Happy New Year

New Years Eve Party 2016 | On Rue Tatin

I gathered friends and neighbors together for our annual holiday fete, one I make easy on myself by asking each guest to bring a favorite dish. It occurred to me as I looked around our very crowded living room, the fire blazing, the tables laden, the mulled wine sending its cinnamon-scented aroma into the air, […]

Food, Memory, Nostalgia

I wrote this piece, which was originally published on Signature  , in response to a question about parallels that can be drawn between passing down recipes from generation to generation and passing down stories from generation to generation. I thought you’d enjoy reading it here.  I’m including a picture of my own grandmother, with my grandfather, […]

California, There I Was

From La Jolla to Del Mar, San Francisco to Diablo, Napa to Roseville, California was such an amazing venu, with such amazing hosts.  Thank you all!   and finally, a moment of rest at the Hollywood Bowl. Au revoir, California, I’ll miss you.

Quick Apero

The book has landed!!! The book has landed!!! Naturally, this was news I couldn’t keep to myself so I called friends – all of them characters in the book – and invited them over for an apéro (or apéritif, shorthand for drinks before dinner).  It was time for concrete thanks to all of these people […]

Food and Focus

  I was reading a piece in the International New York Times by Anand Giridharadas, and a phrase caught my eye. He likened the current moment in the U.S. to the Biedermeier era in Germany (1815-1848) when political participation was suppressed and people turned inward. “What will our grandchildren think of the extraordinary inwardness of […]

A Certain Form of Etiquette

I’ve lived in France a  long time, and I entertain a lot. If I’ve learned one thing, it is not to listen to what people say here when they first walk in the door (unless it’s from list number two).The guests who say they are tired stay the longest; those who say they’re not hungry […]

Delicious Sicily

I just spent a few days in Sicily, and floods of memories came back the minute I stepped off the bus in Agrigento –  of candied squash-stuffed butter cookies, bread made with grano duro that tastes hauntingly like cinnamon, mollica (dried, toasted breadcrumbs) which are an essential ingredient in Sicilian cuisine, just-out-of-the-Mediterranean swordfish, almonds that […]

Rural Paris, Rural France

I went to the Salon d’Agriculture in Paris last week, what I think may be the world’s largest “state fair”.  Thousands of farmers, sausage makers, ham-curers, honey collectors, bread bakers and more assemble at the Porte de Versailles to vaunt their wares and their regional pride to more than 700,000 people.  Perfect specimens of cattle, […]

New York Christmas

New York was snowy, then it was sunny and warm, then it was steamy with rain.  And then it was freezing and clear. I don’t care. Whatever the weather, it couldn’t be better. I’m here with my children.  The best sights? There were so many…. The gazillion gorgeous Christmas trees. The foyer of the New York Public […]

Love Letter to a Parisian Restaurant

At 21 Mazarine Chef and Paul Minchelli, has the softest, most delicate touch with seafood of any chef I’ve ever known.  Didier Granier, also part owner who runs the front of the house, greets each guest as though they were JUST the person he wanted to see.  Their combination is irresistible. And then there is […]

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