Monthly Archives: March 2008
Cooking Outside the Book
As the wife of a private chef and cooking teacher, a role I frequently play is that of hostess. There are three questions Francisco’s clients never fail to ask me after he’s presented a plate and headed back to the kitchen: 1) Can I have another mojito (or fresh watermelon martini, or whatever the drink … Continue reading
When All You Have is Your Body
Published in Traverse, September, 2007 I am hurtling down Avenida Reforma, one of Mexico City’s main arteries, in one of the ubiquitous green and white Volkswagen taxis that everyone—tourists and locals alike—waits for, favoring nostalgia and its slight discomforts over the newer red and white Nissan Sentra taxis, which have no personality as far as … Continue reading
Circling Home: An Interview with John Lane
Published in Traverse, February, 2008 * If you were to exit Interstate 85 in Spartanburg, South Carolina on your way to or from some point of greater interest, it’s not likely that much would capture your attention and draw you in. Big box stores and cookie-cutter franchise restaurants line the city’s main street running from … Continue reading
Mama Mia! Francisco’s Homemade Pasta
The gleaming metal pasta machine sat in its box on top of the fridge for months, waiting for one of its carb-loving owners to remember to buy durum flour at Kalustyan’s, which we finally did last week. Here are some photos from Francisco’s first homemade pasta experiment. The wooden clothes hanger doubles as a drying rack for the pasta … Continue reading
Finding Picasso in Havana
Published in Matador’s Traverse Magazine, September, 2006 Havana’s annual film festival always attracts cinephiles from around the world, but 1999 was a particularly crowd-drawing year. With the premiere of Julia Mirabal’s documentary “Los Picassos Negros” (“The Black Picassos”), film lovers were in for a treat: the first visual evidence corroborating that there is a Cuban … Continue reading