A Free Wine Encyclopedia!We have had some really fun wines the past few months, wines that lend themselves well to food. Many sales personnel use the term “this is a food wine” when trying to cover up some unusual characteristic. Most of them probably don’t understand what a “food wine” really is. It is much more than a… read more »
Louis L’Amour, the late writer of westerns, was a family friend. He had a library of books that would knock your socks off. One day as I was admiring his enormous “room of books”, he pointed to a section of about 20 paperbacks and said, “If you read every one of those books, you would… read more »
When I was a little girl, “pasta” meant spaghetti doused with tasteless bright red tomato sauce and sprinkled with some-kind-of-awful, artificial-tasting parmesan cheese. “Pasta” really wasn’t high on my list of childhood favorites. Years later, friends would rave about this fusilli or that pené, and I would simply tune them out. When I finally came… 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 »
Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were happy ones, and filled with good wines and food! Last month I had a sit down dinner for 14 people. Usually when I give dinner parties, not only do I spend days preparing the meal, I am lucky if I can get a chance to eat lunch!… read more »
Let’s face it, every cook has at least a few culinary items they are downright afraid to try to make. I always had a fear of making homemade danish pastry, and rightly so! Never will I forget the disaster of that enterprise. Making danish pastry is a difficult process, a skill that requires a thorough… read more »
I think I have told you that I am happiest in my kitchen. I am. It is true. But there is something about a hot summer day that seems to sap my energy. I’d rather be any place but the kitchen when the temperature outdoors starts to soar. The thought of turning on my oven… read more »
Recently I took a cake decorating class from the pastry chef at Disneyland, George Geary. Not only was the class fascinating, it was a delicious experience as well. After decorating the cakes Mr. Geary had made, which ranged from a classic white cake to a rich chocolate truffle cake, my classmates and I were then… read more »
Before we had children, my husband and I thought nothing of hopping into the car and heading out to the latest “In” dining spot. We’d sit like critics for the local newspaper and scrutinize everything from the quality of the china to the selections on the wine list. As one might expect, we quite often… read more »