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You’re Fired!

May 22, 2013
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I knew something odd had happened when more than a few friends asked me if I had consulted with Penn Jillette on his new ice cream flavor. I know a bit about ice cream, and I’ve known Penn for decades, but this particular intersection on the Venn diagram was completely unexpected. When I realized that [...]

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The Adventures of Samurai Shark

September 19, 2012
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When we weren’t eating or sleeping, the remainder of our Chicago trip was devoted to the science fiction convention that provided us with a convenient excuse to travel. During one of our visits to the dealers’ room we spent some time talking to David Malki !, creator of the Wondermark web comic, co-editor of the Machine of [...]

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Continuing a Mail Order Education

February 11, 2012
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Apart from the basics of handwriting, grammar, and arithmetic, my grade school education happened at home, between the pages of books my parents bought to satisfy my voracious curiosity. (And, I have always suspected, to stop me from asking them questions they couldn’t answer.) This supplemental schooling began when I was given a box of How [...]

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Being Clever in Print

January 25, 2012
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If you are a regular reader of Cook’s Illustrated, you are familiar with the front matter that precedes the recipes: a folksy editorial by Christopher Kimball, the misnamed “Notes from Readers” (it’s questions from readers), and the Quick Tips. It’s the Tips that I find most interesting; a collection of handy hints from kitchen MacGyvers who [...]

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Cooking More Books

December 30, 2011
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So many cookbooks were published this year that I couldn’t pick just one or two to list as favorites, but I was able to narrow down the list to about a dozen. Here’s what I have been reading and cooking from in 2011: Modernist Cuisine: My number one pick is also the largest and most [...]

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Bloggin’ a Food Blog

November 14, 2011
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If I got invited to a food event, then I can only assume that food blogging has hit maximum saturation. My theory’s proof was delivered in “The Food Wife,” Sunday’s episode of The Simpsons, in which Bart, Lisa, and Marge start a food blog. Homer’s love of new food experiences has been well documented throughout [...]

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Eat Your Books

November 11, 2011
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I recently received an invitation to attend a reception at the headquarters of America’s Test Kitchen to celebrate the launch of The Cook’s Illustrated Cookbook. I don’t know how I came to their attention, but I never turn down an opportunity to mingle with other cooking geeks, so I spent a pleasant two hours at ATK [...]

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Momofuku, the Magazine

July 11, 2011
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In early March, Anthony Bourdain tweeted a couple of blurry photos of the “wall of the super-secret Chang Project HQ at ZPZ.” ZPZ is Zero Point Zero, the production company that produces No Reservations, which led me to conclude that they would be making a television show with chef David Chang from Momofuku. I’d watch [...]

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Pyramid Scheme

June 3, 2011
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Yesterday the USDA unveiled their new diagram for what constitutes a balanced, healthy diet. Seen above, it’s a plate, with the proportions clearly delineated and reflecting what we’ve come to accept as a healthy food intake: mostly vegetables and grains, followed by fruit, then protein, and finally some dairy. It’s a vast improvement over the [...]

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Keys to Good Cooking

November 26, 2010
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Anyone who is serious about cooking has a copy of Harold McGee’s On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. It’s the CRC of the kitchen (calling it the bible of the kitchen is insulting to information resources), and, like the CRC, it goes largely unread until a particular problem needs to [...]

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