Untitled Document Chico was just some guy I had heard about through my friend Karla. An Aztec dancer living in San Francisco, Chico had blown into Washington for a night, bunking with our mutual friend. I stopped by to say hello to Karla, and Chico and I met as he was waking from […]
Food & Drink
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If you knew sushi
Untitled Document It seems as if sushi is everywhere these days — in eclectic restaurants that offer a bewildering (and, unfortunately, sometimes badly executed) mix of cuisines, in Chinese megabuffets, and even in plastic tubs in grocery stores. Even so, many people still have mistaken ideas about sushi, and some think there’s a gross-out factor: […]
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The lentil’s no has-been
Untitled Document Turkey. Check. Egypt, Ethiopia. Check, check. India, Iran, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Pakistan — check, check, check, check, quadruple-check. This sounds like the stuff of an amazing globetrotting dream — but this list is a mere sliver of the places where a little edible disc called the lentil is like a diplomat […]
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Three St. Louis favorites
Untitled Document My husband, Peter, and I frequently bop down to St. Louis for the day to shop; listen to music; see a film, play, or exhibit; go to the Missouri Botanical Garden; or just generally mess around. No matter what else is on our St. Louis agenda, however, we always take advantage of its […]
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Fooling rhubarb
Untitled Document I’ve got a newcomer in my culinary bag of tricks, and it’s so clever, I feel like a genius. I can’t take credit for such brilliance, however; the concept dates to Elizabethan times, and in spite of numerous morphings over the centuries it remains a certifiable oldie but goodie. I’m talking about the […]
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Caesar magic
Untitled Document I grew up in the 1970s, also known as the “good old days,” when eating in a restaurant was a special event, like going to the circus. Fancy restaurants were slim on cuisine but heavy on spectacle and theater. There was the exotic Benihana, where robe-clad culinary magicians would stir-fry steak before your […]
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World-class pastry in Springfield
Untitled Document I’ve had them in Paris and elsewhere in Europe. I’ve had them in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco. But I’ve never, ever had better croissants than those I’ve eaten at Incredibly Delicious, right here in Springfield. As I tell my cooking students: “If you want a truly religious eating experience, go to Incredibly […]
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Biscotti? That’s amore!
Untitled Document My friend Maura is far from a cook. She’ll tell you so herself. But a baker? Damn straight. So what if she’s a one-hit wonder — Maura makes some mean cranberry-pistachio biscotti. These dried-fruit-and-nut-studded biscuits earned her approval (and, ultimately, love) from a group of people she now calls her in-laws. That was […]
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The future of food
Untitled Document “If you eat food, you need to see The Future of Food.” — Newstarget.com Have you have you ever read or seen something so powerful, so mind-boggling, so eye-opening that you had the urge to rush out and grab total strangers off the street and insist that they read or see it, too? […]
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Warming up
Untitled Document My friend Nan in Chicago made one. So did my mother, who lives in Pennsylvania. All across America, womenfolk were baking pot pies, and I was their preacher. I had found my calling: to spread the good word about bubbling-hot, savory filling and how it can save home cooks from falling into a […]
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The cookie eaten around the world
Untitled Document It really is a small world. If I hadn’t known it before, it was brought home to me three years ago in New Zealand. My younger daughter, Ashley, had enrolled at Lincoln University in Christchurch to study viticulture and oenology (grape-growing and winemaking). Down under, the school year starts in late February, equivalent […]
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Something sappy
Untitled Document Drip, drip, drip . . . It was late February. After a long, cold winter, it was first day to hint that spring was on the way. Drip, drip, drip . . . It had been below freezing overnight, but by noon the sun was warm. Drip, drip, drip . . . I […]
