The first time I heard the expression "plain vanilla" I had to ask for an explanation of its actual meaning. Taken literally, "plain vanilla" sounded like a combination of two contradictory terms. Vanilla is one of the most intense flavors in nature, and it is all but plain. I learned that the expression comes from […]
Eat + Drink
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Chefs Go Wild
I’ve cooked a fair amount of salmon in my day. In the years when I worked as a chef at one place or another I became fairly proficient at filleting whole fish or cutting them into steaks. I learned various methods of preparation, but most of the time I’d chargrill the salmon and present it […]
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Mother, Africa, Fuel and Wine, Wine, Wine
This Sunday is Mother’s Day. If your mom is somewhere far away, you just might still have time to send her a card. If your mother is nearby and you’re planning on honoring or pampering her (or perhaps the mother of your children) by taking her out to dinner, I’d advise getting on the phone […]
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Eating Out On a Budget
I confess to being an elitist regarding food. I have been a professional cook and restaurant manager, and my wife and I enjoy cooking, eating and talking about food, so I have acquired definite prejudices and preferences. I also want my columns to entertain, rather than be purely practical. Thus, some of my more adventurous […]
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Potato Gnocchi
"The district is called Bengodi … and on a mountain, all of grated Parmigiano cheese, dwell folk that do naught else but make maccheroni and raviuoli, and boil them in capon’s broth, and then throw them down to be scrambled for." Giovanni Boccaccio, Decamerone With the term "maccheroni," Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375) described something similar to […]
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Home Cooking
The actors, the characters and the plot are all long forgotten, but there’s one scene of a movie that has stuck with me. A man – a chef, or at least a good cook – is world-weary and physically exhausted, but hungry. He goes to the refrigerator and pulls out a steak. He takes out […]
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Dream cafe
I don’t really consider myself a coffee connoisseur, but I’d have to say it was the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had. My old friend Arno Holschuh made it for me at a new place in town. If you’ve been reading the Journal for a while you’ll remember Arno. He and I were the […]
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Extreme Dining and Copyrighted Food
Three years ago we dined at the legendary Roxanne’s, the nation’s most talked – about vegan shrine, in Larkspur. The creation of a dot-com millionaire and his new wife, a glamorous and innovative chef, it was the first elegant "raw foods" restaurant. Nothing at Roxanne’s was heated to more than 118 degrees F. This meant […]
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Spaghetti col Tonno
As you drive towards Trinidad harbor you can’t miss the sign for Katy’s Smokehouse, and on my first visit to Humboldt County nine years ago, I didn’t. Nowadays a pleasant two-mile walk along shady Stagecoach Road brings me from our house to town, and I have become a regular customer at Katy’s. Initially I would […]