Welcome to Tuesday Recipe — so called because I send out simple recipes on (occasional) Tuesdays and because Tuesday Recipe has the same initials I do. Sign up in the box at right to get free recipes in your inbox. Click on the archives to see the hundreds of recipes that have been sent out since 2007 (!👀!), or search by ingredient or recipe name. Take a look at this video if you want to see how Tuesday Recipe got started. If you want to know more about my food opinions, click here.
I’ve been working as a cooking teacher, cookbook author, editor, freelance writer, and occasional TV host for decades. Here’s what I’ve learned: my pet peeve in the kitchen is grating cheese, my favorite kitchen tool is a rubber husband, and most people use exclamation points too often!! My most recent book is The Side Dish Handbook. My other favorites are Braises & Stews, Party Appetizers, and Cabin Cooking. I teach cooking classes at Draeger’s Cooking School and food writing classes at Stanford Continuing Studies. I doctor cookbook proposals, I try to keep up on Instagram, and I still cook at home almost every day. A few years ago, I completed an MFA in non-fiction writing at the University of San Francisco, something I’ve been wanting to do for decades.
Even though I trained at Tante Marie’s Cooking School, completing a 9-month professional course and doing an externship at Chez Panisse Cafe, I’m proud to call myself a cook and not a chef. In my view, chefs work in restaurant kitchens and cooks work in home kitchens and there is a big difference between the two. My mission is to help home cooks.
In addition to writing and editing, I’ve done a lot of TV, from 91 episodes of Ultimate Kitchens on Food Network to a reality show on the web called In the Kitchen with Tori Ritchie. For many years, I did a series on CBS The Early Show called The 5-Minute Cooking School with Hannah Storm. Being on camera was fun and nerve-wracking — I cut my finger on live TV twice, but I also got to appear on Oprah.
In normal times, I love volunteering for Food Runners, a nonprofit that delivers food to the needy. The joy I get from giving hungry people something to eat is the best part of my career. When I’m not in the kitchen, I might be leading a food tour with Edible Excursions or I might be on a stand-up paddle board in San Francisco bay. If it’s a really good year, I spend part of it in Italy. Cooking is a wonderful life.