Playing With My Food ~
A journal about food, thought, travel, and life; by Chef & Raconteur Chaz French.

Baked Sundays: Epic Baking FAIL!

This is an ancient draft post from way back before I started culinary school.  I never got around to finishing it.  Here it is… Every now and then even the most experienced cooks and bakers fail. This was one of those times. “What the hell is THAT!?” you say… That was a cheesecake failure, and […]

Baked Sundays: Sunflower Butter Cookies With Cranberries

As there are more and more nut allergies (or perceived to be) these days, I decided to play with a classic peanut butter cookie recipe and swap the peanut for sunflower, and then add a little something in the form of ground cranberries.  They add a subtle note to the cookie.  The recipe requires a […]

Baked Sundays: Crackers!

These are damn tasty crackers! Crunchy, flavorful, healthy and awesome!  I’d been wanting to experiment with crackers for the kids at school, but wanted them to be really healthy, I remembered a recipe we made in culinary school for some “Oatmeal Dulse Crackers” I used that as a jumping off point and adapted it to […]

Rethinking Old Ways: Hard Boiled Eggs

For years I’ve used the “Julia Child Method” for making hard boiled eggs, and while it works most of the time, the times it fails and I end up with those heinous green rings, gritty texture and sulfurous odors, tended to be the times when I was trying to impress, and presentation matters. Recently I’ve […]

Sunday Breakfast, Mexican Style.

I had an awesome breakfast today! What you’re looking at is carne marinated pork sauteed with kale, leek, and mushroom, alongside some scrambled eggs with a bit of Tapatio hotsauce, over La Mexicana soft corn tortillas.  I’ve been told repeatedly “La Mexicana” is the best in the bay area.  Damn good tortillas, I just threw […]

Eating Well: Red Russian Kale Frittata

Russian Kale Frittata (Quick note: I don’t use non-stick cookware, so frittatas take a bit more oil, I’ve noted where you can leave out 2tbsp if using non-stick). Rinse your kale well, the cut off the tough end bits of the stem, then finely chop kale and stem.  In a saute pan melt half the […]

Eating Well: Bok Choy Blossoms & Tortellini

Great, super fast meal using store-bough fresh tortellini, the last of my farmer’s market finds from last week, along with a tasty easy sauce of butter and goat cheese.  You’re done in minutes.  Boiling the water will take the longest. Bok Choy Blossoms & Tortellini The tortellini is fresh from Trader Joe’s $1.99 for a […]

Baked Sundays: Brown Butter Shortbread With Saffron

I am in fact, slightly evil.  To make it worse, I didn’t just make an addictive brown butter shortbread, I added saffron as a mood enhancer. Brown Butter Shortbread With Saffron Yeild: 64 2″ x o.5″ baton cookies  Time: 40 minutes, plus 8 hours chilling. Ingredients: 1 stick (4oz) butter 1/8 teaspoon ground saffron 3/4 […]

Eating Well: Tuna Radicchio Salad

So, “Eating Well For One On A Budget” is way too long to put in most post titles, and EWFOOAB is an ugly shortening, so, we’re just going to call the series “Eating Well” from here out so the dish name can be in the title too. First, yes this is a full and filling […]

Eating Well For One On A Budget

Welcome to a new series here on how to cook for one person on a tight budget.  Over the course of the week I’ll be posting what I make with all of this. $9.55 all organic, from the Berkeley Farmer’s Market. Top: Bok Choi Blossoms $1.50 (I’d never heard of them before either). Snap Peas […]