13 Apr 2012 6 Comments
in On the Road, Recipes, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories) Tags: asparagus, dining, fois gras, food, Malibu, pork belly, ravioli, recipes, Steve McQueen
Fois gras ravioli with pickled fennel, shimeji mushrooms and marscapone cheese — at Chez McQueen
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Here’s the way I like to imagine it:
McQueen is out on the deck drinking his whisky, his khakis rolled up and his feet on the railing, watching the sea crash on the rocks just below. He’s surprised to find a stranger at his stove cooking, but only shrugs. After a bit he comes in to freshen his drink, and asks me what the hell I’m doing in his kitchen. More
06 Mar 2012 5 Comments
in Observations, Starlets, Yoga Students & Quinoa (stories) Tags: cicchetti, dinner party, food, hosting, marrow bones, Moveable feast, stomach virus, Venetian food
I live in perpetual fear of having to cancel a dinner party. I hate to disappoint anyone. And I hate to reschedule. Also, I’ve often been pre-prepping food over the course of several days, and am loathe to throw anything away — especially a gourmet meal I’ve worked hard to prepare.
So was it with an improbable Tuesday night dinner party recently. A savage 24-hour stomach bug was tearing through our canyon. Tuesday afternoon arrived, our daughter had been sick the night before, and my wife was not feeling well. “You’re canceling tonight, right?” she asked. “Well, not exactly…” I replied sheepishly. More
24 Feb 2012 10 Comments
in Observations Tags: Big Bear, cooking, food, France, skiing, Sur la Table, utensils, wooden spoon
I’ll admit, I’m a bit of a creature of habit. I find a shirt I like, and I wear it a lot, for a really long time. I’m like that with kitchen utensils, too. So it was with great alarm that I recently realized I couldn’t find my favorite wooden spoon.
After my knife, the wooden spoon is the most important tool in the kitchen. If a man’s home is his castle, and the kitchen my throne room, then the wooden spoon is my scepter. Sometimes I hold it when I’m not even cooking, like a security blanket. More
24 Nov 2011 4 Comments
in Observations Tags: autumn, duck confit, food, holidays, salt, Sonoma, Thanksgiving, wild mushrooms, wine
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. In addition to being the only holiday that is really ALL about food, it incorporates two of my favorite concepts into its title: thanks and giving.
If I were limited to only two values I could instill my children, it might be those two. To be thankful. And to be giving.
One of the most valuable things I can give is my time. And often I do that by cooking. When friends or loved ones come for a meal, they are not merely chewing and swallowing. They are being honored, served and cherished. And they are sharing in my small effort to make the world a more slow, thoughtful, beautiful place — one meal at a time. More
15 Nov 2011 8 Comments
in Observations, Video Tags: beer, chickens, cooking, eggs, food, fresh pasta, man cave, Nat Parker
On Sunday afternoons, many of my male friends will retreat to their “man caves.” I’ve written before about these enigmatic places — spare rooms, basements, converted garages where a guy can steal away to play computer games or smoke a joint or read, I guess. I don’t know what happens in man caves, I’ve never actually been in one. In my imagination they are dark and smell of tobacco and dust.
The kitchen serves a similar purpose in my life. When I’m cooking, it’s a space — both mentally and physically — I can withdraw to, focus and engage in my craft. Except unlike a man-cave, there’s no locked door, no barrier to entry for my wife or kids. More
skinny girls & mayonnaise 