Bonnie Slotnick has a website, but she discourages her customers from using e-mail. She’d prefer to speak to them directly. She rarely cooks in the compact kitchen of her circa-1892 New York apartment, yet each day, she is surrounded by nearly four thousand cookbooks. What might appear to be curious contradictions in an era of web-based businesses and instant search results are quickly
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A Birthday Bite of the Big Apple
Monday, January 21, 2008Today, I am another year older. The birthdays seem to come faster now.There are certain inevitable truths about my birthday. Sometimes it falls on a holiday, and everyone gets the day off. Hurray! If it doesn’t fall on a holiday, I take the day off anyway and dream up an adventure just for me. Either way I win.Other birthday truths – it is certainly going to be cold, as
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Breakfast at Fisherman’s Wharf
The streets are deserted. I’m conscious of a solitary jogger, an occasional dock worker, and a cold, salty breeze buffeting me off of the San Francisco Bay. A sea gull dips in my path. Del Monte Square, part of the historic Cannery Row, is still asleep.I need to get some breakfast before the day of meetings begins.Along Fisherman’s Grotto – a sequence of stalls and restaurants offering the
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Cupcakes and The Child Within
I’m going to be an uncle again!That means many reasons to celebrate. It’s some time since I’ve been a new uncle. My nephews Doug and Dave are 21 and 18 respectively. John and Ramiza’s baby will be a much-loved addition to our family, so as they pass through New York returning to their home abroad, we plan an impromptu baby shower, just to make their suitcases a little heavier. My assignment
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Sunday Stew, Slow and Simple
It doesn’t take a particularly logical train of thought to get me started on a new cooking project. But, it is often a complicated path. Here’s a typical chain of events:I’m sitting in a hotel in Middlebury, Vermont last weekend drinking coffee and watching Tyler Florence on the Food Network. He’s whipping up his “ultimate” version of coq au vin. He adds an entire bottle of red wine to
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A Taste of Honey
My cousin Patti married her honey Paul Crosby in Middlebury, Vermont during the Christmas holidays.You might think I’m being an incurable romantic by using such a term. It was, indeed, an enchanted winter’s eve wedding, but the description is no exaggeration when it comes to Paul. Among his many interests, this Renaissance man makes cheese, keeps bees and collects his own honey.We are standing in
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