Get it right
I carry lumps of nutmeg in my change purse. I stand motionless in front of croissants, studying the paper layers and reading the smell of butter. I ask too much of the butcher. But at the moment, no...
View ArticleI am tired.
I am tired. I could have told you that when I was at college, reading until it felt my eyes would bleed. At the end of the night, with every book they would let me take, I stood in front of the...
View ArticleOne person’s trivet, is another person’s hairpiece
She was on a self inflicted look out for men with toupees since she learned there was such a thing. She stared at men’s heads in the subway and on the 6 o’clock news. She would tell you she was an...
View ArticleThere are two
There are two ingredients in the chocolate mousse I make. If you forget one, you could just eat the chocolate on its own. Or beat the cream slightly and sweeten it with a few drops of maple syrup. Or...
View ArticleWhen you look.
When you look at the moon at night, you can’t pretend it is flat. It is round as fruit and heavy as stone, and you wonder why it hasn’t fallen from the sky way before you had time to think … Continue...
View Articleon the edge
I was on 5th street between 49th and 48th and I got a message from a friend of mine that someone needed a full time live in cook and did I know anybody. I have never wanted to work as a live in cook....
View ArticleMy baby is back
Ferdinand flew to Paris with a friend of his, the day after I left for my job. Just the two of them. And today he made it home. I remember just after he was born, my first day back from the hospital I...
View ArticleCaccio e pepe
There are a lot of have to’s for this. There is no way around it. You have to buy the right spaghettone. It should be a little thicker than spaghetti and cut on an Italian bronze die. (Nobody else has...
View ArticleHolding one hand on her hat
I don’t have obvious addictions. I love the taste of a beautiful wine and some wines that aren’t beautiful at all, but cut through the fat so that you can taste whatever comes next. But I don’t drink,...
View ArticleThere is a trick
I know how to make food that tastes good. I know how to strategize so that everything is done before it is meant to arrive at the table. I know how to amuse the table so that the people eating don’t...
View ArticleAs Summer floats
I wait. I am stuck on a branch like yesterday’s fabric. I am not worried. I am waiting for the wind to change. Until then, I cook. I bought deep black beans and let them soak until there was a swell....
View ArticleWhat are you bringing back
I have flown across the country. Six hours on a plane with all the masks in my collection and new ones, industrial strength ones that increased my chances of avoiding droplets of any size, vapors, and...
View ArticleThings you are never supposed to say in certain situations:
“Those lines that I before have writ, do lie: Even those that said I could not love you dearer; Yet then my judgement knew no reason why My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer. But...
View Articlewhere are you living?
It can seriously perplex people what to make for dinner. I am going to tell you why. A: People don’t know what they want. Because they are not taking the time to think about it, or they are asking...
View Articletomorrow
Tomorrow is my grandmother’s birthday. She never had a crowd over for her birthday. She had a crowd for New Year’s. If they had to come to hers for her birthday, she would have kept it to cake....
View ArticleLove vs Ownership
I can understand the confusion. Language can be a killer. “My money” means, the money is mine. It belongs to me. If you take my money, there are laws to protect me. You can’t just get in my car and...
View ArticleShuck it
I have worked in many restaurants, but never the line. I never had the courage. Cooking is one thing, but cooking and getting it out to a massive crowd who are all ordering on a whim is a whale in a...
View Articlesecrets
I am not sure they are worth keeping. It is like carrying all the furniture you have ever lived with. I will tell one. When you make beef stew, the simmer bubble should gently break the surface of the...
View ArticleWhat used to be
I was wondering why my thighs ached. I figured it out. It is because what used to be in my heart has moved to my legs, because my heart couldn’t take it. Like when you are holding a stone platter that...
View Articleon the menu
on the job last night: app’snorwegian gravlax on cornmeal blini with creme fraiche, grated horseradish and scallionpane nero (chicken liver pate) on crouton with gherkin pennybrined, braised shrimp...
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