The Cook’s Kitchen

Every time you go to the grocery store, you’re probably good for five or six plastic shopping bags.  And going from store to store on a Saturday morning filled with a list of errands, the mountain of plastic bags can really add up.  So besides the fact that plastic shopping bags are not environmentally friendly, […]

Do you know how to tell if a pineapple is ripe? I learned this little tip from Rachael Ray’s talk show last week. If the “eyes” (the name given to those circles covering the outside of the pineapple) are the same size from the top of the pineapple to the bottom, it’s a […]

I love testing my vocabulary. Even during my grammar and junior high years long ago, I actually looked forward to spelling and vocabulary tests. Math, however, was another story altogether. These days, I still take random ones I find online, just to make sure Momnesia hasn’t set in too deep.
But a vocabulary […]

Actress Kate Walsh (from Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice) is one busy woman. Besides her flourishing career, she fell in love, got engaged and got married … all last year. None of that stopped her from talking to O at Home magazine, and sharing her “Prescription for a Perfect Dinner Party.” Here’s […]

Even though she is popular in her own right as a former boxer, Laila Ali is perhaps even more well-known for her stint as a celebrity contestant on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Oh yeah, and her famous father, Muhammad Ali. Now Laila is back on TV as co-host of The Gladiators, alongside wrestler Hulk […]

One of the problems with buying fresh herbs is that before you know it, they’re wilting and can’t be used anymore. Yes, there are ways to freeze them, which is good as long as you remember to do that before they expire on you. But now there may be another solution… the Herb […]

My five-year-old son loves to help me in the kitchen.  As soon as he sees me heading that way, he grabs the stepstool and drags it to the counter and starts putting on his Home Depot apron.  Unfortunately, lately, most of our dinner recipes have started with “chop an onion,” and he instantly starts rubbing […]

Cream of Tartar is one of those ingredients that, while I tend to keep it on hand, I don’t use it very often.  That means by the time I usually get around to needing it, I might have run out of it without even knowing it, or it might be rock hard and unusable. 
That’s why […]

Odds are, you’ve probably heard of Colin Cowie, the fabulous designer to the stars.  Counting Oprah, Jerry Seinfeld, Demi Moore and Jennifer Lopez among his client roster, it’s safe to say that the man knows his stuff.  He recently released his latest book, Colin Cowie Chic: The Guide to Life as It Should Be, so for […]

Every couple of years, I go through my kitchen cabinets and do a massive purge of my cookie pans.  Between getting beat up, bent, dinged, darkened or even rusted, I like to replace them and start anew.  All the better for a perfectly baked cookie, in my opinion. 
If you’re on the prowl for a new […]