200 West 3rd Tama, IA 52339 Whenever I drive north on US 63 to Cedar Falls or Waterloo, I try to stop at El Gallito in Tama, Iowa–a Mexican store that…

1600 2nd Ave Des Moines, IA 5031 I was really happy to discover this place, which I think has the best Chinese (Cantonese style) barbecue in Des Moines, and probably Iowa. Whenever I’m…

Ajla’s Bakery and Grocery 1206 W 9th St, Waterloo, IA 50702 Most of the clientele at Ajla’s the few times that I’ve been there have come in for the big, soft…

This is an easy recipe, since its main ingredients are canned (clams) and bottled (clam juice). Fresh would be much better, of course–but fresh clams don’t really make it to…

This is a minimalist potato salad–a quick recipe I put together with what I had on hand in my kitchen and herb garden. I was inspired by the annual harvest…

Almost anything grows in Iowa, especially tomatoes. You can buy seedlings, which are sold in every nursery, or you can start your own. When I first moved to Iowa in the nineties,…

I’ve been making this for years, and we had a version of it at home when I was growing up. This one is based on methods  learned from Stephen Pedalino,…

I’ve always loved mushrooms, from the canned mushrooms of my childhood, which were pretty much all that was available forty years ago in Montana, to the fresh champignons that are…