We felt like refugees + a cacio e pepe recipe

    read more…: We felt like refugees + a cacio e pepe recipe

    I want to recount how a pre-planned family visit turned into a surreal travel experience. Most of you have seen the videos and read the accounts of the chaos that the NYC vicinity experienced due to an underestimated deluge of which, to our dismay, we became unwilling victims. Claudia and I left Manchester under cloudy skies, and with naive and uninformed intelligence, proceeded to drive into that almost apocalyptic scene.

    The gift of friendship (+ Sunday Braciola recipe!)

    read more…: The gift of friendship (+ Sunday Braciola recipe!)

    Distance is the major disruptor of relationships. It can be either a tearing experience or a liberating one. It offers an opportunity to remake yourself. To start from scratch and associate with those whose views and personalities are new and different. The result, however, is that it makes it easier to leave behind what and whom you have, indeed, left behind.

    Final judgement and justice + a recipe for stuffed squash blossoms

    read more…: Final judgement and justice + a recipe for stuffed squash blossoms

    In prior years I dreaded receiving the notice because, as executive chef, time away from my business would be both costly and potentially detrimental. I prepared and stored away, just in case, a heart-wrenching soliloquy to perform for both lawyer and judge as to the hardship it would cause if I was chosen.

    A moment in time + a recipe for grilled swordfish

    read more…: A moment in time + a recipe for grilled swordfish

    There are times, and we all have had them, when our normal routine is interrupted by a surprising interaction with another person. I am not talking about a conversation with someone new at a party or a business meeting. Those situations are to be expected and assumed. I am describing an event that seems to have been planned in advance without our knowledge or consent. One where we have been placed just where needed and at just the correct time. An event that will remain and continue to give us pause.  

    Can he draw a horse? + a recipe for Sicilian Seafood Chowder

    read more…: Can he draw a horse? + a recipe for Sicilian Seafood Chowder

    Philip Guston’s work is not aesthetically pleasing, and I don’t believe it was meant to be. It is politically charged and he makes the viewer uncomfortable. His depictions of fascist and racist violence in reverse and counterintuitive images forced the MFA as well as the National Gallery to sequester some of his work in a separate space with advisories posted that read “some may find these images upsetting.” What I found upsetting were those notices.