Restaurants
September 13, 2009
- I am a reformed picky eater. I grew up at my grandparents’ house on a hybrid of southern from-scratch cooking and 80s junk food. To my eternal chagrin, I turned my nose up at a lot of the good stuff: black-eyed peas or turnip greens, cooked down with ham hocks; my grandmother’s homemade head cheese; fried corn; salmon croquettes. I used to hide in my room with my face pressed into my pillow ...
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February 22, 2009
- Finally, finally, I am sitting down to write. Actually, I've been writing all week on my second novel, or more accurately, polishing and editing. So, I have been writing ... but finally, I am now to my blog.We had a wonderful trip to New York City over Valentine's weekend. A GREAT experience all around. We took advantage of some of the recent and abundant deals going for last-minute getaways to ...
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December 16, 2008
- Recently, I've been busy with end of the semester reading/grading, but I found time to enjoy some holiday cheer. Two restaurants of delicious eats: A friend and I went to Marzano, on Park Blvd in Oakland. A cozy brick interior, very close tables, and yet the feeling is lively and comfortable, a buzz of conversation and a great bar. Like a little bistro tucked away in an alley in Rome. The ...
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August 11, 2008
- We got home late last night after a wonderful two week trip to San Francisco for the RWA conference, and then a week in Oregon with relatives. One excursion took us from Salem to the Oregon coast, with a brief stop at Otis, a wide spot in the road, for what was supposed to be their Marionberry pie, but turned into lunch. Most of the rest of the day was spent at scenic beach spots where I ...
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June 3, 2008
- Allegro Romano, a small Italian restaurant on San Francisco’s Russian Hill, is the setting for a key scene in The House of Mondavi. The restaurant was where Timothy Mondavi broke bread with two of the outside directors of the Robert Mondavi Corp. in an effort to convince them to oust the company’s non-family member CEO. His efforts backfired. Instead of convincing them to fire the executive, ...
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April 22, 2008
- It’s an unassuming plate - little irregular lumps of nearly naked pasta. No visual fireworks, no flashy garnish. I doubt I’d have ordered the agnolotti dal plin if a dining companion hadn’t praised it. “Guido’s mama makes them all by hand,” Daniel said, describing the folded, veal-stuffed pockets. “The sauce is just meat drippings from the roasting pan – but it’s probably the ...
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April 18, 2008
February 20, 2008
- February 20, 2008 in What are you doing this Saturday night? If you’re in Western Washington, why not come to the legendary Resort at Port Ludlow and have dinner with me, author Margaret Willson and other booklovers. You can find more details about the event here. Come for some incredible Northwest cuisine and conversation.
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December 23, 2007
- Upon the drinking of a cup of coffee, Balzac wrote, "everything becomes agitated. Ideas quick-march in to motion like battalions of a grand army to its legendary fighting ground, and the battle rages." Less militantly, the young girl Lieschen responds to her father Herr Schlendrian, in the libretto to Bach's Coffee Cantata, "Dear father, don't be so strict! If I can't have my ...
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