“I am not a glutton – I am an explorer of food.” ~Erma Bombeck Exactly. Thank you, Erma. I could not have said that better myself. I am not a glutton. I like food. I like traveling. I like adventures and experiencing new things. I have always loved learning about something that I didn’t know existed and I especially have always loved visiting new places—no matter how far or near my home they may be. Any new experience is usually worthwhile. Food experiences, too. As a kid, we had to at least taste something new. If we didn’t like it, we didn’t have to eat it, but we had to…

“A recipe has no soul. You, as the cook, must bring soul to the recipe.” ~Thomas Keller I agree with Chef Keller. You must bring soul, some attention, and some tender loving care, if you will, to most good recipes. You need to add those extra touches: leaving the eggs out at room temperature perhaps, making sure you have the best butter available, roasting a head of garlic so you can add its sticky goodness to whatever bread or side dish you may be eating, …the list goes on and on. And then you must pay attention. You must braise, or stir, or hang out in the kitchen with a…

“Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs.” ~Dwight D. Eisenhower Well, I guess the late President Eisenhower and I would have gotten along just fine! No offense to the champagne and caviar crowd (I hang out with them sometimes), but hey, who doesn’t love beer and hot dogs? I certainly love a good hot dog, so I was definitely game for this next recipe in the Cook the 40 Challenge: Kogi Dogs by Roy Choi. Cook the 40 Why take on Food & Wine’s best-ever recipes from their forty years in publication? Because if you’ve been paying attention, you know that’s one…