Food Wine Sleep

Caesar salad is perhaps the most popular and wide spread salad anywhere. I don't think I have worked in an establishment where Caesar salad wasn't served in one form or another. Invented by the Italian Caesar Cardini, in a restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico. The story is, that on a holiday weekend in 1924 supplies were running short and in a last minute improvisation Caesar said to one of his staff: "Take all of these ingredients to the table and make a real ceremony out of preparing that salad. I want the guest to feel that they are getting the house speciality prepared for them". So it happened and perhaps the most famous of salads today was born, "prepared a...

Although you could just go out and buy premixed spices, making them yourself will give you a much nicer flavour and the comfort that you will not be consuming all sorts of preservatives, sugar, and anti-caking agents. For this recipe I have quoted the ingredients in parts in order that you can make as much mix as you like, whether that be a few tablespoons or a couple of kilo's.

This recipe has been with me for a while and I am using it in small cakes for cocktail parties or as an appetizers. It actually was given to me by my colleague Liana Doyle with whom I had the pleasure to work with a few years ago. The tender texture and the sweetness of the crabmeat combined with the mild spicyness of the Cajun spice and the tabasco is what I like on it. Feel free to add more Tabasco and chilli sauce as you like, it is really up to everyonce individual taste. The quality of the crabmeat is very important for the final product to come out right. I like to use pasteurized lump crabmeat, for the crab cakes. These crabcakes are best served with either a salsa...

As an avid James Bond movie fan, I recently re-watched (for the 10th + time perhaps) one of the old classics. To make the story short, Bond, the notorious Martini drinker, in this movie orders and drinks a Mint Julep. Even though I heard of this cocktail before, I actually do not remember having had one. I decided to Google it and afterwards headed for the bar and started mixing and tasting and a little later (and a little tipsy) I figured I had a very good combination. Even though, not quite a traditional one, due to the use of Bourbon whiskey instead of traditional Early Times Kentucky whisky, which I did not have available to me.

Personally I am not a huge dessert eater, I like to taste it but after 1 or 2 bites I've had enough. So what usually happens is that I just have a few bites and give the rest to my girlfriend. When we are at a restaurant it's a win win, she doesn't want the guilt of ordering one for herself, but she does like�sorry LOVES dessert. I order dessert, save her the guilt, I have a couple small bites and she gets 2/3rds of a dessert to herself. Anyway, I digress, as I was saying I'm not big on dessert but whenever I make this dessert, 5 minutes into making it, the smell of the freshly roasting pecans wafting through the kitchen has me salivating and thinking about sneak...

When I was around 5 or 6 growing up in Canada, my family moved next door to the Patterson family, the Patterson's had two boys, Mike and Steve. Mike was one year younger and Steve one year older than I. Similar age, same gender, lived close, ok all criteria for position of best friend filled: let's play�.and play we did, usually in the forest that covered their small property. We played war games, hide and seek, climbed trees, dug caves, built forts, you name it we did it. It was an ideal childhood playground, albeit at times cold and wet. After hours of being out there, the remaining daylight would start to fade to a dim grey, we would listen with contradictory f...

The strawberry shortcake is an American classic and if the strawberries are ripe, sweet and juicy, it makes for a great dessert. The shortcake crust can be done small for individual desserts or large as a whole cake. Alternatively shortcakes can be done with fresh peaches; bananas or any other ripe fruit in season. The crust can be easily pre-baked in the morning and assembled just before serving.