Semiserious Chefs

It’s pretty obvious by looking at the recipes around this one that I am on a total Korean kick. It all started when I found out what banchan even were through my discovery of Dubu Jorim. I love these little side dishes! One might be sweet, one might be spicy, this one has a ginger […]

Over the last couple of years I have really expanded the line of products I purchase from The New Central Market here in Anchorage. Given, they have expanded, too. The one thing I don’t usually go for, and probably because I simply like to cook myself, are their pre-made dishes. The owner, Somya, is always […]

This rice cake recipe was inspired by Chef Kirsten Dixon of Tutka Bay Lodge near Homer. She created a recipe that used kippered salmon and a spicy mayo. I decided to adapt it using my mom’s personally smoked salmon, and a recent addition to my cooking repertoire, garlic sesame soy dressing. I was a little […]

One day I happened upon some pita bread in the discount bin. Yup! That is very often where my inspiration comes from: discounted produce, discounted bread, discounted meat… This evening it was a double whammy when I also found prepackaged ultra thin sliced beef on discount. As it is a pretty safe assumption that I […]

Calamari is the most ‘exotic’ food that your average person has tried. Squid. Exotic, right? Well is certainly isn’t escargo! (Which, to be totally honest, even I haven’t had the opportunity to try yet.) In the scope of our entire world there are a TON of unusual ‘delicacies’ that rate way higher on the exotic […]

I discovered this sauce in one of my favorite go-tos, “The French Market Cookbook” and was very excited to have the first opportunity to use it last Thanksgiving. Not only was it the perfect dip for our steamed artichoke leaves then, but I have been repeatedly making it since for a whole variety of uses. […]

Not too long ago, when the snow hadn’t flown yet but the doldrums of winter were definitely here, I asked Andrew for some ideas for the next preschool theme in our daycare. Black Smithing. That’s what he decided for a group of 2, 3, and 4 year olds. “Maybe in the summer?” was the politest […]

Not always, but at some ?most? sushi restaurants in the US they offer a small green salad with a ginger carrot dressing. I have those question marks in there because one of our local sushi ‘places’ here on Muldoon in Anchorage offers said salad, and one does not. It seems like it’s as much a […]

It’s been boggling my mind. I’ve spent more than a week wracking my brain. Finally I decided to ask someone else. I didn’t even have the question out of my mouth before I was laughing at myself for even having asked, knowing FULL-WELL the answer, “Andrew, what is it about cranberry sauce that no one […]

Who doesn’t love the classic ‘pigs-in-a-blanket?’ There are two renditions that I am aware of. One being breakfast sausage links wrapped in actual pancakes, and the other, seemingly more common option, little smokies rolled inside crescents. I can, in fact, remember what is probably the first time I ever had the pancake type of ‘Pigs-in-a-blanket.’ […]