Category: Cooking

Auguste Escoffier and the Invention of the Restaurant Kitchen Brigade System

March 20, 2024

Not long ago, I read a book written by Julia Child’s great-nephew, Luke Barr. His Ritz and Escoffier: The Hotelier, the Chef, and the Rise of the Leisure Class revealed what happens when two geniuses meet. These two men probably did more to change the way high-class hotels and restaurants operated, and the impact is … More Auguste Escoffier and the Invention of the Restaurant Kitchen Brigade System

A Little Side Trip to the Dordogne/Périgord

February 5, 2024

Reading Martin Walker’s Bruno, Chief of Police Novels It’s interesting how synchronicity works. My current, long-term writing project involves France – actually Paris – during World War II. However, there’re are only so many words about that time I can take in at once. So when I discovered a series of novels set in the … More A Little Side Trip to the Dordogne/Périgord

An Appetite for Paris

November 8, 2023

You know those books you read years ago, loved, and then put back on the shelf? But couldn’t really forget, no matter how many years flew by? For me anyway, A. (Abbott) J. (Joseph). Liebling’s Between Meals: An Appetite for Paris (1959) counts as one of those books. Mr. Liebling’s writing included a lot more … More An Appetite for Paris

“Take a Goose or a Duck” Wins Gourmand Awards Best in USA for Cookbook History & Writing

November 25, 2022

Wow! And to be in such company as Henry Notaker and Tom Jaine. Doing somersaults!   So happy to report that “Take a Goose or a Duck” has won the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards for cookbook history and writing for the USA! Competing for Best in the the World, but with Henry Notaker and Tom … More “Take a Goose or a Duck” Wins Gourmand Awards Best in USA for Cookbook History & Writing

Oranges, Florida’s Gold

October 10, 2022

Luis Egidio Meléndez: Still Life of Oranges, Watermelon, a Pot, and Boxes of Cake, ca. 1760 The thorn-like spines on the stems nicked me. I had no idea orange trees bore thorns, like the crown of Christ on the cross. And like Christ on the cross, I bled. Sucking my finger, I yelped, and Daddy … More Oranges, Florida’s Gold

The Gilded Age in Florida: A Few Words about the Flaglers and their Food

August 7, 2022

No, here I’m not celebrating Julian Fellowes’s TV series, “The Gilded Age.” I’ll confess something right off the bat: I watched only a few episodes. Why? The story of that tumultuous time is actually more interesting than fiction. First of all, Mark Twain coined the phrase, “The Gilded Age,” in a satirical novel meant to … More The Gilded Age in Florida: A Few Words about the Flaglers and their Food

Writing about History: A Few Words about the Dangers and Fallacies of Presentism

July 14, 2022

pres·ent·ism /ˈprezenˌtizəm/ noun uncritical adherence to present-day attitudes, especially the tendency to interpret past events in terms of modern values and concepts. Many years ago, David Hackett Fischer published Historians’ Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought. Despite the many years since its publication – 1970 – and the now somewhat dated examples he provides … More Writing about History: A Few Words about the Dangers and Fallacies of Presentism