Techniques
Warm Salted Caramel Sauce with Orange Blossom
Homemade salted caramel sauce is simple to make–mine includes a whisper of orange blossom water, so delicious with the caramel flavor. Serve the caramel sauce with sliced apples and more sea salt to garnish. It’s also wonderful over ice cream, apple pie, apple cake, banana bread, and anywhere else you like your caramel. The dinner…
Read MoreChicago Lebanese cooking class October 19th!
Hello there! This is a quick note to let you know that I’ll be teaching Lebanese cuisine in Chicago on Monday, October 19th at the Chopping Block, Merchandise Mart in Chicago. I would love to see you there to talk, cook, taste, and of course: sign books for you, your family and friends! Reserve your…
Read MoreBook signing + demo in Minneapolis-St. Paul!
Signing Rosewater & Orange Blossoms cookbooks and cooking for you never gets old! Just a quick note to let you know I’m planning a few fall events, including next week in Minneapolis-St. Paul. I’ll also be in Chicago for demos and signings in mid-October and will send you details on that shortly. I’d love to…
Read MoreUpcoming Book Events, Up North in Michigan!
All spring as I was out promoting the Rose Water & Orange Blossoms cookbook, I was waiting for this moment. That’s not to say it hasn’t been a total pleasure to share my book with the world! But as anyone who has had even a glimpse of summer in northern Michigan knows, this place is…
Read MoreJoin me this Sunday, June 14th, in NYC!
This is just a quick note while I’m out sharing the Rose Water & Orange Blossoms cookbook to let you know that we have a special event planned this Sunday evening, June 14th, in New York City! Join me at Contrada restaurant in the East Village at 6:30 for an absolutely wonderful menu inspired by…
Read MoreQuinoa Tabbouleh Recipe
I’ve been so offended by so many tabboulehs over the years, that I must be the de facto tabbouleh police by now. I know you know what I’m talking about: those grain-heavy salads that offer a fleck of parsley here, a precious leaf of mint there. Is it laziness that has prompted the phenomenon? It…
Read MoreMay I ask for your vote for Lebanese cuisine?!
Great news! Rose Water & Orange Blossoms is a finalist in the Saveur Best Food Blog Awards…I’d be so honored to have your vote (takes just a moment, right here), which closes April 9th. As a warm welcome to all of our new readers, the photos here (they’re linked to…
Read MoreHow to peel a pomegranate (kindly, gently)
The pomegranate memory is this: the kitchen counter, Wagon Wheel Lane, where I am seated snugly next to the sink. Uncle Joe is visiting from California, Joe Abood, my Jiddo’s brother. We loved Uncle Joe and though I could not have been more than 6 years old, I remember the lines of his face,…
Read MoreHow to toast sesame seeds
I have never met a seed, nut, or–I’ll say it–bread that I didn’t want to toast immediately. We’ve had some good long talks about toasted nuts, deep golden brown toasted nuts that I keep (in little jars) in my refrigerator, ready to jazz up salads and pilafs and my mid-day need for yum. Toasted…
Read MoreFavorite Things: The Multi-Cherry Pitter
This is a cherry-pitting game-changer, my friends. Because generally speaking you aren’t pitting just a handful of cherries, in which case your greatest tool in the kitchen—your hands—works well to just tear the sweet cherry apart or pop out the tart cherry pit. Take that approach on quantity, and you best find a great window…
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