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More French market photos

Here are remaining pictures from Coustellet with a couple shots of the street food from the market in St. Remy de Provence.

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Apples and the Fall

Not to get too philosophical, but apples always get me thinking... Perhaps, it is because apples remind me of my youth more than other fruit. In the Northeastern U.S., fresh fruit was mostly not local....

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Coffee

My coffee obsessions have been growing. I had experienced several revelatory breakthroughs (for me) in understand espresso, brewed coffee, roasting, and now brewing again. My main green bean supplier...

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Dana's Inspiration

Dana of Prather told me about his week plus refrigerator "dry" aged hanger. So I tried my own version with this rib steak cut off a prime rib. It was in the freezer and we took the prime rib out for a...

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Julia Dinner

Inspired by the recent movie and subsequent reading of My Life in France, Parker took on the task of researching and creating a dinner party homage to Ms. Child. She poured over Vol. 1 of Mastering the...

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The Rome Beauty

Dear Friends, As I have written to you about apple season before, you probably recall the relish and melancholy that attends this time of year for me. My main apple grower, Paul of Nana Mae, has...

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A Quick Post Market Lunch

The color of this photo probably does not do it justice. Dennis of Mission Fresh Fish, who is a terrifically nice guy, and a very good fishseller, suggested these "Barry Bonds" prawns instead of the...

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The Bridge to H.U.

The serene pond with its' attendant geese is my welcome company at breakfast. The morning sky streaked with dawn sleepiness. Across the water, Hamburger University sits dark. I am at the Hyatt Lodge at...

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In Defense of Thanksgiving

I never really thought Thanksgiving needed support. I never thought it needed advocacy, but an old (not old, but one I have had a long time, you know) friend recently told me they did not really care...

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Mr. Thanksgiving

Or Mr. T... I met him recently. If you go to culinary school and your nickname becomes "Mr. Thanksgiving", you are the real deal. You must have earned the moniker. Surrounding a roasted turkey with a...

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Decorous

There are many ways I could describe the Friday after Thanksgiving, but none would be "black". Decorous Friday seems more precise. The leftovers are plentiful and, maybe, more delicious than game day....

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Reality and Authenticity in Yountville

The olives we ordered were really good. They were delicious green olives, cured and brined with coriander and other spices. According to the waiter, they came from the front yard. Jonathan (who was...

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Orange You Glad I Didn't Say...

The pile grows taller. My fingers become stickier. The air smells distinctly of citrus. Two beautiful dry-farmed clementines sit staring at me next to the skins of their brethren. Their perfume is...

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Coffee Talk

In the beginning... Los Manantiales farm at sunset, where the Genesis lot is milled. I am drinking a Costa Rican coffee I roasted six days ago and, as it is called "Genesis", Biblical themes are on my...

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Mash-up

I found several old drafts of posts and thought I would finish them. They are not really timely per se. These were written in the Summer and Fall of 2007 responding to some specific events at that...

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A Man With No Country On Christmas

The Nicaragua Microlot is roasted to 401 degrees and is done, just at the start of the second crack. (This means something to coffee roasters.) I have the light smell of roasting on me, which is a bit...

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Duck, Duck, Lamb?

The duck breast was a gift. In fact, it was my favorite kind of gift, both absurd and thoroughly appreciated. It was absurd, because raw meat is rarely given to unrelated adults. It was thoroughly...

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Off to the races!

Happy New Year! As usual, it has been a time of festive frolic and also seasonal quietude. The intermittent busyness punctuated with moments of reflection has made for a jumbling of my thoughts. And,...

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Orangolepticism

organoleptic - adj.Of or pertaining to the sensory properties of a particular food or chemical, the taste, colour, odour and feel. (Wiktionary.org) I have written before about my challenges with the...

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Technique Technique

Okay, I confess. I am a technique geek. If there is a right way to cook something, I want to know it. If there is a best way to zest lemons or sieve stock or deglaze a pan or tie a prime rib, I want to...

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After the fries.. the kale..

With all that cooking oil after my batches of french fries, I went to my unhealthy version of crispy Dino kale. Usually, I put the kale into a 350 degree oven with a generous sprinkle of EVOO for 25...

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The Miracle

It is Easter Sunday (when I originally wrote this). Like previous holidays, I can get religously philosophical. Or rather philosophical about religion.. At the Farmers Market, a different feeling about...

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Lunch Ends in Goult

If it was in any way remarkable, it should be a newspaper headline. "Lunch Ends in Goult" The text might begin... "At the small cafe just off the square in Goult, lunch ended after 3 courses and nearly...

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The Good Life

I have been overwhelmed with seemingly salient observations about the good life and its' cross-cultural incantations.Sitting with the computer and my second cup of coffee (El Salvador Cup of Excellence...

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The British Are Coming... The Welsh, too.

As much as the Bay Area can seem like ground zero for the locavore, the ethical omnivore, and the farm-y gourmand, the United Kingdom is leaps and bounds ahead. The above sign was outside of one of the...

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