A Free Wine Encyclopedia!On my last trip to Williams Sonoma (I needed a few new wooden spoons… so I told my husband), I bought a pizza stone. It’s a large round slab of magical ceramic. When I asked my husband to carry the bag for me, he slyly commented, “I never knew wooden spoons could be so heavy!”… read more »
Living in Los Angeles, or any other big city for that matter, means dealing with the “trends”. There are trendy clothes, restaurants, perfumes, television shows, toys, even shampoo is trendy! Even though you may not be the trendy type, certain things eventually go “out of style”, and at one point or another, you will be… read more »
I love throwing parties, and the bigger, the better. I always start with a theme of some kind, and then go from there. With summer here, I’ll be entertaining a lot, and more important than anything, I need to be organized. I am a list-maker. The first thing I do when I decide to host… read more »
Every cook has a specialty; something they can make better than anyone else. My best friend is famous for her scones, my mother for her Caesar Salad dressing (which is currently being packaged to sell in markets under the name “Louise’s Garden”). Even my husband, who still doesn’t know where the potholders are in the… read more »
Back to Basics: Dutch Oven Cooking Here we are, with a grand built-in Thermador oven that bakes, broils, micro-waves and has convection power. There is one problem, though, when I am baking a cake, pie, etc., and need the microwave, you just wait. Such inconvenience! You are also able to bake food with the convection… read more »
“Madam,” the ancient proverb says… “That one rich drop of honey sweet, As an alluring luscious treat, Is known to tempt more flies by far, Than a whole tun of vinegar.” St. Francis de Sales 1821 You guessed right. Honey is our subject this month. The quote was a favorite of King Henry IV, and… read more »
Having been raised in Los Angeles, going to Pasadena was always a “trip”. I never realized that Pasadena was a part of the San Gabriel Mission in the San Gabriel Valley established by the Spanish priests in 1771. In 1873, the land was purchased by the California Colony of Indiana. This organization was headed by… read more »
“You’re a million miles from nowhere, when you’re one little mile from home. It’s the song of mothers’ tears, that keeps ringing in your ears. You just leave the gates of Heaven, when you leave mothers’ arms to roam. You’re a million miles from nowhere, when you’re one little mile from home.” This is a… read more »
A hundred years ago, the French gastronomer Brillat-Savarin wrote extensively on the experience of tasting . “It is no easy matter to determine the precise nature of the organ of taste. It is more complicated than would appear at first sight. Clearly, the tongue plays a large part in the mechanism of degustation; for, endowed… read more »
It is a little unsettling to write this column for the holidays, as I must think ahead when I know I am not emotionally ready for the holidays. That always begins after Thanksgiving. My benchmark is Halloween, when I begin thinking of Thanksgiving. The way merchandising is going these days, I fear Halloween will soon… read more »