Calling Claude Bolling

Excuse a brief departure from my usual topics. But it’s not often I see a New York Times news item that includes an obituary for someone I had the good fortune to spend a bit of time with, albeit many years ago. It was such a pleasure to read [paywall, [...]

2021-02-20T00:31:42+00:00February 20th, 2021|France, Memories|

My Travel Bug

A friend nailed it in a recent email, lamenting how hard it is to coordinate our work schedules to plan a group trip... "Why can't we all just be independently wealthy and travel the world at our leisure?" Yes! Why not, indeed. It's almost enough to make me buy a [...]

2020-01-23T22:45:35+00:00April 12th, 2018|Family and Friends, Memories, Travel|

Cheese Bit Quiche: Reminiscing with Leftovers

It's no surprise that a lot of reminiscing went on this past weekend while Anne Willan was in town. She was here, after all, to celebrate the release of her new memoir, One Soufflé at a Time: A Memoir of Food and France, so she's heavy in memory-mode, going back to her [...]

2020-02-05T18:57:58+00:00October 24th, 2013|Cookbooks, Memories|

Anne Willan in Seattle

It is going to be such an honor to have Anne Willan here in Seattle for a couple days later this month. I love my hometown and am always thrilled at the chance to share it with friends and colleagues when they visit. This occasion will be an even richer [...]

2020-02-05T19:03:15+00:00October 4th, 2013|Cookbooks, Culinary Community|

A Most Magical Christmas

I didn't want to break the spell. When I left Seattle to go to cooking school in France, it was a major adventure, a big step into an unknown future, a dream come true. Belongings that I wasn't taking with me went into long-term storage, since this was to be an open-ended [...]

2020-02-05T19:36:27+00:00December 19th, 2012|Family and Friends, Memories, Travel|

Julia Child: Bon Anniversaire Madame!!

Back in early November of 1990, I was into my second year in France for an extended stay. Earlier, in college, I'd had a couple trips to France as part of my studies--once for a month, the following year for a semester at University of Dijon. But this was my [...]

2023-08-17T00:48:21+00:00August 7th, 2012|Memories|

Cooking & College: Reminiscing

It certainly isn't an obvious connection. But the recent notice I read about the Flying Karamazov Brothers coming to the Seattle area soon sent me on a trip down memory lane. The year was 1985 perhaps. Tacoma, on the campus of the University of Puget Sound where I was a [...]

2022-12-28T17:24:14+00:00March 1st, 2011|Food and Drink, Memories|
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