White Grapefruit and Salmon Salad

Almost-Healthy Tomato Salad-Toasts

Nettle Soup

Zesty Kiwi Salad

Lazy Tomato Salad

Smoked Chicken Pilaf

This is a fool-proof tasty dish, since the chicken used in this recipe is already cooked. One only has to have some skills to cook rice. This pilaf, accompanied by fresh vegetables, was our today's dinner - nice re-energizing after a long working day.

Cabbage Soup Re-configured

Today was one of those days when everything is just right. I woke up refreshed after a good night sleep full of interesting, yet elusive dreams, and stared through the bedroom window into Sunday morning drizzle. Yes, we had a rainy weekend. Frustrating for some, but not for me. Gardening is necessary at this time of the year, but there are many other things that pop up right when one has to tidy up the garden flattened by winter. A rainy weekend is at rescue! Besides, a cloudy day in spring makes colors of blooming trees more vivid, so we had our morning coffee looking at fabulous forthysia blooms offset by the darkness of maples that are still in half-sleep.

Your Two Casual Chefs

Who are we? We are mother and daughter, living our lives in suburban Massachusetts and in New York City, cooking our pleasure in our separate kitchens, and sharing it with each other over cell phone conversations. The cutting board is our palette, the kitchen - our studio, where we create the quick and the decadent, healthy and sinful eats. Cooking for us is a rite to make and re-make anew that elusive smell and taste that makes home homelike, that evokes good memories, and makes our significant others happy; it is also a way to express ourselves, to convey the mood of the day and the glimmer of the soul into creative bursts of culinary imagination. Our recipes are inspired by the contents of the fridge, by chefs like Jacques Pepin and Julia Child, by the weather, by childhood reminiscences, by traditional Russian foods, and by our busy schedules. As we slice and mince, stew and fry, knead and whip, we create a connection to the generations that stretch behind us to a line of bakers in the pre-revolutionary Russia.

Two casual yet inspired chefs, we come here to share our tricks and our inspiration with each other, and anyone else who may care to join. After all, what is written is not quite as easily forgotten as a recipe heard over a cell phone in the middle of rush hour on 7th Avenue.