• Cruising For Food

    Cruising For Food

    [Last month, Celebrity cruises invited me on board their new ship, the Solstice, for a two-day cruise to experience its food and wine program. Normally, I delete most P.R. e-mails and invitations but something about this one caught my eye: it was leaving from Seattle. Craig’s parents live in Bellingham, one hour north of Seattle.…

  • Burnt Brioche with Homemade Ricotta and Blueberry Tarragon Jam at SQIRL

    Burnt Brioche with Homemade Ricotta and Blueberry Tarragon Jam at SQIRL

    Have you ever eaten something so strange and beguiling you can’t quite wrap your head around it? But you keep eating it and eating it because it’s such a curious phenomenon and, eventually, you decide that you love it but you’re not sure why? That’s precisely what happened to me last week when I finally…

  • Sunday Morning Kumquat Jam

    Sunday Morning Kumquat Jam

    I think this happened last Saturday, but let’s pretend it was Sunday because “Sunday Morning Kumquat Jam” sounds better than “Saturday Morning Kumquat Jam.” Having made my coffee, and contemplating breakfast, I stared at the leftover kumquats sitting in a mesh bag on my counter. They were starting to wrinkle a bit, losing their potency.…

  • Eggs Adam Roberts in Homemade Corn Tortillas

    Eggs Adam Roberts in Homemade Corn Tortillas

    Here’s a mashup of two posts that I’m mighty proud of: my signature legacy breakfast dish that’s sweeping the nation, Eggs Adam Roberts, and my post about how easy it is to make corn tortillas at home. Combine these two things and you have a breakfast that’s off the charts delicious. If you keep your…

  • The Burger That Ended It All

    The Burger That Ended It All

    The Golden State on Fairfax. After 11 days of fish and vegetables, that’s where I headed to eat meat again. Did tears trickle down my face as I took my first bite? No, they did not. That’s one thing that occurs to me now, how easy it is to take meat for granted when you…

  • On The Precipice of Meat

    On The Precipice of Meat

    11 days. It’s been 11 days of no beef, no pork, no poultry. I’ve had fish up the wazoo; sushi for lunch, seared salmon for dinner. In fact, last night’s salmon–which was very good salmon, from McCall’s in Los Feliz–made me a bit queasy, probably because, at that point, I’d become a human aquarium. Today,…

  • Writing Recipes Out By Hand

    Writing Recipes Out By Hand

    If you go into the back of my car, which you can’t really do right now because it’s in the shop (car accident; see my newsletter for details) you’ll notice a layer of paper on the floor. On that paper, you’ll find handwritten directions to various destinations: Little Flower in Pasadena, the airport, etc. Why,…

  • Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Kumquat Olive Relish

    Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Kumquat Olive Relish

    What is grilling? Does it have to happen outside? Why? These are questions I often ask myself, especially since I’ve yet to be able to buy my dream grill (a Weber kettle drum charcoal grill) to begin my own grilling education. In the interim, I’ve read–in fact, I’ve written in my own cookbook–that you can…

  • Crème Caramel

    Crème Caramel

    Ok, enough with this healthy stuff. Bring on dessert. Very well! For a long time I’ve been curious about Crème Caramel but too wimpy to make it. It starts by making caramel, something I’ve done many times, but then you pour the caramel into ramekins, make a custard with eggs and milk and vanilla bean,…

  • How To Not Follow A Recipe

    How To Not Follow A Recipe

    In this life there are rule-followers and rule-breakers. I’ll never forget the day that Mrs. Murley, my high school A.P. European History teacher, kicked Brian T. out of class for being impertinent. As he was leaving, Mrs. Murley said, “Don’t fall off your motorcycle this summer.” Brian T. replied, “Don’t fall off of your high…