We're starting the Fast Metabolism Diet and thought it would be fun to share with you what we're eating, what Cool Tools we're using and how it's going. Here's Week 2

We're starting the Fast Metabolism Diet and thought it would be fun to share with you what we're eating, what Cool Tools we're using and how it's going. Here's Week 1

If we had to pick one sandwich to take with us if we were stranded on a deserted island, then it would be New Orleans’ incomparable Muffuletta. It’s a 10-inch round loaf of bread, cut horizontally and layered with a variety of Italian meats, cheeses, and a garlicky olive salad.

If you have or have access to raw olives, here's one way to process them into something wonderfully edible.

We always end up with small pieces of different cheeses leftover ...and by the time we re-discover them in the refrigerator, they’re often in various stages of drying out, growing some of their natural molds, and generally deteriorating (even with the great Cheese Paper, it doesn't extend the life of the cheese forever) …. But there is no reason to toss them: these are the basic ingredient in a French staple: Fromage Fort!

One of the most luxurious and impressive meats you can prepare, share and enjoy is fresh magret, the breast of a fattened duck.  The texture is like velvet, the flavor is like heaven, and the preparation is like child's play!

Preserved lemons, salt-cured lemon rinds, are a key ingredient in many Moroccan dishes, but they also provide a wonderful hit of flavor in many other dishes as well.  We sometimes take a few preserved lemon quarters, some confited garlic (future Cool Tip) and some chipotle in adobo, pulverize them together in a food processor, and use that as a wet rub on a pork loin roast that we finish on the grill.

Preserved lemons are available in speciality food stores, but with a little planning (they take a while to get to cure) you can easily make them yourself.  Here's how...

One of the kitchen smells that lingers longer than any other seems to be the smell of garlic, particularly on your hands.  As much as we love it on food, and we do ... but on our hands when we leave the kitchen, not so much!

With the Olympics in Rio just around the corner, a lot of our drinking attention will be focused on Caipirinha (pronounced kie-purr-REEN-yah), the national drink of Brazil.

Here's the easiest way yet to make homemade mayonnaise...