I love manipulating my parents. Originally, we were going to dine uptown at Fresco’s for lunch. “Maybe we’ll see Katy Couric again,” said my dad eagerly. Since I knew celebrities were the draw, and since I was less than impressed on our last outing to Fresco’s I said: “You’ll see twice the celebrities at Spice…

I had my Tisch orientation yesterday and another function tonight and I loved every minute of it. This is going to be a phenomenal program. However, I must tell you that our instructors have made it very clear that the program is rigorous, that we must invest ourselves fully in our concentration, and that our…

I can be very tentative when it comes to spending money on lunch. I don’t shirk from an expensive sandwich if I’m confident I will enjoy it (see: ‘Wichcraft.) But I will shirk from an expensive salad bar that charges $10 a pound when I know that I have a tendency to load up my…

Did you know there’s a gigantic archive of Julia Child’s Master Class series on the PBS website? If I had watched these videos of Nancy Silverton making bread before I attempted her recipe for sourdough, life would have been so much easier. As it happens, I plan to be spending many an hour sifting through…

Attention Gourmet Survivor Contestants:Here is your first challenge.You must find a historical recipe and then cook said recipe. You may take pictures of the process (but you don’t have to) and if you do you must upload them, once again, to Flickr. You must write about your experience and tell us all about the historical…

Seriously.If you see “papaya” in the name of a store, that means they sell hot dogs there. This may be obvious to locals, but to foreigners it can be extremely confusing.”Finally, Boris, a store that sells papya! Little Popette can get the nutrients she needs to live!”Sorry, Popette. If the lack of real papaya doesn’t…

When one creates a scavenger hunt featuring 50 random unrelated food objects, activities and/or postures, one does not expect that many people will actually engage in said scavenger hunt. One expects that a small few–hopefully nine–will engage and that one may then say: “Foresooth! Everyone who participated is a winner!”Instead, 14 kindly souls participated in…

Remember those father-son swapping movies that were so popular in the 80s? “Like Father, Like Son” with Kirk Cameron and Dudley Moore? That other one with Judge Reinhold and Fred Savage? And, of course, The Parent Trap. (Which wasn’t in the 80s, but was in the 60s and 00s, so it evens out). My relationship…

Mom always asks, “Do you want anything? From the store?” when I’m en route to the airport. Some families have pantries that are well-stocked and plentiful; refrigerators bursting with tupperware containers of homemade sauces and soups and salads. Some people have Jacques Pepin for a father. I, on the other hand, have my mom for…