What's Your Favorite Thing To Cook?!

The question that makes every professional cook want to jump off the nearest tall building.

Why I Cook

Taking my cue from Michael Ruhlman, whom I greatly admire and who has done a great deal of work demystifying a number of aspects of the culinary universe, I wanted to share the reasons why I cook - personally and professionally. To anybody out there reading this - why do you cook? Leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail, I'd love to hear about it.

RIP Uptown Bar & Café

This is a little belated, but I just wanted to share that subject of my "Comfort Food" post, the Uptown Bar & Café was closed and demolished late last year to make room for some big shiny corporate clothing store. The Uptown was a Twin Cities landmark - damn near ALL of my favorite bands played there early in their careers. Nirvana, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo, The Replacements, The Flaming Lips, Hüsker Dü, and the list goes on. It's a shame and a sin, but it's life.

Surviving Culinary School

Lately I've fielded a number of questions from friends, readers of my blog (which is admittedly not that many people), and members of Chef's Blade about what to expect in culinary school classes. I realized that my earlier post - "Things Every Culinary Student Should Know" - was slightly jaded, cautionary, and not very constructive or proactive, so I decided to come up with some strategies for actually successfully making it through culinary school. I can't think of many fields of work that are more fun, dynamic, and fascinating than the culinary work, so I certainly don't want to scare anyone away.