October 19th, 2008

Day 1 Arrive in Ithaca. I love it here. If I could magically wake up a Cornell Professor, I could imagine spending more than just a vacation exploring

Continue reading Hitting the Road to the Finger Lakes

Two years ago, Mark and I went to Savannah over Father’s Day weekend and it remains one of the best trips we’ve taken. Short, but full of food and adventure and people so friendly you have to pinch yourself. I’m reposting the report from that trip to inspire a weekend getaway, for both you and us.

June 18th, 2008

I have a new love, and her name is Savannah, Georgia. We fell in love over food,

Continue reading Savannah, Revisited

It is nearing 70º and sunny outside and so the need to escape the cold to warmer climes may be waning, but travel is one of those things, like meals, that I never stop planning. Much like sitting at breakfast brainstorming dinner, one trip inevitably leads into the next. Recently, though my travel budget has been curtailed by, well, everything so when we did get to get away few weeks ago, we went to old faithful,

Continue reading St. John USVI, Like a Local

This morning began early. (Side note: I’ve been asked a lot recently what I’m planning to do. I’d like to figure out a work day that consistently begins and ends at the same time. This whole work late, work early thing is wearing me out!) Anyway, it began early, running around the apartment gathering my tools and heading up to Mamaroneck to cook at the indoor winter farmer’s market that is there each Saturday morning. I

Continue reading From the Farmer’s Market to White Manna Burger

Mark and I just returned from Farm Camp, a weekend near the Adirondack Mountains in New York, spent with other people from the culinary world, hosted by the wonderful Jen and Mike, owners of Flying Pigs Farm. Mary Cleaver, owner of Cleaver Company and The Green Table, a pioneer in the sustainability world and also the most inspiring boss I’ve ever had, sent a number of her staff up to meet

Continue reading Farm Camp

I want to share with you a group that has really touched my heart, both the chef-heart and the teacher-heart.

My instructor, colleague and friend Neal Bermas has created a restaurant and training center in Vietnam to educate the street kids there in the hospitality and tourism industries. From the STREETS website:

STREETS INTERNATIONAL (“STREETS”) is a not-for-profit, sustainable, social enterprise initiative for street kids and other disadvantaged youth. It is an innovative program model that builds on the

Continue reading STREETS International

by Mark Peterson

We met Stranahan’s Whiskey at the IACP opening night Gala at the Denver Art Museum. They were there, on the first floor, right when you walked in the door serving up something called a Colorado Cooler, a local mint julep of sorts, cold and refreshing. We were told that the museum frowned upon serving what it saw as shots of whiskey, so samples were available upstairs, straight from the barrel. So that’s where

Continue reading Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey

Mark & I have just returned from the International Association of Culinary Professionals’ annual conference and I am profoundly moved, inspired and changed by the people and plates that I met along the way. From the Denver’s mayor to fellow bloggers, cookbook authors, teachers and travelers that I had lunch with everyday, from as far away as Sweden and as near as Hoboken, each person I met was kind, committed and fascinated by the food we

Continue reading IACP Conference in Denver

Mark & I are antsy for spring. We’ve got all of our seed catalogues and spend evenings pouring over heirloom herbs and vegetables to soon be planted in our backyard. Until the 50 degree days are here to stay (and turn into 70, 80, 90 degree days after that) we’ve been working hard to keep ourselves busy through late winter weekends. Here’s a recap of two days of food and exploration both close and far from

Continue reading Weekend Diary of the G&P

Yesterday, I went with Mark to the Northeastern Organic Farmer’s Association (NOFA) annual meeting at Rutgers in New Brunswick, NJ. I wasn’t going to go. I love farmer’s as much as the next foodie, but I had a perfectly good Saturday to stay home and read/knit/sleep/cook/eat/whatever. I realized though that Mark would be taking the car, which means I’d be homebound and I recently joined a gym. Having a whole Saturday with nothing to do and

Continue reading Hanging Out With Farmers