A British dessert dating back to the 1500's, fruit fool is as simple as its name suggests. Traditional fool (or foole ) is nothing more than pureed fruit folded into sweetened whipped cream. For Valentine's day I took it a notch further and added a bed of peaches and bourbon syrup under the swirly folds of cream.

so, I give up and make sangria. There are as many recipes for sangria as there are women in Spain. There is no proper, authentic sangria.

Mushrooms, ginger, and pork - a perfect combination of flavors with an Eastern twist. This recipe is inspired by Japanese cooking, but does not require any rare ingredients (because I was too lazy to travel to Manhattan for a visit to a Japanese grocery). And I don't regret it, because this pork dish lacks absolutely nothing.

Whatever it was, I invited beer to my kitchen, and it graciously accepted. Cooking with beer has a long tradition, but for some reason appears less often in the kitchen than wine. Just like wine, beer works well as a deglazing agent for a pan sauce and is also a great liquid for braising because it has a degree of acidity that helps tenderize the meat.