The Time of the Grinch Has Passed & Other Rambings...

For the first time in years, this Thanksgiving I didn't fry an onion or lift a spatula. This Thanksgiving, I was out of the kitchen and in the living room eating cheeses and sipping wine under the glow of my new fireplace. There is something awfully nice about not cooking for once-- something to be said about tasting and eating and letting someone else become the master of the ceremony. This year I ate of mixture of pre-prepared delights from whole foods as well as home made salads, New England Oyster stew (of which the Oysters were chucked only hours before...), and a plethora of French and Italian cheeses complete with pear spread, sliced persimmons, and candied nuts.

While the historic underpinnings of Thanksgiving may be a bit fowl, nothing beats sitting with loved ones over incredible food and drink and unapologetically eating into the night only to wake up the next day to seconds and thirds.

I'm usually a grinch during the holidays. I loathe shopping and the pressure of gift giving-- the extreme waste, insane gridlock traffic, and mass-murder of beautiful pine trees... But this year, I've let go. This year, I'm not concerned with any of the like and instead am looking forward to time with my family and friends.

Unable to sleep tonight, I was perusing the brilliant David Leibovitz's blog and began drooling over his photo stream which in itself is enough to make one want to book a ticket to Paris and say sayonara to any/all obligations.

I've begun my list of cooking supplies that I would love to have... This includes an ice cream maker so that I can prepare his brown bread & pastis ice cream recipes in addition to dark chocolate sorbet. Bwa ha ha. I am also dying for a proper espresso machine-- not the stove top kind, but the real deal glistening silvery fare. Also, a copper madeleine mold would be fun and I am also eyeing the book "The History of Taste" which I first discovered in the bookstore at the Cloisters in New York...

Meep. Happy Holidays to everyone...

Tonight, as I sat reminiscing about the days when I would diligently write in DEVOUR, I found myself a little blue. It has been ages since I last blogged. I used to fantasize about the next unchartered culinary territory, cook and experiment in the kitchen... And now, all I seem to do is work.

These whimsical photographs by Fulvio Bonavia give me a glimmer of hope that soon I'll return to my gastronomical homeland. They transform my day job into the sublime and lovely.

Photographs from the book: A Matter of Taste by Fulvio Bonavia

I am absolutely in love with this print from a photogram by Floris Neusüss. What you see here are various close-ups from one large image. Apparently, a dinner party took place in honor of artist, Robert Heinecken where guests sat in a dark room (with only a red light on) and all participated in creating this piece.

I kind of want to try this for myself -- looks so stunning! The Getty curator who surfaced it connects it to a crime scene, where hostile markings are really just objects like a torn baguette and a silver spoon...

Read more about the process here.

I cannot stop fantasizing about going to Saigon!!!

What nice cannele morsels-- going to La Brea bakery soon to have one of my own with a frothy cappuccino-- or even better, when I have my dream house in August I'll hunt down e. dehillerin copper molds to make them in... I've decided that my dream kitchen will be full of copper accoutrements...

I'm a caffeinated tea kind of woman. Usually I go for Darjeeling, British, Earl Grey, Chai and fresh mint infused with dark tea... But yesterday, amidst my English teas, I found a little stash of Yogi Stomach Ease and said what the heck. I've never been into the new-age "tea tonic" hoop la that so many suckers have spent beyond obscene amounts of time and energy on and generally like my teas straightforward, bold, and consistent.

Infused with fennel seed, peppermint, cardamom, coriander, and ginger root-- this was an unexpected delight, which I am drinking now on a regular basis. Try it and read more here

Precious kiwi berries! How delicious would it be to make a marmalade out of them to be smeared in a sandwich with Manchego cheese and caramelized onions....