My socially distanced holiday stay in my previous hometown of Las Vegas from Dec. 20-Jan. 12 was, of course, unlike any other due to the continuing coronavirus pandemic. Restaurants in Las Vegas at the time were at 25% capacity, and reservations were required everywhere, including at local, surprisingly-still-24-hour watering holes.

My husband and I have an I-cook-you-clean arrangement. But that doesn’t mean that after cooking, I sit down and relax while he handles the entire mess. No, it’s really more that I cook, and we both clean. I try to keep the mess under control as I’m chopping and sautéing, and after we eat, I put away the food.

The premier annual chocolate tasting event Decadence! Spokane Chocolate Festival is back from Sunday through, appropriately, Feb. 14 as Days of Decadence virtually amid the continuing coronavirus pandemic. As a safe alternative to an in-person event, Days of Decadence organizers have created a digital experience.

It is said that chicken soup is for the soul, but in Spokane this week, purchasing posole for the Sol benefits the food bank Second Harvest. Chef Travis Dickinson’s Cochinito Taqueria downtown is taking part in Bowl of Sol, a benefit for Second Harvest that pairs his posole with a locally made bowl for the customer’s keeping.

I’m going to apologize now because if some form of diet is one of your new year’s resolutions, I’m about to make you break it. But this particular day gives you every excuse to indulge in the iconic, delicious decadence. Because on National Chocolate Cake Day, celebrated annually on Jan. 27, there’s just one thing to do: eat chocolate cake.

Purchasing a quality chef knife is a great first step for a beginner home cook, but the quality of the knife soon won’t matter if it isn’t cared for. Luckily it only requires a few habits and precautions to ensure the knife lasts for many years to come.

Condiments catch up with ketchup: Heinz might be the heavyweight in kitchens across the U.S., but there are fresh new contenders gunning for the throne. I think one of the biggest bets is we will see consumers get adventurous with their condiments. More chimichurri on steaks, mustards beyond the yellow and pepper jelly on ... everything.

If you're particularly into numbers, the phrase "National Pie Day" might make you think of March 14, aka Pi Day, a celebration of the mathematical constant that begins with 3.14. But March is still a couple of months away, so National Pie Day can only mean one thing: a day to celebrate the pastry filled with sweet or savory goodness.

Whenever I see an Indonesian recipe for tempeh, I give it a try. That’s because even though I’ve been a fan of the fermented soybean cake for years, I’m still trying to unlock all its secrets, and Indonesia is where it was born. As chef Lara Lee writes in her beautiful recent cookbook, “Coconut & Sambal,” tempeh hails from 18th century Java.

Roast chicken smells like home. It is the smell of a communal meal, of care and love that goes into thinking ahead and dry brining a chicken and of showing someone you're willing to put in a little effort on a sleepy Sunday. Chicken fat rendering under high heat is, in and of itself, an olfactory experience.

Sometimes leftovers and a new recipe cross paths at just the right moment. I was flipping through "Clodagh's Weeknight Kitchen" by Clodagh McKenna (Kyle Books, 2021) and came across her recipe for a phyllo galette filled with roasted butternut squash.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, I went to the movies a lot, often alone, and I’d see pretty much anything because the golden-salty greatness that is movie theater popcorn makes seeing almost anything worthwhile.

It’s here, everyone! The day that celebrates each and every person on this planet: National Cheese Lover’s Day. (And don’t even come at me with “Well, I don’t like cheese” because that’s not humanly possible, Karen.) Observed annually on Jan. 20, this fromage-filled day honors the people who love and appreciate all things cheesy, like these cheesy facts.

The bagel and lox is a staple of American Jewish cuisine, and, although it has New York roots, it is now popular across the nation. The signature ingredient is lox, which is derived from the Yiddish word for salmon, and it almost always refers to thin fillets of brined salmon.

When I started working at The Spokesman-Review in April 2019, one of the first people I met in town was Kris Kilduff, whose one of many hats includes starting the Facebook group Food Finder Spokane last January. I met Kilduff, born and raised in Spokane, after Facebook exchanges, at a Secret Burger event at Prohibition Gastropub.

When it comes to breakfast, are you a sweet or savory kind of person? Do you top your waffles with strawberries and a mountain of whip cream? Or do you load an omelette with veggies and call it good? No matter which way you lean in regard to the first or second meal of the day, a bagel is a satisfying option.

To braise or not to braise, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the kitchen to prepare vegetables with low heat and little moisture, or to use another technique from one’s culinary bag of tricks, and, with a scorching pan or rapid boil, cook them? When it comes to cooking vegetables, braising is rarely front of mind.

This soup isn’t supposed to excite me, but it does. It’s pea soup, after all, typically a metaphor for drab and boring. While it might not have the outright glamour of other soups, I am enamored with it nonetheless. I love that it’s a warming, filling, meal-in-a-bowl – as cozy as the softest flannel PJs – made with few steps and minimal chopping.

This green smoothie is not magical. It will not detoxify you (your liver, lungs and digestive system do that just fine) or cleanse you (food doesn’t make you clean or dirty) or fulfill the overblown promises inevitably made about one food or another right after the New Year’s ball drops.