Ours is a household where both like to cook. Usually there’s not too much overlap about WHAT we like to cook and WHEN we want to cook it. (Although the kitchen is not tiny, Ilise and I have a knack for wanting to be in the exact same spot at the same time. Every time. So now we pretty much just offer to be the other’s prep chef and then clear the hell out of the kitchen, making space for the magic to happen.)

I enjoy cooking savory items and have a fondness for soups and sauces that benefit from improvisation. Ilise falls in the dessert camp and is an excellent baker; she likes the precision of it and adheres to the letter of the law, recipe-wise, most of the time.  

Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to see her become obsessed with recipe-fiddling over the span of about six months in pursuit of the perfect batch of bourbon caramels. The obsession didn’t surprise me, I’ve seen that often enough. But the willingness, no, more like eagerness to go back to the stove time and again, candy thermometer in hand -- after tweaking either a) balance of ingredients; b) sequence of events (specifically when to add the bourbon); c) cooking time; or d) all of the above -- was almost scientific in nature, with each phase thoroughly documented. We’re thinking of applying for an NSF or NIH grant for her next kitchen project.  

Are you familiar with eighth blackbird? I have only recently become aware of their genre-intermingling, label-defying artistic presence, and now I’m fascinated and want more of this contemporary classical music sextet. Their website describes them thusly:

At one of my previous jobs there was a Breakfast Club tradition where interested parties would bring in breakfast on Friday for all the other members of the group. Most of the staff participated, so your turn rolled around only every 6 months or so. Meals ranged from bagels and cream cheese, to catered-in egg casseroles, to granola-yogurt parfaits and beyond – all were well-appreciated and usually scarfed down within an hour.

There were a few of us who really enjoyed cooking and put some genuine effort into the breakfast opportunity, hoping to surprise and delight our colleagues with something unexpected, homemade, and of course delicious. One of my most popular offerings was a batch of small raisin scones served with luscious strawberry jam and fancy butter. I’ve been dreaming about them ever since and finally made an encore batch the other day. Still worth getting up for!

Afternoon Dance Breaks are a recurring feature that invites you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind. 


So I guess prom season is coming up. I’ve seen a few hilarious yet not-incorrect Wikihow posts about overcoming nerves and two left feet in order to have fun dancing at your prom.

There wasn’t much dancing at my prom. My date -- an older guy-friend (but not a boyfriend) with a mustache, a wicked gleam in his eye, and a love for Frank Zappa that endeared him to me forever – performed magic tricks for a bunch of gullible high-schoolers until an unfortunate incident with a lit candle and a nylon tablecloth caused us to depart the festivities a little early. 

My little gang of misfits went to the beach and drank beer bought by my pyromaniac-magician-friend. It was the least he could do. 



Brush off your two-step and check out the Shimmy Playlist after the jump. 

Afternoon Dance Breaks are a recurring feature that invites you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind.  


Dancing Fun Fact: 

The “Dancing Plague” of 1518 took hold of nearly 400 people over the course of a month who danced manically for days on end until some of them died from exhaustion, stroke, heart attacks and the like. This occurred in Strasbourg, Alsace, France and was diagnosed as being “natural” due to “hot blood.” 


The prescription was more dancing. 


They literally bopped til they dropped.

 

Give a listen to the Bust a Move playlist after the jump.

Is it getting steamy in here or is it just me?

I’m a little hesitant to provide kitchen tips or advice because I have no deep knowledge or magic tricks. There are a few little shortcuts and easy-makers that I’ve picked up over time, and I know you have some too. Generally speaking though, I assume that anything I know about is probably common knowledge.  

Except what if it isn’t? What if I’ve been holding onto the holy grail of culinary time-savers? Prolly not, but I’ll share just in case.

Today’s tip is about blanching multiple vegetables quickly and easily.

Corvina was recently the featured item from Hooked on Fish, our local source for sustainable fish -- delivered, no less! Having no real knowledge about this guy I turned to Seafood Watch, the non-profit program based at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium, whose mission is to "help consumers and businesses make choices for healthy oceans," and also something called FishBase which is a pretty comprehensive database of all things fishy. The info is fairly scholarly and I probably won't be visiting there again but if you're a real fish-o-phile (the official name is ichthyologist but I like my version better) you'll want to check out this site. 

My interest was piqued enough to swipe right and dive into the dating pool with Mr. Corvina, as part of my dinnertime initiative to cook and eat more fish despite my certainty since childhood that the only seafood worth eating were fishsticks from a box with tartar sauce. 

Afternoon Dance Breaks are recurring features that invite you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind. 


Did you know that the importance of dance as a societal element has been documented in 9,000 year old Indian paintings and in Egyptian tomb paintings dated from c. 3300 BC?  

Me neither. So let’s shut up and dance!



Enjoy the Swing Out playlist after the jump. 

These fast and easy appetizer bites make a positive impression at any gathering. The orange-flavored goat cheese filling provides a nice alternative to the more common bacon-wrapped dates (among my most favorite apps ever!) They’re tasty in their own right, suitable for a vegetarian menu, and they look as though you slaved away in the kitchen – but nope, not too much!  

Afternoon Dance Breaks are recurring features that invite you to get up from the desk, crank up the tunes, and dance your fool head off for a few minutes before resuming the daily grind. Enjoy!
 

Stress relief through a few minutes of shake-it get-silly dance-much? 

Yes please. Don’t mind if I do. 










Check out today's Get Down playlist after the jump. 

My favorite earworm these past few months has been Uptown Funk by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars. It's just infectious, upbeat, rump-shaking good fun all around. You know it. You love it. Like me, you’ve heard it a million times. But I want an excuse to play it again so let me pretend to do a public service for the few folks out there who might not have yet been tickled by this particular funky finger of fate.

The video – and the throwback classic it always brings to my mind – appear after the jump. 

In honor of Valentine’s Day, chocolate and my cookie-lust I made a batch of Dark Chocolate Cookies with Tart Cherries for a friend’s party, a celebration twofer that intersected Mardi Gras with V-Day in a most delightful and delicious way. 

The hosts shared their menu in advance -- shrimp creole, chicken and sausage gumbo, fried chicken, corn muffins and praline bars, all homemade by real Southern people. Begin salivating now.

However there was a noticeable and frankly unacceptable gap in the lineup -- a shocking lack of chocolate, on Valentine’s Day no less. 

I have a bad habit of sinking into the desk chair and getting lost in front of my screen for hours on end. This leads to stiff joints, slouchy shoulders and general ouchiness when I do finally stand up. 

And as so many health “authorities” have been eager to inform us lately, sitting will kill you. So there's that. 

I don’t know about you, but I believe I’m about ready for a stretch break and energy-booster. Join me, won’t you? 


Click the link to stream my Twist and Shout playlist via SoundCloud. 

1-  Rollin’ On – by Royal Tongues
2- Will It Go Round in Circles – by Billy Preston

Over the years I’ve been fortunate to receive many cookbooks as gifts from generous friends and family and even a few business colleagues. (Thanks again, everyone!) I’m also a voracious food blog reader, saving copious recipes for “later.” Problem is, I frequently default to the same 3 cookbooks again and again for everyday cooking, leaving a big bunch of books and one-off recipes that I’ve flipped through but never put into practice.

So in this recurring feature we’ll kick the tires on some new-to-me cookbooks, take them for a road test, you know, kick out the jams for a spin on the open road, and report on the ride after crossing the finish line.

And what goes better with a fast cars metaphor than a road trip playlist? We’ll play some carefully selected* tunes while cooking from the book, and then we’ll talk about all of it. (*Or maybe totally rando. We’ll see.)

I’m purposely avoiding the word “review” here, as I feel neither capable nor qualified to do so. Music criticism in particular has a language in which I'm not conversant, despite my lifelong love of all sorts of tunage. Instead I’m going to share my experience using the cookbook (pictures, yummy-appeal of recipes, ease of use, etc.) and listening to the music (overall sound/feel, favorite tracks, etc.)

Most days I need a mid-afternoon energy-boosting stretch break to clear my head, move these old bones, change the scenery and avoid becoming one with the desk chair. You too?

Rather than office calisthenics or desktop Pilates, both good practices but not for me, I prefer to pick a rockin’ tune, crank up the volume (headphones please if you have officemates) and boogie-oogie-oogie ‘til I just can’t boogie no more. A few years ago some country-lite singer warbled about dancing like no one’s watching (and inspired a cottage industry of tee-shirts, plaques and coffee mugs to reinforce the platitude). In this case I truly hope that no one is watching … for their sake and mine.

So go ahead … take a few minutes to stand, stretch, flip the silly-switch to the on position and treat yourself to a little boost for mind, body and soul. I’ll share some of my favorite dance ditties with you every once in a while – movers and groovers both past and present, popular earworms as well as deep cuts from my personal archives -- and I hope you’ll do the same in the comments. 





Click to stream my Shake It Playlist via SoundCloud to enjoy one funky classic and one tasty power pop number:  

1- She's a Bad Mama Jama - artist: Carl Carlton
2- Shut Up and Dance - artist: WALK THE MOON

Do you fondue? We do and we did in a super-fun, lively and highly interactive dinner club experience. I’ll admit, at first I wasn’t sure how much room for creativity and playfulness this theme would allow. Fondue is fondue, right? Ours is a group that likes to surprise and delight each other with out-of-the-box interpretations of the theme, and how many ways can one fondue, after all?! Quite a few, as it turns out.