16 Bean Ham Bone Soup

The other day my mother in law Joy called me to remind me that I had a ham bone in the fridge left over from Easter. Spiral cut ham is one of the many features of our annual Easter Brunch, and we always reserve the bone after we are done to make a soup.We usually have 25-30 people show up which means we are dead for at least the next week, so making some soup is a nice simple way to enjoy some home cooking after the leftovers are gone.This year while perusing the food aisle of the local Jewel-Osco...

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A Cheesy Post With A Cheesy Title

Well, my fellow connoisseur du fromage and I catered a small event over this past weekend with great success. Not only is she a great help with the small touches that I would normally overlook (we had little give-aways of Balsamic Reduction for the guests of the dinner party) but she was also invaluable in helping me with plating, tasting, cleaning and prepping. In fact, she visualized the Tomato...

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Not Just Any Salad

I'm sick of writing about soups. They're cheap and easy and repetitive. Every so often I need to make something new.Well, with spring apparently around the corner, how about a salad. But not just any salad. A potato salad. But not just any potato salad. A German potato salad. But not just any German potato salad. A Humble Chef's German potato salad. But not just any Humble Chef's German potato salad. But A Humble Chef's German potato salad made by none other than my wife, The Closet Optimist herself....

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What Are Ya? Chicken?

Here we go again. Another soup. Well, my restaurant partner (known as my wife) and I really enjoy this thai inspired recipe that we used to get at a local place by our old home. I have taken it and pretty much adapted the flavours to a method that I find to be very easy.I was at my cousin's apartment making some of this soup and he and his fiancé loved the stuff. It's so easy that I figured that I'll give my take on this basic of basic of soups.One last note: Please try this recipe. It is so easy...

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Uncle Ben's Making Dessert

I was fortunate enough today to bear witness the famous rice pudding my in-laws were spoiled with; made with love by their neighbour. I've never been the biggest fan of this particular dessert but I will try anything at least once. It is very easy to make and fairly foolproof.It is an interesting recipe (a different method than I would use) but that is how things are done in the country and when you've made this recipe for several decades, well, why then would you change it?She used instant rice...

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The Gospel According to Matthew, Mark, Luke and . . . Duck

When I first entered the industry, I was working at the busiest fine dining restaurant (so they thought) in Canada: the 360 in the CN Tower. It was great. A wonderful learning curve. A few weeks into my employment there I was entrusted with preparing the Duck Confit. It was something new alright. I had never cooked Duck before, let alone 500 portions at once at a fine dining restaurant.Not the healthiest...

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