Tuesday, February 07, 2006

A list of things

My dear friend and fellow blog-keeper Amy has respectfully requested that I follow through on a tag--a list of questions to be answered that will offer you, the reader, some greater insight about me. But since this is a food blog--and I'm really, really trying to keep it that way--I'll answer the questions that are somehow relevant to that subject. Here goes:


Four Jobs I've Had:

1. Clerk at a health food store. Even today, if I walk into a crunchy grocer (like, say, Rainbow Grocery, the crunchiest of the crunchy--a collective, even) the smell of nutritional yeast and bulk foods takes me back to my high-school days.

2. Cheesemonger at Formaggio Kitchen. You don't know the lengths you will go for a job until you are covered in the stinky rind that has rubbed off of a wheel of Italian taleggio.

3. Receptionist at an art museum--the high point of that college work-study gig was the opportunity to cook a dinner for Sally Mann, one of my favorite photographers. What did I make, you ask? Lemon tart, and chicken.

4. Private chef. Not as glamorous as it sounds, folks.

Four Places I've Lived:

1. Woodstock, Vermont

2. Cambridge, Massachusetts

3. Burgundy, France

4. San Francisco


5 places I've vacationed:

1. Rome and Tuscany, where we ate, and ate, and ate

2. Montreal (Don't leave that city without trying the smoked meat sandwich at Schwartz's)

3. Provence, where the markets overflowed with goat cheese, olives and lavender

4. Playa Negra, Costa Rica

5. St. John, USVI

5 of my favorite dishes:

1. Grilled Niman Ranch Fearless Franks

2. Sarah's Chocolate Chip Cookies

3. Anything my mom makes

4. The Hoffman Farm chicken and polenta combination at Universal Cafe in San Francisco

5. Shanghai Soup Dumplings--someday, I hope someone will challenge me a soup dumpling eating contest. It will be a great day, particularly if it is a rainy and windy winter day at Joe's Shanghai in New York City. Watch out, challenger, my appetite for soup dumplings is boundless.

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. In a palapo watching the waves roll into Playa Negra.

2. Back East.

3. Trolling the aisles at the Grande Epicerie in Paris, a cook's paradise, awaiting the first bite of a little French macaron.

4. On a nice hike in the Marin headland with Olie and SP.

So, there. Now you know.

2 comments:

pedro velasquez said...

Your IRA CAN
buy real estate in Costa Rica

If you are looking at real estate overseas, or for a way to get
better returns in your IRA, here is little secret your stock broker will
never tell you about... The IRS lets you purchase
real estate Costa Rica
with income that is tax-deferred. That means that many savvy investors
are investing their IRA funds in
real estate in Costa Rica
The one exception is that you can't use the
Costa Rica real estate in your
IRA as your residence or vacation home, if you are under 59 1/2. Your IRA
custodian must actually buy the real estate you are investing in. For more info go to
http://www.costaricanbrokers.com

Unknown said...

Playa Negra is a beach in the Guanacaste Province of Costa Rica and a featured location in the movie Endless Summer II. It is south of the town of Tamarindo. Transportation - Access to Playa Negra can be difficult. A rough, dirt road connects Playa Negra to Tamarindo. It requires four-wheel drive year round and is extremely difficult to navigate in the rainy season. Surf - Playa Negra is home to the break known worldwide since being featured in Bruce Brown's movie Endless Summer II. Considered by many surfers to be one of the top spots in Costa Rica, sportsbook, Playa Negra has rock bottom with perfect right-hand barrels and a well defined channel for paddling out. The break has good exposure to both Northern and Southern Hemisphere swells and is reasonably consistent year-round.
Remote from other tourist developments, Playa Negra offers a surfing experience in pristine conditions: crystal clear water, abundant sea life and remnants of the tropical forest down to the high tide line. Sea turtles and parrot fish cruise the line-up accompanied by schools of brightly colored reef fish. A white sand beach just 100 yards south provides swimming and boogie-boarding opportunities for the whole family. http://www.enterbet.com