Ah Guinness… the essence of Ireland…
Also the essence of this cake, which I have to admit, is one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever made. Obviously Guinness is the solution to making everything taste better (I should have listened to my hubby sooner….). [Read more…]
The month of December is all about family in my corner of the world. Since I have a pretty good amount of Irish blood in me, and Christmas was always the biggest holiday, I thought it would be perfect to get back to my Irish roots for Mastering Global Cooking this month.
Today I am thrilled to introduce to you Caítríona from Wholesome Ireland. She lives in Ireland and shecertainly knows her way around the kitchen as you can tell from her amazing blog! I am so grateful that she took the time to chat with me about food so without further ado, could you tell everyone a bit about yourself and your blog?
I’m a “stuck at home Mom” to 2 small boys & a stepmom to a teen as well. I say stuck at home as it was never in the grand plan for me to be at home, I’d always intended to work while raising children but the recession put paid to that. I started blogging 4 years ago and in 2012, I got my own domain and started from scratch with Wholesome Ireland. The blog is about how I feed my family on a tight budget and the parenting rollercoaster. Truth be told, I just wear my heart on my sleeve. [Read more…]
The Ultimate Thanksgiving Leftovers Sandwich is my FAVORITE way to enjoy the wonderful world of Thanksgiving for days after the big day. It’s got turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes and a gravy mayonnaise all piled up on a toasted bun. Who could resist?!
I am spending this week preparing for the massive amounts of food I will be devouring on Thanksgiving. That being said, I am also preparing for the food coma I will be in on Friday.
Thanksgiving is coming and since pecan pie is one of my favorite things to eat on turkey day, I had to whip something extra special up, just for you.
I am so in love with this sinfully delicious filling. It’s even better than the typical pecan pie filling with all that caramel goodness packed in. I literally found myself eating spoonful after spoonful as I filled each little hand pie (which I must admit resulted in far fewer pies than I intended and a very happy sweet tooth… and probably a thicker waistline…). [Read more…]
I have officially fallen in love with Korean food.
When I settled on what I would like to cook for this part of the series, I honestly wasn’t familiar with anything but the Korean Short Ribs that I made for you last week. For some reason Bulgogi stood out to me as a dish that is a classic, and also wouldn’t take me through really difficult cooking techniques. [Read more…]
I am sure all of you can agree that life without dessert would be so so so sad…
There’s no way I could live without dessert. I just physically cannot end the day without something sweet to eat. I know this makes me sounds like a fat kid, but if I had to choose between eating healthy food all day and eating one dessert, I would starve myself just so I could eat my sweets. [Read more…]
I’ll be honest with you all, I have literally no experience with Korean food. I haven’t eaten too much and I have never attempted to cook Korean dishes. When I decided to add Korean to the Mastering Global Cooking series, I knew I would have to track down an expert to make sure I didn’t completely lose my way! Thankfully, the lovely, talented Holly at Beyond Kimchee took the time to chat with me about Korean cooking!
First tell us a little about you and your blog:
I am a Korean native housewife and a homecook. My blog, Beyond Kimchee, is about easy home-style Korean cooking and other cuisines that I enjoy cooking at home.
What sparked your passion for cooking and sharing your food with others?
I was not much of cook until I got married and started a family. I realized food becomes a very important part of family life and started self-training how to cook everything from studying cookbooks and trying out many recipes. I find great joy in sharing food with others.
Growing up in Korea, what was your favorite meal as a child?
Around the month of February, the month the first full moon of the year appeared at night, my mother always cooked steamed crabs, roasted sea weed, and many different vegetable side dish called “namool” which can turn into bibimbap dish. It was my favorite meal of the year because I got the steamed crab only once a year. [Read more…]
Why helllllloooooo gorgeous…
I am still trying to recover from my candy coma I went into last night. I don’t even have children to blame for bringing candy into the house. Instead I just ate a good amount of the candy I was supposed to give to children… Such a mess, I know… [Read more…]
It’s time to take a trip to Mexico with me…
When I was in Mexico for our honeymoon, I had this tamarind margarita that blew my mind. Ever since then, I have never tried to replicate it. However when Dobel approached me about crafting a couple of recipes for their oh-so wonderful tequila, I decided I had to bring tamarind into the mix right away. [Read more…]
Mmmmmm apple caramel goodness….
Ok it might not be the most attractive thing to photograph, but regardless, it tastes AMAZING. The most amazing part is the fact that tarte tatin is all made in one cast iron skillet. I mean, you heard about one-dish dinners all the time, but one-dish desserts?? What?! [Read more…]
So the decision to make this may or may not have come from a Meryl Streep movie….
I LOVE Meryl Streep. She is just so…. glamorous, gorgeous, talented, fabulous… One of my all time fav movies with Meryl Streep is It’s Complicated. I think it is also the one movie I actually enjoy Alec Baldwin in too….
[Read more…]Oh. My. Gosh.
If you have never eaten poutine, you are seriously missing out on one of the most amazing foods out there. There is really no way to argue with fries, gravy, and cheese curds, is there? [Read more…]
And now for one of the cuisines I have been looking forward to most – FRENCH. How can you not love French cooking? It’s butter, butter, bread, and butter! 😉 This month I had the pleasure of interviewing Clotide Dusoulier from Chocolate & Zucchini!
If you could start us off with telling everyone a little bit about yourself and your blog…
My name is Clotilde Dusoulier, I am a 34-year-old French food writer based in Paris, and I write a food blog called Chocolate & Zucchini, in which I share my cooking adventures, with a focus on simple, colorful, seasonal recipes.
When did you first start cooking?
I started to cook in my early twenties, when I moved to California to work for two years. I was blown away by the cultural differences between the French food I’d grown up with and the many ethnic and American dishes I was discovering, and exploring the world of food became my favorite thing to do with my free time. [Read more…]
It’s officially October and I am absolutely brimming with joy. 🙂
Not only because this month is full of birthdays (including mine!), Halloween is right around the corner, and I can officially start wearing sweaters and boots. I mean those are all amazing reasons, but even more amazing is that this is the start of a new season of flavors! [Read more…]
There’s so much cheesy goodness wrapped up in this little ramekin.
For some reason the idea to try making a souffle popped into my head a few weeks ago. I do love baking but souffles have always been that scary monster in the distance, kind of like making macarons from scratch. [Read more…]
Today is my hubby’s birthday and since he is such a breakfast person, I had to come up with something special for him.
We were watching Chopped a couple of weeks ago and in the dessert round there were ladyfingers. Now inevitably the dessert round brings bread pudding, ice cream, or some form of french toast. This round was no different as one contestant starting making french toast with the ladyfingers. Something clicked and my hubby and I just looked at each other and were like, “Hey! That’s how we should use up those ladyfingers in our pantry!!” [Read more…]
Well I’ll be honest with you, this one took me a few tries.
Of course I was not really familiar with Pad Thai before I made it, unlike my hubby who loves this dish more than any other food in the world. So I had to do some research and found a great place in Denver that makes wonderful Pad Thai, so wonderful my hubby actually liked it. I figured that was a good starting point before I go making my own Pad Thai! [Read more…]
It’s all about cheesy comforting goodness today!
I have been sick this past week and all I have been able to eat is what my mom used to make me whenever I was sick. Grilled cheese was a big one for me growing up, particularly because it was the easiest thing for me to learn to make when I was young. [Read more…]
For those of you who don’t know, I am usually not a big soup person.
Usually soup is only used as an accompaniment to a massive amount of bread, oyster crackers, or some other form of carbs. However, in the interest of trying new things I decided this whole Mastering Global Cooking series would be the perfect opportunity to try getting myself into soup (you know, other than chili and tomato soup with my grilled cheese… yes I know I am still a 5 year old). [Read more…]
This might be my new favorite thing EVER.
I have never been big on sweet crostini but dear sweet lord this is ridiculously good. I could eat this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and be perfectly happy saturating my body with these amazing sugars and carbs. [Read more…]
Another month means a new cuisine and a new interview! This month I decided to really go for something outside my comfort zone and try Thai cooking. I will admit at first I was nervous, but Sherri from Thai Foodie definitely made me feel a lot more confident. It was SO much fun talking to her and getting a great introduction to Thai food!!
So I am dying to know, what was it like living in Thailand?
It was amazing! I tell everyone the reason I moved to Thailand was because I fell in love with Thai food and wanted to eat it super cheap all the time, and it’s so true. I feel so blessed that I got to savor authentic Thai food on the street every day for a dollar per meal! And I adore the beautiful beaches, and laid-back culture! How I miss it!!
When you moved to Thailand did you know how to cook Thai food?
When I moved to Thailand I had no clue how to cook Thai food. That’s one reason why I think it all seemed so magical and amazing to me! —because I had no idea how they made it taste so good!
How did you end up learning how to cook Thai food?
When we came back from Thailand to America, my Thai hubby and I were going into Thai food withdrawal because we missed it so much, and couldn’t afford to eat it at overpriced Thai restaurants. So I’ve always enjoyed cooking, and decided to try out cooking Thai food. Dom knew the basics from watching his grandma in the kitchen when he was growing up, so I started trying to make some of the simple dishes we liked through his help. Also, he found authentic Thai cooking websites, but translated poorly into English, that I could look at. I also had a Thai friend I got tips from, and started to read Thai cooking books like It Rains Fishes by Kasma Loha-Unchit. But after cooking it for a few years, I now know the tastes and flavors that all go well together, so it’s so amazing to see how I’ve progressed since I first started cooking it.
Ok I saw that you have a Thai cooking class; what is the first thing you teach your new students?
Yeah! I love teaching Thai cooking! The first thing I teach them is about the main flavors in Thai cooking. In most Western cooking, you just have a savory or spicy flavor. But in Thai cooking, in one dish you could have sweet, spicy, savory, bitter or sour. So the main thing to keep in mind when cooking Thai is to keep the flavors balanced, however you enjoy most!
Are there any staple ingredients in Thai cooking that you always have in your pantry?
Yes! It’s essential to always have next to your stovetop when cooking Thai, sugar and fish sauce, and in the fridge I usually always have on hand lime, garlic and cilantro. Those are key players in a lot of dishes, but other things I can’t live without are oyster sauce, Thai chili paste, white pepper powder, ginger and shallots. And of course Thai chili peppers!
Are all Thai peppers pretty hot? Or is there a range?
Yes, all Thai peppers are quite hot, especially for farangs, (the Thai term for foreigners). When cooking with them, if you don’t want a dish as spicy, don’t pound the peppers as much, and the spiciest part is the part of the pepper that holds the seeds, so some people like to avoid that part or using the seeds. But I love spicy, but had to train myself to be able to eat Thai-spicy!
Pavlova was one of my favorite desserts growing up. Both my mom and grandma made it perfectly (I was very spoiled) and it was something I would look forward to in the summer.
The light, fluffy meringue is hard on the outside, soft and luscious on the inside. When you top it with fresh whipped cream, raspberry sauce, and fruit it all comes together in a light, cool, cream dessert that is SO much better than the traditional fruit tart you generally see at picnics. [Read more…]
Who doesn’t love a good mozzarella stick??
The gooey mozzarella cheese and crispy outer shell dunked in a huge bowl of marinara sauce – that’s my kind of party. However, as many of you know by now, I am a bit of a bread-obsessed individual so I can always use more bread. [Read more…]
Rounding out the Italian series, you all know I had to go for at least ONE dessert…
Of course I had to go for the ultimate Italian dessert. I couldn’t bust out of the gate with something completely crazy. And really, how to you do better than creamy espresso and chocolate goodness? [Read more…]
