Nothing tops off a Summer Solstice dinner more perfectly than an apple tart. My friend’s mother, Val, made a simply divine one the other night, and I am still daydreaming about its goodness. I’m talking the-skies-opened-up-and-the-angels-sang good.
Although tarts seem like a relatively simple dessert, it’s the crust wherein lies the excruciating challenge. And to me, [...]

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I don’t like chicken liver. Not at all. But when cooked up with sinful ingredients such as Cognac and heavy cream that artery clogging offal is a whole other thing. Oh, oui, oiu!

Last night I stuffed myself on Le Pichet’s house gateau au foie de folaille like a foie gras goose. It’s my duty, really, [...]

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If you are like me, you may have assumed that the French Dip sandwich has it’s origins in, well, France. Non! Eeet ees actually from…Los Angeles. Despite my images of Gallic housewives stewing bones in ancient stone farmhouses to render the dipping broth, or Au Jus, that makes this dish unique, it’s generally accepted that [...]

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Barnaby has the uncanny ability to look into the fridge and be able to whip up some fabulous gourmet meal. I, on the other hand, will take a look and immediately say, “We have nothing, nothing at all. We need to go to the store.”
Last night was one such night. I saw nothing and Barnaby [...]

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You know you have a good book in your hand when time simply evaporates - poof! two hours gone just like that. This is what happened when I boarded my flight from San Francisco to Seattle and cracked the spine of Alice Waters and Chez Panisse. If you’re interested in food, and I’m assuming you [...]

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I stepped into Bakery Nouveau and, as I wiped the drool from my chin, my eyes fell upon them - gasp, mon dieu! - les macarons. These are not coconut macaroons, mon cher. While I adore a good coconut macaroon, Parisian macaroons are in another cookie league altogether. They are quite hard to find in [...]

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It wasn’t until I lived in Seattle, with easy access to Taylor Shellfish Farms, that I truly began to love mussels. How many meals afford you the opportunity to gobble and scoop with the food’s own shell? Such satisfaction is gained from a big bowl of steamed mussels, a good glass of white white and [...]

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