My top ten kitchen essentials list, aside from the obvious, like pots and pans and a standard electric appliance or two, and the not so obvious, like a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit, is comprised of the things I could not live without in my kitchen – both my professional kitchen and my home kitchen.  This is the list that lets me work in any kitchen for any purpose, and still perform like a star.  To make my list, each item has to let me function quickly and efficiently, and aid in the preparation and service of delicious food, time and time again. 

Like turkey is to Thanksgiving, Easter typically means lamb or ham.  Our friends at Fine Cooking offer these outstanding 2- to 3-minute video segments that can help you decide which one to serve, and how to serve it like a pro.

I have to admit when it comes to choosing wine, I often let others more knowledgeable than I do the choosing.  When it comes to choosing the right wine for Passover, I demand an expert's opinion.  For this upcoming Passover Holiday, I'm counting on two of my favorite experts to help me find not only the right wine, but providing a little historical and technical context to put it all into.

We all have fallen prey to buying (or receiving as a gift) a countertop wine bottle rack.  They look gorgeous, sexy and sleek.  After you open your first bottle of wine that has been stored in that gorgeous rack, you realize that all the rules of wine storage are broken by keeping this contraption on your bar, under the heat of your cabinet lighting, and the rack gets relegated to the basement, or storage.  Well, it’s time to dig those old racks out and start using them again, but this time as water bottle dispensers.