Another Kitchen Sink Dinner

By Lori Powell

Yes, yet another kitchen sink dinner using ingredients that are always in my pantry: oil, bacon (you can keep it frozen and then chip off what you need), dried herbs and spices (keep them fresh by buying small quantities and replace after four months), garlic, Parmesan, and some form of tomato product and pasta.

I happened to have fresh basil on hand, so that just helped seal the deal of what to cook for dinner. Also, it was Monday (and a long one at that) so I just wanted something quick.

Click to read more ...

Cooking with the Seasons

By Lori Powell

I love Meyer lemons and I’m so happy that we are able find them. They are now widely available in grocery stores in New York and Pennsylvania. I am jealous of people who have trees laden with the fruit.

It’s amazing what you can do with a few ingredients when you can get the good stuff and follow the seasons. I picked up a small, lovely center cut piece of halibut and seasonal asparagus to round out my dinner plate with a little help from Meyer lemons, my fresh rosemary plants, good olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. All that’s needed for an amazingly fresh taste of spring.

Click to read more ...

A Sneak Peek at Special Fork, Our New Mobile Website

By Sandy Hu

About 15 years ago, the public relations agency where I worked conducted some major consumer research for a food client about how women, as the primary family cooks, felt about the dinner hour. In focus groups they drew some disturbing pictures: a bomb with a lit fuse…a jagged lightning bolt and roiling black clouds…one woman drew a stick figure of herself hanging from the hands of a kitchen clock set at 6 o’clock.

This research had a lasting impression on me as a working mother in a demanding job with two teen sons. I identified with their situation, although unlike most of the women, I am blessed with a husband who does his share of the cooking and all the grocery shopping. Through the years, I have been looking for a way to help people with solutions to this daily dinnertime dilemma.

Click to read more ...

Too Much Bread!

By Sandy Hu

I always overbuy baguettes for a party. Bread is cheap and I’d rather have too much than not enough.

But then I’m stuck with the leftovers. Any sane person would toss the remainder but I always bag the leftovers, intending to do something with them. I hate waste.

Click to read more ...

Halloween Candy…Yum!!

By Lori Powell

After the autumn leaves comes the arrival of our spookiest of holidays, Halloween. I am ready for it this year with three bags of candy and I will be taking part of my neighborhood ghost walk. Since my town dates back to the 1600s there is a ton of history here and, well, some residents just have never left…spooky!

I am always hopeful that we will have a bunch of trick-or-treaters and I am always surprised the next day by how much candy didn’t get gobbled up.

Click to read more ...