Category

essays

  • Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud

    Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud

    It started with a tremor.For the past year, I’ve had a tremor that Craig would notice whenever I held up my fork or the remote control or my phone to play Connections. We chalked it up to twitchiness or nerves but then the tremor persisted and became really noticeable. A friend saw my hand shaking…

  • What Your Food Says About You

    What Your Food Says About You

    Recently, I synched my Apple TV with my Flickr account so that when the screensaver comes on, all of my pictures on there–over 28,000–dance across the screen. And, wouldn’t you know it, most of those pictures are pictures of food. In fact, when I open my iPhoto and try to find pictures of me and…

  • Just So You Know, Food Arrives When It’s Ready

    Just So You Know, Food Arrives When It’s Ready

    There’s a new restaurant trend afoot, one that takes the form of a casual, shoulder-shrug of a sentence, usually uttered by a server after he or she takes your order. It’s the sentence in the title of this post: “Just so you know, food arrives when it’s ready.” It’s a sentence I heard last night…

  • The Right Way To Eat A Muffin

    The Right Way To Eat A Muffin

    This morning I decided to treat myself to a blueberry muffin from the Village Bakery right here in Atwater Village. As I began to eat the muffin, it occurred to me that there’s a right way and a wrong way to eat a muffin. For example, if you were new to America and you’d never…

  • FOMIM: Fear of Missing Important Meals (While Traveling)

    FOMIM: Fear of Missing Important Meals (While Traveling)

    It’s a very privileged problem to have, let’s acknowledge that out of the gate. Most people in this world who are worrying about food are worrying about how to get enough on to the table, not how to eat the very best the world has to offer while flitting about. Again, let me be the…

  • Whatever, Martha

    Whatever, Martha

    Last week, Martha Stewart caused something of an uproar in the blogger community when she said, in an interview with Bloomberg TV: “Who are these bloggers? They’re not editors at Vogue magazine…I mean, there are bloggers writing recipes that aren’t tested, that aren’t necessarily very good, or are copies of everything that really good editors…

  • Cooking For A Chef

    Cooking For A Chef

    At first I wasn’t nervous. Or, at least, I told myself I wasn’t nervous. My friend Barrett Foa, who agreed to come on The Clean Plate Club, told me that his dream food guest would be Suzanne Tracht, the celebrated chef at Jar here in Los Angeles (also, a Top Chef Master). Before I knew…

  • Why You Shouldn’t Go On Top Chef (Unless You Should)

    Why You Shouldn’t Go On Top Chef (Unless You Should)

    As the 300th season of Top Chef looms, a few predictions: in the first episode, there will be an arrogant know-it-all who claims a superior set of kitchen skills, only, when asked to debone a chicken, he’ll crumple into a heap and cry, “My mother never loved me!” A duo of lesbian sashimi experts, formerly…

  • 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…

  • Movie Theater Popcorn

    Movie Theater Popcorn

    Movie theater popcorn is a total treat, worse for you than a Big Mac (I’m making that up but I’m sure it’s true), but one of the best parts about going to the movies. I always get a small movie theater popcorn and a small soda (Sprite) despite the fact that, the way it’s priced,…