In Season: Kale, Asian Pear & Pomegranate Salad

Creating balance is sometimes about restraint. You don’t always need flavor to smack you in the face to have a wow moment. As you look at the piles of apples and pears in the produce section, it’s never been more true. My favorite eating apple these days is the Honeycrisp. It’s not shy. It’s crunchy…

ByMichelleNovember 14, 20120Comments

Baking Recipes

Ginger Spice Banana Bread is the Holiday Bake You Need

Saturday morning. It’s still dark – moon-is-still-up-dark – at 7 a.m. You check email, Twitter and Facebook while still lying in bed. You get up, brush your teeth, let the dog out and then stumble into the kitchen to make coffee. It’s light by now, and there they are on the counter, shoved off to…

ByMichelleNovember 4, 20121Comment

Main Course Recipes

First Day of Fall: Poblano Corn Chowder

It finally rained on Saturday morning, just briefly, but with a clap of thunder that scared the bejeezus out of H. and sent her into our shower and then downstairs to her safe spot. In California it was fireworks, here it's the occasional thunderstorm. Poor ol' girl. Skies were still overcast later in the morning,…

ByMichelleSeptember 23, 20120Comments

Baking Fruit Recipes

Airplanes and Apple Pecan Muffins

I'm in the airport security line. Passengers are taking off their shoes and jackets, putting their laptops and liquids into bins for the x-ray machine. TSA employees are calling out reminders to remove belts and money from pockets. It was a morning flight, so in the bin along with my purse and toiletries, was my breakfast. "Oh, I'm sorry, those muffins can't go through," says the TSA guy. I take a beat, trying to figure out what he's talking about. Then I smile, "Oh, because they look too good, right?"

ByMichelleFebruary 26, 20122Comments

Recipes Side Dishes

Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

It might seem like a weird time to be talking about cabbage when everything else in the food world is about sweets or appetizers or booze, but I'm doing it. When we all come out on the other side of these holidays, it'll be time to think about vegetables, including that winter workhorse, cabbage. Like the…

ByMichelleDecember 20, 20111Comment

Entertaining Photo One-offs Side Dishes

Out with the Old, In With the New: Ancho Creamed Corn

This year we had a smaller crew together for Thanksgiving, so I pretty much scaled everything back so that we'd end up with a manageable amount of leftovers (read: a lot of stuffing and only a little of everything else!). In the end, our regular corn pudding was crossed off the list entirely. I even…

ByMichelleNovember 27, 20111Comment

Baking Recipes

Italian Plum Cake Tatin

Right about now, we're at the tail-end of summer, just getting into fall, but somehow it feels early for apple desserts. We'll be eating apples for months, no? So while we're in this between time, take advantage of the last of the summer fruits. If you need a fancy-looking dessert that's dead simple, one that…

ByMichelleSeptember 18, 20110Comments

Baking Recipes

Pumpkin Cookies to Cure Your Grinchy-ness

So we aren't carving pumpkins or giving out candy this year on Halloween. I know - what is this, Hoo-ville? I don't know - I'm just not in the spirit this year and we always end up with a lot of leftover candy and it's a Wednesday and... (ok, no more excuses, just shut up…

ByMichelleOctober 28, 20070Comments

In Season: Kale, Asian Pear & Pomegranate Salad

Ginger Spice Banana Bread is the Holiday Bake You Need

First Day of Fall: Poblano Corn Chowder

Airplanes and Apple Pecan Muffins

Braised Red Cabbage with Apples

Out with the Old, In With the New: Ancho Creamed Corn

Italian Plum Cake Tatin

Pumpkin Cookies to Cure Your Grinchy-ness

Book Review: A Ghastly Catastrophe by Deanna Raybourn

The Fourth Princess by Janie Chang

26 New Asian and Pacific Islander Books for your 2026 TBR