For the restaurant industry, this week marks the final push of the year: Sell those gift cards! Book the holiday parties! Throw open the new doors and get some butts in chairs (welcome Otho and finally Red Stag)! Last week was different. Before all the hubbub there was time for a moment of reflection. Last … Read more
"Be not angry or sour at table; whatever may happen put on the cheeful mien for good humor makes one dish a feast." from the Shaker manual Gentle Manners. THE FEAST INDEX Estimated number of turkeys rasied in Minnesota in 2007: 46 million Rank of Minnesota in the top six turkey producing states: 1 … Read more
Tradition hasn’t rooted so firmly in my kitchen that I cook the Thanksgiving meal every year. Sometimes I am a guest at the feast, like the mjority of people, an eater. It’s a beautiful thing, for a cook to be cooked for, and I never take that invitation lightly. It should be one of the … Read more
The bird is the word. We used to go to my aunt’s house in North Oaks for Thanksgiving. I clearly remember her perched on a chair next to the oven, heater and scotch in one hand, turkey baster in the other as she dutifully doused the bird every five minutes. From that chair she barked orders … Read more
It’s go time. It’s the opening of Feast Season, are you ready? This is the week that my head starts spinning with potato options and I rip through the internet trying to find the cranberry recipe that will outshine last year’s. Thank goodness one of my kitchen walls is made of slate, because it is now chalked over with lists … Read more
On any list of the smaller enormities of modern life, other people’s Christmas circular letters ought to loom large. It is not the information itself that is so rebarbative. In the great scheme of things, knowing about the family’s new job/house/car/place at the lake is no more or less annoying than reading that Junior has … Read more
One of the toughest questions I’m asked is “What’s your favorite restaurant?” You might as well ask me which specific taste bud I prefer. Instead of a quick reference, this question begs a full discussion of the weather, the season, the time of day/night, what I’m wearing, who’s paying, etc. But that’s the thing about … Read more
Someone put a food curse on my house. I cooked like crap last week … Nothing lived up to expectation, mistakes were made at every turn, I threw my knife more than once into the wooden chopping block. Maybe it started with the Osso Buco my husband attempted last weekend. He had been craving the … Read more
I don’t really want to think about Christmas yet, I shun any holiday movies/songs until after Thanksgiving. I even direct my 4 year old to avert his gaze from the shiny shiny currently draped all over Target. And yet, I have to begin thinking of what I’m going to send as my "holiday card" because … Read more
First, it was Alice Waters who said NO to bottled water at Chez Panisse. Suddenly, something that seemed so lovely and useful (fresh, clean water wherever I go!) became downright evil, and almost … dirty. Fast Company’s piece outlined much of the concerns and issues held by conservationists. Restauranteurs have been stepping lightly it seems … Read more