4 Rochester

One of my Cooking Light group buddies just won a category prize at the Cooking Light Ultimate Reader Recipe Contest! An article about the contest is here (in the slide show, she is in a blue shirt and a red apron, shown in profile working on her baby artichokes). I've had her braised baby artichokes...

I'm going crazy trying to get my kids ready to go back to school, plus preparing for a couple of trips. That's why I'm doing these goofy blog posts instead of writing about actual recipes. But I wanted to give a shout out to my cooking contest buddy, Teri, who won herself a trip to NYC to...

The Pillsbury Bake-off contest is on the Food Network this week! I actually watched it in the emergency room on Saturday night and didn't see myself, except for a glimpse of my pink shirt. (I must have been distracted by the guy screaming NOOOOO!!!! NOOOO!!! GET ME OUT OF HERE!!! in another room...

Michele H (presumably my cousin) told me first: there's going to be a Top Chef Junior show. I can't find any reference to it on Bravo's Web site but it's all over the internet -- just Google it. Will I be a cooking contest stage mom and push my son to try out? No. Way. Won't suggest...

I haven't had time to write anything about Top Chef this week, but I'll try to jot down a few notes before the finale on Wednesday! In the meantime, this was a quick, tasty and healthy dinner from a cooking contest buddy. We beat the Ralstons in a cookie contest in 2006, and they beat us in The...

It is a long way from participating in the Pillsbury Bake-off to competing across from the ladies' bathrooms at the 102-year-old Rochester Public Market . But that's what I did on Saturday ... and I'm hard pressed to say which was more stressful. The contest: an "Iron Chef"-type...

I was midway through writing my latest Top Chef post (which originally started as 15 minutes worth of random thoughts, and has grown into this long friggin' thing...) Anyway, I just got a call that I'm "in" for the competition at the Public Market. See post below. I'm petrified...

Cool cooking competition coming up on Saturday at the Rochester Public Market! I signed up to compete, but they will hold a drawing to pick the 12 people that will actually cook. Frankly the whole thing terrifies me, because I'm a "recipe" kind of cook, but my husband and kids convinced...

This week's Top Chef consisted of a 15-minute dish made with Uncle Ben's rice as well as dinner for four, prepared with kids, for 10 bucks. Welcome to my world. Ho hum. The guest judge was Art Smith, Oprah's personal chef, which struck me as another ho hum. The first thing I noticed about...

We're going to the annual Super Bowl party at the home of good friends. I'm rooting for the Giants but I honestly don't care all that much about the outcome of the game. Everyone is bringing an appetizer or a sweet to the party, so I think I'm looking forward to the food more than the...