Tasting Notes
Writings from the Kitchen Work community
New Orleans Day 2
October 10, 2017
The oldest memories I have of the early years of my relationship with my father are of him playing a clarinet. I think it must have been 1980 and his tenth reunion at Dartmouth College in Hanover New Hampshire that was taking place on a warm summer weekend. I was eight years-old and my sister was six and my parents were just in their early thirties and I remember wandering around in a haze from one sunny campus spot to the next. All of it was…
New Orleans Day 1
October 6, 2017
I landed at the Louis Armstrong airport in the early afternoon two days ago. At the top of the ramp from the airplane I took that first step back on land after being in the air for four hours. The airport smelled as fresh as they all do with their sanitizers and air circulation systems and yet it still had a certain flavor. I thought I smelled a drop of funk at the gate and as I walked out under the skylights in the main corridor…
Slow-Roasted Tomatoes
September 12, 2017
I think the first place I ever tasted a slow-roasted tomato was in Canton, Massachusetts when I was about nineteen. I was working at a good Mediterranean restaurant that more than once made my head swivel in amazement at how delicious something could be when cooked properly. (Mom! They bake their own focaccia!) The slow-roasted tomato was simple as could be…