Nachos started out similar to the Caesar salad. A Mexican Maitre’D named Ignacio (Nacho) Anaya had a table of 10 to 12 ladies show up at his restaurant after closing.

Not one to miss out on business, Nacho ran into the kitchen to see what he had.The answer was tostadas, shredded Wisconsin cheese, and jalapenos. The “nacho” was born.

There are many kinds of steak out there, from the expensive filet to the almost-not-a-steak-cross-cut. One of the most overlooked is the sirloin.

In restaurants it’s usually the cheapest on the menu, leading people to believe that it isn’t as good as other steaks. This is not true! Sirloin may not be as tender as a filet or New York, but it has an incredible amount of flavor.

Burgers, burgers, burgers. There are so many takes on the humble little hamburger. From the boring, pre-made, scary-pink freezer patty (that can still be delicious if cooked well), to the gem of the hamburger world, Kobe beef.

We all have to admit that at one time or another even a fast food burger has hit the spot, and we all have fond memories of the summertime barbeque burgers. To me they are all great and each have a time and place. Let me tell you about one of my favorite burgers of all time, the real mushroom onion burger.

Scroll down for the recipe and instruction on how to make pesto

One of my favorite times of the year is when basil plants are exploding with fresh leaves that need to be used before they turn. This is pesto season!! I like to get the whole family together for making pesto from scratch. Not only are they extra hands in processing the ingredients, it’s a great time to hang out with a captive audience who may have ideas to make a different kind of pesto. I made my first sun dried tomato pesto as a result of one of our “basil bashing” sessions.

love chicken fried rice! All chicken fried rice. I have been fortunate to have learned how to make several different kinds, sweet Thai, spicy Thai, Malaysian, Filipino, Chinese-American, and a few others. The one thing they all have in common is rice, but that can be where the similarities end. Even the rice can be very different, some cultures use jasmine, some basmati.

The History of the Little Potato (if you’re after the classic mash recipe straight away scroll down!)

Potatoes, as most of us know, come from Peru originally. Now they are everywhere there are people. Potatoes are linked to many civilizations having booms. The potato fed the Incas, allowing them to make incredible leaps in science, math, and architecture. They fed the Mayans and the Aztecs. Potatoes have been cultivated for over 7,000 years by the people of the Andes, resulting in about 5 thousand varieties.

A Dull Knife is a Dangerous Knife!

A lot of the home cooks I know have something very dangerous in their kitchen drawer, a dull knife. For some it is out of fear of cutting themselves with a sharp blade. They mistakenly think that it’s easier to get a nasty cut from a sharp blade.