Today I took a walk to the Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax to buy dog food from Huntington Meats, when my iPhone was stolen. There are a lot of good reasons to shop at independently owned stores, but the fact that you can count on the nice guys who work there when you’re in … More Finding My iPhone: A Story of Crime, Intrigue, and Bone Marrow
Having been sugar-free for 10 days now, I consider myself somewhat of an expert. At the very least I am an expert at getting through the first 10 days. So for that, here are 10 things I’ve learned about the first 10 days. 1. Don’t quit eating sugar without pain reliever in the house. The … More What I Learned (So Far) from Going Sugar-Free (For Now)
And in honor of great new beginnings, the best darned holiday food I know: Lentils, redux. I’m not superstitious, but I do appreciate when certain superstitions give me an excuse to do something I want to do anyway. In Italy, lentils, called lenticchie (pronounced “len-TEA-ki-yay”) are traditionally eaten for New Year because they are supposed to bring … More Another Year, Another Pot of Lentils
My mother is impossible to buy gifts for. Last night to dinner, I wore a scarf I gave her one year for Christmas. “You obviously liked it. You’ll wear it more than I would. You keep it.” Another year I bought her nice hand cream. The woman loves rubbing cream into her hands. A year … More Remembering a Very Happy Mother’s Day…
Not long ago, following my new Tibetan doctor’s prescription to slow down and be nice to myself (don’t you just love a prescription like that!?), I let myself enjoy a leisurely lunch with my friend, the chef Jonathan Waxman, at the Venice restaurant phenom, Gjelina. As we looked through the menu deciding what to order, … More The Chef Always Has a Reason
Last week a blogger, Beth Howard, contacted me via Facebook to say that she’d posted a story I wrote a decade ago on her Facebook page. A New York-based editor, she said, had read my story back then, hung onto it, and sent it to this blogger, because her thing is pie, and that was … More The Life of Pie
I remember when I moved to New York in the early nineties and corrected a friend who used the term “guacamole” to refer to an avocado. “That’s an avocado,” I told her, thinking she’d be happy to be, you know… not wrong. “The mashed stuff you eat with chips. That’s guacamole.” “Same thing!” my friend … More Avocado Dreamin’
Dear Margaret– (Can I call you Maggie?) I’d wanted the pie challenge to be between Howard and me. And, oh, okay… you. But me and my big mouth… I went and mentioned it to The Foodinista in a casual chat on Larchmont Blvd. earlier this week. She went and had lunch that day with the … More Let the Baking Begin
Twenty years ago, almost exactly, I moved from California, where I grew up, to New York, on what I have come to call the Pretty Woman model of success: I wanted to either be discovered, or like Julia Roberts’ character in that movie, be saved. Since I figured I had no hand in whether or … More Remembering.
I’ve had a few queries about my dog, since I did put his life on the line yesterday, so I thought I’d introduce him here and say that he is alive, well, and ready to eat whatever scraps fall to the ground today. These pictures were taken at the Mozza staff Fourth of July party. … More Regarding Rufus
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