Wise sentences for these times are needed more than ever. One of the sentences I’m enjoying is, “You are not stuck at home, you are safe at home”. Of course some aren’t. Some are in hospitals. Some are buried. For the majority of us we are home as we’ve been…
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TIME TRAVELING
My cell phone rang. It was our daughter-in-law Lourdes. It was about 8:15 at night. She was driving in Key West with our granddaughter Audrey. They don’t usually call this late. It was quite late for Audrey as she is just 7 ½ years old and would need to be…
A Word On Food: Spice Rubs
If you like the idea of memorable flavors … flavors with musical reverb, resonance and improved texture, let me suggest that spice rubs should be in your repertoire. I think most people associate spice rubs with grilling and barbecue. And that is a great place to focus on because they…
An Interview with Norman Van Aken
A kind friend of mine came across this interview I did a few years ago when the cookbook, “My Key West Kitchen” had come out. I wrote that book with our son Justin. Justin was born in Key West in 1980 and resides there now with his loving wife, Lourdes…
The Times We Are In.
A week ago the world was almost normal. Not so anymore. “Ball of Confusion” is the song on the turntable now. It is streaming in our blood too. People are actually considering a world without neighborhood restaurants in our collective future. I say that is impossible. The carnage will be…
A Word On Food: Horseradish
We returned to Key West to do a ‘pop up dinner’ recently. The venue is pretty spectacular. It takes me back to my first years in Key West when the shrimp boats were still anchored in the ‘Land’s End Marina’ behind what became The Half Shell Raw Bar. This time…
A Word On Food: Shrimp
The best cinematic illustration of the culinary opportunities that lie in shrimp was in the movie “Forest Gump” starring the beloved Tom Hanks as the lead actor. The legion list of ways one could prepare shrimp occurs when the character ‘Bubba’ goes on and on and on about all the…
A Word On Food: Fondues
Those of you who listen to my show know I’m from the Midwest originally. The north country above Chicago. In the colder months a dish like fondue would not have been uncommon nor unwelcome while sitting around watching football while the snow flies outside. Several years back I was asked…
A Word On Food: Writing Cookbooks
The website, ‘Atlas Obscura’ reported , “The world’s oldest surviving cookbook isn’t a book at all—it’s a set of ancient Babylonian tablets from around 1700 B.C. It doesn’t so much have recipes as explanations of certain dishes, such as a ‘clear broth’ that begins with steps like “meat is used”…
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Start by watching the video on You Tube. (After the short commercial). Beautiful no? But this is not my favorite version of this amazing song. That would belong to the inimitable Judy Garland. But Keith Jarrett brings such sincerity to it that it is one I’m listening to upon learning…
A Word On Food: Salt and Pepper
The greatest rulers to ever preside over a table are color blind. Yet they color every taste. They are the spine, the illumination, the narrator, the judiciary and the jury to each taste on all buds. The directions on nearly every recipe in the endless library of recipes states it…
A Word On Food: Yoshoku Cuisine
Fusion cuisine has been around for a long time. Maybe since the origins of fire. Certainly since the ages of exploration. It just didn’t have a name. That was something I gave it. I was searching for an understanding on what I was looking to do with my cuisine. That…
A Word On Food: Family Meal
When I was a young boy I was raised by our Nana and Mother along with my older and younger sisters. We spent many hours watching television shows together. Those trans-generational moments of shared emotions were important bedrock in our growing up. It’s a shame that the modern environment for…
Coconut Grove Arts Festival via ‘The New Times’
Note: Thanks to The New Times and to Chris Malone for this article. Coconut Grove Arts Festival Recruits Emily Estefan and Norman Van Aken for This Year’s Programming CHRIS MALONE | FEBRUARY 6, 2020 | 8:00AM For decades, Coconut Grove has been a community rooted in camaraderie. The waterfront neighborhood is the oldest inhabited…
Short Order Cook, A New Life
We were working in the town of Libertyville. We had been hired to repair the roof on the high school. It was August, the hottest month of the year. We were early into the ten-day job when one afternoon the sky turned black. From up there you could really see….
A Word On Food: Happy Chinese New Year!
I did have an inkling it was the day of celebration called, ‘Chinese New Year’. But it graphically sunk in when our beautiful daughter-in-law Lourdes sent the family a video showing our granddaughter Audrey dancing to a traditional Chinese song with her school classmates all wearing Chinese garb. I was…