Cook Like a World Famous Chef

I am sure many of you are just beginning to gear up for your holiday entertaining. Whether you have guests coming in from out of town or you are just cooking for your family, which one of us doesn’t want to hear that we’ve really outdone ourselves this year? I loved it one year, when my friends and family thought that I had had the meal catered! But cooking like a four star chef isn’t as hard as it seems. Follow these tips and you’ll be well on your way to making your meal go down in family history. Read … Continue reading

Muppets Movie Trailers

The start of summer saw the release of four Muppet movie trailers. The tone of those trailers, though they contained many of the same scenes, taught us a lot what the new Muppet movie will feel like. Isn’t that any diehard Muppets fan’s biggest complaint: that most of the Muppet movies released in the 1990s didn’t feel like Muppet movies? Something about them didn’t contain that unique Jim Henson sense of humor. It’s not that we expect they could, since Henson’s passing. That raises the question, however, of whether Muppet movies should continue if they couldn’t remain true to their … Continue reading

Island Hopping in Hawaii

Mother Nature has not entered 2008 peacefully. As I write this my aunt and uncle in Lake Tahoe, California are dealing with blizzard-like conditions. Meanwhile, in Miami, Florida residents there are dealing with record low temperatures the likes of which they haven’t seen in more than five years. And here in the Midwest portion of the United States we are under severe fog alerts. (The fog is so thick here I can’t see the end of the driveway.) With all this inclement weather who wouldn’t want to escape to the always balmy and beautiful Hawaii? If the rotten weather has … Continue reading

Where to Eat in Paris

There are more remarkable restaurants in the City of Lights than I could ever cover in this single blog; however, a new eatery opening in one of Paris’ most popular landmarks is a subject I can’t ignore. The new restaurant takes cuisine to new heights—-410 feet up to be exact–and is being run by one of the world’s most recognized celebrity chefs. Alain Ducasse’s new Jules Verne restaurant located at the top of Paris’ Eiffel Tower is the talk of the town. Ducasse is known for whipping up meals for passengers on the Concorde jet and astronauts at the international … Continue reading

Ultra-Luxe Hotel Packages

What’s your idea of a luxurious hotel package? The inclusion of a few spa treatments, maybe access to the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet? I frequently fill this blog with news about affordable travel packages, but rarely do I cover the “fantasy-type” packages offered by seven-star hotels like Dubai’s Burj al Arab, which offer guests gazillion thread-count sateen sheets, which are burned after each use and replaced with silk ones. (I’m kidding.) Ultra-luxe travel packages that cater to the billionaires of the world do exist, and since it is the holidays I thought it would be nice to detail trips that most … Continue reading

National Men Make Dinner Day: Husbands, Hit the Kitchen!

Wayne’s not here to cook for me tonight, but if he was I’d make sure we honored this day. (Which, in case you didn’t know it, is National Men Make Dinner Day.) “Are you kidding me?” ‘Fraid not, sweetheart. We may be living in modern times, and some husbands do take on the task of cooking for their wives and families on a regular basis. But notice the use of the word “some.” Not “most.” That means there’s still a lot of men out there who enjoy the benefit of a wife-prepared meal and never raise a finger to help. … Continue reading

Tasty Travels

If you are a fan of pizza pies then you might consider hopping on the next flight to Naples, Italy. It’s no secret that the city makes some of the finest pizzas in the world, but this weekend chefs there are offering a one-of-kind pie to honor a special visitor. Naples’ world-class pizza makers have invented a pontiff’s pizza in recognition of Pope Benedict XVI one-day visit to the city to celebrate Mass and attend a meeting. Chefs at one of Naples’ most famous restaurants, the bastion of Neapolitan cooking Ciro a Santa Brigida came up with the idea on … Continue reading

Alvie Eats Soup – Ross Collins

“Alvie Eats Soup” is a whimsical tale about a boy who will only eat soup. It’s his favorite thing in the world! In fact, he’s so obsessed with the stuff, his first word was “mulligatawny.” He cried whenever someone tried to give him a cookie or a banana; he just wouldn’t have any of it. As he grew older, his tastes didn’t change at all, to the great discouragement of his parents. His little sister Delilah would eat anything. Why couldn’t he be more like Delilah, his parents wanted to know? And to top it off, his grandmother was a … Continue reading