techniques

Knife Skills Part II: sharpening your knives and associated risks

Thumbnail image for Knife Skills Part II: sharpening your knives and associated risks

One of the keys to effective knife skills is keeping your tool sharpened. Our knife skills class chef had concerns about professional knife sharpening as the high speeds of the mill can remove a significant part of the blade.  She suggested, instead, an affordable two-step process. 1. Frequently use a sharpening steel to get the kinks [...]

12 comments Read the full article →

Pizza Parties!

Thumbnail image for Pizza Parties!

One of my favorite baking together discoveries of this past year is the joy of making pizzas with friends.  It all started with my last birthday… Caryl, one of my co-workers, had told me of the fun she has with make-your-own-pizza parties and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it.  I wanted to [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

Spice-Roasted Winter Vegetables or Why You Need Knife Skills

Thumbnail image for Spice-Roasted Winter Vegetables or Why You Need Knife Skills

There are two significant factors that culminated in Rick and I making this very simple recipe: Significant Factor #1. We are not good at making food during the week. The complicating factors here are many but the there are 2 biggies: we are often tuckered on school nights (how grown up does one have to be [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Grandma Kitkowski’s Perfect Waffles

Thumbnail image for Grandma Kitkowski’s Perfect Waffles

So, I’m cheating a bit on this one…or perhaps just stretching the rules?  Making waffles in a waffle iron may or may not be considered baking, but it is going to be my test for a baking tip I just heard. For my friend’s wedding shower last weekend, her family set-up a cooking demonstration – [...]

1 comment Read the full article →