My husband asked me last night if I had written a list of things I would want to write about. I don’t need a list since I always have food issues swirling around in my head. One thing’s for certain. While I plan on writing about and showing recipes as I cook my way through this life, I will also write about my adventures with food media and venues. I am always “researching” food media by reading and watching what is out there. While life in the kitchen takes up much of my time, I spend a lot of time out trying restaurants, exploring new places, and searching for beautiful and functional cooking equipment. So, I hope to create an interesting array of information to share and not have this be merely a source of recipes and how to’s. So, this blog is part diary, part commentary, part functional.
Yesterday while in New York I stopped by at Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks on West 10th Street. Unfortunately, she wasn’t open (I should have checked first as she closes one day a week and the day does vary) but it was pleasantly surprised to see her window display was all about eggs. The use of good eggs is central to my pursuits. This is not unusual since I am a baker and recently finished pastry school. (I am still seriously homesick for school and wish there was a “part 2” of the degree program.) But anyway, we went through hundreds of eggs, pounds of butter and flour each day in that class. I have learned a lot about the quality and sizing of eggs as used in the baking process and have made it an objective to begin a local search for farm fresh eggs, home “grown”. I have found that even local farmstands import their eggs from farms out of state. I find this puzzling. I hope to visit a home near mine and begin to experiment with really fresh eggs. While I live in the “Garden State”, well, it really isn’t the Garden State I grew up in. There aren’t many chickens around. I will report back on these findings.
I did get a small beautiful vintage asparagus platter yesterday at William-Wayne & Co. on University Place. They have a shop uptown at 846 Lexington also.
My publication of the day is Intermezzo Magazine. I am a huge fan of Roseann Tully’s work and she has graciously published a couple of my letters. Check this magazine out. This is vivid, crisp work that I admire. I am struggling with the food publication metamorphosis and still can not fathom the loss of Gourmet and Waitrose Food Illustrated, a great British magazine. I adore the latter’s watercolors of fruits and vegetables. As I struggle to straddle the digital-hard copy worlds, I remain wedded to the tactile satisfaction of a “real” book or magazine. Sorry kids.
Today’s adventures include trying to master the picture publication process. I do hope to do some baking later today. Ryan is coming home soon and I continue my work on the ultimate chocolate chip cookie for him. As always, the weather is determinant of my baking pursuits. Today is looking a little tricky. Nothing worse than a scone which exits the oven in perfect form and quickly turns to a mushy gob as it cools. More on this later as I discuss baking on Cape Cod (heading there on Monday) where the humidity is always a factor.
I’ll be interested to know about the best NJ source of fresh eggs and how you found it. Recently, my home delivered source of organic fruits and vegetables, Door to Door Organics, canceled their service, saying they are losing money on the delivery part of their business. So sad. I loved the weekly home delivery of select fresh organic fruits and vegetables no longer available.
Brook’s been threatening to get chickens again — if he does, you can have all the fresh eggs you want! There’s only so many soufflés, frittatas, etc. we can consume. We would be honored to have you “experiment” with them!
That would be wonderful!