Food, Photography and Bon Mots
It has been chilly here in southern California for the last couple of days. I found a thick coat of frost on my car this morning and my thermostat registered 55 degrees in my house. Even my pup Juliet was reluctant to leave the warmth…
It is overcast, drizzly and gloomy in Huntington Beach today. Cooking weather! My good friend Sarah is an Ina Garten devotee. Well, actually, she is an “Ina ♥ Jeffrey” devotee. Show Sarah a good romance and she’s hooked. Connect the romance to good food…
My good friend Sarah and I have been taking cooking classes at Sur La Table in Costa Mesa. (Sarah is the pretty lady in the middle holding what is left of a tray of minced chicken lettuce cups). What fun! Our most recent class…
Elaine’s fettuccine alfredo. If it was good enough for Jackie Kennedy-Onassis, this fettuccine alfredo recipe is worth a try. (Kennedy-Onassis said it was “terrific, ” by the way.) As recipes go, this is a simple one. Like so many gourmet dishes, the magic is in…
Last night, a group of old friends and I got together at Costa Mesa’s Segerstrom Center for the Arts to see the Carole King musical Beautiful. It was a snap-your-fingers kind of show, one that made you laugh out loud and…
I have a brunch coming up next week and I’ve been experimenting with breakfast stratas (Is that the correct plural for strata? My spell checker is being a little edgy about the “s”.) There are, I’m finding, a lot of mediocre strata recipes…
I’m in love with this dish. What’s so special? First, it is a gratin. What is not to love? Second, it has hints of lemon and thyme–a flavor combination that elevates just about any dish in my opinion. And, then, there is the cheese–the…
The vocabulary word for today is umami. Now don’t go getting all “low energy” on me. I really don’t want to see any of you putting your heads down on your desks and hyperventilating like this is just too hard. …
Do you have PDA (phyllo-dough anxiety) ? A lot of people I know do. They get quiet and their eyes take on that glassy far-away look when we have “the talk” about phyllo. My stock answer is that phyllo is very very forgiving. Rip…
Does your food smile? Superstar (and perfectionist) chef Yotam Ottolenghi has been known to empty shelves displaying food in his delis because of the smile factor (actually, the no smile factor). In Ottolenghi’s food world, you have to be able to taste the food before…
