Kicking It Off with Chicken Marbella

A couple years ago I hopped on the blogging train and started one.  I can't remember what it was called or what I even wrote about. 

I guess I didn't have anything important to say at that time.  And maybe I still don't.  We'll see.

I gotta be honest with you--I didn't know what to write about in my first posting until today.  I'm so bummed out about the death of Sheila Lukins who was a co-founder of The Silver Palate here in NYC and wrote the cookbook by the same name that--literally--changed American cooking in the '80s.

Listen, you gotta understand this--I was this little kid in Pittsburgh, hiding behind my glasses, and I treated that cookbook like a novel.  I used to read my mother's copy page by page, looking at the illustrations and wondering what the hell basalmic vinegar and chutney was. 

In essence, it gave us hope that we could aspire to be good at-home cooks if we wanted.  There was more to American cooking that pot roast and Sheila was our guide in the grocery aisles, pointing out goat cheese, fresh figs, and capers.  Stuff that nowadays wouldn't make you bat an eye.  But back then, it was something else.  It was educational, delicious, and guess what--fun.

So thanks Sheila.  Hope the heavens like your Chicken Marbella as much as the rest of us.

Oh, and this blog won't be gushy like today.  I'm just in a mushy mood.