Have you been to Les Grands Buffets in Narbonne. A long article about it in the April 8, 2024, New Yorker. I'm looking into taking the train there from Paris in February to experience it.
So glad you got back to Ithaca to see what a great place it is (we’ve only been here for 30+ years but we do remember the Cabbagetown Cafe). The lemon sesame dressing is still available at Wegmans with the Wings of Life salad - it’s a staple at our house.
Yes , I ate at Cabbagetown Cafe in Ithaca when I was a grad student at Cornell and I remember the wooden bowls, but not the catchy names for dressings! I’m glad to hear you went back; the town has changed but the gorge walks and woods haven’t!
When we were young and had little money we would drift into Sherry-Lehman where we found Dr. Frank's wines. Fast forward to 2022, we spent several days in the Finger Lakes region, FLX on menus and in our wine diary, where we found excellent wines at Hermann J. Weimer, Weis, Ravines, a French-influenced winery on Keuka Lake, and Dr. Frank of course along with several others that we keep sampling. A great education. Some good restaurants in Geneva as well as Ithaca.
Hi from Binghamton NY! Just a stone's throw from Ithaca. Remember the Moosewood and Molly Katzen? I really wrote to say I just love your photographs, thank you. Not only mouth watering but the light plays wonderfully in them.
I agree with you fully on "authentic." I figure authentic is whatever you get locally in your present place. It makes no sense to use canned san marzanos from any particular town in Italy when you're in say, Portland. Here in Santa Fe people want 'authentic' Chile and or "hatch" which is just been branded by the town, however they are grown all over the place including California aka: Annaheim peppers. -shrug of shoulders!
Meyer lemon trees seem to be very persnickety. I'm no expert but after 2 years it has gone through phases where it looks ill and then gets healthy and leafy again. We give our coffee grounds because the water here in Santa Fe is... to alkaline or the opposite. That seems to help. It also gets some food too. A friend in CA who has tons of fruit trees saw it and told me that you should not let it fruit for the first few years until the tree gets stronger and thicker. so, who knows...keep trying.
Interesting about the coffee grounds. We have a Lisbon lemon tree here in Melbourne (my absolute favourite - given that I can't grow Amalfi lemons here 😆) and we also sprinkle and rake in the coffee grounds around the tree on the advice of our friendly gardener. Not just for boosting the acidity of the soil thereby giving it a nutrient-rich boost. Apparently it has pest deterrant qualities and, as it is organic matter, it enhances the structure of the soil improving water retention and drainage! Who knew. We get good crops twice a year. I agree about no fruit for the first couple of years. Pluck the little bubs off and let the tree get bigger and stronger.
Excellent food writing. If you speak to many Italians in Italy you would think that foods like pasta carbonara and pizza margherita were invented in the stone age.
It's easy to forget that things we think of as "classic" French, Italian, American, etc. often came from somewhere else. There's also a lot of fighting over "who owns what," which Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamini addressed very well in their book Jerusalem. It becomes an endless loop and unless you were there, it's hard to prove. And in the end, I'm not sure it really matters. (Although it is interesting to trace food history and see the routes where certain foods came from.)
Your newsletters are always such a joy to read. I laughed out loud at the restaurant tales about getting high and sneaking food into the walk in. I also liked your thoughtfulness on discussing "authentic" cooking. I agree with your statement that it's about appreciation not appropriation. Your back patio/garden looks so nice. Were the stacked crates already there?
"Partouze action". You are hilarious. Good luck with them. Basil needs full sun (6-8 hours per day) and plenty of water. I serve the oysters Charentaise with the spicy lamb Merguez sausages. Perfect - ideally from an Algerian lamb butcher like the lovely man at Marche Victor Hugo in Toulouse. 😊
David, what kind of sausage do you buy when you include them in a meal such as this wonderful looking feast? We eat oysters often and are lucky to live in coastal New England where oyster farms are now in delicious abundance. We usually purchase from ICO in Duxbury. In Patricia Wells French Bistro she has a "recipe" for cold oysters served with hot grilled sausages and I while I have never prepared it I have always thought it looks a tasty treat.
Basil plants needs HEAT HEAT HEAT! I live in coastal Los Angeles and my two basil plants look really sad because of the cool and overcast spring we are having. I grow my basil plants in pots. The only they have thrived over the years outside is when they bask all day in the sun and heat.
yes, it was recommended we put them in pots (although we didn't last year and they flourished just fine) but we did this year and fingers crossed, they'll be fine there.
Bonjour David, in the early nineties there was a crêperie/mexican restaurant in Rennes called the San Francisco Crêpe House. The décor was Americana, with license plates, old signs, and memorabilia that the young French couple who owned it had collected on their travels to America. The crêpes were excellent, of course, but we always got the fajitas. In that era, when I made quesadillas or nachos at home, because Monterey Jack cheese was unavailable, I would use reblochon.
“ I was sure I saw a panther slinking in the deli.”
First I’m hearing of this mystical panther, though I can relate as in my graduate school days after smoking some grass at a woman’s apartment I, hand to G-d, saw a monkey in a purple bellman’s outfit (complete with fez) in the lobby of her building on my way out.
It was a crazy night although I think whatever we smoked had something extra in it. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't an experience that I want to repeat.
Pooping in the Seine?? Surely this won't happen as it is a public health issue with serious potential for disease transmission. Whose bright idea was this??
I'm fairly confident it's not going to happen but there is sewage in the Seine which is very hazardous for swimmers. The mayor plans to dive in on June 23rd although a friend of mine is an environmental lawyer and he told me that wasn't a good idea.
Have you been to Les Grands Buffets in Narbonne. A long article about it in the April 8, 2024, New Yorker. I'm looking into taking the train there from Paris in February to experience it.
Also a staple at our house is your strawberry rhubarb compote, which I’m about to make again.
So glad you got back to Ithaca to see what a great place it is (we’ve only been here for 30+ years but we do remember the Cabbagetown Cafe). The lemon sesame dressing is still available at Wegmans with the Wings of Life salad - it’s a staple at our house.
Yes , I ate at Cabbagetown Cafe in Ithaca when I was a grad student at Cornell and I remember the wooden bowls, but not the catchy names for dressings! I’m glad to hear you went back; the town has changed but the gorge walks and woods haven’t!
I love your backyard!
When we were young and had little money we would drift into Sherry-Lehman where we found Dr. Frank's wines. Fast forward to 2022, we spent several days in the Finger Lakes region, FLX on menus and in our wine diary, where we found excellent wines at Hermann J. Weimer, Weis, Ravines, a French-influenced winery on Keuka Lake, and Dr. Frank of course along with several others that we keep sampling. A great education. Some good restaurants in Geneva as well as Ithaca.
Hi from Binghamton NY! Just a stone's throw from Ithaca. Remember the Moosewood and Molly Katzen? I really wrote to say I just love your photographs, thank you. Not only mouth watering but the light plays wonderfully in them.
I agree with you fully on "authentic." I figure authentic is whatever you get locally in your present place. It makes no sense to use canned san marzanos from any particular town in Italy when you're in say, Portland. Here in Santa Fe people want 'authentic' Chile and or "hatch" which is just been branded by the town, however they are grown all over the place including California aka: Annaheim peppers. -shrug of shoulders!
Meyer lemon trees seem to be very persnickety. I'm no expert but after 2 years it has gone through phases where it looks ill and then gets healthy and leafy again. We give our coffee grounds because the water here in Santa Fe is... to alkaline or the opposite. That seems to help. It also gets some food too. A friend in CA who has tons of fruit trees saw it and told me that you should not let it fruit for the first few years until the tree gets stronger and thicker. so, who knows...keep trying.
Interesting about the coffee grounds. We have a Lisbon lemon tree here in Melbourne (my absolute favourite - given that I can't grow Amalfi lemons here 😆) and we also sprinkle and rake in the coffee grounds around the tree on the advice of our friendly gardener. Not just for boosting the acidity of the soil thereby giving it a nutrient-rich boost. Apparently it has pest deterrant qualities and, as it is organic matter, it enhances the structure of the soil improving water retention and drainage! Who knew. We get good crops twice a year. I agree about no fruit for the first couple of years. Pluck the little bubs off and let the tree get bigger and stronger.
Excellent food writing. If you speak to many Italians in Italy you would think that foods like pasta carbonara and pizza margherita were invented in the stone age.
It's easy to forget that things we think of as "classic" French, Italian, American, etc. often came from somewhere else. There's also a lot of fighting over "who owns what," which Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamini addressed very well in their book Jerusalem. It becomes an endless loop and unless you were there, it's hard to prove. And in the end, I'm not sure it really matters. (Although it is interesting to trace food history and see the routes where certain foods came from.)
Your newsletters are always such a joy to read. I laughed out loud at the restaurant tales about getting high and sneaking food into the walk in. I also liked your thoughtfulness on discussing "authentic" cooking. I agree with your statement that it's about appreciation not appropriation. Your back patio/garden looks so nice. Were the stacked crates already there?
"Partouze action". You are hilarious. Good luck with them. Basil needs full sun (6-8 hours per day) and plenty of water. I serve the oysters Charentaise with the spicy lamb Merguez sausages. Perfect - ideally from an Algerian lamb butcher like the lovely man at Marche Victor Hugo in Toulouse. 😊
David, what kind of sausage do you buy when you include them in a meal such as this wonderful looking feast? We eat oysters often and are lucky to live in coastal New England where oyster farms are now in delicious abundance. We usually purchase from ICO in Duxbury. In Patricia Wells French Bistro she has a "recipe" for cold oysters served with hot grilled sausages and I while I have never prepared it I have always thought it looks a tasty treat.
We get what are called chipolatas. They're sausages with herbs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chipolata
Not sure what they're called elsewhere but that's what we get here.
Basil plants needs HEAT HEAT HEAT! I live in coastal Los Angeles and my two basil plants look really sad because of the cool and overcast spring we are having. I grow my basil plants in pots. The only they have thrived over the years outside is when they bask all day in the sun and heat.
yes, it was recommended we put them in pots (although we didn't last year and they flourished just fine) but we did this year and fingers crossed, they'll be fine there.
You have had an inordinate amount of Spring rain. Can't be good for soft leaf sun loving herbs.
Bonjour David, in the early nineties there was a crêperie/mexican restaurant in Rennes called the San Francisco Crêpe House. The décor was Americana, with license plates, old signs, and memorabilia that the young French couple who owned it had collected on their travels to America. The crêpes were excellent, of course, but we always got the fajitas. In that era, when I made quesadillas or nachos at home, because Monterey Jack cheese was unavailable, I would use reblochon.
“ I was sure I saw a panther slinking in the deli.”
First I’m hearing of this mystical panther, though I can relate as in my graduate school days after smoking some grass at a woman’s apartment I, hand to G-d, saw a monkey in a purple bellman’s outfit (complete with fez) in the lobby of her building on my way out.
It was a crazy night although I think whatever we smoked had something extra in it. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't an experience that I want to repeat.
Pooping in the Seine?? Surely this won't happen as it is a public health issue with serious potential for disease transmission. Whose bright idea was this??
I'm fairly confident it's not going to happen but there is sewage in the Seine which is very hazardous for swimmers. The mayor plans to dive in on June 23rd although a friend of mine is an environmental lawyer and he told me that wasn't a good idea.