Christine | July 31, 2010
There are some meals during which you realize just how wonderful it is to be sitting towards the top of the food chain.
I had one of those dining experiences two nights ago at an eclectic deli/bistro called 103 (the restaurant’s street number on Unthank Road in Norwich, England). At this place the chefs, all veterans [...]
Christine | July 28, 2010
Delia has a relatively new advertising gig with Waitrose, Britain’s most upscale grocery store chain.
Under the multi-media scheme, she and fellow British celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, creator of the three-Michelin starred Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, encourage people to cook at home mainly through TV ads, Internet streaming videos, and printed recipe cards that instruct [...]
Christine | July 24, 2010
One of the major drawbacks to finishing culinary school is a sharp drop in the number of dinner party invitations one receives. Chef Hunt, the culinary dean in Le Cordon Bleu in Pittsburgh, warned us about this phenomenon, advising us not to take it personally. Prowess in the kitchen is intimidating.
But my English friends, Danny [...]
Christine | July 21, 2010
This morning, I had the first English scone of this particular trip to the UK. It wasn’t one of Delia’s, I am afraid. It was pulled from a friend’s freezer, put in a recycled butter container with about six of its siblings, and brought to my place by said friend when she popped round for [...]
Christine | July 20, 2010
My husband is all about loyalty. He truly believes (even sometimes as late as the last week in September) that the Red Sox will still be playing in October. He still avoids Florida because of the 2000 election results. And he’s not convinced the traditional English custard recipe I pulled from the voluminous Delia’s Complete [...]
Christine | July 19, 2010
Would you think I was a freak if I copped to, upon landing in any new place, making a beeline for the nearest grocery store? Well, I do. I find it fascinating to see what people take for granted as staples and what they deem luxuries, distinctions that are quite evident to me based on [...]
Christine | July 17, 2010
In my last post I whined about transitioning from culinary school to whatever comes next. Today, the golden opportunity for procrastination on dealing with that situation fell into my lap in the form of a house swap.
Friends from the UK wanted to understand what life is like in middle-America is all about. On Tuesday they [...]
Christine | July 1, 2010
I was nonplussed by the last day of my formal culinary school adventure. There was no ticker-tape parade in my honor. No fireworks. No three-tiered graduation cake. Heck, having to produce said cake as a practical application of my new skills would have rendered more excitement.
There was really only the matter of me passing my [...]
