This past month has featured a lot of nice breakfast and brunch recipes, a few chicken recipes, and one or two bakery items. Of course, it wouldn't be spring without a little bit of asparagus, so we've got some of that, too. And you know what that means. (Or at least, 40 percent of you do.)

Come take a look at the latest Culinary Arts Photo Gallery to see photos of the past month's recipes in all their 500 × 500 pixel glory.

And if you haven't had a chance, try out this handy cooking measurement conversion tool. If you've ever wondered how many ounces there are in a teaspoon -- or vice-versa -- this tool is just what you've been looking for.

Mother's Day is legendary for being the single busiest day in the restaurant business. Whether it's brunch or dinner, more of us go out to eat on Mother's Day than on any other day of the year.

Which is certainly nice for moms (assuming they're not the ones paying). It's convenient for burglars, too. But it's a real boon for restaurants, because they get to roll out their special "holiday menus." All of a sudden, a dish you ordered last week for $8.95 might set you back $14.95. It's simple economics. Increased demand and a fixed supply of restaurants means prices go through the roof. And because owners and managers know that every restaurant in town is booked solid, they're going to squeeze every last dollar out of you that they can.

If you'd like to save a few bucks and avoid the crowds, why not prepare your own Mother's Day meal? With these Mother's Day brunch menu recipes, you'll find a choice of egg dish, two kinds of French toast, and two kinds of waffles, plus your choice of hash browns or home fries, blueberry muffins or scones. And we've got the cocktails, too -- with some non-alcoholic choices to go with the more "festive" variety.

Finally (and this may be the most important point of all): Don't stress! Moms tend to appreciate the effort more than anything else. So get in there and mess up your kitchen, maybe burn the French toast, but above all, have fun!

When preparing a big holiday meal, it's not uncommon to have to double or even triple a recipe. That's called scaling a recipe, and it's usually pretty straightforward.

Occasionally, though, you might find yourself dealing with some unusual or otherwise cumbersome units of measurement. For example, if a recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of baking powder and you triple it, now you need six teaspoons. You could measure out six teaspoons, but that's a bit tedious. Is there an easier way? Just consult this handy conversion tool and you'll see that six teaspoons is equivalent to two tablespoons.

I find the tool to be endlessly fascinating. Maybe it's just me, but it's somehow mesmerizing to know that a gallon is equal to 768 teaspoons. Which may not have much practical application -- unless one day I find myself stranded on a desert island with nothing but a gallon container and a teaspoon. And a laptop with an internet connection. And I'm baking a very large cake.

If you're like most people, your weekday mornings are probably far more hectic and rushed than your evenings. As a result, we tend to eschew long, leisurely breakfasts in favor of quick, grab-and-go fare that can be inhaled on the run. The typical dinner can seem downright epic by comparison -- often featuring actual plates and eating utensils; many people even manage to remain stationary, possibly in a seated position, for the duration of the meal.

This explains why many of our most beloved breakfast foods -- waffles, French toast, even omelets and other egg dishes -- tend to be reserved for the weekends, when we can (in theory, at least) spare enough time to enjoy a breakfast that wasn't designed to fit into that little cup-holder in the car.

The interesting thing about breakfast, though, is that a dish you wouldn't remotely have time for in the morning might make a relatively quick and easy dinner. Like a frittata, for instance. A frittata is an Italian-style flat omelet that's baked in a skillet. This Spinach, Bacon & Cheddar Frittata recipe only takes about 20 minutes to cook, and since it's prepared entirely in a single pan, it's surprisingly convenient. Best of all, you don't have to wait for the weekend to enjoy it.

We've been discussing chicken off and on in this space for a while now, so it only seems fair to focus for a little bit on the egg -- without which, we'd have no chicken. Or is it the other way around?

It's hard to say for sure. We do know that eggs are an important part of all kinds of breakfast dishes, and since breakfast comes first, we can probably assume that it's the egg that came first, as well.

Perfectly scrambled eggs may be one of the most satisfying foods in the world. And with scrambled eggs, perfection might be easier to reach than you thought. Check out this recipe for the perfect scrambled eggs. It'll have you wishing you could have eggs for lunch, dinner and breakfast.
Speaking of breakfast, here's a link to a Mother's Day Brunch Menu. Instead of paying a fortune to wait ages for a table at your local brunch spot, save a few bucks and prepare your own special Mother's Day meal instead.

If you're accustomed to cooking rice by the traditional (in this country, anyway) "boiling" method, where the uncooked rice is covered with cold water and then simmered until the water is absorbed, there's another method you might be interested in: the pilaf method.

Rice pilaf is a tasty alternative to ordinary boiled rice. In its simplest form, uncooked rice is sautéed in butter or oil, hot stock or broth is added, and then the pot is covered and transferred to the oven where the rice is braised until all the liquid is absorbed. Cooking the rice this way gives you a firmer grain and develops additional flavor through the sautéing. It also helps keep the grains separate and generally results in a less sticky product.

I have a glass saucepan made by Corning that I like to use for making pilaf. Because it's transparent, I can see whether the liquid has been absorbed without removing the lid. That's important, because once the lid comes off, the steam inside escapes, the cooking process slows down and if you're too early and have to continue cooking, you can end up with gummy rice. A glass pot helps avoid that. Safety first, though: If you use glass cookware, be sure it's safe for both stovetop and oven use, and avoid subjecting it to sudden changes in temperature. Here's the recipe for this basic rice pilaf.

Doesn't it seem like some people are just naturally affable, and can pretty much hit it off with anyone they meet? It's a rare gift, but those who possess it can walk into a pub or diner or bistro anywhere in the world and make half a dozen friends within 30 minutes -- and they don't even need to speak the language!

Chicken is a little bit like that. You can pair it with flavors or cuisines from anywhere around the world -- whether it's a Mexican mole, an Indian tikka masala or a classic Italian piccata sauce. Regardless of its surroundings, the humble chicken breast will always be right at home.

This recipe for grilled chicken with sesame and ginger is a great example. It blends sweet, salty and aromatic flavors into a simple but sophisticated Asian-inspired dish. And the best part is, it requires almost no work at all. Just mix up the marinade, let the chicken breasts absorb the flavors and in just a few hours, they're ready for the grill. Enjoy!
In case you missed it, here's a link to the article on whether or not searing meat seals in juices that's been churning up the blogosphere this week. See for yourself why it's shaking the culinary world to its core!

Being a personal chef can be a pretty sweet gig, especially here in L.A. If you work for a movie star (and movie stars love personal chefs) you probably spend the day swanning around the mansion, maybe doing a little hot-tubbing, while you wait for your client to come home so you can make dinner. Plus, when they fly off to Rome to make a movie, you go, too -- and then you're swanning around a movie set instead. The only downside is that celebs can be a bit fussy. If they don't like the way you've spread the peanut butter on their sliced apple, things can get ugly.

Still, that's nothing compared with what personal chefs had to deal with a couple of hundred years ago. Instead of movie stars, they had A-list clients like Napoleon Bonaparte, and when they went on location in Italy they weren't shooting a movie, they were invading the country. On a gig like that, a good day meant not getting hit by a cannonball.

On what may be the roughest personal chef job ever, Napoleon's chef is said to have accompanied his boss across the Alps on a mule in the prelude to the Battle of Marengo in 1800. Later, famished after a long day of routing the Austrians, Napoleon wanted dinner. The chef managed to scrounge up a chicken, some tomatoes and a few other ingredients from the Northern Italian countryside, and Chicken Marengo was born. Bonaparte liked it so much that it became his lucky dish. Check out this updated version of the Chicken Marengo recipe. Napoleon was a pretty tough boss, so if it was good enough for him, it's bound to be pretty good.

Everyone's positively gushing about asparagus these days -- and with good reason. Though production slows to a trickle during the winter, the floodgates burst open in April as rivers of fresh asparagus come streaming into farmers' markets and pouring into grocery stores like surging green tidal waves of... um... sorry, could you excuse me for a moment?

(Time passes...)

OK, that's better. I forget what I was talking about, but oddly, I was just reminded of the passage from Swann's Way where the narrator describes how eating asparagus "transforms my chamberpot into a flask of perfume."

Interestingly, only about 40 percent of the population know what he's talking about -- at least firsthand. But briefly, a sulphur-based compound in asparagus (which is related to the substance in asparagus' cousin, the onion, that makes your eyes water when you slice it) causes your pee to smell like -- well, like a flask of perfume. And since no more than about 40 percent of people notice the effect themselves, it was originally thought that asparagus only reacted this way in certain people's bodies. But it turns out that asparagus turns everyone who eats it into a perfume factory. The difference is that only 40 percent of the population are capable of smelling it.

Not sure if you're one of the lucky ones? Here's an easy way to find out: Try this recipe for Sautéed Asparagus with Lemon & Thyme. It's a fantastic accompaniment for poultry or seafood, and served with rice it makes a terrific meal all by itself.
If you do try the experiment, report your results in my culinary arts discussion forum. And even if you don't feel like sharing, you can discuss anything else that might be on your mind, too.

For years, the idea that searing meat helped prevent moisture loss was a cherished and oft-cited piece of culinary doctrine. It made sense and seemed to match people's observations, so it was accepted, largely unquestioned, for nearly a century.

In recent years, however, it's become increasingly fashionable to dismiss the idea as a myth. Indeed, any member of the culinary illuminati will be happy to tell you about the various scientific experiments that have, they say, thoroughly debunked the primitive notion that searing meat can somehow "seal in" its natural juices.

It's nice, I think, that these enlightened ones have taken up the thankless task of educating us about cooking, about the searing of meat, about science in general, and most of all, about how clever they are for being so right.

The only trouble is, they're wrong.