Ideal 20th Century KitchensNick and Nora Charles and Asta in "The Thin Man" --The Art Deco backgrounds of their beautiful apartment included a pure 1930s kitchen.Yesterday I briefly explored the idea that the art of the twentieth century might, like the art of earlier centuries, be an interesting source of visual information …
Twentieth Century KitchensWhen we want to know what a kitchen was like in the 17th or 18th century, we take a look at the paintings and other art works of the artists of that time. Works by Chardin (1699-1779) in France or Jan Steen (1626- 1669) and many others during the Dutch Golden Age give us wonderful insight into life …
More CrepesInside Creperie Josselin: there's always been a line, but today we walked right in and ordered because it was 3 PM.A crepe with caramel and vanilla ice cream for meand a lemon-honey crepe for Lenny.The kitchen.The outside on the street with all the crepe places (address is 67 Rue du Montparnasse).Ne…
Eighteenth-Century French KitchensKitchen Maid Peeling Turnips by Chardin, 1740I'm reading A Revolution in Taste: The Rise of French Cuisine by Susan Pinkard. Among many interesting ideas in the book, I was interested to learn of the genre paintings of kitchen scenes by Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, which I found here. I love the wa…
"One Man Band" DinerThe "One Man Band" diner in the very strange town of Nephi, Utah, is a fun place to eat. The menu has a long list of instructions, beginning with the directive that you should decide exactly what each person at the table wants to eat, and then phone in your order on the red telephone beside the tab…
Barbie's KitchenAlice's Barbies turn out to have a kitchen; one of them agreed to show me the refrigerator. I like this better than the earlier Barbie kitchen I posted here.…
Wagyu Beef !For dinner we found a Wagyu beef restaurant not far from the guest house where we are staying. The extremely marbled and tender beef is sliced thin so that you can quickly grill each piece on an in-table wood fire. The kitchen (shown above) also prepares a number of dishes from other parts of the co…
Turkey PrepBread, apple, onion, fresh sage .... chopped by Alice and Elaine.Adding eggs and stock, then stuffing the bird --More prep, and meanwhile:…
Thanksgiving ApronsHere we are: Elaine and I, starting on Thanksgiving Dinner at Aparna's house in our new aprons. Thank you, Kappu!…
Eating Out in AspenThe restaurants in Aspen are all very good. Some are famous, and some are known for their famous clients. I've already described how we also like quietly eating simpler things in our condo -- tuna and vegetable salad, chicken strips, seared lamb chops with broccoli, and always cereal for breakfast. …
Cooking with basic ingredientsLast night I cooked two dishes: baked chicken with Spanish smoked paprika (I brought it with me from Santa Barbara) and Gratin Dauphinoise, my favorite potato dish. I learned this Alpine dish when I was in Grenoble, France, so it's appropriate to make it here in the Rocky Mountains, I think. Also, i…
Super Cucas and Its OppositeWe really enjoyed the burritos, quesadillas, enchiladas, and green and red salsas at Super Cuca's Taqueria, quite near our temporary home in Santa Barbara. It's a completely informal place -- order at the counter, eat in a kind of garden area or take it home, which we've done a couple times. Cucas' …
