Chef Tom – Foodz N’ Vidz

 

Chef Tom – My Good Husband Dan

My good husband Dan’s birthday is April 1. I know, an April Fools baby. Explains a lot, really. I am counting on nine people being fully inoculated by then (three of us already are, including me), that we’re all on a sunny patio in lovely San Carlos drinking beautiful wine and eating multiple tasty courses over a four hour gathering. I’ve already started the menu.

Here are four highly recommended dishes (these are starters) from my foodiverse.

Thought I’d give you a taste.

Chef Tom – Meat and Potatoes The Blues …and a Whiskey

Call me old fashioned. Sometimes you just wanna go back to your roots. Doesn’t mean you can’t apply a smidge of sophistication.

Chef Tom – Cherries! Food and Music!

 It’s cherry season. There are thousands and thousands of recipes. There are tons of nutrients and health benefits with this jewel of the stone fruits.

Chef Tom’s Morning Bowl and Swinging Sven

What better way to start your day than a healthy breakfast bowl and some Electro Swing dancing?

Chef Tom – Parker/Parkour

From the Master himself, the Grand Daddy of the Pillsbury Doughboy himself, James Beard, and one of my top-tiered go-to recipes sites, Serious Eats (includes a secret ingredient for extra fluffiness), comes two ways to make one of THE best bread rolls ever.

We’re all baking now, amirite? Roll up your sleeves, put on some tunes, and pour a glass of good wine. It’s ok to dance around the kitchen. No one’s looking. Except your husband, who knows you’ve gone round the bend, your kids, who are climbing the walls like Spiderman and screaming like Banshee, and your cat, who doesn’t really give a shit.

Chef Tom Jams Bread and Butter

Alright, take a deep breath. Notice how much extra time is on your hands right now. Notice, too, that boredom has been kept at bay for a while, but it might be rearing its ugly head a bit more these days. Finally, embrace the insistence, the doggedness, the determination of your body, mind, and soul for pure, straight-up comfort food.

Now, read through these three recipes and visualize the sheer, indulgent, no-place-like-home, grandma’s-in-the-kitchen, oh-my-god-this-is-so-good nostalgia of it all, as you sit down with a good cup of tea and fix yourself a lovely-and-large slice of still warm homemade whole wheat bread, slathered with good butter and sweet jam – that you made yourself!

Got it? Can you see it? Is your mouth watering?

Good. Yum.

Chef Tom with a Solo Suggestion a Comforting Recipe and some Delightful Music

Joyce Goldstein is one of my all-time favorite chefs. I own a half dozen of her cookbooks, including one that I return to over and over. Solo Suppers was designed with the single diner in mind, but, according to Chef Goldstein, the recipes double really well. So, if you and your partner are hunkered down together, this would be a great cookbook to own.

Chef Tom’s Tales and Tuna

 

Editor’s Note – Chef Tom has requested a No-Pictures presentation of today’s column. He wants you to use your Theatre of the Mind to conjure up the characters, locations, and story. Experience the age old Joy and Immersion of Reading the Printed Word.

In the Round Robin writing course, even though I was to write one story per day with a time limit of 12 minutes per story, I liked, from time to time, writing multiple chapters of the same saga. This one was fun to explore. The titles of each “chapter” were the daily writing prompts. They were not linear, either, but putting them all together after, there is a definite arc.

Chef Tom Dishes Up Mediterranean Chicken and 3 (Very) Short Stories

A Reminder: These short stories are from a writing program called Round Robin. Write something every day, set the timer for 12 minutes, the title of each piece is the daily prompt. Once the alarm goes off, stop writing.