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Handy Mouths

19 May 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

Cooking for good friends brings with it a special kind of joy. To know that your efforts will be savored by more than an anonymous crowd offers spiritual replenishment and a smile for the soul. If you are buried in a project and don’t get to see them often, the act of nourishing them in this way puts the focus on the quality of time spent, rather than the quantity. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Of course, said friends are also handy when owning a magazine with recipes that need to be tested. (Like they mind.)

Get Your Hand Off My Glass

18 May 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

With liberty comes the requisite pursuit of happiness, and so I am now on a quest to see if the law will change enough for me to obtain a bottle of this wine. It is one of the most wonderful taste creations I have ever sampled, like a cross between Sauternes and tawny port. The anticipation is almost too much… After going through the bureaucratic nightmare the first time around, I expounded on the frustrations of U.S. wine prohibition for a New Zealand magazine, where my message to the government was “Get Your Hand Off My Glass.” Indeed.

Free the Grapes

17 May 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

Are the suffocating confines of American Prohibition at last being given their final rites? For too long, our vineyards have been shackled by interstate commerce laws that are absurd and antiquated. Let us hope that states now see the wisdom of open commerce, capitalism, and liberty — as the Supreme Court has done — and leave us the pleasure of our wine. And may our winemakers experience unprecedented growth and prosperity. In honor of such a momentous occasion, I leave you with a quote from Monsieur Brillat-Savarin: A meal without wine is like a day without sunshine.The Physiology of Taste,…

Molecular Artistry

15 May 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

Cuisine is both an art and a science: it is an art when it strives to bring about the realization of the true and the beautiful, called le bon (the good) in the order of culinary ideas. As a science, it respects chemistry, physics and natural history. Its axioms are called aphorisms, its theorems recipes, and its philosophy gastronomy. Lucien Tendret [Told ya.]

A Reason for Feasting

14 May 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

Let one open any book of history, from Herodotus to our own days, and he will see that, without even excepting conspiracies, not a single great event has occurred which has not been conceived, prepared, and carried out at a feast. Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste, 1825

Hello, Clarice…

06 May 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

At long last, I have been the inspiration for a restaurant menu item — and in exactly the way that suits my personality. I was spending some time in the kitchen with my friends at Park Place Restaurant in Goshen, NY, and in a moment of purely sick humor, I suggested they put together a dish with foie gras, fava beans and a Chianti, and call it the Lechter. Heh…next time I went into the restaurant, there it was on the menu: “Liver with Fava Beans and a Nice Chianti…” Ththththththththththth……

Sing a Song of Spice

24 Apr 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

My kitchen is enveloped in the scent of cardamom as I test the recipes for next month’s issue of Gastronomic Meditations. In fact, I’m not sure they make a Ziploc bag strong enough to contain its powerful aroma. This will not be a problem until it starts to give off the decadent perfume of musty sawdust, at which point I will probably have to bury it in the backyard. Perhaps I can put it next to the plot I have planned for the bird outside my window that simply will not shut up.

Aesthetic Indulgence

06 Apr 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

Every time I think Kelly Cline has outdone herself, she sends along another photo that sets me to swooning. The woman is killing me. :) She and I have such a wonderfully symbiotic sense of aesthetics — it’s as if she can read my mind when we discuss shots for upcoming issues of Gastronomic Meditations. Next month we will create a photo gallery to showcase her work, and I can’t wait for the world to know more about her. Food world, get ready to meet your next superstar.

Gastronomic Victory!

21 Mar 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

Heh. Eat this, MJ. We have now surpassed that dastardly ‘food site’ with our sumptuous culinary creations. Muahahahahaha!!!

Food food food

20 Mar 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

Google seems to only partially understand that this is a food blog, given the proliferation of ‘blog’ blog ads downward and to the right. There is a bread one in there, so it’s clearly reading SOMETHING. Perhaps if I mention food in every few words cuisine it will understand wine what I am all about gourmet. Of course, there may be gastronomy imperfections in the system cuisine. I guess we’ll cooking find out ingredients.

Battle for Supremacy

14 Mar 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

Never, in a million years, did I think I would have to compete with Michael Jackson for attention. After much sweat and effort, I had finally achieved a Page 1 Google ranking for the word “gastronomic.” And what happens? Someone decides to create a “Gastronomic Guide to the Michael Jackson Trial” and jockeys with me for position. There one can be regaled with tales of Starbucks and “Johnny’s Dogs to Go.” Sadly, it was ranked five below my site last week, and this week it is nearly the top post for the “g” word. Sigh.

Thoughts of Sunshine

13 Mar 2005, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

I heard a bird singing outside my window yesterday, and had a splendid realization that this hideous winter is almost over. I’m fairly certain said bird was buried in last night’s snowstorm, but I thank him/her/it for that moment of joy. Kelly Cline sent me an array of berry shots yesterday, and they left me salivating for fresh berries with sugar and whipped cream. Not to mention the longing I experienced for warm sun on my face, and a slight bit of color to rid myself of this pasty finish. Food photography is meant to inspire such moments of reverie…