May 5, 2023 The weather has been  perfect  this week; rain for the weekend, alas for Jazz Festers. But I'm sure the local farmers will be happy to see it; we've had a fairly dry spring so far. We had people over for dinner Wednesday night and I cooked a feast! Chicken kebabs and ground beef and lamb patties, with a delicious tabouleh, some hummus, fresh pita bread, and various dips, cheeses, and olives to round it out. I made enough I shouldn't have to cook for the rest of the week! That'll make a nice ...Continue Reading

April 21, 2023 French Quarter Festival was awesome Friday; I walked down to the Quarter with friends and lazed in the shade for several hours, enjoyed a beer and a crawfish pie, then walked back home. Clocked 9 miles that day! Definitely got my steps in. We're invited to a crawfish boil Saturday afternoon and I'm looking forward to it. My first of the season, and the weather is supposed to be spectacular. For the recipes this week, first up I've selected a favorite from the community cookbook Pirate's Pantry ...Continue Reading

April 14, 2023 A friend works as a restaurant manager and has only Monday and Tuesday nights off. I invited her and a few other friends over for Taco Tuesday this week; there were 8 of us for dinner and it was a lot of fun. I roasted a pork butt and made carnitas, and Jim roasted some marinated chicken thighs that we then chopped up for chicken tacos. I also made a pot of Posole Rojo, made corn tortillas from scratch, and we feasted. There wasn't much food left at the end of the night. I love cooking tasty food for peo ...Continue Reading

April 7, 2023 I'm just getting back into the groove after a long and much-needed beach vacation. We spent the time in Mazatlán, on the beautiful Pacific coast of Mexico, and the weather was absolutely perfect every day. Chilly at night, high 70s to low 80s in the daytime, with very little humidity. My favorite!. For the recipes this week, I have two seafood recipes, and side dish perfect for your next fish fry. Enjoy this week's recipes, stay safe and healthy, and, as always, let me know wha ...Continue Reading

March 31, 2023 I'm just getting back into the groove after a long and much-needed beach vacation. We spent the time in Mazatlán, on the beautiful Pacific coast of Mexico, and the weather was absolutely perfect every day. Chilly at night, high 70s to low 80s in the daytime, with very little humidity. My favorite!. For the recipes this week, I have two seafood recipes, and side dish perfect for your next fish fry. Enjoy this week's recipes, stay safe and healthy, and, as always, let me know wh ...Continue Reading

March 10, 2023 Happy St. Patrick's! I know many of you are still enduring cold and snowy weather, but in this part of the country, it's been warm for so long my cats are blowing their winter coats at a record pace. The weather is going to be lovely for the Irish Channel parade this weekend—I hope I catch all I need to add to my corned beef for corned beef and cabbage. For the recipes this week, I have two old traditional Louisiana recipes, and a deliciously easy one for the grill. The Jumbo Shrimp Viola are from ...Continue Reading

February 24, 2023 While some of our readers are in blizzardy portions of the country, here in New Orleans we're topping 80 degrees, in shorts and flip flops, and grilling. Last night we grilled some spicy marinated chicken, made a fresh salsa, and folded the chicken into freshly homemade corn tortillas. This afternoon I'm grilling redfish on the half shell that my wonderful neighbor Doug caught and gave to me. One of the many benefits of running a recipe testing kitchen and having our Taste Buds stop by to sample ...Continue Reading

February 18, 2023 Happy Mardi Gras! My friend Karen belongs to the Crescent City Dames krewe and their sashay was Friday in the French Quarter. We bundled up and walked down there to admire them-- The Quarter was packed, even though it was so cold that morning. It's going to be warmer over the weekend and I'm looking forward to catching a few beads. I had Mardi Gras in mind when selecting some of this week's recipes. The Shrimp Veracruz calls for cooking the shrimp separate from the sauce, so this could easily be ...Continue Reading

January 28, 2023 I was missing in action last week—it was my birthday and I gave myself some time off! Jim took me out for an excellent birthday dinner at Gianna, an excellent Italian restaurant in the Central Business District. It was a welcome break from the kitchen for me. For this week's recipes, I selected a classic Creole Italian dish, Creole Stuffed Eggplant. As written, it's baked in a casserole dish, but for a fancier presentation, microwave split eggplants a bit to soften them, scoop out the flesh, and ...Continue Reading

January 28, 2023 It's brisk in New Orleans this week, which is a nice change of pace. It's also full-on crawfish season in my world, as we work on our March/April issue, which always features lots of crawfish. Crawfish springrolls, dumplings, and crawfish queso all got tested out this week, and all were delicious. The test kitchen will be up and running all weekend too—Mardi Gras looms, and it can be difficult to get to some of the grocery stores from here once the parades start rolling. For this week's recipes, ...Continue Reading