The first time I flipped open The California Heritage Cookbook, by the Junior League of Pasadena (Doubleday, 1976), it took me by surprise. Instead of the usual whimsy one tends to encounter in community cookbooks, I came across essays about California history, region by region. Chapters were divided among different parts of the state, with [...]
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I always have a few books on my nightstand. Many have been picked up and put down a few times but have yet to receive any real commitment from me. Part of the problem is that books like Anne’s arrive and get put on the top of the heap. And so those other books must [...]
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Embellishments made out of edible ingredients should be edible. This seems obvious enough, except when the rule is applied to weddings. There, a world of marzipan and fondant flowers beckons. I’m generally against this kind of nonsense, but after coming across migajon, I might be changing my mind.
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No recipes today, nor suggestions for throwing the best year-end feast ever. By now, you’ve figured out how you’re spending NYE. For me, I’ve chosen to spend it quietly, which will help me bound into 2011 with determination to meet some hefty deadlines. When reading year-end summaries, I often feel that the events that happened [...]
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Grapevines are old cultivars. They’ve played a crucial role in the Mediterranean trifecta of wheat, wine, and olive oil for, well, ever. When the Greeks arrived on the peninsula that later became Italy, vines were already growing there, wild, curled, and unruly. This was good news. In the world of the ancients, as long as [...]
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