So this week began my little experiment with an occasional casual night. The idea grew out of some of the evening classes with students where we would cook and then sit around eating what we made and chatting. Since many a night I experiment with ideas for upcoming dishes, and often they’re only tasted by… Read More First Night Casual
…the monthly roundup of orphan pictures, from July. I think I’ll start with hot wings – these, at home, from the new Atlanta Wing Factory in Palermo. [Closed in early 2016] I’d tried some of their wings at the big Taste! 2012 event recently and thought they were decent. The guys were talking about their new… Read More It’s time for…
This week we finished off the northeast and north-central five-session series of lunch classes with Tuscany. Probably the best known, or at least most thought about region of Italy by outsiders, there’s a wide range of cooking that I could have picked to showcase. Decided on a slightly trickier pasta to form – casarecce –… Read More Under the Tuscan Fork
Just a quick rundown on this last weekend. Henry’s back in Peru for a month, so friend Allan of Kelin Cakes (locals, check out his goodies, so to speak!) is filling in. A couple of new dishes to the repertoire…. A caramelized red onion, portobello and camembert tartlet you’ve seen before – the only difference,… Read More Poached Tuna and Wheatberries
I’m always a bit wary of invited meals with the attached plan that I’ll end up writing a great review, because, what happens if I don’t like the place? I had that happen last year at the now closed and therefore no longer a concern Club V in Palermo where another food writer friend and… Read More Steakhouse, No Smoke, Some Mirrors
Did I like the book, did I not like the book? That’s the question. And I have mixed feelings about it. The book – the latest chef bio to hit the shelves, came with, as most of them do, a ton of hype, that follows on the opening of chef Marcus Samuelsson’s latest restaurant, Red… Read More Mmmm… No, Chef
This week’s Italian regional lunch class focused on the little known state of Le Marche, or “The Marches”. Located on the east coast of Italy, basically in the center, Marches literally means “marches”, which is an outdated way of referring to borders or frontiers, and this region was demarcated by three of those – Ancona,… Read More Lunch in March Step
One of the things you might have noticed is that I’ve been playing more and more with varied textures in our Casa S meals. More and more you’ll see plates that focus on a single ingredient presented in multiple forms. I realize it’s either all the rage in chef circles, or maybe a little past-rage,… Read More Textural Successes and Failures