Tag Archives: influences

St. Julia’s Day, Part 1: Coq au Vin

I used to refer to Julia Child as Saint Julia. She was revered by millions, was responsible for the miraculous daily transsubstantiation of base ingredients into delicious meals, and was certainly prayed to in an effort to avert uncountable kitchen … Continue reading

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Kind of Blue

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of the release of what is widely considered the greatest jazz album ever recorded: Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. Although the record didn’t spring Athena-like out of Miles’ head, there was precious little warning … Continue reading

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What They Really Said

This is the conversation I always figured NASA had with Neil and Buzz:

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Readercon 20

This afternoon I’m heading to Readercon 20, the speculative fiction conference I have been involved with for twenty years. The best explanation of what I’ve been doing there all this time is in this essay I contributed to the Souvenir … Continue reading

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Game Hens Broil-Roasted in Wine with a Giant Straw Potato Galette

This is another old-school Julia Child recipe, from the Julia Child and More Company cookbook — a collection of recipes from the television series of the same name. It replaced the pork tenderloin dinner as my go-to for impressing guests … Continue reading

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Best Pig Ever

While describing the suckling pig I saw (but did not eat) at St. John restaurant in London, I alluded to having already eaten the Best Pig Ever. That happy event began, as did many of my recent food epiphanies, with … Continue reading

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Best. Meal. Ever.

In 2001 the Food Network aired A Cook’s Tour, a food and travel show hosted by Anthony Bourdain. He traveled around the world eating the local food, and I hung on every bite. Of the many remarkable meals he ate … Continue reading

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“Pork Dinner for Four in Half an Hour”

In “How I Learned to Cook” I mentioned that one of the two cookbooks I owned was Julia Child’s The French Chef Cookbook. As I read through the book looking for recipes that I could prepare in a tiny kitchen … Continue reading

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How I Learned to Cook

Blame it on the MIT Food Service. For my first two undergraduate years I ate my meals in the dining room in my dorm, MacGregor House. I had a book of “points” — tickets I turned in for breakfast, lunch, … Continue reading

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Living in this darkworld

Someone and the Somebodies was the first local band I saw perform, but the first band I reviewed when I returned to Boston was the Dark, a quirky quintet with a hyperkinetic punky sound and a black (uh, dark) sense … Continue reading

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