In a used bookstore the other day, I stumbled across an old favorite cookbook called ‘Unplugged Kitchen’ by Viana La Place. I'd owned this book back when it was first published in 1996 but had lost track of it since. So I picked it up, starting paging through and 5 minutes later I was still standing in the same spot, reading through her recipe on summer baked tomatoes with brown sugar.
Rule of thumb when you pick up a book in a bookstore and find yourself still reading it five minutes later: just go ahead and buy it.
For those nights of home cooking when all you can manage is heating something up, Chicago's 
While attending an olive oil workshop last week, we were inspired by some of the other participants' tales of beloved olive oil-infused meals. One woman's description of Italian fried sage leaves intrigued us so much that we couldn't wait to return home and try making them for ourselves.
