• Room Service

    Room Service

    The idea of room service held little appeal for me until I was on a book tour for longer than expected (stranded in Austin for a bit by the hurricane) and suddenly I couldn’t fathom another dinner out with human beings. I enjoy human beings…but on a book tour you meet so many of them…

  • Easy Butternut Squash Soup with Whiskey Ginger Cream

    Easy Butternut Squash Soup with Whiskey Ginger Cream

    When I got back from my book tour, all I wanted to do was cook cook cook. Comfort foods, mostly. That first night it was my ultimate comfort food dish of fusilli with homemade tomato sauce and a Caesar salad to start. The next night, though, I wanted a different sort of comfort food. I…

  • The First Post-Sandy Dinner at Hearth

    The First Post-Sandy Dinner at Hearth

    As far as good deeds go, they don’t come any easier than the one we did on Saturday night. The East Village had just gotten its power back after Hurricane Sandy which, as I’m sure you’re aware, has left the east coast devastated, thousands homeless, others still without power and heat. The restaurant community had…

  • Franklin Barbecue

    Franklin Barbecue

    Some restaurants have a mythology surrounding them. Franklin BBQ, in Austin, Texas, is one such restaurant. “You have to get there early,” people will say. “They line up starting at 9 o’clock and don’t open their doors until 11.” “It’s because Aaron Franklin carves all the meat by hand and takes his time doing it.”…

  • Uchi

    Uchi

    I was glued to the TV, yesterday, watching hurricane Sandy updates from my Austin hotel room (note to CNN producers: that was cruel how you kept that guy submerged in water during 100 MPH winds) while harassing Craig and Lolita (my cat) over the phone to make sure they were ok. They were, though via…

  • Scenes from a Book Tour

    Scenes from a Book Tour

    Remember that time I told that joke about how I was going to blog my book tour as it happened? That was a hilarious joke! Because, as you might imagine, things got a little crazy after I wrote that. It became impossible to blog my tour as it happened and now, a few days after…

  • Lunch at the Googleplex

    Lunch at the Googleplex

    When I was invited to give a cookbook-related Google Talk in Mountain View, CA last Friday, I was incredibly honored and flattered but, also, I was really keen on checking out the cafeteria. I mean: what kind of food would I find there? What do people who work at Google eat? Luckily, my host Chris…

  • Fried Potato Bread with Fried Chicken at Bar Tartine, Dinner with @ChezPim at State Bird Provisions

    Fried Potato Bread with Fried Chicken at Bar Tartine, Dinner with @ChezPim at State Bird Provisions

    Yesterday I described a mini-drama in my head when I was choosing, on Wednesday, between the fried potato bread with fried chicken and something healthier at Bar Tartine. I went with something healthier and kind of regretted it. So yesterday (Thursday), I went back with Kate from Serious Eats and we tackled the fried potato…

  • Bar Tartine Sandwiches, Omnivore Books & The Tartine After Hours Cookbook Dinner

    Bar Tartine Sandwiches, Omnivore Books & The Tartine After Hours Cookbook Dinner

    I’ve decided to blog my book tour as it happens! We’ll see if I can keep up, but I have 50 minutes now to write this post before having to do more cookbook-related stuff. Yesterday was such a good day; it started where I am now, at Ritual Coffee in the Mission. It’s a great…

  • Return to Zuni

    Return to Zuni

    When I was a nerd in high school (“What? YOU were a NERD in high school? That’s SHOCKING!”) my brother and I played many CD-ROMs. “Under A Killing Moon,” “The 7th Guest,” and, my personal favorite, “Return to Zork.” This post has nothing to do with that except the title is an homage to that…