THE ASIAN CONNECTION AND ITS REVERBERATIONS One of the most intriguing elements in this evolving cuisine has come from the cooking of the people who came to the New World from Asia and of how the products of the New World have caused culinary reverberations throughout their countries. There are two reasons…
Category: Postcard
LOOK HOMEWARD, ANGEL
When I was 19 I discovered a few very old hardcover books in my grandmother, “Nana’s” collection. They were in excellent condition unlike her battered paperback detective novels she had taken a fancy to late in life. She had always been more than happy to share any part of her boundless love…
Full Moon Saloon Fish Sandwich
FULL MOON FISH SANDWICH, ‘FULL MOON SALOON’ Norman Van Aken © All rights reserved. No sandwich in the history of Key West was consumed by more drunks on premise than this one. No sandwich saved more people from a certain, potentially lethal, hangover. Essentially it is a fresh as can be fish…
“Remember When”, Alan Jackson
There are certain songs that make you fall in love with your life partner all over again… If you are very lucky. And this song is certainly one of ‘those songs’ that will release that emotion. It is his patience and strength that I find in his voice that makes ‘Remember When’…
Interview, D’Artagnan, “Center Of The Plate”
Courtesy: Center of the Plate
At D’Artagnan we proudly work with chefs across the country, providing them with quality ingredients to express their creativity in the kitchen. Some we have decades-long relationships with, and others are new to the family. The chef we interviewed for this blog post falls in the former camp. Chef Norman Van Aken is…
Meeting Julia Child, (The First Time)
I didn’t grow up watching Julia Child on television the way many people of my generation did. My television hours were not inclined toward any aspects of cooking, though we did cook in our home. My mother was a both a restaurant worker and also (for a time) a Girl Scout leader….
Edward Lee’s “Buttermilk Graffiti” in the L.A. Times; A Review by Amy Scattergood
Courtesy: LA Times
To be candid I love Edward Lee. I came to know him after he came to know me. That happens when there is a generational divide sometimes. But something drew us together and in places like Atlanta, Napa Valley, Orlando, New York City and Miami we have had the chance to experience…
My Kitchen Meditations: “On Knives”
My Kitchen Meditations ‘On Knives’ I went to bed after a long day of cutting. I thought back on the previous 24 hours as I hulled and then evenly sliced Florida strawberries in the ascending morning light using a Japanese knife its creator might have envisioned for other tasks. My knives are an…
Tomatoes Upon Waking
Three scents wake me. Not wake me initially. An alarm did that. These are the wakings of an appetite as they are touched by the brewing coffee, the emanations of ripening mangoes…but the third scent is more subtle than the first two. It comes from the tomato my knife and I slit…