A passion for food

"Madame" has been after me to share what we do in the kitchen, so here goes! I have a passion for preparing and serving great food. I have a goal of getting a great meal on the table every evening in around 45 minutes - the time it takes when I get the phone call that "Madame" is leaving work until the time we eat. I look for fresh ingredients - in season, supplemented with herbs, peppers, and very occasional tomatoes from the garden.

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Peppers stuffed with tomatoes and chilies

This recipe is an adaptation from Jamie Oliver's version. It was done from memory, so isn't exactly the same. It looked so good when...

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Squirrelcam

This doesn't have anything to do human food and the kitchen, but I had to jot it down somewhere.... It was a nice day here today, so I t...

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Boeuf Bourguignon Inspired Sliders

We made this dish to complement our wine choice for "Open That Bottle Night", 2009. The challenge was to turn boeuf bourguignon in...

OTBN 2009

We hosted an "Open That Bottle Night" party again this year. Same general idea as before – invite wine loving friends, ask them to...

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Artichokes

I was inspired by a fabulous artichoke dish we had at a restaurant here in Dallas last week. It was a simple steamed artichoke, hollowed out...

Crackers

First it was Mark Bittman in the New York Times, and then Alton Brown on good eats. Both were extolling the virtues of home made crackers. I...

Monday, February 2, 2009

Tea

It seems odd to write a blog post about making something as simple as a good cup of tea, but we got compliments about our tea over the weeke...

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Roast Duck for Christmas

Madame and I stayed with my sister, brother-in-law and nephews for Christmas this year. We decided to have duck as the main course meat and ...

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Coffee

This isn't a recipe posting just a paean in praise of a new (at least to me) way of making coffee. I have long been a fan of the French ...

The Faculty Holiday Party Potluck

Apart from seeing how many nouns in a row I could use adjectively, this post is about the holiday party yesterday. Madame's department c...

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Madame's birthday...

It was Madame's birthday yesterday, so it was time for something special for dinner. Rex's Seafood had some lovely red snapper fille...

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Pavlova Redux

This somewhat messy dessert was for a party last night. This time we decided to take it fully formed - in the car for about 7 miles. So we w...

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Pavlova

Pavlova is a dessert made from meringue, whipped cream and tropical fruit. It is very simple to make and looks spectacular. Ingredients:...

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Lamb, pita and the grill

The bread compulsion continues. I thought it might be fun, interesting, delicious,… to make pita. I have taken to putting a pizza stone onto...

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Pizza….

I am getting more and more encouraged by the bread making. There is beginning to be consistency and I can mostly predict what is going to ha...

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Thai Beef Salad (Yum Neua)

It's been hot here in Texas – so hot that cooking indoors has been a non-starter. However, we still want things that taste good and we b...

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Don’t try this at home

I was inspired by a television program to make a mango/avocado smoothie. It was ostensibly "simple and delicious". Simple it was, ...

Monday, July 7, 2008

Enough of the !@$#! bread already

The next foray is ciabatta . An entirely different kind of bread from the baguettes - it is made with a starter and has a long starter prepa...

Saturday, July 5, 2008

It is so good to have Madame home..

Madame came home yesterday, so today we were abole to have a nice dinner. Our friend Bette came and we had a terrific time. I had bought som...

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

This bread thing is getting out of hand!

I have been so into bread making while Madame has been away. But now with the help of Dan Leader, I am turning out baguettes that are just t...

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Breakfast outside

Today was the last day of the old patio furniture and the first day of the new. Madame is still in England, but I just had to cook - it has ...

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Man cannot live by bread alone..

But with Madame's absence from May 30 until July 4, I am doing my best. I have used the time to learn about breadmaking After all, how h...

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Iron Chef

The Event Every year the Sports Club at the Four Seasons in Las Colinas does an "Iron Chef" competition. This year was no exceptio...

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Using rice wrappers

Last evening I went to a Yelp event at a Vietnamese restuarant in San Jose. Lots of people mostly Vietnamese there. What a terrific experie...

Practice, practice, practice

For me, using a knife properly is very important, but it isn't the most natural of motions. Whether it be slicing, chopping, paring, car...

Monday, May 12, 2008

Now that warmer weather is here and the butter is impossible to deal with

Butter - my favorite fat(well fat/water combo). Nothing tastes as good on toast, in pastry, for cooking eggs, making cakes...... However but...

Monday, May 5, 2008

The Producers' picnic

All those hamburgers were for the picnic yesterday (Sunday). We were expecting between 30 and 40 people - and it topped out at 34. Since alm...

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Burgers for a crowd

Madame and I will be having the annual "Thank you for all your hard work" picnic for the producers and staff at the TV station. Th...

Monday, April 28, 2008

Tzaziki

In the previous post, I promised the tzaziki recipe. This one isn't exactly traditional, but pretty close. I should have used yogurt, b...

Saturday, April 26, 2008

strawberry season

April in North Texas is Strawberry time, so Madame and I always head to Gnismer Farms on Bowen Rd. in Arlington to pick them. Today was this...

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Chris Bird

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