See shot-by-shot commentary of photos that led up to the money shot.

From my weekly food column in Tampa Tribune newspaper

Rock Star Chef Kerry Simon

A couple of weeks ago during a trip to Los Angeles, I bumped into rock star chef Kerry Simon at every kitchen fanatic’s dream bookstore, The Cook’s Library. What elevates Kerry to rock star status? Well, how about the fact that Rolling Stone tagged him with the unofficial title “Rock ‘n’ Roll Chef.” OK, that reason ALONE is enough for me to swoon all over him.

Chef Kerry Simon

My brother Jay and I met up with one of Jay’s friends, who has a Hollywood job so bizarre HE HAD TO WHISPER IT IN MY EAR, and so our hodgepodge group - a food writer, a cardiologist and a … um … let’s call him a “gay reality show researcher,” dined at Simon LA, Kerry’s signature restaurant.

I have a love-hate relationship with restaurant reviews. I love it when it’s a great restaurant and the critic’s eloquent trail of words tickles my taste buds and seduces me onto the plate. But you know what? It’s like the biggest frustrating tease when the restaurant is 2,471 miles away, and there’s no way to actually enjoy the meal in person!

I’m not going to tantalize you with play-by-play of my four-course meal, which would be cruel because it was totally rock-star phenomenal. Instead, I’m doing one better. I called Kerry up and asked for a recipe. He obliged and sent along his Lamb Chops with Curried Pears.

One thing about restaurant chefs giving you recipes is that they normally feed, like, 50 people, and some of the cooking techniques may be a bit difficult for home cooks. So, I’ve simplified his recipe and scaled it down so you’re not inviting all the families within a 2-mile radius to dinner.

I think you’ll really enjoy it. Chef Kerry is a master of taking a few simple ingredients and coaxing the flavors and textures into something so sublime, surprising and sexy. Read the full story

I’m a guest writer over at Martha Stewart Everyday Food! Have you been to their website? They’ve got thousands of recipes, all of them simple and perfect for dinner tonight.

My kids made Thai Curry Beef Skewers and Grilled Banana with Dark Chocolate for them. Come on over to Martha Stewart Everyday Food’s website and take a look. The recipe for the MUST MAKE dessert inspired by the lovely Andreaa is over there.

I love it when my two young sons — 3 years old and 5 years old — help me in the kitchen. It’s good to nurture an interest in responsible nutrition and teach them correct food pairings, like how super-thin, shatter-crisp Lay’s potato chips are much better stacked between a hamburger bun and patty than something big and smushy like a chocolate Ho-Ho. Read the full story

Last week was my good friend’s birthday and like me, she popped out kids back to back, 16 months apart, which meant we both had the same momentary lapse of judgment. Date nights are rare events, not because we’re lame, married, boring people, but that trustworthy sitters are really hard to come by. The good ones, i.e. kids with no arrest record, know that they’re in high demand, thus can play the game of extortion and can charge as much as a car payment and require a 20% tip.

Even a bigger deal is when we want to double-date with my friend and her husband. The planning started 2 weeks ago, going back and forth on a suitable date, scoring a sitter each, keeping our children quarantined in a bubble so that they wouldn’t catch any dreadful diseases, and of course collecting every bit of loose change into a jar just so we could afford a good night out without having to turn dish-washing tricks in a restaurant kitchen to pay for our meal. Read the full story

Cooking Chinese for the Olympics!
This is Recipe 3 in the series and another home-style Chinese dish for you to try (see below for the rest)

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My friend, Lynne, is an assistant at The Rolling Pin, the cooking school where I teach in Florida. She’s often free in the evenings to work at the school, since her husband, Kevin, has been serving in Kuwait for the past 11 months. Assisting in the classes are fun for Lynne and it keeps her busy during the otherwise lonely evenings.

Normally, for my classes, I have 15 students, as that is just the right number of students that can fit into the studio kitchen. With hands-on classes, it can get pretty intense for me, as I need to totally be on top of everything from working with each student individually, demonstrating new techniques, explaining how to use Asian ingredients, ensuring that students don’t hurt themselves with the 22 or so super-sharp knives in the kitchen, and of course keeping an eye on the food so that we can all enjoy a wonderful meal! I would probably call myself an orchestrator of sorts, some evenings wishing that I had another set of eyes mounted to the back of my head to coordinate and keep track of it all.
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As promised, I’m doing a series of simple Chinese dishes as we lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. I’m hoping to post a new recipe at least 4 times a week, though that might be a little ambitious and make my family very hungry for something like spaghetti or meatloaf. This dish, Ground Beef with Beijing Sauce over Noodles is so flexible - you can use ground turkey, chicken or even pork. If you don’t have Chinese noodles, serve over rice or any type of pasta. The greatest thing about this recipe is that the entire thing comes together in 15 minutes (if using noodles) and costs around $5 to feed a family of 4. How can you beat that?! Normally, I’d serve this over rice, but I had some of these wonton noodles leftover from my Crab and Pork Wonton Noodle Soup recipe that we’re currently testing for my Steamy Kitchen cookbook. (Come take a look and join the testing group if you’re interested!) So, as thrifty as I am, I’ve served this over noodles instead of rice. You can do either. There are certain dishes that my Mom always says in Chinese, “goes very good with rice,” meaning, You’re gonna eat A LOT of it and won’t be able to stop. This is one of those dishes where before you even know it, you’ve eaten the entire pot with rice or noodles!

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