Menu Planning

Autumn is the most volatile of seasons, and my personal favorite. As I plan my upcoming menus I go to the market as often as I can because things are changing so fast. We just used the last of the nectarines, and now apples and pears are overflowing the market stands. Not to mention grapes. […]
Green Beans and Onsen Tomago Eggs

Today we made something I love, a simple braise of green beans which are so vivid and flavorful right now they should be illegal, topped with an egg that’s prepared in the onsen tomago method. The student who was working on the dish muttered under her breath – in a sweet way – “Why am […]
HAPPY SOLUTIONS

There have been times when, whether I was making dinner for my family, or preparing for friends to come to a dinner party, I just didn’t “feel” it. I was tired, usually a state I don’t like to admit to, but it happens to everyone. A normal person would just resort to pasta; not me. […]
GET THOSE DELICIOUS CREATIVE JUICES FLOWING

Writing a book, any book including a cookbook, is a work of creativity and passion. The yearning to record our thoughts, flavors, textures, ideas is profound in so many of us, but how to unlock that door and let the creative juices flow? We need them so that we can create, test, write, re-write and […]
TESTING RECIPES AND BASIL

I spend a lot of my year developing and testing recipes for my books, for other people’s books, for various projects, sometimes for companies. It’s my job and my passion, which occasionally means I’m tasting things that aren’t exactly what I want to eat. I love it all because developing and testing recipes is like […]
PARIS FOOD MARKETS

Get up early, get to your favorite Paris market to find the very best of the season. If you don’t have a kitchen, enjoy the tastes while you’re there; if you do, fill your basket for great cooking, great eating, all seasonal.
Fig Leaf Ice Cream

I discovered something amazing the other day. It is simple, and I might have found it a long time ago but it took me awhile to inhale, reflect, discuss, then finally make and taste. Oh my. What we have all been missing for so long!
Georgia on my mind

Georgia, You’re on My Mind And your luscious ingredients are in my kitchen. From toasted sunflower oil to chewy black wines, everything in Georgia is to savor. A Road Trip in the Republic of Georgia I was invited to join my daughter-in-law’s family there on a road trip into the Svaneti region, which boasts the […]
Mid-Summer Rhubarb

I think my rhubarb plant loves me. I blush to say this, but it’s got to be true. Each season, it gets bigger and more productive. This year, it multiplied so I actually have two rhubarb plants this year. And while its stalks don’t turn that luscious, deep red of some varieties, its […]
Meet Me at the American Library in Paris December 4

Meet me at the AMERICAN LIBRARY IN PARIS Tuesday, December 4, for Evening with an Author, as I talk about the glories, flavors, tastes, and foibles of FRENCH GRILL! Book signing, Tastes and Conversation to follow… 10, rue General Camou, 75007 Metro: Ecole Militaire (line 8); Alma-Marceau (line 9) Tuesday, December 4, 7:30 p.m. […]