What I learned from attending the Slow Food Trivia Night this weekend: Pop culture sells better than slow culture. The event may raise money for “slow” foods, but the questions reflected fast foods. Topics included corporate jingles, corporate logos, and corporate cereals. Kraft and McDonald’s and Betty Crocker and KFC were well-represented. Success at a trivia night depends […]

Today, we planted two rows of potatoes: red pontiac and yukon gold. Our garden is almost full; yesterday we put in green peas, spinach, and arugula. The garlic (on the right in the picture) was planted last October and is now ready to be weeded. Still to come are the tomatoes and basil, but the […]

I have never sought the attention of clams, but never minded them when they appeared. I have scoffed at bottled clam juice, but understand that it has a purpose. When three dozen fresh clams presented themselves, my response was, maybe I should try out spaghetti with clam sauce. Wow. This dish seems to come out of […]

A customer walked into Kitchen Conservatory and asked about cookware. “What kind of stove-top do you have?” I asked. “What do you mean?” “Gas or electric?” She had a blank look on her face. “I’m not sure.” “Is the top of the stove smooth or is there a grate?” “I’m really not sure,” she answered. […]

I love chicken-and-waffle restaurants. They combine the best part of breakfast and dinner: waffles with sweet syrup and salty fried chicken. Who needs bacon with your waffles if you can have crispy fried chicken? Chicken and waffles are a perfect Sunday food — breakfast or dinner or any time of the day. Waffle irons are […]

A difficult question to answer is, “how many does this recipe feed?” All depends, are you feeding football players or little old ladies? Is this dish the only food or part of an extensive buffet? Diners eat wildly different calorie amounts. I can serve what I think is an appropriate serving size, but if you […]

The first time I ate pasta was a revelation; I wanted to eat pasta every day for the rest of my life – it was so satisying. I was so smitten that I bought a pasta machine and learned how to make pasta. The best pasta of all was ravioli. I loved the little surprise of […]

When I received the current issue of Gourmet magazine, I thought that there must be a mistake. The cover photo was the ugliest picture of food I had ever seen. The pasta looks cold and the sauce looks congealed. The flecks of cheese did not melt — are they plastic? Wouldn’t cheese melt on hot meatballs? […]

Longtime readers of this blog know that I have a jones for eggs. Whether the eggs are raw, semi-cooked, or fully-cooked, eggs add so much flavor and texture to food. We keep chickens and I enjoy eating freshly-laid eggs for breakfast. (We call our eggs, “Laid in Ladue.”) The optimal cooked temperature for eggs is […]

Would you rather eat homemade or store-bought cookies? Which cookie will taste better and be made with ingredients you can pronounce? Which cookie is safer — a cookie made in a home kitchen or a cookie made in a factory in an unknown location with unknown workers and potentially unknown ingredients (melomine?). According to Missouri public […]