Chocolate Sausage (or Cookie Fudge)

My Mother-In-Law continues to surprise me with fantastic dessert recipes that taste like nothing I've ever had in the US. Why is it called chocolate sausage? You'll have to read the recipe to find out.

Japanese Rice Balls "Onigiri"

One of the traditional staple on-the-go foods in Japan, Onigiri is one of several rice-based dishes Sergey and I started incorporating on a regular basis. It took us a while to get it right, but we think we're on the right track.

Japanese Rice

Sergey and I have been looking for light-but-filling recipes and have come up with several rice-based ones. Many of them require us to prepare short-grain white rice as a component, so we came up with a process for making good Japanese rice.

Turkey

It was my honor to host Thanksgiving this year. I was in charge of making a turkey for the first time. Here is the result.

Hamburger Patties

Visits to my sister in Lancaster have begun to incorporate a meal of home-grilled burger patties made with local ingredients. DELISH.

Raspberry Chocolate Dreams

In my quest to find delicious hot drinks that are not tea, I thought, "Why deal with the middleman, here?" The middleman in this scenario being dried leaves and pieces of dried fruit or flower petals. So, I got a pack of fresh raspberries and started experimenting.

Loaded Grilled Cheese

The contents of this recipe (and all ensuing photos) were obtained at great personal peril from deep cover as an innocently hungry daughter, asking her Dad just how he does the grilled cheese magic.

Anytime Writer's Fuel

"But Dusty, if you've abandoned caffeine, what do you use as a replacement? And what could possibly replace the taste of coffee?" the masses cry out. Well...

Tea Cookies

Probably Sergey's favorite cookies, but only one person in our family knows how to make them perfectly. Recently I got down on my hands and knees and begged to be taught the sacred recipe. I was granted my boon...

Caprese Toast

What started as Sergey and I downing Bucca di Beppo sized caprese salad servings morphed into us making our own, and then adjusting it into a "light meal" or "healthy snack" depending on how many you make.

Teriyaki Sauce

We might be on a "Yaki" kick. Teriyaki chicken. Teriyaki sauce. Yakisoba. Teriyakisoba...?

Chicken Teriyaki

What's there to say? We wanted to make our own chicken teriyaki. So we went to our favorite Japanese cook online and adjusted the recipe to suit our needs.

Grilled Salmon

In my opinion, this is PERFECT grilled salmon, but there's way too many recipes out there calling themselves Perfect This and Perfect That. STILL. Sergey makes it this way every time, and every time it comes out just so...

Hot Lemonade

This has been my family's cure-all beverage of choice for fevers, colds, and even--you guessed it--The Big Bad. It's no cure, but it packs a Vitamin C punch and coats your throat with heat and honey. Good stuff.

Porcupine Meatballs "Yorsheki"

A dish from Sergey's childhood. My mother in law taught us how to make them at home. We haven't practiced enough to be confident, but we have it down for when we're ready to try.