The Tomato Knife

2011 was quite a year – full of travels and culinary adventures! In the course of 12 months, I spent time in Berlin, Scotland, San Francisco and New Mexico – not to mention Alsace, the Loire Valley, and Bordeaux. I’ve never traveled so much – and, uh yes, sorry to admit, written so little! I’ve [...]

Why buy mayonnaise when you can make it? Yesterday, at lunchtime, I wanted to make an inside out (or outside in) tuna melt (like a grilled-cheese sandwich, but with tuna). Dilemma: I didn’t have any mayonnaise – and as most of us would agree, tuna simply needs mayonnaise. I knew the closest grocer didn’t carry [...]

I just marked my calendar for the Paris Cookbook Festival 2011! Next weekend, March 3-6, over 200 publishers will gather in Paris to present their cookbooks to professionals (March 3-4) and then to the general public (March 5-6). I can’t wait to go and check the collection of recipes and enticing food photography from around [...]

Vegetarian eggs Benedict has been a favorite family recipe for as long as I can remember. Soft, toasted English muffins, freshly sliced tomatoes and avocado, perfectly poached eggs and rich, buttery hollandaise sauce make this recipe ideal for lazy Sunday mornings or special brunches. We would almost always have it on Christmas morning – and [...]

Today’s my blog’s first birthday! In honor, I made a cake. This was an adventure, considering I had never made a savory cake before. On my way home last Friday I was imagining exactly how I wanted it to turn out- and trying to figure out which ingredients (and in which proportions) would make it [...]

Want to know a kind of funny secret? I’d never, until this week, bought a fennel. I don’t really know why I asked for two, last Sunday, at our market’s organic produce stand. These awkward whitish bulbs were just piled there, kind of like beady fish eyes staring at passersby. It was what you’d call [...]