Last week, NYC pastry chef extraordinaire Pichet Ong was a guest judge on Top Chef Just Desserts (aired September 22).  As he was introduced, some of my photos of his desserts were shown on the episode: Foie Gras Taco and Warm Date Cake (see below). I shot the desserts in his restaurants
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Although we don’t see many kudzu vines taking over large patches of land in the west, it is often referred to as the “mile-a-minute-vine” in the South. It all started in 1876 when someone thought it would be a good idea to introduce the kudzu plant from Japan
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Let’s start this post by trying to pronounce its title. Easy, no? The Danish language is in a league of its own.

Imagine a gurgling sound, the deep noise of a drunk blond viking with too much mead in his mouth. While Americans speak with the front of their mouth, Danes create the words way
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There’s just something about growing your own food.

In this Brave New World of global import/export where you can basically die from eating the wrong vegetable (big cucumber scandal in Germany with lots of casualties), is a home grown meal the new epitome of “comfort food” (as in “food that doesn’t kill you”)?

For
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After having spent my later teen years plowing through the novels of Douglas Coupland, Bret Easton Ellis and other post modern cynics, I can’t help but see myself in so many typical Generation X situations. Meaning that you suddenly find yourself in a condition that requires an ironizing snark or
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If I had a garden, I would go crazy.

Everyone thinks having a big garden invokes peace and tranquility in the mind. WRONG! It gives you a constant nagging feeling of stress and frustration. The lawn must be mown, bushes cut, apples picked, weed removed, flowers planted, birds scared away, vegetables watered… Aargh it just
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Wine bar meets patisserie? Yes, please! Especially when it involves Pichet Ong.  Imagine a place where you can sit either with a book and cappuccino in the afternoon or with friends and Cabernet in the evening.

Reminiscent of a mini Parisian brasserie, the walls are decorated with antique
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People in this country are obsessed with bacon. Bacon-wrapped pork, bacon-wrapped hotdogs, bacon-wrapped corn, bacon is everywhere. Last summer, I posted bacon chocolate, and there are a lot of sweet/savor
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Coconut macaroons with Jordan almonds. Yes, Kayoko, they are color-coordinated with my Easter decor.

N.B. Not the same thing as macarons, with which
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I am totally into food. Add my friend who is also totally into food, and you get a Pepto Bismol-inducing food frenzy. On one such occasion, we visited perhaps the only authentic Chinese joint in
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