“There’s no time like now, there’s no time like this time.” – Sam Phillips song, No Time Like Now on Push Any Button Amazing how swiftly January has already kicked into gear. This constant 70’s weather in SF is providing daily joys of sun, brilliant sunsets, beach walks, and welcome clarity. Alongside fellow food writers, I recap the year in… Read more →
Category: Intro Letter
January 1, 2014
“You are what you settle for.” – Janis Joplin’s final interview Happy new year! I am beyond grateful for the rich tastes, adventures and relationships of last year, wishing you more discovery, restoration and connection in 2014. Alongside fellow food writers, I recap the year in dining at Eater.com, from best new restaurants to 2014 predictions. Read more: my latest reviews at… Read more →
December 15, 2013
“[There were] orange groves – hundreds of miles of them, alternating with avocados, pears, persimmons, walnuts, peaches, cotton and fields of lettuce and artichokes as large as English ducal estates… Then of course there’s the sea coast – barren in the southern part of the state where the land is almost a desert… green further north, where you can have… Read more →
December 1, 2013
“If I dismiss the ordinary – waiting for the special, the extreme, the extraordinary to happen – I may just miss my life… To allow ourselves to spend afternoons watching dancers rehearse, or sit on a stone wall and watch the sunset, or spend the whole weekend rereading Chekhov stories—to know that we are doing what we’re supposed to be… Read more →
November 15, 2013
“You may have the universe, But let Italy remain mine.” – from Attila, music by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Temistocle Solera It’s been an unreal few weeks – from Italy, Austria, Switzerland, to a whirlwind trip to Galicia, Spain, I return to family visiting for the holidays, cooking a Southern-Asian-inspired Thanksgiving feast with many of the recipes from Smoke &… Read more →
November 1, 2013
“Life is a combination of magic and pasta.” – Federico Fellini Having just left Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region (where Fellini hails from, which inspired the quote), I then traveled to Austria and am now in Switzerland, a return to three countries I love dearly. Though I am sad to leave Europe, I am carrying back the inspiration and rejuvenation gained here.… Read more →
October 15, 2013
“The days are coming now… when harvest will follow directly after plowing, the treading of grapes soon after sowing, when the mountains will run with new wine and the hills all flow with it.” – Amos 9:13-14 As mid-October hits, I am returning to favorite countries – Italy, Austria and Switzerland – exploring new regions with my husband and parents.… Read more →
October 1, 2013
“… how brief the time is on a summer afternoon when the sun is warm on your neck and the world might as well be a dog sleeping on a porch, or a child for whom an afternoon is endless, endless. Time: thick honey, and no one is saying good-bye.” – July Notebook: The Birds, poem by Robert Hass Entering… Read more →
September 15, 2013
“I believe in the forest, and in the meadow, and in the night in which the corn grows.” – Henry David Thoreau Spending the last couple weekends on nearby excursions, first on the ever-magical grounds of Jordan Winery in Sonoma County to preview their just-launched farm, food, wine tours, then currently in Sacramento catching up on the latest in food… Read more →
September 1, 2013
“California has always been as much of a state of mind as a state of the Union… California promises something more: transformation. The state is the repository of America’s frontier spirit, the notion that a better life is possible for anyone who wants it regardless of the circumstances of her birth. You can leave your past at the border and… Read more →