THE "SPICE ROUTE"

In the 16th century, Ferdinand Magellan found the clove. One story I read that kind of stayed with me was his discovery of the "Great Sea" (the Pacific), which, according to his
circumnavigational log, "unmoored a vast wind." He wrote it was almost birdlike sailing.. as the earth's rotational velocity had taken charge east. Guam rose on the horizon... the Philippine trees glared on its shores ... then Indonesia - the cinnamon's vanilla habitat - at long last.
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Portland, Ore. is always a wearing-a-Patagonia-down-vest-chai-tea weather, a high altitude alpine biome with bike lanes and terrific food. Here in New York, well, it's not Portland - but the urban graphics are a Manga, and making chai tea in monologue bubbles is cool, too. Black-and-white ginger and juniper berries. The comic kitchen. Drawing milk to the cup... Magellan never made it back to Europe.

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FRENCH LECHES

The post title is a play of words/homage to a Cuban bakery in Los Angeles that specializes in a "destination food" called tres leches, a milk-soaked cake. My version is a layered french toast (using walnut bread), and before frying in butter was, of course, dunked in whole milk - with tons of lemon...

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Breakfast Fabergé

I'm reminiscing my time in Eidfjord last month. The B&B served this, and I want to do it again. Temperature and timing are key to achieve the yogurt texture of the yolk - perfect to stick through and capture it on a toasted buttered country bread. More or less five and a half minutes...

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FALL FOOD

 Toasted Fennel Seeds Cherry Tomato Soup My partner, away at a conference in Houston, called me last night and asked what I was having for dinner. "Not much. Just soup I made really quick. But it's good because it's rainy and it's now fall, and I'm alone." Mood is a food characteristic,...

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