The Wisdom of the Gaucho

A while back I was greatly inspired by a friend of mine and fellow food blogger, Sara who made her own Homemade Vanilla Extract.  She then packaged it up in cute little bottles and gifted them as Christmas presents. It seemed so simple, I thought I'd give it a shot as well. This is truly a homemade recipe that anyone can make. There are really only two ingredients; vodka (a 1.75 liter bottle) and whole vanilla beans (about a quarter pound for each bottle of vodka). I made a double batch, putting a quarter pound of vanilla beans each into two 1.75 liter jugs of vodka. It's easy. All you need are your two ingredients, a clean pair of kitchen shears (or any clean pair of scissors that you don't mind getting a little bit dirty) and a cutting board. The vodka I used was readily available at the local liquor barn type establishment and you can buy the cheapest brand they have, expensive vodka isn't going to make the vanilla taste any better. You might be able to find...

As proud guardians of three deaf dogs, my wife and I have become accidental advocates for informing others about the wonders of adopting or rescuing a deaf dog. This wasn't a deliberate or conscious choice of ours by any means. If you had told me 10 years ago that I would share my home with three deaf dogs and become an ambassador for helping to spread the word about how awesome they are, I would have laughed at the ridiculousness of such a statement. But being de facto ambassadors for deaf dogs has become a unique and fun role for both my wife and I, as we gently and kindly explain (to often disbelieving people) that our dogs happen to be unable to hear. Many people are initially incredulous and say things like "Really?!?!", and "Are you sure?", and then "Really?" again. After their initial surprise there usually follows some questions about what deaf dogs are like, and unfortunately these questions often involve some repetition of some of dis-pr...

When I lived in San Diego, one of my favorite places to eat in town was Jyoti-Bihanga, a tasty vegetarian/vegan restaurant run by the Sri Chinmoy folks. If you aren't familiar with them, I'll tell you this - they make a fantastic fake meatloaf, they call it Neatloaf. You can imagine how excited I was a few years back when a friend of mine e-mailed me the recipe, so now I can have delicious Neatloaf in the comfort of my own home. The recipe as it stands is vegetarian, you'll need to replace the eggs with an equivalent amount of egg substitute to make it vegan, and switch the ricotta cheese with soy cheese (th e Tofutti "cream cheese" works well) or silken tofu. We also use Mom's Place Onion Soup Mix as is sold as Gluten Free . This recipe makes enough for plenty of leftovers (though I usually double or triple the recipe), and reheating my lunch at work the next day has led many people to inquire about this dish.  I can proudly say that several people...