seasoning

Although I try to eat a well-balanced healthy diet, I often feel a little lacking in the veggie department — do you? Bland foods bore my palate and I find some veggies a little on the dull side. If the lack of flavor is your issue, here are some easy, clever ways to spruce up your veggies for snacks or mealtime.

Keep reading to learn how.

"I don't get to come here often," Thomas Keller said to a morning audience at this past weekend's Aspen Food & Wine Classic. There's no question the godfather of all restaurant chefs has been busy, between his nine restaurants, six Michelin stars, cookbooks, and Bocuse d'Or leadership, so it was a rare treat to watch him demonstrate how to prepare homemade preserves out of his award-winning cookbook, Ad Hoc at Home.

While Keller demonstrated the versatility of sweet onion tapenade, cured lemons, and mushroom conserva, he revealed his sense of humor when he spoke about being in the first group of Best New Chefs 22 years ago, preparing a lobster dish that was served in a resident's home. "After 600 lobsters, I'm sure that home was never the same again," he joked. The chef also offered plenty of useful advice. To check it out, keep reading.

This week, I attended the first session of the 25th annual Chefs' Holidays, a monthlong culinary event that takes place at The Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, CA, each Winter. The celebrity chef-studded affair, which included kitchen tours, cooking lessons, and a blowout gala dinner, proved to be as educational as it was recreational.

One of the highlights was a cooking demonstration led by headliner David Kinch. The James Beard-nominated chef (who defeated Bobby Flay on Iron Chef America!) is the brainchild behind Manresa, the Los Gatos, CA-based restaurant at the forefront of California cuisine. But despite his haute background, Kinch focused much of his lesson on one simple principle: season properly. Learn the chef's rules for seasoning when you read more.