Posted By bbinns on January 31, 2009
1.30.09 Mar Vista, CA There is something about death and illness that triggers a desire for soup. To cook it, and to eat it. What happened in Mar Vista two days ago was so awful that the only tolerable emotion my girlfriend, chef Jill Davie, could identify was an auto-drive soup imperative. I was riveted, […]
Posted By bbinns on January 28, 2009
1.24.09 San Luis to Malibu Once, at lunch in Florence with a previous husband, I ate an entire bistecca Fiorentina by myself. For those not familiar with this pyllum, a bistecca is the bone-in rib-eye, preferably from an Italian breed of white cattle called Chianina (once rare, but now enjoying a carnivore-fueled revival). In Florence, […]
Posted By bbinns on January 22, 2009
1.19.09 San Luis Obispo, CA The very first meal I ate in England was all white: Poached chicken with white sauce (béchamel), rice, and cauliflower-cheese, a little-known-in-America dish that might just be good with a lamb chop and green salad. “Very nice,” I said to my proud hostess, who wasn’t even a grandmother but rather […]
Posted By bbinns on January 19, 2009
1.19.09 San Luis Obispo, CA I brined the 10-pound, bone-in shoulder of organically-raised pork in red wine instead of water for several reasons, not simply because the counter here in cousin Robert’s huge kitchen has become difficult to discern through the forest of one-third-full bottles of red wine. My recent book
Posted By bbinns on January 16, 2009
1.16.09 Santa Margarita, CA I have always been a sheep’s cheese freak. It started with Manchego, when I lived in Spain for three years (you sometimes see cow’s-milk Manchego, or a blend, but sheep’s milk is the authentic cheese). Then I discovered Greek sheep’s cheese, which includes a whole lexicon above and beyond the it’s-darned-good-too […]
Posted By bbinns on January 14, 2009
1.13.09 Creston, CA. In Hawaiian, “Pau Hana” means “no more work”, or “work is finished.” When Nick and Robin Gladdis decided to sell up in Maui after 13 happy years, move to the Central Coast of California and make olive oil from trees they planned to plant themselves, that was the general plan. It hasn’t […]
Posted By bbinns on January 11, 2009
1.11.09 San Luis, CA Okay people, What Happened to My Waistline? A few years ago when I first started the bi-annual tradition of the Great Cross-Country Drive, I’d emerge from the car on the other coast having dropped a few pounds. Okay, this may have been due to muscle atrophy, but what’s with this new, […]
Posted By bbinns on January 8, 2009
1.7.09. In the peripatetic life of this particular couple, the scenery is always changing but a few things stay the same. One of them is the wind chimes. At our 2004 wedding in Chianti, these chimes were worn on the wrist of Madeleine, the beautiful daughter of my dear friend Ronda, as she led our […]
Posted By bbinns on January 6, 2009
1.2.09 Tomorrow we will hit the road again, up to San Luis Obispo for three weeks of sun, vines, ocean, and quiet time—and all in one place. But after a night of recovery from the excesses of New Year’s Eve, tonight is pizza night. We are in the hands of an estimable team indeed: Jacopo—also […]
Posted By bbinns on January 4, 2009
New Years Day is the perfect time for visiting, and I haven’t seen Coqui’s babies for six months now. In baby-time, six months is an eternity, so we drive once again, down PCH to pay a visit to the little French-American team. Coqui is a drop-dead gorgeous Texas red-head with an equally fiery spirit who […]
