Miela Tahril

The travel craziness continues as I'm heading to Austin for the IACP 33rd Annual Conference. This year's theme is: "Light Your Fire: Sparks from the Culinary Edge." I'll be doing a session entitled, "DIY Video Production for Food Bloggers," and will be joined by the lovely and talented Sara, from Average Betty, and Daniel Klein, chef and traveling food documentarian from The Perennial Plate. By the way, if you think I travel a lot, check this guy out.I'm pretty excited to be doing a little...

Those of you expecting some kind of char-grilled hunk o' meat, fat-glistening-in-the-sun-type video for Memorial Day will probably be disappointed to see this humble zucchini dish. I really can't blame you. It is zucchini for heaven's sake. I've been busy traveling on some secret business trips recently, so while I'd normally have a hard time feigning such excitement over squash, considering how much time I've had, I'm actually quite thrilled with how this came out.I didn't start out trying to make...

Memorial Day weekend is here! Time to dust off the grill, and find that "Kiss the Cook" apron everyone loves so much. Is there anything so empowering (for us simple-mined males at least) as standing in front of a flaming grill, foam-wrapped can of beer in one hand, giant grill tongs in the other?I've posted eight of my favorite grill recipe videos below. All are proven crowd-pleasers, and none require any special skills or equipment. By the way, don't forget the side dishes, everyone knows they...

I'd like to start by saying this video demonstration on how to cut a sandwich like Bobby Flay may be the most anti-climatic video we've ever done. After the big build up I did in my Hellmann's Club Sandwich post a few months ago, about this revolutionary technique, something tells me the vast majority of viewers may be underwhelmed. Regardless, I think it's kind of a neat trick, and an interesting glimpse into how the mind of a chef works. Even something as basic as cutting a sandwich in half can...

Last year, while at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen, I was invited to a private, early morning cooking demonstration by Fabio Viviani, one of the most popular and entertaining Top Chef contestants of all time. For obvious reasons (including, but not limited to, long nights of drinking, eating and more drinking), early morning events at the Aspen F&W are usually not high on my list, but despite a pretty impressive hangover, I decided this up-close and personal demo was too good to pass up.By...

Hi, I love your blog, wanna trade links?There's been a proliferation of food blogger festivals over the last few years. Some of the reasons are obvious, like the explosion of new food blogs being published. It's now common knowledge that food blogging is incredibly fun, almost no work, and extremely profitable, with most bloggers making six-figure incomes. Some reasons are less obvious, like how much money these events net for the promoters. These people are making out like Goldman Sachs. My sources...

It only took me like a year to realize there was a way to adjust the white balance on the video settings for my camera. Not bad. I knew about this adjustment for still photos, but until recently never figured it out for video.I was testing my new found skills on a recent late night snack, and when I was done I realized I had a halfway decent video recipe to post. The color still isn’t great, and I'll continue to practice and adjust, but it's much better than the yellow-orange cast I used to suffer...

I'm getting ready to jet back to San Francisco after a great stay in Atlanta. As you probably know, I was here for the 1st Annual Atlanta Food and Wine Festival, which was a lot of delicious fun, and considering this was their inaugural year, I thought everything was really well done. Of course, I'll have a more detailed recap coming, and a couple festival-inspired video recipes, so stayed tuned! In the meantime, here are a couple shots to tease you with. Enj...

Hello from Atlanta, where I'm hard at work eating and drinking my way around the 1st Annual Atlanta Food and Wine Festival. Been having a great time, and can't wait to share some of the great things I've tasted with you, hopefully in video form.In the meantime, here is a little Ham and Eggs video I did before I left.  Sure it tastes the same as if you cooked them separately, but that's really not the point. This looks cool, and besides, you only need one pan. Enj...

Photo (c) Flickr User jbudlo2 I'll be grabbing a red-eye tonight out of San Francisco for my maiden voyage to Atlanta for the 1st Annual Atlanta Food & Wine Festival. I'll be in Atlanta until Monday covering this event, which is being billed as a celebration of authentic Southern cuisine, wine and spirits.You know I'm a sucker for a good food and wine festival, especially one with chefs like Chris Lilly, John Besh, and Tim Love involved. The organizers are patterning the event after the Food...

I am very proud and honored to announce that Food Wishes has won a second consecutive Saveur Magazine's Best Food Blog Award in the video category! A giant thank you to everyone who took the time to register and vote. Through your support with these types of awards, you are directly helping get our videos in front of a whole new audience. That's what this is really all about. That, and bragging rights. Also, my hearty congratulations to all the other winners and nomine...

I use so much regular garlic that to see the plant in its premature form always fills me with wonder and excitement. To think that these tender, scallion-like bulbs will eventually divide themselves into all those neat, paper-wrapped cloves fascinates me every time. Yes, I’m easily fascinated.Green garlic, as I’ve come to learn relatively late in life, makes one hell of a good soup. Its flavor, once simmered slowly with potatoes and a bit of pork, is somewhere right in the middle between raw...

Before I review Cristina Ferrare’s cookbook, Big Bowl of Love, I should make it clear that I don't do cookbook reviews. First, it would mean having to read one, and that's an exercise I've never acquired a taste for. Oh, I'll flip through one; I'll flip through one with the best of them, but I'd be lying if I told you it was anything more than to look at the photos, and skim some of the text.So, when publishers pitch me to review the new hot cookbook, I usually decline politely, not wanting to waste...

As many of you know, I often post these video recipes on YouTube well before I get around to writing the post, and this roasted asparagus with prosciutto and poached egg is no exception.One advantage of this modus operandi is that the initial comments I get will often help shape the blog post's theme. This time the controversy revolved around the wisdom of cooking prosciutto. I knew this was going to come up, and even joked about it in the video (parental warning: I used the word, "ass"). Even though...

As many of you may have already heard, Blogger is experiencing some serious technical difficulties.  We've been unable to access any publishing tools for a couple days, and our last post, the Roasted Asparagus with Prosciutto and Poached Egg, was removed from the service while they solve these issues. It and we should be back up soon! Thank you for your patien...

Photo (c) The Ravenous CoupleThis video recipe for bánh cam (or bánh rán) comes to us from Kim and Hong, the very talented duo who publish The Ravenous Couple. They were at my Foodbuzz Festival panel discussion on video blogging, and as some of you may remember, I promised to share any videos those participants sent my way.  Kim and Hong posted this as a special Mothers Day tribute, and I think it's a great way to celebrate how these heirloom recipes are handed down from one generation to another....

I'm just guessing, but I bet there's some old French kitchen expression that roughly translates to, "Hey, it has crispy, fried duck skin crumbled over the top, how bad can it be?" This video recipe for duck fat homefries is perfect when you find yourself in possession of this highly coveted ingredient. The recipe is the easy part, finding duck skin is a little more challenging. The easiest method of attainment is to know a duck hunter. They can hook you up faster than you can say, "Nice Elmer Fudd...

I'd like to wish all you Moms out there a very happy Mother's Day tomorrow. A special shout out to my mother Pauline (you may remember her from such videos as, "Key Lime Pie" – see below), I love you, miss you, and hope to see you soon! And of course to my mother-in-law, Peggy, who, from the very beginning was the blog's fairy godmother. If some of you are still looking for a gift, here's a neat trick for turning an ice cream cake into an edible potted plant! I encourage you to read the original...

This somewhat mysterious post is for a Pinot-glazed mushroom burger topping that will make it's official appearance as part of a sponsored recipe I'll be doing at a future date. I can give no details, except that it's a cheeseburger, and it kicks ass.I'm not a huge fan of sloppy toppings for cheeseburgers. I don't mind beef grease dripping down my forearms, but I'm not really into chopped vegetable matter following it down my elbows. These mushrooms are a delicious exception. Plus, they're not even...

Here's a collection of video recipes featuring fantastic food inspired by the cuisines of Central and South America. You never forget your first love, and when it comes to ethnic food it was the foods of Mexico and points south that first captured my imagination some 28 years ago, as I began eating my way across San Francisco. I realize Cinco de Mayo is a bigger deal out here in California, but no matter where you live, I hope you give some of these festive recipes a try. Enjoy!Pineapple Pork Al...

This post's original title was, " Lobster Scrambled Eggs – I Wonder What the Poor People are Having for Breakfast Today?" Of course I would have explained this socially insensitive query in this first paragraph, but I feared that casual browsers would only read the headline and think I was some kind of major d-bag.We certainly grew up around a ton of great food, but being of fairly modest means we only enjoyed expensive luxury foods like lobster or Prime Rib once in a great while. Whenever such...

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Michele and I just finished our 15th Passport to Dry Creek Valley event at the magnificent Frick Winery, and this may have been our best year yet! We are dead tired and heading out to dinner, but I wanted to share a few shots of the menu and pairings. We got so many wonderful compliments, which really makes all the hard work worthwhile. We have to give a HUGE thanks to our sous chef Elizabeth Howes, from Saffronlane.com. She was truly a delight to work with, and a pros pro.We'll be back into San...