About me
I am a cook, mother, editor and writer who has a lot of opinions about food and cooking. I have worked for years in technical publishing, but have also occasionally dabbled in writing material for cookbooks and newspapers. As a parent, I am constantly looking to make meals that are nutritious, delicious, and deemed acceptable by my 7-year old daughters. I believe in buying fresh and local produce and organic local meats, but find that the realities of feeding a family on a budget doesn’t always allow me to do this, although I do try. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area (in the East Bay) and am lucky enough to be surrounded by great grocery stores, wonderful restaurants, and farmer’s markets. My food inspirations are M.F.K Fisher, Julia Child, and Alice Waters — three fabulous women who encompass everything I love about food.
Denise's Kitchen 
ann ceraldi said,
January 6, 2008 @ 3:28 pm
Are you the same person as mrs. fezzywig??
dslincoln said,
January 6, 2008 @ 3:47 pm
Yes. I am Mrs. Fezziwig, but mrsfezziwigskitchen.wordpress… seemed a bit long and hard to remember, so I switched it 🙂
tamara said,
January 8, 2008 @ 8:16 am
Very excited about your blog, Denise. Would love to hear more child-friendly suggestions.
dslincoln said,
January 8, 2008 @ 9:25 am
Thanks! I’ll definitely have more child-friendly suggestions as my cooking life is often all about figuring out ways for my girls to eat great food. Maybe I’ll write a post today on getting young children to eat healthy veggies. Thanks for the idea 🙂
TommyGSD said,
January 17, 2008 @ 6:53 pm
This blog is awesome! I can’t wait to try some of the recipes for our son Dominic! Keep the recipes coming!
bibomedia.com said,
March 5, 2008 @ 1:13 am
🙂
Duey Baab said,
November 4, 2008 @ 8:05 am
Hi Denise,
I came across your blog as I was doing reserach for our new Food Network Show and thought you might help us spread the word. I’ve inserted our casting notice below so if you’d like to post it, email it or pass it on to family and friends, that’d be great.
Grilling Fans Can Be On Dear Food Network!
Now’s your chance to have your Grilling question answered, possibly even in-person! Inspired by letters from fans, Dear Food Network features top chefs answering your cooking concerns, problems and challenges.
Have a question about global grilling (tandoori, Italian, Korean), improving an All-American dishes (hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken), seafood, or how to make a tasty dessert on the grill? Our Food Network stars are here to help improve your recipes and grilling skills!
We’re looking for fun, creative 20-second videos (DVD or MiniDV) to incorporate into the show.
But First- For video guidelines please contact me at foodnetworkseries@gmail.com.
AND send us your stats (name, age, city/state, living situation, contact info) plus a recent photo, a little about yourself, and your cooking questions. Does your chicken always come out burnt, maybe you’re a baker who wants to take it to the backyard or perhaps you need a new party idea?
The best questions/videos will be used on the show and some people will get to have their question answered in person by his or hers favorite chef! Please send your DVD or MiniDV to:
Embassy Row
Att: Dear Food Network
110 Leroy Street
7th Fl.
New York, NY 10014
All entries must be received no later than Monday December 8th.
Thanks!
Duey Baab
Casting Department
Embassy Row/Dear Food Network
646-747-4549
Wendi said,
April 6, 2009 @ 5:49 am
Hello from Southern California. I made your PULLED PORK yesterday and it was terrific. THANKS!!
I do enjoy your blog and thank my brother, Bruce (yes, the one in San Diego) for turning me on to it.
dslincoln said,
May 12, 2009 @ 8:39 am
Hi Wendi — this comment fell into the spam bin so I am only now seeing it. I’m so glad you like the pulled pork recipe. It’s definitely one of my favorites. Also, thanks for linking your page to my blog. I appreciate it!
Giulietta Nicoletta said,
April 23, 2009 @ 2:58 pm
Hi Denise:
Pizzaiolo restaurant is doing something quite unique and lovely this Sunday that I thought might be of interest to you and your readers.
The Sunday Soup Supper is a community outreach event providing free soup to those in need. What’s different is that paying customers are also encouraged to attend and enjoy the meal on a donation basis — bringing diverse segments of our neighborhood population together to eat delicious soup and bread.
The event’s proceeds will be donated to a local women and children’s shelter, A Safe Place. Much of the produce for the meal is being donated by local farmers that regularly supply the Pizzaiolo kitchen.
The key details:
Date: Sunday, April 26
Time: 4:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Location: Pizzaiolo, 5008 Telegraph Ave (at 51st St), Oakland 94609
Cost: Sliding scale $0 – $10 per person; all are welcome!
The meal: Two soup options (one vegetarian), Acme bread, and BYOB
It would be great to see you there!
Best regards,
Giulietta Nicoletta
Maura Thurman said,
June 16, 2009 @ 9:38 am
Hi Denise —
I love the recipes for the creamsicles and the blog is fun to read. I also wanted to let you know about a new lineup of children’s cooking activities in Novato at
https://www.cookingschoolsofamerica.com/freshstartscookingschool/index.php?flag_menu_index=calendar_php.
Fresh Starts Culinary School is an offshoot of Homeward Bound of Marin, the largest agency serving homeless adults and families in Marin. The public culinary events for adults and kids provide work experience to people in our culinary vocational training course as well as let us share our great chefs and wonderful demo kitchen with the community. Plus all proceeds support job-training programs. (Full disclosure, I work for Homeward Bound!) It’s a unique program.
Thanks for all the great news about kids and food!
an aspiring cook said,
July 10, 2009 @ 8:15 pm
Denise,
I’m an aspiring cook, and specifically I’ve experimenting lately with a variety of spaghetti recipes, or Sunday gravy recipes as they are more properly called. I read your article on Sunday gravy at Bay Area Bites, and while I know you will not part with your own family recipe, I wanted to know a few general things about your family’s Sunday gravy. First of all, was the meat all taken out of the gravy and served separately, or was some meat left in the gravy? Second of all, does it even matter if the meat is kept in the gravy or is served out of it? I realize the answers to most of these are probably just personal preference, but I’d still like to know how it was done in your family. I would ask for specific recommendations of types of meat, but that’s probably going a bit too close to the details, heheheh.
an aspiring cook said,
July 10, 2009 @ 8:16 pm
beh, “been experimenting” XD and god knows what other little errors crept in while I was writing this in haste!
dslincoln said,
July 16, 2009 @ 8:57 am
Hi Aspiring Cook — My mom and grandmother always took the meat out of the gravy when it was time to serve. We eat the gravy itself on the pasta and then the meat is served alongside. I would think that the meatballs would fall apart if you mixed them into the pasta.
As for the meat itself, my mom served meatballs, bragiolle (of which I have a recipe listed on this site), sausage, pork butt, and beef chuck.
Hope this helps 🙂
Yuka said,
July 23, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
What an awesome blog!!!
Really enjoyed reading the receipe(gotta try for my family)
Just to inform you if you’re interested in using “miso”, we are presenting the miso event Thursday, next week.
If I can meet you there, that will definitely be my day!!!
http://www.jetro.org/index.php?option=com_events_jetro&task=view&content=detail&event_id=380&Itemid=200
Daddy95 said,
October 23, 2009 @ 2:39 am
Any way, if any of these ideas make you rich or famous, please remember me. ,
CraftyAndy said,
November 18, 2009 @ 4:41 pm
Hi there! I came across your blog while looking for fuyu persimmon recipes. I have a blog, concentrating on vegetables and attempting to demystify healthy eating. Each week it somewhat concentrates on a vegetable and lately I have been experimenting with some video cooking segments. I’d love to try out your amazing couscous recipe for an episode. Let me know if you wouldn’t mind me using, and crediting your recipe.
Thanks!
dslincoln said,
November 18, 2009 @ 5:54 pm
Hi Crafty Andy — Thanks for asking. Feel free to use the recipe. Would you mind crediting both Denise’s Kitchen and also Bay Area Bites (http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/) as I write for both (and the recipe is in both locations)? Also, please let me know when the video goes up as I’d love to see it.
btw: I love the barley ball chard video!
CraftyAndy said,
November 23, 2009 @ 2:53 pm
I’ve posted the episode of your couscous. I hope you like it! It certainly is a delicious couscous. The persimmons are so delicately sweet that it really works. Thanks for letting me use it.
Andy
E. Bennett said,
April 2, 2010 @ 8:25 pm
Dear Denise,
I am working on a service learning project with a group of medical anthropology students and we are developing a learning module for a local organization that helps unemployed parents with job training and placement and also provides parenting classes. The topic that the parents were most interested in was “how to get kids to try new foods” and we are including in the lesson a few recipes that parents can make with their kids. I came across your simply fried eggplant recipe and it seems like it would work well with our activity. I was wondering if we might include it in our packet? We would, of course, include with your blogsite address, both to give credit and to give the parents a source for more recipes if they’d like.
Thank you for your consideration!
Elaine
dslincoln said,
April 3, 2010 @ 10:44 am
Hi Elaine — Feel free to use the eggplant post and recipe for your project and thanks for offering to post my blog URL and give me credit. Good luck!
april said,
September 22, 2010 @ 6:58 pm
I stumbled upon your post about peach popsicles (talk about mouthwatering!) and I was wondering if you could tell me what brand of ice pop mold you used?
Thanks!
April
Cindy Meyer said,
December 23, 2010 @ 7:32 am
Good morning before Christmas Eve! I saw the photo of your large Italian family and I had to smile. Your grandmother and mine could have been twins, I think she had the exact apron! I have been scanning the net for zugo recipies this morning as my mother and I will, in an hour or two, begin our yearly tradition of handmade ravioli making. The recipie, of course, is my great grandmothers. I am the grandaughter of Italian immigrants from Milan who landed here in 1911, with 11 cents to their name. Rose and Joe Vergussi eventually made their way to St. Louis, Mo. A healthy melting pot of Itallian and Irish families, so I too have that spicy combination of Irish and Itallian blood. My maiden name is Lanigan and my great- grandparents names were Vergussi and Bassile. I, like you, am an avid cook and the mother of 10 and 7 year old girls. I too believe vehemently in the use of locally grown, whole and organic ingredients. I, like your mom, grow my own basil and herbs. My life’s work is to expand my daughters pallates beyond the chicken nugget and tater tot. It’s the day before Christmas Eve and it’s ravioli day in my house. Every year we make 1000 hand made ravioli per my great-grandmother’s recipie. It takes a day to make the meat and another full day to make the dough and assemble the ravioli. My Mom and I don my great grandmothers aprons ice down a bottle of Asti and dig in. Today I wil also make zugo, that rich beefy gravy that my father rants about just as much as the ravioli itself. I love my family so dearly and for me to make a recipie that was so coveted by my family for generations brings me unbelievalble joy. My grandparents made these ravioli in ther basement every year just before Thanksgiving. They were served with zugo as a side dish to the turkey at Thanksgiving, then the ravioli were frozen and served again at Christmas. My greatgrandfather ground the meats by hand in the basement where the ravioli were constructed and let to dry. Layered with care in floured parchment paper and boxed in cardboard shirt boxes from the local department store, then frozen. That’s the way my great-grandma Rose made them and that’s how I make them too. My mom is my memory for how the ravioli were made and my dad is my memory for how they tasted. It’s like he was eating my grandmothers just yesterday. He lovingly critiques every bite and I can see the memories of my Grandmothers kitchen flooding back to him each Christmas. It makes all the work worth it just to see that. This morning I read your zugo recipie as I sip a strong coffee, gearing myself up for a monster day in the kitchen. As a child of a long legacy of Italian women in the kitchen I can assure you that it’s worth it. The Sunday dinner is all but forgotten to most of us. I keep Sunday dinners alive and well in my house, but mostly in the winter. Sunday is for church, a long trip to the market, and the day spent in the kitchen making unbelievable recipies served piping hot, in mouthwatering bowls to my family. It’s a tradition that I love and plan on keeping as long as I am able. Without doubt, food binds a family. Favorite recipies, repeated year after year and Sunday after Sunday are the sticky glue that holds us together. Long dinner table conversations, storytelling, laughter and memmories….told over one of grandma’s recipies and a great bottle of wine……you just don’t get that experience from take out pizza and a 6 pack of beer. That’s why the work is so worth it. That’s why it’s so important. That’s why I will keep doing it! Have a blessed and very Merry Christmas!
Kerry Neville said,
February 18, 2011 @ 1:03 pm
Hi Denise, I’m the editor of a publication for dietitians and our next issue is on sprouts and shoots. I made your pea shoots & cous cous recipe and it was delicious. I’d like to include it in our issue and was wondering if you would provide permission for reprinting it. Please contact me. Thanks! PS – Love the other recipes on your website too – I found the pea shoots one on Bay Area Bites
dslincoln said,
February 22, 2011 @ 8:03 am
Hi Kerry — I’m so glad you like the pea shoot post. Feel free to include the sprouts and couscous recipe in your next edition, although please do credit me and both https://deniseskitchen.wordpress.com and http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/. Also, please let me know the name of your magazine and, if possible, please send me a clipping. Thanks!
Donna Cusano said,
June 19, 2011 @ 2:00 pm
Hi denise,
Thanks for the recipe for roasted chicken. I added a few of my own touches to it, but the basic recipe turned out great for me at a moment’s notice.
dslincoln said,
July 12, 2011 @ 11:22 am
Hi Donna – I’m so glad you liked the chicken and excited to hear you added your own touches to the recipe. That’s the fun of home cooking 🙂
Mediasophia said,
August 5, 2011 @ 11:19 am
Hi Denise,
I hope you and Tony and the kids are all well. Would you guys do me a big favor and delete my comment, number 22 on this list on your about page? It is skewing search results under my name. I would be very grateful.
George
Ben Lincoln said,
August 8, 2011 @ 2:44 pm
Hi Denise,
I will be in San Francisco this weekend, but now without fulls plans as my intended hosts unexpectedly had to cancell. Alas, I am a foodie and wine-y (studied a bit at CIA’s Ruddman). Looking for fun, gastronomical events Thursday through Saturday Aug. 11-13.
Thanks,
All the best
Ben Lincoln, Santa Fe
Tarabud (@TarabudDelight) said,
October 19, 2011 @ 2:06 pm
Lovely blog! Very much enjoying reading!
Julie Gengo said,
April 13, 2012 @ 10:22 am
Hi Denise,
I work with Bay Area Green Tours and we would like to keep you posted on some of our amazing sustainable food tours. Our next is the Moveable Feast on May 2nd in Berkeley. Can you email me please with your email address to learn more? julie [at] bayareagreentours [dot] org.
Thx!
fishchick72 said,
December 3, 2012 @ 7:23 pm
Are you not blogging anymore? Love the tips on baking a whole chicken, would love to see how to turn leftovers into a pot pie.