Recipe for Success – or Failure

July 8, 2020

The Stuffed Carrot Cake I baked was obviously a failure but it was extremely tasty as a pudding

First, a little first-person backstory.

I quit my job as food editor and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada’s largest newspaper, after 18 years in 2007. It was arguably the best job for a food journalist in Canada. Four years later, I re-invented myself as a freelance Food Sleuth. Meanwhile, I did a couple of community cookbooks with residents of Toronto public housing and for an advocacy non-profit group called FoodShare. Read more…

Mutual Love of Prunes is One Bond I Have with Gabriella

September 20, 2018

The Prune Soufflé that my mother used to make from her 1940s edition of the ‘Joy of Cooking’

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It was May, 2004, during a glitzy dinner celebrating that year’s James Beard Awards at a mid-Manhattan hotel.

Gabriella Gershenson, at that time a fledgling food writer living in New York, was seated next to me. I discovered that I and this soft-spoken young woman with thick, wavy black hair and a winning smile were kindred souls. Read more…

I Discovered Brilliant Anthony Bourdain Many Years Ago

March 13, 2017

In Memoriam: Anthony Bourdain – an inspiration to me and the huge number of devotees who followed his ground-breaking, intrepid and wondrous work – committed suicide while filming an episode of Parts Unknown in France on June 8, 2018. He was one of a kind. RIP dear friend. Read more…

NYC Chef Michael Lomonaco Survived 9/11 and is Still Cooking

January 26, 2017

“I dedicate my work every day to the colleagues I lost on 9/11” – chef Michael Lomonaco.

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Michael Lomonaco loves food and people. But it was an act of hate that pushed him into the spotlight: the tragic events of September 11th, 2001.

Michael was executive chef of Windows on the World: a restaurant once on top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Following the attacks, he helped raise $23 million for the families of foodservice workers killed that day. Those included 79 of his staff working the morning shift and a hot dog vendor on the ground outside. I interviewed him in May 2002. Read more…

It’s the Real Cup of Joe – Going Strong for More Than 100 Years

May 23, 2016

Martinson coffee, founded by my great-uncle Joe Martinson

This column appeared in the Toronto Star in 2002. I was reminded of it recently when I stayed in a hotel in Kitchener, Ontario, and found this coffee in the room.

A cup of joe.

Who would have thought I am related – albeit distantly – to the “Joe” of that famous culinary phrase.

It all began, as is often the case, almost by accident. Read more…

Chef David Garcelon Prepares a Waldorf Salad on the 18th Floor of the Waldorf Astoria

January 24, 2013

Chef David Garcelon and his Waldorf Salad Read more…

Thomas Keller’s Sage Advice to Budding Chefs: Patience, Persistence, Practice

November 16, 2012

Thomas Keller004 (5-9-05) — **Famous American chef Thomas Keller**

The sold-out scene at the Isabel Bader Theatre in downtown Toronto on a recent dark and stormy night was akin to a Bob Dylan concert (firsthand experience) or a gathering to hear the Dalai Lama (only hearsay). Read more…

Big Apple Bites: Weird Grasshopper Tacos and Superb Brussels Sprouts at Toloache

March 22, 2012

Manhattan-20120212-00041 — Brilliant Brussels Sprouts at Toloache

I recently spent four glorious days in midtown Manhattan.

For two of those, I was pretty much closeted in the Roger Smith Hotel attending back-to-back seminars at a cookbook conference. Read more…

My Interview with Judith Jones, Julia Child’s Editor, at her Home in New York

March 15, 2012

I arrived at the door of Judith Jones’s compact, six-room apartment in a classic brownstone on New York’s Upper East Side to the sounds of enthusiastic, high-pitched barking on the other side of the door.

It was her little white and furry Havanese dog Mabon who was happy to see me and proceeded to jump up and down as I entered the cozy place where she’s lived for several decades. Read more…

Roger Smith Cookbook Conference was Bound to Please and a Winner in my Books

March 3, 2012

I’ll begin this blog post by serving up a link to an excellent piece of writing by a young fellow from the U.K. who was sitting next to me during one of the lively panels at the excellent two-day Roger Smith Cookbook Conference I attended recently in New York.

While I scribbled away using the old-school journo’s tools of the trade – a pen and paper – he, Nick Robinson, was calmly taking notes on some kind of tablet, checking in with Twitter and probably his e-mail at the same time.

We had a brief chat, exchanged cards and, upon my return, began following each other on Twitter and connected on LinkedIn. Read more…