In the spring of 2020 the world shut down confronted with an immense public health crisis. It meant I couldn't eat out, be fed by friends, or even go to the store more than once a week. I started a weekly newsletter to document my experience over the span of that unusual period in our history.
I've decided to continue that on a slightly different basis while slowly transitioning my paper notebooks into a digital format. Each month, I'll do a write up in the What's Cooking section, the latest just below. In the Recipes section, I'll slowly add and refine the formulas for what I cook and bake.
The weather has been a bit gray and indecisive as we’ve moved to spring from winter. I got a bit of a respite on a flying visit to San Francisco and the Bay Area.
Newest Recipes
Honey & Co Butter Cookies
I won’t take any credit for the original recipe here, but I really liked this modular approach to cookie making. It comes from the wonderful Honey & Co in London....
Hedge Maze
I dug this up for a party that demanded something green. It comes via Stoa, a bar in San Francisco.
When I do cocktails for a group, I like doing them in a batch....
Chestnut Cream Cake
This is a paradoxical cake. It’s pretty easy to make from a technical perspective, but the key ingredient — the ingredient that makes the cake — is very difficult to find here in the United States....
Levain Pizza Dough
I started noodling with pizza made with a levain after trying Oobatz, a pizza place in Paris. They use a levain-based dough, and it adds a nice tang. I feed my levain with a relatively less refined flour (versus white all-purpose flour), which also adds a bit of extra flavor....
Entrecôte-style Steak Sauce
While I wouldn’t visit France just to eat there, it’s a lot of fun to go to a branch of L’Entrecôte. If you go, there are effectively no choices. You get a green salad, fries, and steak with sauce....
