Jazzing up or tweaking the original ingredients are two ways to turn an ordinary everyday dish into an extraordinary culinary creation. For example, take something normal like lasagna, substitute tortillas for pasta, salsa for tomato sauce, pinto beans for ground meat, vegetable puree for béchamel, pepper jack for fresh mozzarella and voila you have a whole new dish that is both dazzling and delicious. Not only is this Mexican-style lasagna easier to make and less time consuming than the standard Italian version, it is also a one-hundred percent vegetarian friendly meal! If you have time whip up a quick guacamole to snack on with blue chips while the lasagna bakes. The perfect accompaniment: an icy cold Corona Light. To enjoy this for dinner tonight, read more

Let me just say that it's been an exhausting three days of eating, tasting, drinking, smiling, chatting and did I mention eating? Right now we're working on a full round-up of the Fancy Foods Show, but while we're still editing and writing, I thought I'd tie you over with a little story about this WILD way to eat in the sky.
That's right, in the sky. As in strapped into a chair, surrounding a table that is suspended 50 meters above ground. Dinner In The Sky seats 22 people and can be organized almost anywhere (as long as their is surface that can be secured). And bonus, it "only" costs 7900 euros (about $10,200). For an extra cost you could even hire a second crane to bring your musical entertainment along with you.

Now, what I want to know is, what happens when you drop your napkin?

Yesterday we ran into the lovely Paula Deen at the SF Fancy Foods Show. It was wild, her publicists, assistants and handlers were keeping the Paula-loving crowd organized and in check. It was sort of dorky, all of us standing around looking at Paula, waiting for a glimpse, you'd think we were all seeing The Beatles in their prime, or something. Unfortunately we didn't get to speak to her much (shhhh... she's on some sort of a press "embargo" and "couldn't" actually talk to us).

However, it got me thinking about some of the reasons why people love her so much. I think it's because she oozes with "Southern Hospitality" and just seems so darn nice. Also, her recipes, no matter how many sticks of butter she uses, always seem comforting and tasty.

So to commemorate our brief encounter with Paula (more pictures here), I have decided to highlight one of her specialties, a lovely peach cobbler. To check out the recipe, read more

About every season or so, I enjoy throwing a party where I get all of my friends together to do something like compete in a pool tournament or partake in a pumpkin carving or contribute to a cookie swap (just standing around drinking and chatting does not count as "something"). I hate January and the cold darkness it brings, so to cheer myself up I'll host one of these types of parties.



I want to show my friends a fabulous time and a new skill, so I'm planning a knitting party for this Saturday afternoon. Yesterday I made booklet invitations complete with knitting instructions and today I'm figuring out what will be on the menu. To see what I'll be serving, read more

On Friday, when I got home from work, my dad made me a surprise cocktail. My dad is the coolest, he's always giving me fun food related surprises. It all started when I was little and he would bring me and my siblings doughnuts from Rolling Pin for a surprise breakfast treat. These days he continues to shower me with fabulous foodie finds (last Saturday he came home with a new Spanish Tapas cookbook!) and this drink was definitely a "taste treat" (that's a term my dad invented). It's called a Harvey Wallbanger and was apparently the drink in the 70s. In fact, my mom even called it the cosmo of her time. It's refreshing and delicious, with the taste of a suburban mall's Orange Julius. It's like a jazzed up screwdriver, and would be a nice alternative to a mimosa at a late brunch. If you haven't tried this yet, I highly recommend you make it this evening, so read more

I recently told you all about my BFF Emily whose birthday recently passed. I promised her a gift in the form of an extremely cool olive oil pourer. I asked you to help me by searching the web for the most artistic, creative, fabulous olive oil pourers around. You saved the chic containers in the Yum Market with the tag Olive Oil Pourer. I'm letting Emily pick her favorite and I'll order it for her and wrap it up in fun shiny paper. Thanks to all of those who participated! Here's the ones that I think Emily might love:

BrunetteSugar found this flower shaped olive oil decanter with stainless steel petals. Emily complained about the olive oil flowing too freely from the bottle so the pourer top is perfect for her daily breakfast of toast drizzled with olive oil.
Two more so read more

Woah woah woah! Ladies and gentleman, people on reality TV (no matter how frustrating or annoying) are people too. No need to get all wild and violent! Sounds like someone out there needs to be reminded of that. You see, our much tormented Top Chef wannabe, Marcel Vigneron, is now emblazoned with a big scar over his left eye.

"This girl came up to me at a nightclub and asked me if I was Marcel from 'Top Chef,' " Vigneron, 26, tells Las Vegas Weekly. "The next thing I knew, this bottle struck me, and my friends had to rush me to the hospital. I needed 30 stitches."

Thanks to Molly over at PopSugar for this one!

Source: Page Six

When I decided to go to the 2007 SF Fancy Foods Show, I had no idea that I would run into celebrity chefs. First there was Paula Deen and then a few minutes later, why look, it's Martin Yan.

Martin took time from his busy presentation schedule to answer a few of our questions. Check it out and let us know what you think! And boy does he look "maah-valous!"