Living in Paris, it isn’t always very interesting watching television, which I sometimes like to do during dinner. Sure there’s some great French channels, but I’m kinda lazy when I’m eating and prefer the English-language ones, which usually means CNN International. So I often find myself flipping through cookbooks while I dine, glazing over the text and scanning the glossy photos. But when I came…
It’s that time of the year, folks, when everyone’s thoughts turn to baking. Coincidentally it’s when the new crop of baking books is released, just in time for the sweet surge. This has been a pretty interesting year for cookbooks as the trends seem to be returning to books geared towards home bakers and cooks. Thankfully in my opinion. Although some of these books were…
During my interview at Chez Panisse, as I sat across the table from Alice Waters in the main dining room at the restaurant, she asked me, “What do you eat at home?” Since I’m not exactly convincing when lying, I told her. “I eat popcorn, mostly.” And continued, “I’m a restaurant cook. I don’t have time to eat at home.” In spite of that, or because of…
A reader recently inquired that her and her husband were planning to visit France and since he couldn’t tolerate any gluten, is there anything that I could recommend? She had attached a list of words in French for acceptable grains, like oatmeal and barley, So I flipped through my French dictionary and looked under Special Dietary Needs, but there was a blank space. I didn’t…
When Adam asked me to host him on his book tour through cyberspace, the first thing that went through my mind was—“Adam Roberts? Who cares about him?” Especially when his mom pals around with the big boys… Mrs. Roberts and Ben Affleck My goodness, if Adam pops up one more time in my RSS feeder, I’m going to bop him in that big old schnozola…
The French like chocolate as much, or even more, than the rest of us. That includes Clotilde Dusoulier, who writes the blog Chocolate & Zucchini. If you’re a reader, you’re privy to her charming stories about her life in Paris accompanied recipes. And you’ve also likely heard of her book: Chocolate & Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen. Turning the pages and reading about her life…
In spite of my reputation for serving guests only the finest cuisine I can muster up, I invited a friend for lunch yesterday and thought I could foist my can of salade Niçoise off on her, and I would be efficient and multitask with trying a recipe from a book I just finished. Her visit, and my can of…um…salad?….presented me the opportunity to try The…
I was at my publisher’s office in Berkeley recently (handing out ice cream and sauce to everyone, if you want to know) and on my way out, the main editor handed me a copy of The River Cottage Meat Book. At the time, I didn’t quite know why he pressed a copy in my hand since it’s not particularly a subject I’m always trying to…
I love whole grains and I love chocolate. So when I saw this curious Muzzi chocolate bar in a terrific Italian traiteur and grocer, Au Village Italien, I had to add it to my shopping basket. Inside the bar was little bits of puffed farro, or spelt as one would say in English. (It’s épautre in French, dinkel in German and for the brainiacs out…
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