January dreaming and restaurant rave: memories of a perfect lunch at L’Escargot Montorgueil on a warm summer day during an anniversary trip to Paris

Fierro Argentine Grill is a very casual, very chill outdoor eatery, but the service is 4-star. So is the food. And the relaxed outdoor seating and ambiance is a plus, making you feel like everything is ok and you could sit there all afternoon and just enjoy life.

This is a story about how a gift of homemade jelly made its way into an appetizer, and a formula / template recipe for throwing together a 5-minute appetizer.

Let me tell you about a working lunch in Paris. Grab a fork and your imagination and join me in the meeting room for a few gourmet meals.

Still reminiscing about Paris, I have a little Glover Gardens Makes the Bigtime story for you, set at Bistro des Augustins in the City of Lights.

A friend turns his long-time dream into reality and makes a great cuppa joe at Neon Moon Coffee in Burton, Texas.

Let’s step back in time, to a weekday in April of 2017, and together experience my lunch and subsequent walk to one of our offices in the outskirts of Paris.

In its raw form, with its clean, crisp flavor and boat-like shape, this little finger-sized leaf is a perfect delivery device for richer foods.

A well-timed comment from another blogger helped me realize that it’s ok to be a foodie-blogger-storyteller person with a unique and real message – even though my food isn’t art.

We love avocado toast! Not because we’re trendy, frivolous or extravagant, but simply because we love fresh food that’s bursting with vibrant flavors.

By using giant jars of pre-minced garlic that’s floating in additives, are we fostering a generation of underprivileged taste buds that have never experienced the joy of fresh garlic?

Avocado-dill spread is a super-simple, creamy, tangy condiment that stands up to spicy food and holds its own. In other words, it’s a keeper!

Bruschetta is so simple, so summery, so garlicky-good. Ripe red tomatoes meet their life partner in soft green basil, with garlic and oil to seal their commitment.

A light-hearted but hopefully provocative food-snob rant during a ghastly and unpredictable pandemic.

I wasn’t expecting a Texas-sized offering when I ordered the Scottish Beef Burger as part of an Edinburgh hotel’s set menu, but that’s what I got, along with a foodie-worthy smoked trout first course.

From Food & Wine: “This recipe offers irrefutable proof that the best dishes are often the simplest.”

Something in this Food & Wine magazine will be on our table this weekend during our quiet time in the mountains of Colorado.

The Grill-Meister and I had a rockin’ good time learning to make sushi at a date-night cooking class.

My cousin’s kid is a baker with big dreams about the Culinary Institute’s summer camp and a future bakery.

Monteith’s Close on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile really knows how to make you feel like they are glad you’re there. And they have an award-winning bartender who created The Outsider Cocktail.