It’s inevitable: When I go on vacation and stay with friends, we all pitch in with the cooking. Invariably. I’m put in the position of making dessert. A few years back I posted Things I Bring When I’m a Guest for a Weekend listing a few items I bring when I’m a houseguest. A few were startled (and a few with disgruntled) that I would have the nerve to arrive at someone’s home with my own kitchen tools. I don’t consider myself a food snob and while I don’t understand the ease of buying pre-ground black pepper, and wonder how people can chop an onion with a kitchen knife with a blade that wouldn’t cut butter, it’s hard to make good food without good ingredients, and it’s much more enjoyable if you have the right tool, especially a sharp knife…or a spatula, if you’re making a cake.
I would like to give a shout-out to American rest stops. My husband and I are road warriors, especially in the Age of COVID, and we have stopped and eaten our picnic lunches in some simply lovely and lovingly cared for rest stops. Along the coast route in Northern California there are rest stops in groves of redwoods, one even offering a twenty-minute trail to a lookout over the Pacific. In Montana you can hike up a steep hill and see forever into the the distance. North Dakota offered us a secluded picnic table in the midst of a prairie where the bison roam free. Very free! There was ample evidence that the open prairie extended to the picnic area. Not always, but usually, the restrooms are clean and safer than gas station restrooms because they are naturally quite well ventilated.
All the same, reading your newsletter I can’t help waxing nostalgic about the many bike trips we have taken in France and the culinary wonders we stumbled upon in quite unexpected places—tiny towns or just a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, with no town or even houses close by.
Thanks for another great distraction, David. It’s always a treat when your newsletter pops up in my inbox.
When staying with friends or at a rental, and I know I’m cooking, I always bring two knives, a spatula, salt and pepper mills, Lawry’s seasoning salt (in case burgers are desired), dried oregano and chives. I’m often cooking something special so I bring those ingredients as well. Often I pack Zip Lock bags and a roll of foil.
Outside the kitchen we also bring an extension cord (most outlets are smack in the middle of the headboard) and if driving, a small fan. The key when flying, is to pack these things in your checked luggage as Homeland Security frowns on knives and long rope-like items in carry on. Also when leaving Hawaii, the agricultural inspection X-ray identifies salt and some spices as soil or sand, a big no-no to remove from the islands. It’s no fun to dig through you luggage for a salt mill in front of other travelers, and it’s usually humid.
Love your work and have gifted several copies of Drinking French. Can’t wait for the next book.
I don’t know why people get huffy about you bringing your own cooking tools on vacation. You’re a professional. Would one expect an artist to paint with whatever crappy art supplies (especially brushes) one finds on vacation? No. Point made. (After saying this I’m sure I’ll learn that Roman has a very laissez faire attitude on this). As for a scale, I’ve been using one ever since I discovered Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible. 1, it’s much easier to see the ratios in baking with weights. 2, the weight of the sugar tells me the weight of the flour (1:1) which the cups don’t tell me because flour varies so much depending on dip v. Scoop v. Sifted which aren’t always specified. 3, I know how many nuts, raisins, etc I need to buy since they are sold by weight not volume.
I would like to give a shout-out to American rest stops. My husband and I are road warriors, especially in the Age of COVID, and we have stopped and eaten our picnic lunches in some simply lovely and lovingly cared for rest stops. Along the coast route in Northern California there are rest stops in groves of redwoods, one even offering a twenty-minute trail to a lookout over the Pacific. In Montana you can hike up a steep hill and see forever into the the distance. North Dakota offered us a secluded picnic table in the midst of a prairie where the bison roam free. Very free! There was ample evidence that the open prairie extended to the picnic area. Not always, but usually, the restrooms are clean and safer than gas station restrooms because they are naturally quite well ventilated.
All the same, reading your newsletter I can’t help waxing nostalgic about the many bike trips we have taken in France and the culinary wonders we stumbled upon in quite unexpected places—tiny towns or just a restaurant in the middle of nowhere, with no town or even houses close by.
Thanks for another great distraction, David. It’s always a treat when your newsletter pops up in my inbox.
When staying with friends or at a rental, and I know I’m cooking, I always bring two knives, a spatula, salt and pepper mills, Lawry’s seasoning salt (in case burgers are desired), dried oregano and chives. I’m often cooking something special so I bring those ingredients as well. Often I pack Zip Lock bags and a roll of foil.
Outside the kitchen we also bring an extension cord (most outlets are smack in the middle of the headboard) and if driving, a small fan. The key when flying, is to pack these things in your checked luggage as Homeland Security frowns on knives and long rope-like items in carry on. Also when leaving Hawaii, the agricultural inspection X-ray identifies salt and some spices as soil or sand, a big no-no to remove from the islands. It’s no fun to dig through you luggage for a salt mill in front of other travelers, and it’s usually humid.
Love your work and have gifted several copies of Drinking French. Can’t wait for the next book.
I don’t know why people get huffy about you bringing your own cooking tools on vacation. You’re a professional. Would one expect an artist to paint with whatever crappy art supplies (especially brushes) one finds on vacation? No. Point made. (After saying this I’m sure I’ll learn that Roman has a very laissez faire attitude on this). As for a scale, I’ve been using one ever since I discovered Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Cake Bible. 1, it’s much easier to see the ratios in baking with weights. 2, the weight of the sugar tells me the weight of the flour (1:1) which the cups don’t tell me because flour varies so much depending on dip v. Scoop v. Sifted which aren’t always specified. 3, I know how many nuts, raisins, etc I need to buy since they are sold by weight not volume.