Just a quick note!  Peter over at Kalofagas got creative with my Creamy Feta Dressing and made his own version of it to be eaten with some really yummy looking fries!  According to Peter, Greeks like to eat their fries with feta and, after seeing the photo and reading his post, I’m convinced that this will be one of my new favorite combinations!  Go check out Feta Frites at Kalofagas now!

I am pleased to announce that one of my recipes has been featured in a cooking video over at Rub My Chicken, the improvisational cooking video site formerly known as Collective Kitchen. Jonathan, an American living in Denmark and star of Rub My Chicken, chose to feature my very own Easy Egg Salad in his latest video adventure. Although his version of egg salad is based on my recipe, he gives it a bit of a face lift by making his own flavored mayonnaise and grinding the mustard seeds by hand.  YUM!

While you’re over there checking out the egg salad, make sure to browse through some of the earlier episodes as well.  Just a quick warning, Jonathan is very, um, passionate about his cooking and his colorful use of language reflects that. So, if you feel that there is no room for cursing in a cooking video, steer clear of Rub My Chicken. For those of you who can handle the salty language, head on over to Rub My Chicken for some great food and lots of laughs!

Well, it’s not really an obsession. But last time I was home, my Dad had a jar of pickled okra at his house and as we sat out on his front porch eating it, I fell in love with the stuff! I’ve never really eaten much okra but the few times I’ve tried it, either deep-fried or in gumbo, I thought it was okay. It seems that most people either love it or hate it. I just never had strong feelings one way or another. That was until I had it pickled! Ok, I admit that I love just about anything pickled. But there’s just something about pickled okra.

Ok, so the reason I’m writing about this is because I happened to see a jar of pickled okra at our grocery store on the military base the other day. Of course I bought it! I haven’t stopped thinking about it since last fall when I ate it at my Dad’s house. So now I’ve already eaten half the jar. The thing is, this stuff isn’t nearly as good as what I had before. So, I’ve been online this morning searching for jars of pickled okra that can be shipped to an overseas military address. I think I’ve decided on this Hot Pickled Okra. Has anyone tried this brand? Any other suggestions? Anyone else out there love pickled okra?

If you’ve had a chance to visit any of the outdoor markets lately, you’ve seen them. Piles of bright red berries, gleaming in the sunlight, just waiting to be taken home and devoured! There are a variety of strawberries here in Sicily, from the impossibly tiny fragoline to the gigantic fragolone, and every size in between. Although strawberries are a wonderfully healthy, low-calorie treat when eaten plain, I look forward to strawberry season for another reason: Strawberry Shortcake! Continue reading →

It’s been quite a while since I’ve written about one of my favorite online shops. No, I’m not talking about Zappos, I’m not talking about King Arthur Flour, and I’m not talking about Burt’s Bees. While it’s true that all of those businesses get their share of my money, my most recent online purchase was from The Spice House. Does it seem strange to shop for spices online? I kind of thought so too. But one visit to their site changed my mind and after my first package arrived in the mail over a year ago, I was completely hooked!

I was one of those people whose spice cabinet was packed with old bottles of spices that had been purchased for one recipe or another and then never touched again. Continue reading →

Just saw a great Mark Bittman video and read the accompanying article on NYTimes.com about equipping an entire kitchen for $200-300. Although I am as guilty of lusting over ridiculously expensive kitchen equipment as the next foodblogger, living here in Sicily has really made me step back and think about what is actually “essential” in a kitchen. In a country where electricity is expensive and limited, I quickly learned that packing away my stand mixer, food processor and blender not only freed up counter space, but didn’t really put many limitations on what was coming out of my kitchen. We lived in an Italian villa for two years and rather than use a transformer to get my U.S. 110v appliances to work in my Italian 220v kitchen, I really did pack them all away. I purchased a 220v Braun hand mixer that had some useful attachments and an inexpensive food mill. I learned to love my knives, I rediscovered the joy of kneading bread by hand, and I realized that the pleasures of cooking really have nothing to do with the price or quantity of your kitchen equipment. Continue reading →

This is a continuation of my previous review of Nando’s Peri Peri Sauces. I had three sauces to try out–Roasted Reds Cooking Sauce, Peri-Peri Marinade, and Garlic Peri-Peri Sauce. I used the first two sauces in my chicken pizza, but I had different plans for the Garlic Peri-Peri Sauce. It seemed like the sauce might be good on some chicken wings, so of course I tried it out. Guess what? It was good on chicken wings Continue reading →

Today’s forecast:
Sunday in Catania, Sicily, Italy
Sunny and Pleasantly warm, 74¬?F/23¬?C
Wind WSW, 6mph

This is no joke, it is warm outside! Although we call this place Sunny Sicily, this is not normal weather for the end of January! But, as you can see in the photo, everything is green and the wildflowers are blooming everywhere. It feels and looks like spring here. The windows in my house have been open every day (much to the delight of my cat) and I actually have had the urge to do some spring-like cleaning around my house (that’s more unusual than this weather). Well, this morning I have also done some much needed cleaning around this blog. Continue reading →