Julia Child, Food Media Pioneer

food media pioneer Julia Child

In 2000, I was working nights in the pastry department at San Ysidro Ranch in Monticeto, California, when Julia Child came in to have dinner.  The kitchen was electric.  She was friends with our Executive Chef, Jamie West.  Julia ordered a lemon tart for dessert so I excitedly prepared a perfect plate for her.  Then I made a big mistake.  I let the Sous Chef whisk it away and deliver it to my hero, Julia Child, a food media pioneer.  We lost her 3 1/2 years later.  I’ve always regretted missing the chance to meet her and say hello. But I did hear that she loved my lemon tart.  That wonderful night was a life-changing event for me.

Vintage Virginia Apples

Esopus Spitzenburgh Edit

A wonderful orchard outside Charlottesville, Vintage Virginia Apples, is hard at work preserving and reintroducing many of the old apple varietals that have been forgotten and left behind.  The supermarket maelstrom that left us with perfect-looking red delicious, golden delicious and Granny Smith apples – all bred to last forever – has cost us something.  Many of the apple names at Vintage Virginia Apples were unfamiliar – Esopus Spitzenburgh, Calville Blanc d’hiver, Ashmead’s Kernel – but the revelation to me was the explosion of flavor in my mouth, as if I’d never tasted an apple before.

Recommended Film: Romantics Anonymous

Romantics Anonymous

“Romantics Anonymous tells the story of Angélique (Isabelle Carré), a gifted chocolate-maker whose uncontrollable shyness prevents her from acknowledging her talents. Struggling chocolatier Jean-René (Benoît Poelvoorde), who also suffers from a similar case of awkward bashfulness that threatens to drown his company, hires Angelique as his new sales associate. Realizing she’s attracted to her boss, Angelique decides to anonymously develop a new line of chocolates to save the company.”  — Rotten Tomatoes