Ever notice how salads taste SO much better when you order them at a restaurant? Well, it’s been my goal to remedy that, so I started experimenting with one of my all-time favorites, my beloved Greek. One of the qualities that immediately separates the salads of home cooks and professional [...]
Anyone know how Taco Tuesday became a thing? I know, I know, I could Google it, but aren’t tacos pretty fantastic any day of the week? I know one Ashlee Jordan would wholeheartedly agree. Anyway, when Casey came to visit recently, we took our taco game to the next level [...]
When it comes to bread, I’m not all that picky. Even gross ol’ white bread is pretty darn good in grilled cheese form. But when I serve Italian food, which is my go-to for special occasions, I’ll admit that I can get in a bread rut sometimes. I usually just [...]
It was several years ago now, but I still remember it so fondly. Will and I were having dinner at an Italian joint (big shock, right?) in West Hollywood called IL Piccolino. We’d shared a plate of Fritto Misto (Italian for delicious fried goodies like calamari, zucchini and shrimp). Spotted [...]
While I’m pretty sure it was perpetually stuck in the crayon box when I was a kid because it always seemed a little less interesting than all the other colors, I’m a big, big fan of all things yellow these days. It’s the color of sunshine, lemons, my favorite new [...]
It’s been well documented on my blog that I’m a big fan of Thanksgiving. So it probably comes as no surprise that I like to make a second Turkey Day-inspired meal just in case some of my favorite dishes were left off the menu on the big day. So I [...]
Today is one of my favorite days of the year, let’s just call it Thanksgiving Eve, shall we? While Christmas probably has Thanksgiving beat in the decorations department, Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, hands down. You get the great comfort food and wonderful family time without all the [...]
Ever go to a place so stunning, so positively otherworldly, that you can’t even believe you’re there? That’s precisely how I felt 11 years ago when Will and I drove up the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to San Francisco for our honeymoon. And during last year’s anniversary celebration [...]
It was the perfect Fall day, crisp but not cold, an abundance of red and yellow leaves everywhere, and the boy and me were brunchin’ in Amsterdam. And unlike many of the other European cities we visited over the course of a month, we totally skipped the restaurant research for [...]
October is a month of big celebrations in the Banister house. On October 8, we celebrated our 11th anniversary with a killer French meal in Dallas (I’ll be writing about that restaurant soon, I promise), and five days later, October 13, it’s Will’s birthday, so cue the chocolate ganache. While [...]
