Chef Todd Mohr

Most people would probably want to be the KING of the castle, but I'm only dreaming about being the king of this kitchen.

High in the mountains of Sintra, the breathtaking Palácio da Pena was never meant to blend in. In the 1800s, King Ferdinand II fell in love with the dramatic landscape surrounding the ruins of an abandoned monastery that had been left devastated after the 1755 Lisbon earthquake.

Rather than simply restoring the site, he transformed it into a fantastical royal retreat that celebrated Portugal’s history, creativity, and growing Romantic movement sweeping across Europe.

Every section of the palace tells a different story, combining medieval castles, Moorish arches, Renaissance details, and bright colors that were intentionally bold even for the time.

The palace also symbolized Portugal looking back proudly on its Age of Discovery, with Manueline elements inspired by the country’s great maritime past.

Surrounded by exotic gardens filled with plants collected from around the world, Pena Palace became less of a fortress and more of a dreamlike escape for Portuguese royalty.

Today, it remains one of the most recognizable and magical landmarks in all of Portugal, where history, architecture, and imagination all collide above the clouds of Sintra.

Does it get any better than Spanish Food in San Sebastián? Perhaps not.

As Heather and I continue our European tour and discovery of global foods, we've fallen back in love with Spanish cuisine, especially the idea of Pintxos in what the locals call "Donostia".

Pintxos are like tapas, but slightly bigger, always served on bread, and have an endless number of variations.

NEW DISCOVERIES FOR ME:
1) I actually LIKE olives now because here they aren't in a sour heavy brine.

2) Anchovies, anchovies, and more anchovies - they're salty, umami, and sometimes sweet when they aren't soaked in a can.

3) The Olive Oil is incredible - soft, smooth, fruity and sweet. There's no problem with SOAKING bread with it here.

4) The famous Gilda! - Spicy peppers, olives and anchovies soaked in olive oil on a slice of bread. Three things that I never liked separately, but together they're fantastic!

5) The Basque white wine - Txakoli is poured from above your head with the glass at your hip to aerate and release flavors

Next stop - Bilboa! Let's see how the food differs there.

If you're a member of my Care Free Cooks Insider Cooking Club, you are traveling along with us each month and enjoying FOUR live classes from our location.

We're learning together all about the geography, history, culture, ingredients, cooking methods, and typical dishes of the country we visit each month, and then we COOK together on Zoom using all we've learned.

It's an amazing immersive experience, and it's great to be an INSIDER!

A Quick Stop In Wine Country!

After seven months wandering through Asia, we’ve landed in Bordeaux, France and suddenly the wine glass feels a little fuller—and the bill a lot lighter.

There’s something magical about sitting here with Heather, sipping wines that people back home save for special occasions, while here they’re just…Monday wines.

It’s not just the price, it’s the way wine lives in the culture—unfussy, generous, meant to be enjoyed rather than admired from a distance, sitting in the wine rack, waiting for that special occasion.

Safe to say, we’re settling in just fine—one glass at a time to begin our next European adventure!

I'm winding down my time in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and it could not have been more interesting and delicious. At the Gaya Street Api-Api Night Market, I learned about the national dish of Malaysia and the most iconic plate in the state of Sabah, including the sweet dessert pancake that made me dance in the street.

I'm so grateful for my Care Free Cooks Insider Cooking Club who gets to virtually travel with me every month to a new location so we can discover how geography, history, and culture that always dictates the ingredients, cooking methods and typical dishes of the region.

Once we learn THAT, then we cook together every fourth Saturday of the month and make them for ourselves!

Friday the 13th is coming! ooooh spooky 👻

A lot of kitchen “rules” are just traditions wearing spooky costumes. Cooking isn’t cursed—it’s just full of myths that need a little sunlight and a thermometer.

But just like this date isn’t actually cursed, a lot of kitchen “superstitions” aren’t real either.

Let’s bust a few food myths:

🍝 Oil in pasta water does NOT keep noodles from sticking

🧂 Salting pasta water does NOT make the water boil faster OR make the pasta taste salty (unless you add 5 pounds of salt)

🍞 Cold butter does NOT “ruin” baking (it’s actually the point sometimes)

🥩 Searing meat does NOT seal in the juices

🍗 “Wash your chicken before cooking.”
Please don’t. You’re just power-washing bacteria around your sink.

🍞 “Yeast dies if the water is warm.”
It dies if it’s too hot. Warm is exactly what it wants.

🥩 “Meat should be room temperature before cooking.”
This one is DANGEROUS. The inside will still be cold. What actually matters is proper heat and timing.

🧀 “Fresh pasta and dried pasta cook the same way.”
Not even close. Different beasts, different rules.

🍰 “Baking is 100% exact—never change anything.”
It’s more precise than cooking, sure—but there’s still plenty of wiggle room.

🧅 “Putting bread in your mouth stops onion tears.”
Cute. Doesn’t work. Science is not fooled by baguettes.

🍚 “Rice must be stirred constantly.”
That’s how you get glue. Step away from the spoon.

🥔 “Potatoes must start in boiling water.”
Starting cold actually helps them cook more evenly.

🍖 “Pink pork = unsafe.”
Not anymore. Temperature beats color every time.

A lot of kitchen “rules” are just traditions wearing spooky costumes. Cooking isn’t cursed—it’s just full of myths that need a little sunlight and a thermometer.

What are some of the kitchen myths you believe? I can tell you if they are true, or just a superstitious myth.

How many of these top seven tastes on my Bali Bites Street Foods Tour in Bali, Indonesia have YOU had?

The month of February was an exciting 28 days for the Care Free Cooks Insider Cooking Club because we traveled to Bali, Indonesia together to discover the foods and cooking methods used there.

It's a vibrant, colorful, zesty and flavorful combination of foods with multiple influences from many countries.

The Insiders Club gets FOUR classes per month from a different location that examines the geography, culture, history, ingredients, cooking methods, and typical dishes of that region.

Then, we take a food tour or cooking class together to see exactly how these foods are prepared.

Class number three is a LIVE 3-hour cooking event on Zoom every fourth Saturday of the month.

And we wrap up the month with our LIVE Q&A session on Zoom.

It's fun, fascinating, and furiously flavorful to spend a month as a Care Free Cooks Insider.

The group is currently CLOSED to new members, but when we have some new openings, you'll be the first to know if you LIKE and SHARE this post with your friends.

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