I've been working on the perfect steak for years, and I thought I'd share the results of my labors here. Steak has become almost as much of a passion as homemade ice cream.

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This recipe is a variation of the famous Lone Star Steakhouse sweet bourbon salmon, adjusted to my tastes and family size. If you don't like fish normally, you might like it prepared this way. It's not fishy at all.

(Thanks Daniel for providing us with a nice supply of fresh Alaskan salmon!)

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Thai iced tea is a great drink to go with spicy Thai food. (Here's my recipe for Pad Thai, my favorite Thai dish.) The sweetness of Thai tea helps to counteract the heat of all the red pepper.

There are various ways to make the drink, but I don't recommend the instant mix packets. If you're going to do it, do it right!

Brewing thai tea using the boiling water method

I finally found a strainer (at Target, of all places) fine enough to strain out most of the tea leaves. I made some tea using the boiling water method below, and it came out great:

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This is a family favorite recipe for bobofka (also spelled "babufka" or "bobufka") that came from my Czech grandmother. (We always pronounced it baw-boof-ka, but I don't know if this is correct.) I have fond memories of her great cooking.

Poppy seed is not available in every store these days, but if you are going to find it, it will be in the pie filling section. It can be an acquired taste, I've found from experience. I can't imagine it myself, but not everyone likes it the first go-around.

This recipe makes two 10" tube pans of bobofka.

In about a 2-cup measure, add 1/4 cup warm water, 1 T sugar, and 2 T yeast. Stir and set aside to add later. Add 1/2 cup warm water in the 2-cup measure. It will rise and get bubbly if the yeast is good.

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This family favorite is nearly identical to bobofka, except that bobufka is baked in a 10" tube pan, and kolaches are shaped like biscuits. Both recipes, of course, came from my Czech grandmother.

Poppy seed is not available in every store these days, but if you are going to find it, it will be in the pie filling section. It can be an acquired taste, I've found from experience. I can't imagine it myself, but not everyone likes it the first go-around.

In about a 2-cup measure, add 1/4 cup warm water, 1 T sugar, and 2 T yeast. Stir and set aside to add later. Add 1/2 cup warm water in the 2-cup measure. It will rise and get bubbly if the yeast is good.

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AKA Pork roast, sauerkraut, and dumplings

This is my Czech grandmother's recipe for dumplings to make Knedliky Zeli (dumplings and sauerkraut stirred in with pork roast).

The pork roast is the easiest part. Of course, my grandmother didn't have a crock pot.

Cook the pork roast overnight in a crock pot two nights before you want to serve it. Then cool it in the fridge the next day to remove excess fat, and start it up again the next morning. Just add sauerkraut to the crock pot and stir it together.

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The perfect pad thai recipe

Ever since trying pad thai for lunch one day (at the Thai Spice restaurant in the Irvine Marketplace), I've been hooked. Now I'm on a quest for the perfect set of ingredients to make it at home. After experimenting on my family too many times to count, and even giving up once to go back to the store-bought sauce, I think I found the perfect blend.

(Note: Here is a recipe for Thai tea to go with it.) 

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I tried concocting a chinese orange chicken recipe last night, and it came out pretty good. The sauce tasted a little sweet by itself, but when I stir fried it with the chicken and some bean sprouts, a lot of the sweetness and orange flavor disappeared. It was still good, though.

Here is the base recipe, and I'll be tweaking it to add more orange flavor. By the way, I used xylitol instead of sugar.

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This breakfast brings back memories of fishing trips. Why, you ask? Because my mom didn't care for it and my dad loved it, so he'd make it for the two of us whenever we got up early for a sunrise fishing trip.

Because it is made with whole wheat flour, it's actually a completely healthy alternative to biscuits and gravy. It is relatively quick to make, and tastes great (in my family's opinion, at least).

I hadn't made it in several years, so I tried it this morning and the whole family enjoyed it.

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Pecan pie has been a favorite of mine for years. But there are two pet peaves I have about most pecan pie recipes and restaurant pies. First, the nuts are usually pecan halves, making it harder to cut a clean piece of pie. Second, there are never enough nuts. I'm sorry, when I buy a pecan pie, I don't want a pie that's all sugar "gel" with a thin layer of nuts on top for looks. I want nuts--tons of them.

So, after a lot of fiddling, here is my favorite blend of ingredients:

The perfect pecan pie

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