Did that last post inspire you to gather your recipes and put together a business plan? Have you been thinking "I throw great dinner parties and I make a heckuva salsa, why don’t I open my own Tex-West place?" Whoa there, Nelly. There’s more to it than you think. Thank goodness the BBCA is around […]
The Sweetest Simmer
January 23, 2008 by
Now we’re fully settled into the bland, grayest days of winter—a time when I seek to imbue my life with more flavor. After all, woolen sweaters and bestsellers can only go so far in fighting the battle of the blahs. If I’m to be trapped indoors, then the kitchen had better be sending forth seductive […]
Restaurant Redux
January 22, 2008 by
It’s an odd feeling when a restaurant closes. If it had a big-name chef or the affection of local critics, the closing can cause much hullabaloo (as was witnessed one recent winter). If the eatery was not-so-celebrated, as is more often the case, the closing happens quietly, sadly. But what of the space? For a […]
An American Truth
January 17, 2008 by
There are those, here in Boston, who will say that Paul Revere never made his historic Midnite Ride, that he actually sent a neighbor to warn the countryside. And some people will giggle at your naïvety when you mention the Boston TEA Party, as if everyone should be so silly to think that it was […]
Wicked Pissah
January 14, 2008 by
I’m out here in Boston during this lovely Nor’Easter. As a true-hearted girl from Minny, it’s my duty to throw a few What’s-The-Big-Deals around and trudge through the slush in just a fleece declaring the 33 degrees to be a bit "balmy". I wear my Northern pride and January birthday like a fierce badge. But […]
Stone Crabs
January 9, 2008 by
It’s almost time for those beautiful little pink stone crab claws to hit the market. The first time I ever put claw to mouth was in a kitchen cooler with my friend Wade, the guy behind the fish at Oceanaire. We stood in the chilly box furtively dipping the black-tipped gems in a little mustard-mayo […]
Food Forward '08
January 3, 2008 by
Forget about looking back … let’s guess what’s in store for 08! If a rat can charm us, why not a bug? The next great food film to be revered by adults and tolerated by kids will be a jaunty romp with Corky Cockroach as he sings his way through a scrappy life spent in the bottom of […]
Two Parties
December 28, 2007 by
Most restaurant industry slaves refer to New Year’s Eve as "Amateur Night". Having worked plenty of NYE’s in past, I can’t say that I’m eager to go out and cram myself into a bar with a bunch of sweaty, drunk people. Have fun. I wouldn’t mind tucking into a cozy booth at a favorite restaurant, […]
A Cratchit Family Christmas
December 24, 2007 by
I read this the morning of every Christmas Eve. It helps remind me of the essential importance of a humble, shared feast. I gift this to all cooks as they start their ovens. Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a goose the rarest of all birds; a feathered phenomenon, to which a […]