photo by nickphotos on Flickr Working in restaurants was never meant to be a career I’d fall in love with. It was a means to cover my bills until I reached my goal of becoming a professional screenwriter. Despite my creative aspirations, however, by the spring of 1998 I was thoroughly embedded in the restaurant scene in Cambridge/Boston. I was the only female bartender—a singular position I relished—at Toad , a popular locals’ bar and music club (albeit tiny) in Porter Square, Cambridge. Four nights a week I was the person that everybody knew--the friendly bartender to regulars, tourists, Harvard academics, rocket scientists and ...
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Whenever I go to the Hollywood Farmers' Market, one of the first stops on my trip is to go see Angel for a perfectly brewed cup of coffee from Cafecito Organico. Though carrying produce is always more difficult with a cup of coffee in hand, the flavor of Cafecito's racy elixir is always worth the juggling. An interview with Angel Orozco, Founder, Cafecito Organico Tell us about Cafecito Organico. When did the company start and how did it come into being? The company officially started in July of 2004, but I started to work on it in early 2003. It came about as a ...
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In my rule book, the sign of a great dinner party is a sink full of dirty plates and a table covered in empty wine glasses. Our dinner last night with Marissa and Steve, the lovely couple behind the erudite food blog Infinite Fress , was that kind of a party. Self-admitted restaurant regulars (The chefs at Hatfield's and Jitlada know them by name), Steve and Marissa know good food and aren't afraid to criticize. Cooking for them would not only need to be good, but also needed to show them who I am as a fellow food blogger via my kitchen. On their ...
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If a face can launch a thousand ships, what power could a butternut squash have? Turns out one baked butternut squash from Tuscany topped with melted sheep's milk cheese had the power to change my life. Flash back to more than a year ago. While on my honeymoon in Italy, my newly minted husband and I stopped for a late lunch in the town of Montepulciano at a tiny restaurant named Osteria Aquachetta . Among the many Tuscan dishes we sampled, it was a simple side of fresh-from-the-hearth butternut squash with melted sheep's milk cheese that made us return for dinner several hours later, ...
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There I was, having coffee with Lesley Balla -- the most powerful food gossip in Los Angeles--when she casually asked me what I was doing on Wednesday. "Want to go to Las Vegas for the Michelin Guide awards party?" she asked. Ask me to go to a Friday night movie premier and I'll tell you I'm busy. Offer me a ticket to a great foodie event—any day of the week--and I'll be in my closet picking out something to wear. I'm just that easy. Breathless with enthusiasm, I volunteered myself for the road trip and quickly rescheduled my workweek and packed a bag in ...
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