Not A Single Fork

The temperature for eating chicken is non-negotiable. Anything under 165 degrees is flat out dangerous. So begins this episode of Not A Single Fork. Yes, we actually had someone in one of our classes try to convince me as well as his cooking partner that 140 to 145 is the best temperature for chicken. No spoilers here but you get the idea so listen on to hear the whole story.We then review the 21 dishes that home cooks would rather eat in a restaurant. In other words, they don't want to make them at home. We do concur on a number of them like sushi. I just don't want to learn how to make sushi. I would much rather eat it out because and I may be going out on a limb here but I want a chef who has been trained in sushi to make it. Other things, yes, they could be messy or challenging but still worth making at home.I also surprise Natalia with a number of things i have made in my past lives. Surprised to the point of her asking me..."who are you?"It's a fun episode and I hope you enjoy it.Listen on to be part of the fun!

We love food but we also love WINE! So, we thought we'd mix things up a bit by talking about wine in today's episode.We never do boring wine. I mean, you've heard about our wine classes, right? The last thing our favorite Somm, Joe Breaux, is...is boring, predictable or stuffy. Nope. Our last class was titled The Art of Subtlety and he is none of that (at least not right now) but we tasted some fun and not so fun wines. They're always great choices but our mantra is "drink what you like" and you are entitled to your opinion. You don't have to always be looking to Robert Parker or the Wine Spectator for ratings. You might agree with them but then again you might not.Then move into "bargain" wines even in these days of inflation. But bargain to one person may not be a bargain to another...it's like one person's trash is another one's treasure or pick your poison or, well, I'll stop with the sayings now.Finally, we talk about food pairings with wine or actually we went the other way around. We started with a wine and we talked about what food would go with it. I actually took a sommelier certification class a number of years ago. Yes, I am a certified sommelier. I discovered two things during that class. One, I like to taste wine but I like to drink it a lot more. And, you can't be told, really, how to pair wine and food. There are general "rules" but they're really rules of thumb and I don't take them seriously. The good news is the days of red with meat and white with fish are over. If you like to drink red with fish, go for it!Thanks for listening and we'll be here next week with more.

When I was younger, I never understood what "you can't go home again" meant. But now that I'm so much older, it makes so much sense. Not just in the whole philosophical realm but in everyday experiences.For instance, once you make a recipe from scratch like pasta or even a cake, it's hard to eat the boxed or super processed variety.Pasta is top of mind for us these days because we are working on a specialty pasta program. It will be unveiled (again) this summer. We were a little too ambitious with our first go-round so we're reeling it in. Stay tuned for the new and improved specialty pasta classes.'To that end, we're still talking pasta. Dan Pashman who has the podcast, The Sporkful @thesporkful. He is crazy about pasta kinda like we are but he went so far as to create a brand new pasta shape called Cascatelli which means "waterfall" in Italian. He and Sfoglini (the pasta company that makes cascatelli) have joined forces again to create two new pasta shapes...at least, they're new to the US. Speaking of "you can't go home again", some people still love Olive Garden but then if your boyfriend makes fresh pasta all the time, well, you know what I'm going to say. All this and so much more in this week's episode. Listen right here or on your favorite podcast place. Thanks for listening!

Is Mardi Gras on your mind? Ours, too! This episode is our take on Mardi Gras, lucky food and even the entire Lenten season.So Fat Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, Shrove Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Bunny...they're all on the agenda. Did you dye Easter eggs as a kid? Do you still dye eggs? Do you eat the eggs? With eggs as expensive as they are right now (looks like the price is dropping slightly, fingers crossed), Natalia is pushing for plastic eggs for hiding. She also shares her unusual Serbian tradition of egg smashing at Easter breakfast. That was a new one on me.We talk Easter family customs past and what we do now.Finally. tonight our wine tasting class returns and we consider bringing our favorite, Somm, Joe Breaux, back to the podcast. Why? He is in quite a different life place than he was in during the last interview so it could be interesting. Let us know if you want the gory details.Thanks for listening and we'll be back next week with some new pasta shapes now available. Think forkability, sauceability and toothsinkability just to coin a few more words.

Who doesn't love comfort food? Especially this time of year. We have already had our fair share of ice storms so they can move along and spring can happen any time, please.We not only love comfort food but we love the throwback, retro kind of comfort food and that's what today's episode is mostly about. We recently taped several video recipes where comfort food was the featured guest. Now, I don't love it all indiscriminately. Meatloaf is one of those things that I just can't get next to and I know so many people love it, even revere it. Pretty sure it has to do with nostalgia and bringing back all those old warm and fuzzy feelings. Not me. Meatloaf brings back the memory of a babysitter who (when my parents were vacationing) would make meatloaf on Monday and we were still eating it on Friday. And not good meatloaf, whatever that is. But my mom's recipe is a good one...for meatloaf. The flavor is good but the texture. Not A Fan. We probably spent too much time talking about meatloaf but there was also beef stew (no potatoes, celery or carrots) and cornbread.Then, there is Salisbury Steak. Created during the Civil War by yes, Dr. Salisbury, it is not a steak but rather a meat patty designed to provide protein for the dying soldiers. But put it with the yummy mushroom gravy and I can force it down but there is still the texture issue. Neither Salisbury Steak nor meatloaf are firm. They're soft and kind of mushy and, really, no thank you. But we provide you with all the deets. Probably more than you ever wanted.Improving you cooking was also on the agenda so if you want some tips about how we grocery shop and use our pantries and fridges, we've got that. As well as something I learned about the ice maker in your freezer.Thanks for listening. More coming next Friday!.

We're back in the saddle and we're past resolutions!Getting our feet wet in today's episode and it is short and sweet with foreshadowing (ooh...sounds ominous, right but no) of what's to come.Freewheeling aside, we've got fun tips and tricks and opinions coming up this month. My neck is in the healing stages and feels like someone has a constant grip on my throat but I actually have a throat that you can see! Hurray!Welcome to Lunar New Year and bye bye New Year's resolutions. Trying to keep things lucky but Natalia started it off with washing away all her luck. So we look forward to helping you improve your cooking wherever you are in your journey and having fun all along the way.Thanks for listening.

This should give you an idea of how this episode is going to go… It is the last episode of Season 2 and yes, you guessed it, we hate Valentine’s Day. Not for the reason you think, neither Natalia nor I is single, screaming Adele songs at my cat. I mean, you have been introduced to my cat and she does plenty of screaming on her own so no extra screaming needed. No, we hate Valentines for different reasons. And, you’re going to hear all of them! We are in the food industry and for years we had to endure Valentine’s dinners at the restaurant. Although, those nights are cash cows, it’s never really worth the stress. V-Day diners are typically the ones who never go out and are only out now because it’s “expected”. Honestly, we’re trying to give you all the leftover food that we haven’t been able to sell and the same goes for the alcohol. Mediocre at best and we are going to charge you A LOT for it. Actually, we’re mainly charging you for the pain we have to go through to deal with all the people who have no clue how to behave when they’re out in public. Does that set the stage for you? We are definitely ending on a crazy note with this episode. We cover everything from sexy food, aphrodisiacs (not the same as sexy food) and weird bedroom games. In the end, we would just like you to treat every day like it’s Valentine’s Day. Do you really need a special day to let your person know you love him/her? We sure hope not! Buckle up buttercup, here comes the final episode. Happy Valentine’s Day!? So, that’s it guys. Thanks for hanging in with us for Season 2. We all made it together and hopefully, mostly stress-free. If we gave you a few laughs along the way, good! That was our plan. Don’t take yourselves too seriously and have fun. Life is short so we’re okay with you eating dessert first. We’re going to take a break for a few weeks but we’ll check back in here and there so be sure to follow us on Instagram (@notasinglefork) and Twitter (@notasinglefork1) and we’ll keep you updated on what we’re up to. Also, check out our Facebook Lives from the kitchen! We’ve got lots of classes coming up so you won’t want to miss that craziness. In the meantime, you can catch up on Season 1 and 2, our episodes are evergreen so you can listen and listen again. Please subscribe, download, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and Google Play. And, we love to hear from you, so comment below…all those things! They mean so much to us but not as much as you! Thanks for listening! We’ll be back soon with Season 3 and trips to the farmer’s markets plus interviews! WE LOVE YOU!

One of our popular episodes from the pandemic while Chef Candace gets a new neck...Desperate times call for desperate measures and while we’re really not desperate (at least not yet), we certainly have to be a lot more creative.So, if we can’t go to any of the grocery stores just for fun, we can hang out in my kitchen and forage through my pantry. (The picture included with this post is one of my pantry so you do have a visual.) And, Natalia had a great time rummaging through all the foodstuffs she found. True enough, I probably have things in my pantry that most people don’t. We could still get crazy with some of the odd and possibly even bizarre items that she dug out,Like most people, I have flour and rice and some canned goods, as well as things I totally forgot about and don’t really know what they are. We did not do an exhaustive search but we went through any number of items and included ideas about what you can do with them.We recorded this episode from my kitchen (truly just outside my pantry doors) so the sound is definitely “live” and is different from the other episodes so we hope you enjoy the difference. We had a great time doing it and I think you’ll be able to tell that, too. Of course, we kinda always have a great time!Here comes Season 3, Episode 3, complete with sound effects as we play…”What’s In Your Pantry?”We hope you are staying safe and healthy in these trying times. Change is hard but it’s the only constant if you stop and think about it. Life will never be the same after this but we’re discovering how resilient and resourceful we can all be.We love you guys. Keep listening and hang in there! We’ll be back with a peek inside Natalia’s pantry next time…hope it’s not TOO scary!!

Happy (Almost) New Year!And like so many podcasts, we're ringing in the New Year with a look back and forward. We made a lot of changes in 2022 from adding a solid social media presence (after a hiccup or two) to a growing online and soon to be virtual class program. We're going digital, baby. It's about time, right?That doesn't mean the in-person cooking is going away but don't you like a little variety in your life? I know we do because frankly, even if you love what you do, things get boring and you have to mix it up. We've revved up our YouTube channel. Find us at @thegirlcancook on YouTube, we'll be adding lots of new videos in the coming year so big plans there.Some things don't change...Natalia still hates grocery shopping so get out of her way. New Years plans haven't changed much although Natalia is keeping her options open.We'll be taking a short break in January as I get a little glow up. I have been plagued by a familial albatross around my neck, literally. I was blessed with my family's turkey neck and have always been self-conscious about it. So I'm doing this for myself. Self-care is important for all of us so take a moment and be kind to yourself. Not a bad New Year's resolution!Happy New Year.

I am the keeper of the home movies.Not sure that anyone in my family knows this but I think I have every movie that at least my family (read Dad) ever filmed. Filming was a process back in the day. It was far from immediate and the film deteriorates over time. As a consequence, I have started the digitizing so we don't lose these "precious moments" in time.I mean, were they really precious? I suppose they are. You don't want to forget all those generations but movie taking was not great and my dad (although he loved the whole movie thing) liked to take lots of up close and personal shots. And movies were short and silent and mostly black and white. Still, the memories are created and we spend a lot of time talking about that during today's episode.Christmas memories, actually any memories are certainly affected by the passage of time. They mostly seem better than they were. Our brains like to take care of us that way.For instance, we had a fake tree. It was one of those silver (or maybe white) foil trees. Fake because my dad had emphysema and we couldn't have a live tree indoors. Mom loved that tree. She would decorate it with blue silk balls. Very 1950s/1960s style. We also had to open presents on Christmas Eve while my grandfather was living because he couldn't wait until Christmas morning. Also, he insisted on the entire family spending the day together and opening presents together whether we liked each other or not. That tradition continued until our families separated their holidays (after my grandfather passed) and our family started opening gifts on Christmas Day. Lots of opening of gifts in the movies.But no food features. Personally, I wasn't really interested in food back then. I was a child and I wouldn't eat anything. I know I've mentioned this before but I truly was the pickiest eater ever. I drove my mother crazy who prepared all the food for the holidays. So food was never a highlight of the home movies. Especially because we just weren't foodies back then at least not in the middle of the country.The takeaway from this home movie episode? Everyone looked old and serious even the teenagers. There were no food movies. And there were a lot of relatives, like them or not.Merry Christmas!