, will do
1 tbsp olive oil or butter
1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt butter or put olive oil in pan, sautee onions and spinach. Once onions are translucent, pour in egg/half and half mixture and sprinkle meat over top. As eggs begin to set move the set part to the inside f the pan, add cheeses, and mix gently into light mounds until eggs are set and cheese is melted. Salt to taste and serve.(Serves 4-6)

Note:experiment, add mushrooms, use leftover asparagus, whatever combination tickles your fancy- you can't go wrong. And if you come up with something really good- let me know!

Scary (intimidating ) food blogs

In my internet travels over the past months as I was thinking about starting this blog, I have visited scores of food blogs to get a feel for the look, the feel, the tone of the food blogs out there. Many of them are truly beautiful - they have incredible photographs, an appealing or creative layout, and lots and lots of features. They range from funny and irreverant to serious and technical.

There are many many specialty blogs like Cooking for Engineers, blogs totally focused on one city, or one ethnic food. Some are even bizarre like the Grocery List blog, featuring discarded grocery lists from around the world or Dead Man Eating, which chronicles the last meals of death row prisoners (in truth, I couldn't make myself go to this blog, but feel free if you like.)

My blogging tastes are simple- I like the beautiful blogs, with great pictures and graphics, especially if they include recipes, reviews or tips I can actually use. I enjoy blogs with incisive wit and those that specialize in sarcasm - they say the things we wish we could say. I will look at almost any blog once (with the exception of the one mentioned above) but the ones I return to are accessible, practical, and the tone is as important as the food. When I read a blog that starts "Giada sent over a copy of her latest book..." or "When Wolfgang Puck and I were discussing his Oscar menu..." or "As I was travelling through Provence ..." I probably will not be coming back. Professional chefs and food writers already have a forum for their thoughts, ideas and recipes. They are the establishment. New ideas, new approaches from the ground up is what food blogs are about. The exception that proves this rule is Epi-Log, written by Epicurious editor Tanya Steel. Her blog is practical, fun to read, and accessible. She checks out new blogs (I know because she wrote about this blog!) and provides links to the best of the best. Most of the sites I have linked to thusfar I found on her page. Her page is one that starts a dialogue and encourages participation, and I think that is what blogging is all about. If all you want is a resource, you can read a magazine or a book about food, but a blog is where you go for a conversation about food. So pull up a chair to my cyber-kitchen table and let's talk!

Valentine's Day- how to get the best seat in the house!

Since we are getting close to Valentine's Day, I wanted to write about the mass exodus that takes place every February 14 to every steakhouse, bistro, cafe and even pancake house that is not a fast food restaurant. If you want to eat with your best date at your favorite restaurant you have to make reservations months in advance, you will be elbow to elbow with every other couple that wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day, and the pressure to finish your meal so the next set of sweethearts can have their moment in the sun will be intense (glaring waiters, etc.) Even the best restaurants will be overworked, understaffed and over-stuffed.




I am no expert at how best to celebrate Valentine's Day, but after 32 years of marriage (yes, to the same man!) and six children (of course they all have the same father!) I can tell you some of the best Valentine's Day meals have been at home. Okay, yes that does mean that someone has to cook, but at least you know you will have the best seat in the house! I usually stick to something simple and elegant- baby lamb chops, filet with crabmeat, crabcakes or even lobster tail (you can buy the fixin's for a whole lobster dinner for two for what you will pay for drinks and an appetizer at a restaurant!), wild rice or rice pilaf or even garlic roasted potatoes and a nice salad). If it is too much work it is hard to be romantic. For dessert, buy a nice tiramisu or chocolate cake or make a Grown-Up sundae (recipe below).


The last two years we have set up a folding round table that we keep for extra guests, in our living room by the fire, and my children (the ones who are still at home and those who don't have Valentine's plans of their own or are not babysitting) have set an elegant table with crystal and silver and candles. We made a fire in the fireplace and were served by some of the cutest waitresses you would ever want to see (albeit 12 and 17 years old at the time). We had a long and leisurely meal in the home that we made together served by some of the children we made together - could anything be more romantic?


Okay, so you don't want to cook for yourself and don't mind spending money, but don't want the clank of dishes and silverware to detract from your Valentine's Day meal. What else can you do? Try a bed and breakfast or a higher end hotel, check in for the night and order room service; now that's a treat. Or if you are in a good-sized city, chances are you could hire a personal chef for the night to make you a great meal that you won't have to share with anyone else and at about the same cost as a meal at a very fine restaurant. How about picking up your favorite take-out (or better yet, your sweetie's favorite), spreading out a tablecloth and cushions on the floor and having a romantic picnic meal? Be creative, and let me know about unique ways that you have found to have a romantic meal together. I can always use a new idea!



Grown -Up Sundae

Top a scoop of premium coffee ice cream with crushed Heath bar (or toffee chips) and drizzle a tablespoon or two of Kahlua or Godiva liqueur over the top.

You can vary this based on your tastes: Vanilla ice cream with framboise and fresh raspberries;
Mint chocolate chip ice cream with crushed chocolate wafers and Creme de Menthe; you get the picture - make up your own.... and then let me know how it turned out!

"Good David's" Pam warning

We have a good friend David (the kids call him good David, you'll hear about evil David in a future post!) and I swear he knows everything about everything. He knows all about plants, birds, wine, game, cooking, carpentry, camping.... you get the picture. Sometimes his wealth of knowledge is a bummer- like when he told my husband that having a fire in the fireplace sucked the heat you were paying for on your monthly gas bill right up the chimney. I don't think we have had a fire more than a handful of times since he enlightened us with that fact! He always knows about all the things we should be afraid of, and he's not afraid to tell us. However, this font of knowledge has also been a great asset. Let me give you one example:

Our family loves to go camping and we have a propane camp stove by Coleman (a lot like the one pictured here) that came with a really great griddle with a deep well for fat to drain. We used that year after year for breakfasts, cooking bacon, sausage, and eggs, mostly on our family camping trips to Crabtree Falls Campground in Tyro, VA (seen here to the right).

Last spring, I started noticing that my pancakes were sticking even though the griddle was Teflon and I had sprayed it generously with Pam spray. Our friend, "good David", was with us camping and he told us that Pam reacted with Teflon and deteriorated the coating so that it loses its non-stick nature, and eventually starts flaking off. Not being a big fan of Teflon anyway, we threw away the griddle, went to Ebay and found a cast iron griddle that would fit our campstove. It's a lot heavier than our original griddle but it has a flat surface on one side and a grill side on the other and it fits across the two burners of our gas range at home too. The moral of this story- don't use Pam on your non-stick pans. Over time the surface will actually get sticky and you will lose all the advantages that come with a Teflon pan.

I thought I'd share this since you may not have a "good David" that can keep you from messing up your Teflon pans. FYI, my understanding that it is something in the propellant in Pam that causes this reaction so butter, shortenings and oils are just fine for your Teflon pans. Keep your Pam for pans without non-stick coatings (say that three times fast!)

Epi-log decides to play with food

Imagine my surprise, nay shock, when after posting my blog last night, I checked the Epicurious Editor's blog Epi-Log to see what was tickling the fancy of Tanya Steel, and found that, in fact, I (and the Play with Food blog) had piqued her Epicuriosity! The editor of Epicurious, the best food site for those of us exploring the new and perfecting the familiar, actually made one of my recipes! And she liked it!

I could hardly sleep I was so excited, and I couldn't wait to tell my friends and coworkers, most of whom are mystified by the whole blog thing (different generation). Here is a summary of reactions:

My husband: Thrilled- he now calls me "nationally recognized"
My kids: Underwhelmed except that they asked me if I was going to be on Food Network
My coworkers:Wanted to know why I didn't say which nuclear physics lab I worked at (Jefferson Lab in Newport News)
My daughter, Kate- Really excited for me since she knows that having my writing recognized this way is a thrill for me.
Me: Inspired. That is why I could hardly wait to get on the computer an share that excitement with my readers. I will be here more often because now someone, not just my family "gets" my blog and its purpose. This is my virtual kitchen table and all of you are friends and neighbors who can come in, ask (and give) advice, and share the fun that food can be.

Eating Out and other Adventures

I have to admit that primarily, I am a homebody. I go to work everyday and when I get home I normally like to stay put. Not only that, I am a tough sell when it comes to eating out. Generally I can't see paying a sum that would buy me a week's worth of groceries on a meal that I could make myself. So what is it that will get me to go to a restaurant?

The first type of restaurant meal for me is the comfort meal. It is when you go to the neighborhood pizza parlor (Anna's Pizza #2), or your favorite Chinese take-out or sushi, or the corner pub (Mike's Place). The food will not make it into most blogs- no balsamic reduction or truffle oil here. This is the food you can count on, it is the same this week and next week. They know you by name, ask about your kids, take your check without checking ID. You know what to order, and more importantly, what not to order.Usually this kind of meal costs less than a week's worth of groceries. Our family goes to a place like this maybe 2 times a month.

The next kind of meal is at a restaurant where you have to wear something other than jeans. These restaurants have atmosphere, ambiance, real linens and good food. It is a treat to eat here. These are not chain restaurants unless they make som delicious specialty that is hidden among the many ordinary entree offerings (like the incredible calamari at Carrabas or the great lunch buffet at Nawab). These meals are about the equivalent of a week and a half's worth of groceries. For our family these are also the "adventure meals", when we try a new place or visit somewhere and go out to dinner, or if it is generally an expensive restaurant we go to lunch. This is a great way to reduce your risk, since many restaurants offer the same entrees at lunch at a lower price. We recently had a great adventure meal on a say trip to Richmond. We took advantage of a sunny day last weekend to drive up to the Capitol area where I had to drive for a meeting. After getting my bearing for my meeting we wandered down to the Shockoe Slip area and had lunch at The Tobacco Company. This place was an old tobacco warehouse made into an incredible restaurant. Good food, great atmosphere, great service but comfortable and not pretentious.

The third type of restaurant is the "occasion" restaurant. This is the place you go for an anniversary, birthday, graduation dinner or Valentine's Day. A culinary adventure with the best and hard-to-find ingredients, linens, attentive service. Just 5 years ago in our city, Newport News, most people seeking such a meal would have to go to Le Yaca, The Trellis or Ford's Colony in Williamsburg. But now there are a number of excellent and elegant restaurants to choose from. The newest of these represents a real coup by the Peninsula over Norfolk and Southside, with Chad Martin, former chef of The Blue Hippo opening Create, a small but elegant bistro in Hilton Village.

Restaurants are, by definition, festive, and are a way to play with food without having to clean up afterwards, and I am all for that. But my mission is to bring those festivities to your own home and the family table. More on that later!

Post-Holiday "Live-its"

All right. We have all overindulged in eggnog, stuffing, 15 varieties of cookies and assorted goodies during the holiday season. And...we're feeling guilty... and about 10 pounds heavier. While we were toasting the New Year with bubbly (washing down triple cream brie and sausage balls!), we made the perennial resolution to lose weight, to eat healthy, to finally begin working out.

I say we here because I have the same issues. Holidays are synonymous with too much food, rich food, and too much drink, all of which contribute to the number you see when you look down at the scale on January 2. However, I am one of those people who believes that "die" is a big part of the word "diet". In order to establish a healthy lifestyle we need to have a plan that we can stick with, one that does not make you feel deprived. That is where playing with food comes in. At our house January 2 is the time to take all the baked treats and chocolates to the office to distribute among those who are thin enough not to care (or in my case, droves of physicists who will eat anything!), and begin playing with food by exploring new recipes, looking for ways to save calories and cut "bad carbs", and in the process you make new favorites and find new flavors and combinations that you can then incorporate with your everyday living. Our nation is addicted to fast food and the busy lifestyle of of two career couples makes it hard to get excited about cooking a meal. I give kudos to Rachael Ray 30 Minute Meals show for opening the public's eyes to the possibility of creating a meal from scratch in 30 minutes, basically less time than it takes the pizza guy to arrive! For beginning food experimenters, her recipes are a great place to start because they are quick, they don't require complicated techniques, and I have never made a recipe of hers that was not a big hit. I know a lot has been said in the press about the "Martha vs. Rachael" battle, but I think there is room in our hearts for both. Martha Stewart is a refined culinary technician, and I go to her when I want to learn a new technique or to challenge myself. But because Rachael is not a chef, I feel like if she can do it I can do it, and there is something special about making a dish your family loves in only a half hour (especially after a 9-hour work day!)

Food Network is always helpful on fighting the Battle of the Bulge by running programs that focus on healthy eating right at the beginning of the year. Also Epicurious is great for looking up an ingredient and finding a recipe that can be used and their reviews help beginning cooks by letting you know which recipes are worth the trouble, if it tastes as good as it sounds , and substitutions made that may have (or not) worked out. So spend some time this weekend hitting the websites and seeking out recipes you can incorporate into your new healthy "live-it" And remember... playing with food will help keep you from getting bored as you fight to get in shape!

Note: I don't know this guy on the right but I bet he has never been on a diet in his life! I am talking less to the guy with the washboard abs and more to those of you with Michelin abs (6-pack ab wanna-bes)! For those of us who will never be a size 6 again, there is always Stacy and Clinton who can help us dress the body we have!