Chris Nordquist
On Sunday, David and I are off to Tokyo for a week, and David’s mother will stay with Julia in New York. (They’re both looking forward to it –Julia asks for her nearly every morning.) David’s mom has a real flair for seasonal decor: in her home near New Orleans, beautiful and inventive displays of […]
We got lucky in San Francisco. Frances, an excellent new restaurant, opened right across the street from us, and it’s thriving. The space had seem doomed, hosting a series of financially and/or gastronomically unsuccessful ventures (the longest-lived of which was an odd Hawaiian-themed place with Spam on the menu) but Chef Melissa Perello has broken […]
The boxes arrived yesterday. Last week my college roommate John and I spent a few days in Palm Springs –an annual tradition going back more than 10 years now. Our agenda isn’t ambitions (lounge by the pool, cocktails, dinner, sleep, repeat), but I usually also manage to rouse myself to do a little shopping. Besides […]
Many years ago, when I was returning from a business trip to London, my luggage was loaded into the taxi, I got in, and we just sat there at the curb. After a while, I asked the driver why we weren’t leaving for the airport. He replied, embarrassed, “Oh, Sir, I’m so sorry. With all […]
Last week Julia walked into our bedroom wearing a plastic kitchen funnel on her head and singing “Happy Birthday.” Two of her buddies have had their second birthdays in the last couple of weeks, hers is just around the corner, and she’s way into the concept. The party hats seem to have made a particularly […]
I recently bonded with my new friend Visnja over the issue of candlelight, or rather the lack of it on a restaurant table. We were dining with our partners at a small, lovely place in the West Village –excellent food, great service, a pretty room with crisp yet cozy decor, and, well, bare tables. Visnja […]
Actually, it’s more like a year of daily spa treatments for $4.95. Yes, I exaggerate, but this little nylon cloth is better than any scrubbing lotion, exfoliating cream or loofah that I’ve ever tried. Wet and primed with a little soap or shower gel, it gently scrubs away dirt and grime and leaves my skin […]
When I went to San Francisco’s Bi-Rite Market this week, something among all of the beautiful local produce caught my eye, and my nose –great bunches of brilliant green, fragrant basil. For me, nothing signals the arrival of high summer like the aroma of fresh basil at it heady peak. I bought a few bunches, […]
In a perfect world, we would all just step outside and gather beautiful seasonal leaves to line our cheese trays. In my world, though, or at least in New York and San Francisco, most of the things you’d find blowing down the street shouldn’t go anywhere near your food. And, in any case, in the […]
They don’t look like much. In fact, they’re pretty ugly, even with good lighting and a flattering background. (I did the best I could.) But these wizened little knobs of dried fruit pack amazing flavor. They’re Persian dried limes (or Limoo Omani), common in the cuisine of Iran, Iraq and Northern India, but still rare […]
