You know our superstar, know-it-all editor and my partner at Kaplifestyle, Stephanie. You’ve seen her guest posts and recipes. We can add a new data point to her résumé. She can flavor soup. Yesterday, she introduced me to galangal. Galangal (pronounced guh-lang-guh) is often found in Thai, Indonesian, and Malaysian cooking. It's a rhizome - an underground creeping stem of a … [Read more...]

If you have a peach tree in your yard like I do, you can pick the fruit before they're fully ripe and allow them to continue to mature to peak sweetness inside.Some will tell you that you have to pick the initial offerings of the tree. There seems to be a debate about whether to remove the first fruits of a peach tree (or any fruit tree). Some say removing the first fruits … [Read more...]

Don't go into the restaurant business if you're not ready to compete with the baddest on earth. If you're aiming to build the perfect food/coffee/bar business, look no further than Lux in Phoenix, AZ. It’s the Sugar Ray Robinson of dining options. Pound for pound, it's the best Phoenix has to offer.If you've been following this blog, you know I rarely write traditional … [Read more...]

Perpetually challenge your assumptions about what healthy means. You may be right, but educating yourself and questioning your own paradigm is a valuable exercise when it comes to health and well-being.I had a lean towards healthy eating dating back to my days in middle school. Down the street from the "power lines," where the after school fights would take place, was a … [Read more...]

You won't find a takeaway in today's post. Just food for thought.My 13 year old son, Dane, has a fantasy about heaven, and it revolves around food. The basic premise is that life's greatest pleasure is eating decadent meals. "If heaven were perfect," he muses, "we'd have our favorite foods and eat until we're the perfect level of satisfied, then get hungry and do it again." … [Read more...]