SALT LAKE CITY: MAD HUNGRY TOUR FINALE
Early morning flight to Salt Lake City–beautiful, dramatic descent over the Wasatch mountains. Morning TV and a tour of Park City before final signing at The Kings English book store: cozy and cool, another great vibe indie book store alive and well as a thriving community center. Dinner, champagne toast and reflections on the most… View Article
MILE HIGH CITY
The first thing you realize AND everyone tells you when you arrive in Denver is to be mindful of the altitude. At 5,280 elevation above sea level you need to get acclimated, meaning beware of dehydration, lack of sleep, dizziness and shortness of breath. Lovely–on city 24 of this 25 city tour I’m already trying… View Article
AZ PM BOOKS/PIZZA-CO AM SNOW
Changing Hands book store in Tempe AZ is one of the most amazing independent bookstores I’ve ever seen! The collection is extraordinary and the staff same too. Knowledgeable, kind, opinionated (in a good way)–a community place just vibing good literary vibes all around. Thanks to Rachel for her creative book pick for me which I’m… View Article
PHOENIX AZ
This is yet another American city I’ve never been to with its own flavor and style just like the others. And, it has the most amazing weather too (ok I get why people come here for the winter). Today high 69–chilly in the morning and no humidity. Glorious citrus trees are growing all over the… View Article
THANKSGIVING LEFT-OVERS ROLLED UP
ยจ I got the idea from my interview with The Washington Post (see clip on right side). I had fun up there making crepes for a stroy on MH which ran a week ago Weds and justifiably needed a Thanksgiving angle. The reporter Bonnie had a great idea to make the crepes and use them… View Article
THE T-GIVING BIRD
http://www.youtube.com/get_player I am having a blast preparing the turkey. Weber-grilling is the path I take in order to keep the ovens free for everything else. Above shows the grill prep and then–a 360 of the beauty while cooking. Recipe in Mad Hungry. Happy Thanksgiving all.
TAG TEAMING
For those that have at least one able bodied moderately semi-adult human in their house, it is good to cultivate the tag teaming approach (as I’ve been saying in my cross country raps). Case in point here. I took some ribs out of the freezer and suggested (asked) first born son who was home to… View Article
Categorised in: Tips & Tricks
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Practically the first thing I did when I got home Saturday night was make dinner. Headed for a basic tomato sauce with spaghetti, I ended up with Amatraciana (just red onion, bacon, hot pepper and tomatoes). The recipe is in http://www.amazon.com/Lucindas-Rustic-Italian-Kitchen-Lucinda/dp/0471793817. And, thanks to hubs excellent shopping which he did before heading out on a… View Article
ONLY IN SEATTLE
Coffee happy hour is a good idea. Leave it to Seattle to have it. And, since it happens in the crumpet shop near Pike Place market it’s impossible to pass up. Crumpets with tart gooseberry jam. One of the things you notice about Washington state immediately, food-wise is all the fruit; berries and apples and… View Article
LEFT MY HEART IN SAN FRANCISCO
http://www.youtube.com/get_playerhttp://www.youtube.com/get_playerk I’m always asked what my favorite recipe is in Mad Hungry which is a little like asking which is my favorite son: IMPOSSIBLE. And, been musing on all these cities we’ve been visiting too–so far which is my favorite? UNFAIR CAUSE ALL HAVE SOMETHING. But, truth be told, I’d move to San Francisco in… View Article
LA LA L.A.
Ok, first things first. Lets get the Thomas Keller Bouchon Beverly Hills opening out of the way. One free night in L.A and we went there. Red carpet, celebrities, photog’s galore etc. but it’d be way too L.A. to name them all. What I do care about is the kitchen, the legendary efficiency etc, all… View Article
LA LUNCH
After a great morning interview at L.A.’s NPR show Good Food with Evan Kleinman (such a smart interviewer) we headed down to Irvine for another TV taping. Fortunately my straight up L.A, breakfast of a greenfood smoothie left me hankering for lunch and we had plenty of time to do so. So while D.C. is… View Article
PRE WORK LA
Bad picture but really good meal. Once again, have landed in a city which I haven’t spent much time in so I’m genuinely excited. From the airport straight to dinner at Osteria Mozza, Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton’s Italian restaurant and next door pizzaria, www.mozza-LA.COM. We sat sat at the mozzarella bar, beautiful white marble,… View Article
A DAY IN D.C.
I’m not gonnna lie, going to the White House for the first time was a bit of a thrill–hence the cheezy cell phone pic. In all my travels, I’ve missed D.C. so we had a lot to cover in our few free hours. The usual local morning shows all had an edge, with a tinge… View Article
PHILLY PA & GAINESVILLE VA
We are definitely packing in as much culture and wondering as possible as we wind our way through the cities of the MH book tour. So, here’s one cool thing I learned. Everyone always assumes we named our first born son after the artist, Alexander Calder, best known for inventing the modern art mobile but,… View Article
PHILLY SANDWICH DUEL
Loving the vibe of historic Philadelphia but more on that later. After recording the Chef’s Table on NPR, I mentioned to the host that I was headed to Jim’s for a real Philly Cheesesteak to which she strongly admonished me to reconsider. Hers is a mission to recrown Philly with another sandwich, her favorite, a… View Article
FAUX APPLE PIE
I was really headed toward an old fashioned apple pie. The apple varieties in the farmers markets are peaking right now so I purchased a combo of sweet and tart apples (love the Black Twig). Plans had it for dessert Saturday after butternut squash risotto, roast pork loin and green salad but I pooped out… View Article
CURRIED CHICKEN AND A VEGE VERSION TOO
pics rephotographed from Quentin BaconMy friend Jimmy called earlier asking for a Jamaican curry chicken recipe which sent me to my second book pictured here. It also reminded me of this great vegetarian pumpkin curry recipe which I use to make all the time. This is the time of the year in these parts of… View Article
FRIDAY NIGHT
One thing about Dayton, Ohio: I met Tricia who has a great blog http://onceamonthmom.com/. It’s new to me but I love it. Today she ran a cookbook giveaway for MH and, after reading the comments left, I am all the more focused on the mission of this book. After many travels, signings, interviews etc–it’s easy… View Article
CINCI/DAYTON
Great to visit Midwestern Culinary academy, meet cool anchor Tanya O’Rourke at The Scripp’s affiliate and visit with Rob and Sheila at Fox this am. Michaels in Dayton, thanks for the cocktail signing (always a good thing: cocktails at a book signing) and Books & Co, pictured above did the best in store promotion for… View Article