Two weeks ago, before the madness of the ice storm, I promised you my favorite recipe for using homemade seafood stock.  Today, I deliver!  While my sister is definitely the risotto champion in the family, I love to make it on days like today when the weather is cold and dreary.  The rich, creamy texture of this one pot meal brings comfort, while the tender asparagus and bright lemon zest carry promises of spring. Read more

(photo cc license by L2F1)

Happy New Year!  No I’m not a few weeks late, I’m talking Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival as they call it in China.  This is the Year of the Dragon and it makes our boys laugh every time they say it in Chinese because it is a bit of a tongue twister.  After we tried saying it a few times, we got them to say “She sells seashells by the seashore” a few times.  Such fun!  I’m doing a round up of Chinese New Year Recipe round ups from some of my favorite bloggers.  But first, let me tell you about how we’ve been celebrating with our Chinese sons (college exchange students who live with us). Read more

It’s been crazy people.  If you live somewhere that gets a lot of snow, you’re probably laughing at all the news coverage of the snow and ice storm in Washington.  But for those of us who aren’t used to it (and especially for this Hawaii girl), it’s been quite the adventure. Read more

I had a pile of 15 bananas from our family reunion that were changing from spotted to black and oozy way too quickly.  I decided that yesterday afternoon was the time to turn them into some whole wheat banana bread.  I started grabbing my ingredients when…dunh dunh DUNH!  I forgot to soften the butter!  How often has this happened to you?  For me, it’s happened more times than I can count.  Fortunately, a friend of mine who bakes all the time passed along a great tip, and no, it’s not the microwave.  (DON’T microwave your butter to soften it, bad idea!  Even if it looks solid it’s still melted and the emulsion you need for baking has been broken.  Check out this article on the magic of butter.) Read more

This month, Eric and I have cut our food budget in half to try and save more of the rent we get from our exchange students.  I have to admit that I’ve been slacking a bit in the food budgeting due to the excuse of needing more to feed the boys.  But this month, I’m back on track, meal planning and everything.  One of my favorite tricks for saving money on food is making my own homemade stock.  So today, I’m super excited to share my method of using seafood shells to make a rich and flavorful seafood stock recipe. Read more