To welcome the Year of the Tiger, how about making your own fortune cookies? It’s easier than it looks, and you might just find it fun.Mainly because — think about it — you get to write your own fortunes! Oh, the possibilities — will you be charming or practical or…
For lunch we decide to try Al-Hana Restaurant at Baiz Market. Ok, so maybe the word ‘restaurant’ is a stretch, more like hole-in-the-wall, but we mean that in the best way possible. Al-Hana consists of a walk-up counter with a half dozen tables and chairs for eating in. It is tucked…
This week for Monday Night Martha we decided to try Martha’s Curried Tomato Seafood Bouillabaisse. Bouillabaisse, basically a fish soup made up of various kinds of fish and a variety of herbs and spices, is generally thought to be an abbreviation of bouillon abaisse – meaning “broth lowered” or “to…
The Chow Bella staff can not stay out of the kitchen. In anticipation of the Super Bowl, we’ve used our culinary talents to compete in a showdown of dips. After three heavy hitters like Jonathan’s Nothing Left to Lose Beer Cheese and Claire’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Artichoke Dip, and…
Let’s face it — here in Phoenix we are fortunate to have an abundance of good Mexican food. This can make deciding where to go to lunch a somewhat daunting task. This week we decided to check out the lunch specials at Comedor Guadalajara and we are so happy we…
Today Monday Night Martha is all about comfort food – Creamy Rice Pudding with Carmelized Bananas to be exact. We started the rice pudding in the morning, beginning by combining milk, cream, vanilla bean, sugar, a pinch of salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a saucepan. Then we stirred in blanched…
Robrt Pela is a family man, so when the family comes over, it’s a big deal. We are excited to score an invitation to his house, not only because he and his partner, Todd Grossman, live in a lovingly restored historic 20’s bungalow, but also because he is cooking. With Pela (a…
The Cornish Pasty Co. in Tempe inhabits a long narrow space. The walls are painted black and the floor is covered in tile.It makes us feel like we are in an old diner in Brooklyn rather than a strip mall in Tempe. There are two-tops along one-side and a long…
We’ve got to hand it to Martha; the lady knows how to make a cookie. With hundreds of cookie recipes in her repertoire the hardest part can be deciding which one to try first. Luckily we had the help of a cute little girl with definite ideas about what she…
Before starting this week’s Monday Night Martha we were standing around asking each other the eternal question, “So, what do you want to eat?” and bouncing a few ideas back and forth.Then the discussion turned into a fantasy of what we thought Martha might have eaten the night before heading…
For this Monday Night Martha, we did something decidedly un-Martha. We baked Sticky Toffee Pudding while still wearing our pajamas. Yeah, that’s right. We were in our pajamas past noon. It’s hard for us to imagine the super-achieving, real Martha cooking in her pajamas. And even if she did, we’re…
We are invited to a New Year’s Day smoked pork roast. Our Southern girlfriend and her husband are going to slow smoke pork for twelve hours on the grill with a secret spicy dry rub. Well, need we say more? Count us in. But we need to bring something along…
In New York City the black and white cookie is ubiquitous; it can be spotted in corner delis throughout the city. It is an old standby — available and steady. It’s just the thing we need for the beginning of the New Year. More cake-like than crunchy — the black…
We’ve made it to that week between Christmas and New Year’s. The final week of the year 2009. The pressure is off. We don’t need to wrap or bake or buy anything. This week we are not going to worry if our dishes match, or our floors need mopping. It…
Two weeks ago we began reporting on an epic project, the creation of Martha Stewart’s holiday showstopper, the croquembouche. Here’s Part One and here’s Part Two. This week we bring you the conclusion. We wake up grumpy and taciturn. While making coffee we start playing with the word croquembouche in…
We’ve never been a big fan of typical American breakfast fare — we love eggs but prefer them in the afternoon, pancakes are heavy, and cereal leaves us cold. We much prefer savory dishes and variety, which is why we have found our happy place in dim sum. In Cantonese,…
Last week, we began reporting on an epic project, the creation of Martha Stewart’s croquembouche. Kids, you might want to read our series before you try this at home. Here’s Part One. This week, we bring you Part Two. With the sobering news that our dessert was going to take,…
We couldn’t resist checking out a coffee-table cookbook called, Entertaining From an Ethnic Indian Kitchen because the author Komali Nunna bills herself as the “Indian Martha Stewart”. (Nunna is a California-based cook born in Southern India). The book is full of pictures, recipes and tips for entertaining Indian style and Nunna’s…
There it was – the December issue of Martha Stewart Living, calling us with its siren song. It was beaming from the newsstand, positively lit up in glossy holiday glory with not one, not two, but three covers! There it was, piquing a gnawing little insecurity. We’ve been writing these…
It’s Monday Night Martha time again. We’ve just finished Thanksgiving and already we have a birthday party to throw for a six year old. With no desire to eat cupcakes right now – though we are making them for the kids – or to sample another piece of pumpkin pie, we…
I don’t know about you, but for us Thanksgiving is all about the sides. Sure, the turkey is important but it’s the sides that make it all sing. Which is why for this week’s Monday Night Martha we thought we would try out a potential new Thanksgiving side dish: Apple,…
Ah, Monday. The day when you wake up to the beginning of a brand new work week and realize you didn’t do the laundry or make it to the grocery store. We doubt that this has ever actually happened to Martha. But if it did she might opt to make…
