For my wife's 30th birthday bash we wanted to do an unconventional themed party —something fun, eclectic, yet personal. Her love of books and food is what inspired our Wordy Thirty dinner party. Read on for details on this novel-themed party about food, drink, and great conversation. More

Now that Downton Abbey season 2 is over, we're all waiting with bated (pun intended) breath to see what will happen in season 3. Until then, enjoy a little break from the action...and enjoy one of these cocktails inspired by characters from your favorite British drama. More

My cast-iron skillet gets a lot of play in the kitchen. In fact, I have two: an 8" and a 10", and I use them for everything from chicken to scrambled eggs. Now, I can add desserts to that long list. More

Kids know how to party! Check out these festive celebrations from the Apartment Therapy Family channel, which posts kids' parties every day. We'll be bringing you a roundup of these inspiring parties every week.

• Where the Wild Things Are Rumpus
• Brown-Themed Party
• Arts & Crafts Party
• Robot Party

Are you thinking about renovating your kitchen? Doing research on countertop materials? If so, then our Countertop Spotlight series will help you. Today we look at the beautiful warmth of butcher block countertops. More

Q: Frozen leftovers that contain potatoes always come out with a bad mushy texture. Is there a way I can prevent this?

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Determined to host dinner parties in their tiny space, Josh and Lauren came up with an idea that allowed them to have an instant dining room.

• Table on the Wall - Apartment Therapy

During a recent stay in Palm Springs, we were introduced to an unusual ice water add-in: fiery jalapeño peppers! More

I love it when my Mexican friend Arturo comes to visit, we always cook up something "muy delicioso". This time Arturo introduced us to huevos motuleños. Have you ever heard of huevos motuleños? Think seriously over-the-top huevos rancheros—fried eggs over refried black beans on a fried tortilla, topped with salsa, and served with fried plantains, chorizo pork sausage, and crumbled Mexican queso fresco. They are a specialty of the Yucatan and originated in the town of Motul, a city rich with Mayan and colonial history. They're not an everyday breakfast, more like a Sunday brunch breakfast. So good!

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Updated recipe, from the recipe archive, first posted in 2007. Check out the comments section for some great ideas on other things to cook with smoked paprika! ~Elise

I first experienced smoked paprika on a trip to New Zealand several years ago in a sweet potato soup. My host laughed as my eyes lit up with "Wow, what's in this?!" At the time, smoked paprika could only be found in specialty stores or Penzeys. Soon after though, McCormick started selling it and promoting it as a spice, so it's much easier to come by, and we are always looking for an excuse to cook with it. If you've never used it, smoked paprika is to regular paprika what chipotle powder is to red chile powder. I like to think of it as the flavor of my favorite barbecued potato chips. The following recipe we've adapted from one in a free magazine by our local Raley's grocery store. The flavor of this chicken is terrific, well worth seeking out this spice if you don't already have some. Do you use smoked paprika in your cooking? If so, please let us know your favorite uses for it in the comments.

Continue reading "Smoked Paprika Roasted Chicken" »

Spaghetti pasta alla carbonara. Luscious and wonderfully indulgent, it takes as long to make as it does to cook the spaghetti. The ingredients are simple, just spaghetti (or other long pasta), pancetta or bacon, eggs, Parm, a little olive oil, salt and pepper. A silky sauce is created when the beaten eggs are tossed with the hot pasta and a little fat from the pancetta or bacon.

Did I already mention indulgent? Yes, this is not a make-it-everyday recipe. This is a I've-been-eating-my-kale-for-weeks-and-now-I-want-to-splurge recipe. But heck, if you are going to splurge, you may as well do it right.

Continue reading "Spaghetti alla Carbonara" »

Please welcome my friend and guest author Stephanie Stiavetti who writes The Culinary Life food blog. Stephanie shares her recipe for a Dutch baby, also known as a German pancake. It's sort of like a sweet version of Yorkshire pudding. So good! ~Elise

I'm a huge pancake fan. When I was little I would have happily forgone every other food in favor of pancakes, but unlike the other kids I knew, I never really liked syrup. I always preferred my pancakes plain, or with the addition of fresh blueberries or mashed up bananas added to the batter before it hit the griddle. Occasionally my mom would indulge us by tossing in a handful of chocolate chips, which, at that young age, was just about the most exciting thing ever.

In my naive little breakfast world, I was happy. But as I grew up, I was introduced to a whole new world of adult pancakes—recipes that broke away from the standard, super-sweet trap of maple syrup and celebrated the flavor of the pancake itself, something I'd always held in the highest regard. I was seduced by crepes, soufflé pancakes, and buckwheat flapjacks fried in bacon fat. My all-time favorite, though, became the Dutch baby.

Continue reading "Dutch Baby" »

Do you like raw oysters? My brother Matt lives in Point Reyes and has access to wonderful oysters from Tomales Bay. Lately he's been bringing a few dozen with him when he comes to visit. The oyster eaters among us gather and have quite the feast when he arrives. My favorite accompaniment to fresh, raw oysters is this mignonette—a piquant sauce made with vinegar and shallots that you sprinkle on top of the oyster, much like a squeeze of lemon juice. It's a lovely balance to the briny, somewhat creamy oysters.

Continue reading "Mignonette Sauce for Oysters" »

Have you ever noticed how crowded restaurants are on Valentine's Day? Every table is a two-top, the menus are often fixed, and the staff frantically busy. After several misfires over the last few years, I've given up with going out that night, and instead focus on lovely dishes we can make at home. Here is a classic date night meal—filet mignon in a red wine reduction.

Continue reading "Filet Mignon with Red Wine Sauce" »

"You've converted me into a kale lover," a friend declared after eating a hearty bowl of this kale with sausage and white beans. Yay! I love it when I hear things like this. At our house a green vegetable is always served with dinner, and half the time it's some sort of green like chard, kale, spinach, mustard greens, or collards. It's my not-so-secret mission in my heart of hearts to convert everyone to loving their greens. Of course, it's hard to go wrong when you mix kale with Italian sausage and white beans. But, baby steps people. Baby steps.

Continue reading "Kale with Sausage and White Beans" »

Although the days are getting longer, the sun just beginning to ride a little higher in the sky, the nights are still bone-chilling. Honestly, I never look forward to winter. But when I'm smack in the middle of it, I do appreciate its comforts—warm clothes, thick blankets, an excuse to use the fireplace, and a big pot of stew. And I mean a big pot. Heck, if you are going to go through all that trouble, you may as well make enough for plenty of meals during the week. This is one such stew, a hearty cousin of beef barley soup, but bulked up with carrots, celery root, and lots of mushrooms.

Continue reading "Beef and Barley Stew with Mushrooms" »

I've always been a fan of onion dip, have you? Especially with ruffled potato chips. Most of the flavor in the onion dip with which many of us are familiar comes from a package of dried onion soup, which works if you have only 2 minutes to put together a dip. But if you are looking for something a little more special, you can make your own onion dip from scratch. The key is to caramelize the onions first.

Continue reading "Caramelized Onion Dip" »

Meandering along the Internet highway one day I happened upon several recipes for what looked like a hedgehog made of bread, stuffed with melted cheese and bacon. Brilliant! A lot like cheesy bread but more fun. I thought I would do my own version with jack and jalapeños. Yum! It's like a bread version of nachos. In the shape of a hedgehog. That you have to get your fingers messy with melted cheese to eat. Just the thing for a bunch of rowdies gathered to watch football, don't you think? Speaking of which, we have several fine Superbowl recipes on the site if you are looking for ideas. And go Niners. (Yes, I know they're not playing. There's always next season.)

Continue reading "Cheesy Jalapeño Pull Bread" »

Please welcome guest author Garrett McCord as he shares a lip-smacking recipe for mushroom stir-fry he recreated from one he enjoyed in China. ~Elise

During a recent trip through China I ate a lot of life changing food. Sichuan stir-fried duck tongues, homemade noodles in beef sauce, spicy lotus root with ginger, Sandouping-style boiled peanuts, curried yak with butter, deep fried river shrimp with garlic... Oh! The list goes on! You can believe that I was taking plenty of notes so that I could recreate these dishes back in the States.

While in Beijing and Xi'an I noticed that much of the food there was sweeter than the rest of China. One particular dish we had quite a few times was a simple mushroom stir-fry. It was spicy, but not too much. Just enough to make the tongue tingle a bit. It was also quite sweet, but not sickeningly so. When I asked one of the cooks what made it sweet he pulled down a jar of practically-black honey whose musky fragrance, even with the lid firmly closed, dominated a kitchen packed with garlic and scallions. I was smitten.

Continue reading "Sweet and Spicy Mushroom Stir Fry" »

When I was a kid, my mother often used to add sliced raw jerusalem artichokes to our salads. I have no idea why. She doesn't do it any more, and hasn't for years. At the time I just thought they were weird looking and didn't taste like much. Nothing at all like the real artichokes that we kids fought over at the dinner table. My kid's mind decided that they didn't grow very good artichokes in Jerusalem. Hah! Well, mystery solved. Turns out jerusalem artichokes are neither artichokes, nor are they from Jerusalem. They're tubers, native of North America, and the plant is related to and resembles sunflowers. (In fact, these days they are often called "sunchokes".) "Jerusalem" is thought to have evolved from the Italian name for the plant, "girasole" for sunflower. Why "artichoke"? If my mom had only cooked them, then that part of the mystery would have been solved for me. Cooked, they taste surprisingly like artichokes. Yum!

Continue reading "Jerusalem Artichoke Soup" »

"Now this is how oxtails should taste," my father declared after taking a bite of these glazed oxtails. I couldn't agree more. We have a thing for oxtails in our family. Oxtail stew was a favorite winter dish my mom prepared when we were growing up. If you are unfamiliar with oxtails, they are tails of steers, typically sold cut into segments. Most of what you buy is bone, and the meat is well exercised and fatty, so oxtail preparations lend themselves to slow cooking. Much like short-ribs, but in my opinion, even better. Think of the best pulled pork imaginable, but with beef. In this recipe the oxtails are first browned, then slow cooked with red wine and stock. Then the segments are removed so you can strip the meat off of them and the liquid is reduced to a glaze. It's actually pretty easy to make, most of the cooking time is hands-off while the oxtails are simmering.

Continue reading "Glazed Oxtails" »

Gobsmacked. I thought I was pretty well versed in what one could do with cabbage, addicted to the stuff as I am. Whether it's braised, in stewed, stuffed, boiled, or made into coleslaw, we eat cabbage in every which way around here. But this my friends, this has to be the easiest way to prepare cabbage and still have it taste great. (Boiled cabbage is probably the easiest, but then what you have is just boiled cabbage.) My mother made something like this the other day with curly cabbage. You just simply blanch the torn or roughly cut cabbage leaves in boiling salted water, drain them, and toss with butter, and seasonings. Butter and cabbage together? A dream team. And caraway and celery seeds just make them dance.

Continue reading "Blanched Cabbage with Butter and Caraway" »

Years ago in Manhattan, there was a rather famous German restaurant by the name of Luchow's. It was established in 1882 and operated continuously for a hundred years, finally shutting down in 1984. In its heyday Luchow's was well known as a hang out for musicians and entertainers such as Steinway, Dvorak, and later, Oscar Hammerstein. It even had a room named after Diamond Jim Brady, a regular.

I don't recall how it happened, but my father came across a used copy of Luchow's German Cookbook, a compilation of recipes from that now long gone restaurant. He quickly zeroed in on the recipe for an Austrian goulash with sauerkraut, also called Szegedine Goulasch in the book. I often accuse my dad of having sauerkraut in his veins, and not without reason. He just can't pass up an interesting recipe that calls for that fermented cabbage. This "goulash" is chunks of veal, cooked with onions and tomatoes in a paprika sour cream sauce, served over sauerkraut. So so good.

Continue reading "Veal Goulash with Sauerkraut" »