When Picasso visited Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, a feast was held featuring good food and fine wines. Ms. Toklas prepared dinner for many literary notables including Hemingway and Fitzgerald. For Picasso, it was roast duck which he thoroughly enjoyed, remarking that it was perhaps better suited for Mattise. Many proven recipes for duck …
This week’s recipes are influenced by the life and works of Ernest Hemingway. Not enough has been told about his very sophisticated palate. The cuisine of France, Spain, Italy, Cuba and, of course, America fascinated him. Whether a Parisian sidewalk café, the Paris Ritz, a Madrid restaurant or one of his favorites in Key West, …
Easter observance during my baby days and beyond, culminated in a feast, a family tradition maintained throughout the land. Surprises were not common. My mother was the quintessential self-taught Southern cook who used no cookbook and ran her kitchen with military precision. The dinner table would rival a spread in a fancy restaurant. Colorful choices …
My Atlanta inland home at dinner time regularly had fresh seafood on the table. My father worked on weekends for a fish monger whose store had counters of red snapper, grouper, flounder, mackerel and mullet resting on ice. Mounds of live oysters covered a floor in the rear. Coolers were packed with shrimp. It was …
Reuniting. That’s a warm reality now, an affirmation of restraint, discipline and unbridled optimism. My grandson came over after a year of separation. He aspires to own a restaurant. He has a degree in culinary arts plus a university education and has worked in prestigious restaurants, learning from the ground up. During the trying times …
After visits to Ireland, I changed. The daily grind at home was more bearable. Reading became a preferred discipline and the live stage remains far more appealing than a movie. Those great books of literature, plays and poetry took on new prominence. Joyce, Yeats, Shaw, Wilde and Heaney became part of ordinary conversation. And, there …
Can you feel it? Optimism is in the air, those spirit-lifting feelings that become more recognizable each day. In Florida, baseball is in full swing and my Atlanta neighborhood anxiously awaits the new season opener with high expectations for the home team Braves. My earliest Florida Grapefruit League (what spring training baseball is called) memories …
Who needs a reason to travel to Florida. Many of my most important years were spent there, but Major League Baseball spring training is very appealing, so here I go again. Time permitting, I’ll stay off the Interstate and visit some of my favorite places: White Springs, Monticello, Live Oak, Chiefland, Fannin Springs and Cross …
Mercifully, February is winding down. Longer days and springtime magic are just ahead and for many that means Major Leaguge Baseball spring training in Florida, visits to white sand beaches and for the very lucky, fishing, watching sunsets and dining in Key West. These recipes are perfect for the begining of some mighty good days. …
A Salute to African-American Cooking The culinary legend Edna Lewis said that “the South gave America its food.” I selected one of her recipes along with two others as a tribute to the talents of African-American cooks. Ms. Lewis was so gifted. A native of Virginia who began working early on in New Your City, …
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