A dining room at Gaulthier, London, England.

Jill is American but lives in London with her British husband, Malcolm.  We met in 2003 at a dinner held by our Italian friend, Patrizia in an Umbrian hill town.  We became fast friends, and are still very close despite the distance that separates us.  Both Jill and Malcolm enjoy good food, and eating well.  That only solidified the friendship.  I’ve had the pleasure of being at table with Jill and Malcolm in Los Angeles, London and Italy.  Every once in awhile Jill sends me notes, emails, of somewhere she and Malcolm have just been, of the things they ate.  The way she writes about the dishes is like culinary poetry to me.  This is partially due to the way the British write about ingredients, and their use of differing words for the same ingredients we use in the U.S. but it’s primarily Jill’s way of describing a dish that is so captivating.

Jill is a novelist and book editor by trade so she is well-versed in English; she also has a writer’s ear for language.  She and Malcolm recently celebrated a birthday by going out to a couple of London restaurants.   Here in her own words where they went after a visit to an art gallery:

“We had a snackette at Clarke’s before going on to visit Ham House and Garden, south of the river — a nearly intact 17th century historic house.  From there, we walked along the river to Petersham Nurseries, where, oh my, the food was good!  I started with a rose prosecco, then had homemade linguine with meltingly soft cherry tomatoes and black olives, a soupçon of lemon.  The main course was new season’s garlic sliced in cross sections (so it looked like marble) and served with torpedo onions and soft, gooey caprina cheese — like mascarpone.  For pudding I had lemon possett with rhubarb and Malcolm had a blood orange and lemon tart.”

So my questions to the above are: What are torpedo onions?  What is lemon possett?  I haven’t looked up the answers.  I’m not sure I want or need to know.  They sound so exotic.  I also haven’t heard of caprina cheese but it also sounds amazing.  And I already know that pudding means dessert.

The next day Jill went to lunch at Gauthier in SoHo, and this is what she ate:

“I had watercress velouté to start, then duck egg, followed by a cheese selection. Very, very good, and all hosted in a Georgian townhouse in Soho.”

Several years back she and Malcolm were in Rome:

“I must tell you about a meal Malcolm and I had in Rome8 today.  First we went to a gelato place by the Pantheon where I had rose and dark, dark chocolate ice cream.  A marvel, I’m telling you.  At lunch I had pasta (two different types because I couldn’t decide — the nice waiter said he’d get them to make both for me, only one serving) with a citrus and nut sauce, and the more interesting one was with a grape sauce.  Lemon, wine, grape, no garlic or onion.  Malcolm had a pasta with — get this — fig, cinnamon and a clove sauce.  It was truly wonderful.  I had rice pudding with blackberries for dessert and Malcolm had baked yellow plums with a kind of marzipan custard.  The coffee came in tall espresso cups with tiny lids on them.  A religious experience, to be sure.”

*The restaurant in Rome is Ristorante Trattoria.

So tell me, dear readers, don’t her words of food make you want to taste every last morsel?  They do me.  I think I’ll keep on saving these, who knows one day there may even be a book.

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Honest Cooking ~ I’m now a Contributing Writer to the new online food magazine Honest Cooking.  My most recent story is “L.A. – Return of the Neighborhood Butcher.” I’ll be writing several pieces a month about the L.A. food scene.

#2 – Saturday, April 23, 11 am – 6 pm ~ The 2nd 8th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational, a grilled cheese cooking competition.  You cook.  Judges vote.  Everybody wins!

#3 – Sunday, May 15, 1 pm – 5 pm, ~ Taste of the Eastside 2011, an all-star regional tasting event with a diverse array of Eastside restaurants at Barnsdall Art Park.

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the new spring produce: artichokes, asparagus, and the tail end of winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, collard greens.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports. Cookbook Reviews: Small-Batch Baking for Chocolate Lovers by Debby Maugans.

Image from iStockphoto.com

“I Was A Teenage Cheesemonger.”  Title of my autobiography?  Uhm, well, maybe.  Too early to say.  And I wasn’t actually a teenager.  I was twenty years old.

I hope this isn’t becoming too much of ‘me, me, me’ but I am proud of the few things I did do in the food and restaurant business.  Buying and selling cheese was one of my proudest food-related occupations.  Looking back on my rather un-storied food career I see that I was a jack-of-all-trades/master of none-type of food professional.  But I am proud nonetheless of the varied things I did do, the people I met and worked with, and the places I was able to go.

I stumbled into selling cheese; happily.  The year was 1979 and it was after I’d completed the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Studies program (cooking school) at City College of San Francisco; before cooking school I had returned from living in France, and I’d been head line cook at Sourdough Jack’s in Santa Rosa, California.  My first job after cooking school was working as lunch chef for a tyrannical French chef at a place called Today’s on San Francisco’s Union Square.  I didn’t last long.  The French chef was truly a tyrant: unreasonable, flew into rages, yelled and screamed.  I might have lasted two months but it was probably less.  One day at the end of a shift I quit by sliding a note under the chef’s office door; he was already gone.  I never saw him again.  Not my finest professional moment but I was desperate.

The Wine & Cheese Center

After the horrors of the French chef I got a 9 to 5 job as a foreign exchange teller at Security Pacific National Bank.  That didn’t go so well either but on the ground floor of the bank building was a shop: The Wine & Cheese Center.  It sold a huge variety of domestic and imported cheeses, had a full selection of wine, and did most of its business selling sandwiches to the office workers in the skyscraper above the store.  It was my entrée into selling cheese.  I learned the varieties, types, styles, what countries they came from, how to cut, wrap and display them, when they were ripe, and what they tasted like.  My time living in France had given me a nice exposure to French cheese.  This was an education in everything else — the world’s cheese.

Image from iStockphoto.com

‘Maître Fromager’, the Oakville Grocery

I suppose that’s a fair translation of “cheesemonger” although in France cheesemongers are true masters of the trade.   But first my apprenticeship.  When I heard that there was a gourmet grocery store being opened by Napa Valley winemaker Joseph Phelps in San Francisco I applied immediately.  When I started at Oakville Grocery the store had only been open for a short period.  Before my arrival the cheesemongering duties had been seen to by Clark Wolf, the store manager.  Clark knew (and knows) a hell of a lot about cheese.  Before Oakville he ran a small cheese shop on San Francisco’s California Street.  His enthusiasm for, and knowledge of cheese was (is) boundless.  He took me under his wing and taught me what he knew.  This was a true education in all the vicissitudes of buying, storing, selling, serving and eating domestic and imported cheese.

I learned how to cut open huge wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano, Emmental, Gruyère, and English cheddar.   Eventually I understood the many nuances of goat cheese, how it was made, how it was aged, and how what the animals ate, and the time of year can affect the flavor of the milk.  We sold bulk Normandy sweet butter shipped from France in large wicker baskets, probably a first for San Francisco.  I remember clearly the day we got in fresh Italian mozzarella di buffala that had arrived by plane that morning from Italy.  Another first for San Francisco.  We almost threw the cheese a parade everyone was so excited.  I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to Clark for showing me the world of cheese, and to Oakville for an amazing learning experience.  Clark went on to have a very successful career as a hotel and restaurant consultant.

Image from iStockphoto.com

Friends for Life

I also met the most amazing people while working at Oakville; some of them are still friends over thirty years later.  I met chef Jeremiah Tower at Oakville, we’ve been lifelong friends.  One day a French goat cheesemaker, Marie-Claude Chaleix came into the store.  She’d taught American goat cheesemaker, Laura Chenel how to make goat cheese on her farm in France.  Marie-Claude and I became fast friends and I spent a week with her on her goat cheese farm in the Charente region of France.  She took me all over the region and introduced me to the area’s goat cheese makers.  I learned a tremendous amount.  Another friend is Kathleen Lewis, now a personal chef, who oversaw all the prepared foods at Oakville.  We lost touch over the years but she recently found me because of this blog.  She and her husband live in Los Angeles.

DDL Foodshow

My year long stint at Oakville led me to another cheese-related opportunity: to work with Italian film producer, Dino de Laurentiis in opening the first of a series of Italian-themed food shops, DDL Foodshow.  I was hired in 1982 to help him and his staff open the flagship store on New York’s Upper West Side.  When the store opened I became cheese manager, or head cheese buyer.  I placed orders, controlled inventory, was responsible for the display cases, sales and managing a staff.  It was an exciting time for me.  While I worked for Dino I met two more life long friends: Martine Rothstein who worked the cheese counter with me, and Lori Berhon who worked in Dino’s film offices, and at the store.  Before I started working at DDL I was lucky enough to go on a three week buying trip with the general manager to France and Italy.  While I was in Italy I went to Milan and saw the food shop of all food shops, Peck.  Amazing selection of cheeses, jaw-dropping displays.  I was inspired.  (I wrote a bit about here: Peck di Milano — my first ever blog post.)

Cheese became a part of my life and it still is.  I may not eat quite as much as I did when I was a cheesemonger, and a bit younger but I still eat it often.  The best part of having been a cheesmonger is the cheese knowledge I’ll always have.  I can go into any cheese shop and know what the cheeses will taste like, where they came from, how they’re made.  And for that I am very happy.

Recommended Los Angeles-area Cheese Shops: Cheese Store of Pasadena; Cheese Store of Silver Lake; Say Cheese; Cheese Store of Beverly Hills.

Recommended Reading: Cheese Primer (Steve Jenkins); American Cheeses: The Best Regional, Artisan, and Farmhouse Cheeses, Who Makes Them, and Where To Find Them (Clark Wolf); Culture: The Word on Cheese (magazine).

My Status:  Enjoying the gradual arrival of spring in So Cal and the last of the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, fennel.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports coming soon. Cookbook Reviews: Grilled Cheese, Please! by Laura Werlin, Southern My Way by Gena Fox, and Heartland: The Cookbook by Judith Fertig.

Italy Dish by Dish: A Comprehensive Guide to Eating in Italy.  Monica Sartoni Cesari.  Translated from the Italian by Susan Simon.  The Little Bookroom.  $24.95.  (378p)  ISBN: 978-1-892145-90-1

Having lived and traveled in France repeatedly over the years I know pretty well the regional differences when it comes to food.  Like what the specialty of a region is, or where a specific dish hails from.  Italy is another matter completely.  I have a general sense of the regional differences, north versus south, Tuscan, Roman and Sicilian.   Those differences also vary widely from village to village and province to province.  The longest stretch of continuous time I’ve spent in Italia was two and half months.  I spent that time in the region of Umbria — smack, dab in the middle of the country.  Food there was unfamiliar, and I could easily have used the wonderful book “Italy Dish by Dish” to guide me and answer unending questions I had about the region’s food.

“Italy Dish by Dish” is here to answer travelers’ (both armchair and mobile) questions about what is what when it comes to food, eating, cooking and dining in Italy.  The book describes more than 3,000 dishes found throughout every region of Italy.  Broken down by region each chapter is organized alphabetically by course then by ingredient and ends with an iconic recipe that represents that area; for example the chapter on Umbria ends with a recipe for Pizza di Pasqua al formaggio – a dish I remember fondly.  There are also listings for the region’s cheeses and wines as well as food and wine pairing suggestions.  A detailed glossary describes the bounty of the land and sea that makes up la cucina italiana while an index easily puts menu items close at hand.

The book is small enough to fit into a day bag.  Using it will allow the traveler a deeper, more connected experience to the foods of Italy by knowing exactly what is on a menu, what ingredients a dish contains and how it’s cooked.  Not only is this book handy for the tourist on a short visit but also for anyone staying longer: renting a summer house, studying, or living for an extended period, or even moving to la Repubblica Italiana permanently.  If the book had been available when I lived in Umbria I would have taken it to the local grocery store, referred to it for recipes to cook at home, and used it when eating in restaurants.  It will definitely be in my pocket the next time I travel to Italy.

Buon viaggio e buon appetito!

100 Miles Shout Outs! Local events, mini-reviews, and mentions of things happening in the world of food:

#1 – Monday, February 28, 2011 ~ 5:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. ~ Street Food Mondays with ‘Antojitos de Mi Abuelita’ Food Truck ~ hosted by Bill Esparza and Evan Kleiman at Angeli Caffe, 7274 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 323-936-9086

My Status:  Still enjoying winter in So Cal and the lovely winter produce: amazing citrus, kale, broccoli, collard greens, beets and fennel.  Trying to bone up my citrus knowledge so bought a pomelo and some Sumo mandarins (aka the Dekopan in Japan), a new crossbreed of citrus recently introduced to the U.S.  Loved the Sumo, haven’t tried the pomelo yet.  Continuing to blog, cook, and eat.

I’m published!! My recipe “Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya” was selected to be in the cookbook: “Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.”  You may order it here.

Upcoming Posts: More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  A visit and tour of Ojai Valley citrus grower Friend’s Ranch. More The Local Reports coming soon. Cookbook Reviews: “The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook” by Rachel Saunders, “Grilled Cheese, Please! by Laura Werlin.

A galette des Rois. Image from iStockphoto.com

As I, or maybe I should say ‘we,’ ease into the New Year I thought I’d write my first post of 2011 as a type of continuation from the last one: Joyeux Noël.  An extension of the holidays, if you will.  The French do it so why can’t I?  The last post was all about the amazing Christmas eve, or réveillon as they say in French, that I experienced while living in France.  As I found out while living there, the French don’t stop celebrating the holiday: Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and finally on January the 6th they celebrate the Epiphany — by eating a galette des rois!

The Epiphany

I also mentioned in the prior post that I am neither Catholic nor was I raised religiously so when I first heard that the galette was to celebrate the Epiphany I had no idea what that meant.  Now I do know, and for those of you who also may not know, here’s a brief explanation: it’s a Christian feast day that celebrates the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ.  The holiday traditionally falls on January 6th but in France it may also be celebrated on January 1st, or the first Sunday in January.  For the entire month of January the galettes and gâteaus are found in pastry shops throughout France.  Celebrated the world over in many and varying ways, Western Christians use the holiday to commemorate the visitation of the three Magi (also known as wise men, or kings) to the Baby Jesus.

The Galette

Also referred to as ‘king cake,’ there are actually two versions in France.  In the south of France, it’s called a gâteau des Rois, and is made of brioche in the shape of a ring, flavored with the essence of orange flowers and covered with sugar and fruit confit.  In northern France it’s called a galette des Rois, and is made with puff pastry and frangipane, or almond paste.  The cakes are made to draw the three kings to the Epiphany, and each one holds a hidden trinket, originally a fava bean.  The person who finds the trinket (usually a porcelain, or plastic figurine of a king) in their slice of cake is crowned ‘king’ (or ‘queen’) for a day.

A trinket poking out of a galette des Rois. Image from iStockphoto.com

King for a Day

Since I was living in Alsace which is in northern France, we ate a galette des Rois not a gâteau. Of course, the children in my care were very excited about finding the trinket, and becoming king for a day.  Most households use a simple paper crown that the winner wears.  I don’t believe it was a school holiday that day, as I recall when the children returned from school we all sat at the kitchen table and sliced up the galette.  One of the children found the trinket and was crowned king.  I became a big fan of almond paste when I lived in France as it’s often used in pastries and desserts.  Once I tasted my first galette I was hooked, it fast became a favorite sweet.  Puff pastry and almond paste; a simple yet-oh-so-satisfying combination.  Just be careful you don’t chip a tooth, or swallow a plastic figurine.  But if you do, at least you’ll have the consolation of being king for a day.

A Louisiana-style King Cake. Image from iStockphoto.com

Even for Mardi Gras!

I should add here that there is a king cake tradition that takes place in Louisiana, and parts of the American south; a tradition that I growing up in California was unaware of.  The cakes are made and eaten during Mardi Gras not in celebration of the Epiphany.  However, the origins of the tradition can still be traced back to French colonists; and it seems to me that the ‘New Orleans King Cake’ is much like the southern French gâteau — a cinnamon-roll like cake interior with sugary icing, and traditional Mardi Gras colored icing and sprinkles on the outside.  There are also many variations of this cake throughout the region.  One rule is the same no matter what: if you get the trinket (usually a plastic Baby Jesus) you must provide the next king cake, or host the next Mardi Gras party.

Celebrating the Epiphany, and eating the galette, was a fun coda to a wonderful holiday season.  As I learned during my year in France, these holidays may have religious overtones but the most important aspect to them was being with family, (and eating, of course!)  My memories of my time in France are among my most treasured.

Before I sign off, and say Bonne Année, here’s a fun Epiphany, galette des Rois, fact: the President of France is not allowed to ‘draw the kings’ on Epiphany because of etiquette, as it would be improper to crown a king inside the Elysée Palace.  Therefore, a traditional galette without a trinket is served at the Elysée Palace for the Epiphany holiday.

*A recipe for Galette des Rois by Dorie Greenspan from Serious Eats ~ http://tinyurl.com/29o8edp

**Here’s a terrific post written by Cynthia Bertelsen of Gherkins & Tomatoes on the subject of galettes and gâteaus des Rois ~ http://tinyurl.com/36s358a.  Cynthia writes detailed and highly informative posts on French food history, and her site is one I follow closely.

Happy New Year.

My Status: Snow in the mountains and a lingering chill in the air.  It’s winter here in Southern California.  My mind is still on winter dishes; fun, interesting things like fondue bourguignonne, pieces of raw beef cooked in a fondue pot of hot oil.  Or a cheese fondue, those are always fun.  Then there’s the Swiss dish of raclette, set a whole half of a raclette cheese next to a fireplace, as it slowly melts, scrape it off onto your plate, then eat it with boiled new potatoes, and cornichons.  Or a choucroute garnie, or a cassoulet. Dishes I learned to make in France.

I’m (still) published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.’  You may order it here.  I am thrilled (still).

Upcoming Posts: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Biscotti by Mona Talbott and Mirella Misenti.

Image from iStockphoto.com

One of my favorite holiday memories is my French Christmas.  I was living in France, working for the Zundels caring for their four children, cooking and cleaning, as an au pair, or mother’s helper.  Throughout the year I lived in their home they welcomed me fully into their lives.  The winter holidays were no exception.  Christmas in France is an occasion.  Social, familial, religious if one chooses, full of festivity, food and eating.  Le réveillon is the crowning moment of the Christmas holiday.  “Réveillon” is based on the word “réveil” meaning “waking” as participation in le réveillon requires staying awake until midnight.  It takes place on Christmas eve, and begins with a meal that usually involves more extravagant foods than eaten everyday like champagne, oysters, lobster and foie gras.  The traditional dessert is a bûche de Noël.  The meal starts late, nine-thirty or ten o’clock at night, and is long.  Presents are opened after the meal, the children are allowed to stay up late.  For those that wish to, after all the presents are open, attending midnight mass is the final act of the evening.

Carina Zundel, age 6, and a Paris cousin amidst the spoils. Note the real candles on the Christmas tree!

My réveillon was all that it should have been.  As I’ve written before in other posts I lived for a year with the Zundel family in Colmar, a medium-sized city in the Alsace region of France.  Winters in Alsace are cold, wet and often snowy.  This Christmas eve in 1978 was no exception.  To me, a California boy, the cold, snowy weather added to the Christmas atmosphere.  The Zundel home was a large, four story house overlooking a canal.  The main living quarters included a dining room, a large kitchen and a nice sized living room with a fireplace; bedrooms were on the upper floors .  The Christmas tree was tastefully decorated with real candles instead of electric lights.  Family came in from Paris, the South of France; friends from the area were also invited.  The house was full of people, full of life.  Madame Zundel and I cooked a number of dishes together that were consumed over several days of Christmas celebrations.  I helped her with the réveillon dinner.  My memory of what we made, and ate, is fuzzy at this point but I am certain there was champagne, foie gras, and a bûche de Noël. I’m also sure that we did not make the bûche at home.  In France during this time of year every bakery and pastry shop has them available to purchase.

The four Zundel children I cared for: left to right, Carina, age 6, Grégoire, age 8, Nancy, age 9, Marc, age 5.

I wouldn’t consider myself a religious person, and I wasn’t raised Catholic but that evening I did join a few of the other guests at midnight mass.  Catholicism in France is an interesting subject to me as I see the French as a live and let live people.  Meaning if you choose to observe, please do so but don’t necessarily expect me to as well.  Yet in the center of every French town and village is a Catholic church, or most often a cathedral.  Large and imposing, they anchor the town and everything else is, or was, built around it.  Colmar was no different.  The cathedral sits in the center of town.  The Zundels lived within walking distance.  The few of us attending mass left the house at 11:55 p.m., full and sated from an amazing meal, and leisurely walked through the silent streets of Colmar as it lightly snowed.  It was the perfect end to an amazing evening.  My réveiilon was a Christmas I’ll never forget.

Rue de la Herse, Colmar, France. The Zundel house is on the left. Across the street Madame Zundel owned a yarn shop called 'La Lainerie.' A light snow was falling the day this was taken.

Me knitting! Madame Zundel owned a yarn shop so she taught me to knit. During the Christmas holidays, and all through the cold winter months, we sat before the fireplace knitting. I came home with a number of scarves.

Happy holidays and bon appétit!

*Sadly, and with apologies, due to time and other commitments I did not make the bûche de Nöel pictured above.  There are plenty of recipes on the Internet like this one from Martha Stewart ~ http://tinyurl.com/yz88ok3, or I also recommend the recipe in ‘Bon Appétit Desserts.’

My Status: 10 days of unheard of rain in California.  Wet, soggy and cold!  My mind is still on winter dishes; fun, interesting things like fondue bourguignonne, pieces of raw beef cooked in a fondue pot of hot oil.  Or a cheese fondue, those are always fun.  Then there’s the Swiss dish of raclette, set a whole half of a raclette cheese next to a fireplace, as it slowly melts, scrape it off onto your plate, then eat it with boiled new potatoes, and cornichons.  Or a choucroute garnie, or a cassoulet. Dishes I learned to make in France.

I’m (still) published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices.’  You may order it here.  I am thrilled (still).

Upcoming Posts: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  More on my great-grandmother’s garden, and my California childhood.  Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Biscotti by Mona Talbott and Mirella Misenti.

Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room.  John Ferrell.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $27.99  (208p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-9338-7

Recipes that don’t call for fancy seasoned salts, or Madagascar peppercorns?  Is there something wrong here?  No, of course not.  I was reminded when reading and cooking from Mary Mac’s Tea Room that a recipe can just be a recipe without all the frills that modern gastronomy seems to insist upon — recipes like they used to be.   I am generally so caught up in local, seasonal, fresh, top quality ingredients that I forget that food, and recipes at one point in time used only the basic larder ingredients: things like white flour, table salt, white sugar, and ground black pepper in a tin.  Very little had a foreign provenance, or the words sel de mer, or Tellicherry on the labels.

This book by John Ferrell, the current owner of Mary Mac’s Tea Room, is an homage to an Atlanta institution.  The restaurant has been existence since 1945; Ferrell purchased it in 1994 after being hand-picked by long-time owner Margaret Lupo.  The book is chock-full of 125 recipes, employee biographies, old menus, postcards, and artwork from the restaurant’s history.  Serving as many as 1,000 customers a day many of those are, and  have been politicians, sports figures and well-known celebrities from Cher to Richard Gere and the Dalai Lama.  Sprinkled throughout are photographs of the many local, regular patrons as well as those of Hillary Clinton, President Carter and First Lady Rosalyn Carter, the Dalai Lama, and Richard Gere.

I’m a sucker for food history and I loved this snippet from the front cover flap: “In the 1940’s, there were sixteen tea rooms in Atlanta.  They were opened by ladies as a way to make extra money, but the name was a misnomer; a tea room wasn’t a place to have tea, but a nicer version of a “meat and three.”  These meals appealed to folks who had moved to Atlanta from small towns in Georgia because they reminded them of their moms’ cooking.”  Mary Mac’s serves old-fashioned comfort food, Southern cooking.

Of the recipes I tried there were more than a few stand outs including ‘Daddy’s Oyster Stew,’ ‘Fried Chicken,’ ‘Black-Eyed Peas,’ and ‘Blackberry Jam Cake.’  I chose the fried chicken recipe because I thought fried chicken would be a true test of the restaurant’s talents with Southern cooking.  It passed the test, perfectly cooked, with a crunchy buttermilk crust.  A recipe I’d make again.  Shellfish and the south go hand in hand to me, and oysters cooked in milk has always been a favorite dish so ‘Daddy’s Oyster Stew’ was another choice.  Here’s the fun part about this recipe that goes back to my earlier conversation about ingredients.  It calls for “1 pint of fresh raw oysters, juices reserved.”  I read that and thought but there’s very little juice in fresh, raw oysters?  At the fish counter while shopping I stood before the fresh, raw oysters in their shells unsure until I noticed a shelf of seafood products in jars and cans: a 10 oz. jar of ‘fresh oysters’ in their juices!  A very simple yet comforting dish, warm oysters in milk with garlic and onion.   Black-Eyed Peas, salt pork, fatback, onion and the peas – ’nuff said.  The most popular dish I tried was the Blackberry Jam Cake with Caramel Frosting.  It consists of cocoa powder, blackberry jam, and apple sauce making it one of the moistest cakes I’ve ever eaten.  The addition of the caramel frosting made it a  full-on sugar coma inducing experience.  There are only two of us in the house so a big ole wedge went to a neighbor.  She liked it so much she asked for the recipe.

One other aspect of Mary Mac’s Tea Room I liked was how Ferrell incorporated the restaurant’s long-time employees into it.  There are photographs, histories and personal stories throughout the book.  There’s even a whole section devoted to “Our Staff.”  Many have been with Mary Mac’s for over thirty-five years.  That’s remarkable in a restaurant these days.  It speaks to the type of place it is.  A place some might consider a second home, a welcoming down-to-earth establishment very comfortable in its own skin.  In other words, a true Southern restaurant.  This book evokes all that and more.  It may be a book of restaurant recipes but it easily becomes a book of recipes one can cook and enjoy at home.

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to So Cal.  Finally cold at night.  Pulled out the winter blankets.  As always more cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon.

Shout Outs!

‘Foodoodles,’ a new book from food historian and cartoonist, L. John Harris.  An amusing look at the history of the American food revolution that started in the 1970’s in Berkeley, California.  Alice Waters, Jeremiah Tower, James Beard, and Julia Child and more are discussed via text and cartoons, or ‘foodoodles.”  The foreword is written by friend, Chef Jeremiah Tower.  You’ll enjoy the history in this book, and giggle at the cartoons.  For more information, and to buy the book: http://www.foodoodles.com/

(Los Angeles)

Eat My Blog ~ the next Eat My Blog benefit bake sale is coming up soon.  Saturday, December 4, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Tender Greens in West Hollywood.  Come out and buy baked goods made by L.A.-area food bloggers.  All proceeds go to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank.  I’ll be there buying goodies and cheering on Phil and Katrina of My Life as a Foodie.  Phil is donating ‘Cranberry Coconut Chews’ ~ sounds delicious, right?

Bistro LQ’s Tuesday night Cassoulet ‘Toulousain” Dinner.  I went once and hope to go again.  Being from Toulouse Chef Laurent Quenioux knows his way around a cassoulet.  Go!  You won’t be disappointed.  Every Tuesday night until December 28th.  Prix fixe at $35 per person.  www.bistrolq.com

News! I’m published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices,’ published on October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  Cookbook Reviews: The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Bon Appétit Desserts by Barbara Fairchild.

This post was also published on One for the Table.

Growing up my mother had the usual cookbooks a housewife in the ‘60s owned like the ring-bound Betty Crocker, and Better Homes and Gardens.  Books that were useful but hardly high cuisine.  My first cookbook was Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck.   I bought the book at age eighteen after returning from living in rural France for a year.  I was an au pair, also known as a ‘mother’s helper, and worked for a French family in the Alsace region of France.  My duties included caring for four children, light cleaning, and shopping and cooking.  Madame Zundel , an American married to a Swiss Frenchman, owned Mastering the Art of French Cooking, as well as all the needed American measures to cook from it.

I can say with absolute certainty that Mastering the Art taught me to cook.  Madame Zundel and I used it together.  She also taught me a lot about French cooking.  It was the highlight of my time in France – creating a menu, shopping for the ingredients, and cooking the family meal using Mastering the Art. When I returned to the States I immediately bought my own copy and have been cooking from it ever since.  It holds a special place amongst my cookbook collection.  I recently added Volume II by Julia Child and Simone Beck.   Those two books are my food bibles.  I use them often, and with reverence.  My experience of learning to cook in France using Mastering the Art started me on a food career both personal and professional that has lasted to this day.  One of my favorite recipes to cook from the book is Ratatouille.

For a link to a recipe for Ratatouille from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, click here ~ http://www.100miles.com/recipe-ratatouille/

Visit ~ One for the Table

Follow ~ Twitter.com/oneforthetable

Bon appétit!

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to So Cal.  Cool, wet even rainy except for the past two days: summer has returned, in the 80s and 90s.  More cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon as always.

Shout Outs! (Los Angeles) I went to Bistro LQ’s Tuesday night Cassoulet ‘Toulousain” Dinner this week, and it was just like being in southwest France.  Being from Toulouse Chef Laurent Quenioux knows his way around a cassoulet.  Go!  You won’t be disappointed.  Every Tuesday night until December 28th.  Prix fixe at $35 per person.  www.bistrolq.com

News! I’m published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices,’ published on October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: a write up on Jennifer Piette and Erik Stenberg’s local, sustainable grocery delivery service Out of the Box Collective.  Cookbook Reviews:  Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell; The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders, and Bon Appétit Desserts by Barbara Fairchild.

Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly: Recipes from Southern Appalachia.  Joan E. Aller.  Andrews McMeel Publishing.  $27.99.  (224p)  ISBN: 978-0-7407-7958-9

My mother gets very upset with me when I call our family ‘white trash.’  Despite her protestations I think her side of the family is as white trash as my father’s side.  And I know he was white trash.  He called himself white trash with pride.  He and his four siblings were born in Oklaholma City and lived their early years in poverty.  Life improved slowly once my grandmother brought her brood much like The Grapes of Wrath out to California in 1940.  But the white trash qualities never did quite disappear.  I follow in his footsteps and proudly identify as white trash myself.  You’d think with that background I’d be more familiar with southern cooking but my parent’s divorce left me living with my mother and her family who were more northern in heritage.  My mother does talk about the food my father’s mother used to make: navy beans and ham hocks, collard greens in bacon fat, and cornbread.  Food I didn’t eat much of growing up.

As I made my way through Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly I was reminded of my paternal grandmother and the food I knew she cooked.  Southern Appalachia and the people who live there are in kind to where my father came from, to the food and customs.  Distant eastern cousins I’d venture to say.  I found this book comforting in many ways.  It is not a book of high cuisine; in fact I think I can correctly say it’s all about low cuisine and that’s a good thing.  Author, Joan E. Aller, a transplant to southern Appalachia fell in love with the place once she was there.  Wanting to preserve a lifestyle that she saw quickly changing she set about collecting the best recipes southern Appalachia had to offer by traveling around the area and gathering up recipes, stories and histories from the area’s inns, hotels, bed and breakfasts, restaurants, taverns and cafes.  The book is a lovely compendium of the simple yet hearty and heartwarming food of the region.  Full of beautiful color photography and a written history of the region, this is a book to pick up and read often.  Dishes like ‘High Country Breakfast Casserole’ served at The Buffalo Tavern Bed and Breakfast to ‘Appalachian Cider Beans’ (a personal favorite) come with an explanation, a story, before the recipe begins.  To wit cider beans are traditionally served at the local gas station which become de facto social centers.  Locals gather at the closest gas station, eat, and catch up on area news.

The recipes I tested all worked just fine; they were straight-forward and easy to make.  A few of my favorite dishes were the ‘Pork Chops Southern-Style,’ ‘Corn Pone, Tennessee-Style,’ ‘Grilled Okra with Pine Nuts’ and the ‘Appalachian Cider Beans.’  A fun chapter in the book is ‘Beverages’ where recipes for ‘Southern Sweet Tea,’ ‘Mammy Williams’s Dandelion Wine’ and ‘Southern Milk Punch’ (vanilla ice cream and bourbon!) can be found.  The final chapter is ‘Country Store’ and has recipes for pickles, relishes, jellies and jams.  A whole lot of good southern cooking is delightfully packed into the pages of Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly. If you are looking for some good southern comfort food grab this book and start cooking.  You won’t be disappointed.

Shout Outs! Fun, Cool, Interesting, Worthy Things Going on Around Town…

Magnolia Bakery (Los Angeles) ~ Purchase a Pink Ribbon Cupcake, (or several!) from Magnolia Bakery during the month of October.  Proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.  www.magnoliabakery.com

Los Angeles Magazine ~ The Food Event: From the Vine 2010 ~ Sunday, October 24, 2010, 1 pm to 4 pm, Saddlerock Ranch, Malibu, California.  The 5th annual culinary extravaganza hosted by Los Angeles Magazine featuring celebrity chefs, top restaurants and wine tasting.  I’ll be there.  Hope to see you.  www.losangelesmagazine/thefoodevent

Artisanal L.A. ~ A weekend of shopping, tasting, workshops, and hanging out with local artisans.  A celebration of L.A.’s finest local handmade artisanal edibles.  October 23 & 24, 11 am to 4 pm.   I’ll be there (Saturday, 10/23), will you?  http://artisanalla.com/

Out of the Box Collective (Los Angeles) ~ A brand new business that home-delivers boxes of local, sustainably produced groceries.  The food items used in the boxes are sourced from artisans and farmers in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.  Boxes contain meat, dairy, produce, bread, conserves, and regional specialties.  They have a Thanksgiving Feast Box available for the upcoming holiday that will supply you with all the ingredients and a few suggested recipes if you don’t have the time to shop but still want to cook.  Come check them out the Artisan L.A. event on 10/23 & 24 (see above for info).  www.outoftheboxcollective.com

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to SoCal.  Cool, wet even rainy.  More cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon as always.

News! I am now published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices,’ published on October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews ~Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell; The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders.

Eataly New York, 23rd St. & 5th Ave. Photo via midtownlunch.com

I have fervently been following the opening of the food emporium, Eataly, in New York City.  The reason for my interest is that I was involved in the opening of another Italian food emporium in the early ’80s: DDL Foodshow.  I was hired by film producer, Dino de Laurentiis, to work with the general manager to open the store.  The flagship store was located at 82nd Street and Columbus Avenue, across the street from the Natural History Museum.  It took up the ornate, marble lobby of the Endicott Hotel building which by this time was no longer a hotel but had gone co-op.  The store was quite large for its time.  Much like what Eataly is doing now there were stations spread out around the store: gastronomica, (prepared hot and cold foods), rosticceria (roasted meats and chickens), baked goods, produce, cheese, salumeria, chocolate, coffee and so on.  It was meant to be 1-stop shopping for the upscale neighborhood.  Dino and his team of Italians spared no expense; he brought chefs and managers over from Italy.  Adam Tihany was the designer.  The store had a full on kitchen with an Italian head chef.  Dino wanted it to be like the stores of its kind that he knew in Italy.  Peck in Milan is one such store.  After opening I became manager of the cheese department.  As manager I did all the cheese buying, was responsible for the counter displays, and oversaw a staff.

The Endicott Hotel Building, 82nd & Columbus, NYC where DDL Foodshow was located.

It was an exciting project to be involved in as a twenty two-year old.  The job brought me from San Francisco to New York.  It was my first time living there.  My interview with Dino (who is Giada De Laurentiis’ grandfather) at his film offices in the Gulf & Western Building on Columbus Circle was my first visit to New York.  I was very excited to be working with Dino, and living in Manhattan.  New York was a food mecca then and still is now.  Unfortunately, the store and its satellites (one in Trump Tower on 5th Avenue, and one in Beverly Hills) didn’t last more than a few years.  It never really caught on with New Yorkers.  Zabar’s, Balduccis, and Fairway pretty much had the corner on the gourmet food market.  A lot of people came into the store to look when it first opened but rarely returned more than a few times.  Sadly, Dino was ahead of his time.

The bread counter in Eataly New York.

Eataly is an Italian company with five stores in Italy, three in Japan and now one in New York.  Eataly New York is owned by chef Mario Battali and restaurateur Joe Bastianich, and Joe’s mother chef Lidia Bastianich.  The New York store while similar in concept is much larger than DDL Foodshow, and includes several sit down restaurants.  It is broken up in to a series of ‘eateries’: pizza, pasta, fish, produce, salumi and cheese, deli, rosticceria (with a butcher), bread, pasticceria and gelateria, as well as areas for cookbooks and housewares, and finally a wine shop. All of these are pay as you go.  DDL was more like an old-fashioned grocer.  You took a grocery cart from counter to counter and went through a check out line when you were done shopping.  DDL had no sit down restaurants; it did have the rosticceria where you could pick up a roasted chicken, or piece of meat, while the gastronomica had hot and cold prepared foods.  It was possible to buy a completely cooked meal.

Inside Eataly New York.

I have not yet been to Eatlay but I am anxious to go.  Definitely on my next trip to New York.  A good friend who actually worked with me at DDL has been and her report is that the food is very good, the store nice but that it is massively confusing as to what one is supposed to do where and when.  She and a friend bought things to eat then sat down at an empty table in one of the many eating points and were promptly told they needed to see the hostess to be seated.  A hostess and a host stand that were not readily visible.  As she described it to me: “Right now it’s an uneasy compromise between a food hall and an eatery.  What you have are various specialty shopping departments spotted with seating areas that have table or counter service.”  That does sound confusing.  Another friend ate dinner at one of the sit down restaurants where the prices were not inexpensive.  He said it was the oddest experience eating a nice meal while people were shopping all around him.  This begs the question: is it a sit-down restaurant, a take-out joint, or a high-end grocery store?  It’s trying to be all three.  Will hard-to-please New Yorkers be okay with this?  Only time will tell.  It does however sound like they have a few kinks to work out.

I have very fond memories of DDL Foodshow despite the many difficulties of getting a store of its size and kind open.  Dino’s heart was in the right place.  He wanted to share his joy of food and food culture with New Yorkers and Americans.  New Yorkers are a very tough audience; very set in their ways.  Sadly, they weren’t willing or interested enough to make it viable.  I still think Dino was ahead of his time.  This was before the Food Network, and the new Internet-based food movement.  Giada, his granddaughter, has managed to carve out a place for herself.  Time will tell if Eataly is a success.  I’d venture to guess that now is a better time in American food culture to give it a try than twenty-eight years ago when Dino and a group of us attempted it first.

Shout Outs! Fun, Cool, Interesting, Worthy Things Going on Around Town…

Pink Ribbon Cupcake from Magnolia Bakery

Magnolia Bakery (Los Angeles) ~ Purchase a Pink Ribbon Cupcake, (or several!) from Magnolia Bakery during the month of October.  Proceeds go to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research.  www.magnoliabakery.com

Los Angeles Magazine ~ The Food Event: From the Vine 2010 ~ Sunday, October 24, 2010, 1 pm to 4 pm, Saddlerock Ranch, Malibu, California.  The 5th annual culinary extravaganza hosted by Los Angeles Magazine featuring celebrity chefs, top restaurants and wine tasting.  I’ll be there.  Hope to see you.  www.losangelesmagazine/thefoodevent

Artisanal L.A. ~ A weekend of shopping, tasting, workshops, and hanging out with local artisans.  A celebration of L.A.’s finest local handmade artisanal edibles.  October 23 & 24, 11 am to 4 pm.   I’ll be there (Saturday, 10/23), will you?  http://artisanalla.com/

Out of the Box Collective (Los Angeles) ~ A brand new business that home-delivers boxes of local, sustainably produced groceries.  The food items used in the boxes are sourced from artisans and farmers in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties.  Boxes contain meat, dairy, produce, bread, conserves, and regional specialties.  They have a Thanksgiving Feast Box available for the upcoming holiday that will supply you with all the ingredients and a few suggested recipes if you don’t have the time to shop but still want to cook.  Come check them out the Artisan L.A. event on 10/23 & 24 (see above for info).  www.outoftheboxcollective.com

My Status:  Fall weather has arrived to SoCal.  Cool, wet even rainy.  More cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon as always.

News! I am now published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the upcoming cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices,’ publish date is October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: Cookbook Reviews ~ Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller; Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell; The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders.

What do 250 food bloggers do when they get together for three days?  Eat!!  Here’s a photo diary from the three day food blogger conference ~ International Food Blogger Conference (IFBC 10) ~ put on by Foodista this past August in Seattle, Washington.  My second year going.  The best part of the weekend was seeing all my food blogger conference chums.  I spent the weekend eating, food blog conferencing, and hanging out with Los Angeles friends, Jo Stougaard, My Last Bite, Phil Nigash, My Life as a Foodie, and two friends from last year’s conference, Kristen Fischer, Passion for Eating and Jessica Bongard, Plumpest Peach.  Kristen lives in eastern Washington state, and Jessica lives in Vermont.  We all met at last year’s conference.  Los Angeles Times food section writer, Betty Hallock was also part of our little group.  Betty was in Seattle to interview Dr. Nathan Myhrvold, leader of a team of scientists who are writing the six-volume, 2,400 page ‘Modernist Cuisine: the Art and Science of Cooking.’  Of course, making new friends is also part of the fun and I had a nice surprise when I ran into Sean Sullivan from New York City who writes one of my favorite new food blog finds, Spectacularly Delicious.  We’d become Internet-food blogger friends but I didn’t know he would be at IFBC 10.  It was a thrill to be able to spend with him.

Salumi Artisan Cured Meats is the cured meats and sandwich shop owned by Mario Batali’s father, Amandino.  Hard to get into, long lines, abbreviated hours.  Jo, Phil, Jessica, Kristen and I made a beeline from the airport on Friday and got in just before it closed.  We ordered one of everything.  It was all cured meaty deliciousness.  So glad we got in.

To the right of the line are Jo Stougaard, Phil Nigash and Jessica Bongard.  Jessica and Phil are meeting for the first time.

One of the amazing sandwiches we ate but I can’t remember what it was.  Trust me, it was incredible.

A mobile garden!  All the plants you see are planted and growing in the back of this pick up.

Jessica Bongard and Kelli Collins of Joseph’s Grainery.

Kelli Collins and Kristen Fisher both of Washington State. Kelli’s grandparent’s farm is located in the area of eastern Washington where Kristen lives.

‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices’

One of the more exciting conference moments was the announcement of who would be included in the cookbook ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook’.  I knew they were going to make the announcement during the conference, and thankfully I was there when they did because my recipe for ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ made it in!  I was thrilled!  The publish date is October 19th.  Several women from the book’s publisher, Andrew McMeel, were attending the conference including Kirsty Melville, President, Book Division, Amy Worley, VP of Marketing, and publicist, Tammie Barker.  I met them all.  Tammie and I had become e-mail buddies over the past year and it was really great to meet her in person.  She asked me if I wanted to see the galleys of the book and, of course I did!

A galley of the cover of the ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook.’

A galley of my two pages in the book!  I’m actually published now.  :-)

Hard to see; I am 4th row from top, 4th from right.

Amazing food photographer, Penny de los Santos.  If you read Saveur magazine you’ve seen her work.  She led a terrific session on food photography, and is the nicest person in the world.

Gourmet Food Trucks of the Pacific Northwest

This was lunch on Sunday, the last day of the conference.  Five or so Seattle food trucks in the streets outside the conference center.

‘The Burger’ ~ grass fed beef, arugula, bacon jam, cambazola blue cheese, soft roll ~  from the Skillet Street Food truck.  First picture above is inside the truck.

From the Mexican truck.

Lemon crepes from Anita’s Crepes.

It was a crazy, harried three days.  I came back stuffed and full of knew food blogging knowledge, tips and contacts, and I’m ready to do it all over again next year!

My Status:  113 degrees the other day in downtown Los Angeles ~ so hot it broke the thermometer.  Indian Summer is alive and well in Southern California.  Looking forward to cooler, more fall-like weather!  More cooking, eating and blogging on the horizon.

News! I am now published!! My recipe ‘Chef Wally’s Baked Papaya’ was selected to be in the upcoming cookbook: ‘Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook: 100 Great Recipes, Photographs, and Voices,’ publish date is October 19, 2010.  You may pre-order it here.  I am thrilled.

Upcoming Posts: The story of Ted and Nicole DeGolier and their urban backyard chickens — the hens are laying, and I’m meeting them this weekend!  Cookbook Reviews ~ Cider Beans, Wild Greens, and Dandelion Jelly by Joan E. Aller; Mary Mac’s Tea Room: 65 Years of Recipes from Atlanta’s Favorite Dining Room by John Ferrell; The Blue Chair Jam Cookbook by Rachel Saunders.