Cooking had unfortunately become a necessity for me rather than a pleasure, as just recently I had a child.  My newborn gives me about 20 minutes before she wants to be in my arms again.  So this calls for some quick prep work and a fast shove in a hot oven.  Grouper happens to be…

I'll be honest: I hate seafood. I like fish. I can do calamari. I can handle scallops. But anything else is less than my favorite to say the least. My hubby, however, can eat seafood everyday, at every meal all the time. I suppose, many can say it's a match made in food heaven, because he gets to…

In the blink of an eye the warm Chicago summer I was looking forward to through all of the polar winters has almost passed us by. And I am sad. Yes, I know, fall is full of vibrant colors and warm soups and football Sundays... But summers are glorious! They are full of lazy pool days,…

Every once in a while I want something that tastes incredible, and heartwarming, and just plain scrumptious! Every once in a while, if a craving hits, I try to satisfy it, so that it won’t rear its ugly face at 2:00 a.m., when I suddenly find myself stuffing my face with two-day-old pizza and snickers bars.…

If I were asked to describe my style of cooking, I would say, “Simple!” I use fresh ingredients of the best quality I can get my hands on and try and create magic with them. Sometimes I am not successful.  But sometimes... Magic happens! This particular salad is magic. Summer magic. It makes me think of summer…

Fish. Roe. Shellfish. What do all of these items have in common? Home cooks are terrified of cooking them. And I am here to put an end to that! One of the most requested classes I have is how to cook seafood. Funny enough I was there once. When I was in culinary school, I somehow convinced myself that the…