Tag Archives: Eric Ripert

If Wishes Were Horses

I never knew what that meant. I’ve had a “bucket list” in my head since the day I was born. Don’t know when I’ll do things but at my age it’s about time to start.

Julia Child will take me to Paris and perhaps along the Rhone on a barge with picnic baskets with baguettes and sausages and cheeses,

Peggy Markel will take me through Florence and Tuscany and Sandro the baker will sing for me again. Luca will be charming at Maremma.

James Beard will show me the Pacific Northwest in all its glory.

Calvin Trillin and his Tummy Trilogy will tell me in detail about Kansas City BBQ and the economic laws of Alice.

I will finally get to the Salt Lick in Driftwood TX. I may live there.

Alice Waters will show me her latest kick, as will Rick Bayless. He’ll spend 25 years teaching me mole.

I will not open a restaurant and Gordon Ramsay will not be there.

Eric Ripert will come here and cook us dinner for our 10th anniversary.

If wishes were horses……. Dee

Avec Eric

When I sat down to lunch today, I turned on Avec Eric, a 1/2 hour show with a book that I bought about a year ago and hate the small print. Today’s topic was service, with stops at the CIA (Culinary, not Langley), Le Bernardin, and the kitchen where he as a cook prepared crepes and sauce. Then as a waiter, he finished Crepes Suzette and brought it (fictitiously) to the diner.

Of all the chefs I’ve seen and not met, I find Eric Ripert to be at the top of his game, a perfectionist, always learning, and at heart, a kind soul. Kind soul is not something most chefs are known for. He may scream at his staff but I don’t see it and would prefer not to see such behavior. I believe he’s built up a kitchen brigade and front of the house staff that realize the importance of their work as he creates the whole dining experience. Accolades build up and yet his reputation is not larger than himself, he is a silver fox who seems comfortable in his skin.

Thank you Bravo, for bringing us talent to watch and sadly, not taste. Seeing excellent chefs compete, the diversity of their dishes and quality of the judges makes good tv but it also makes my meals better. I now have zatar, smoked paprika, achiote, sriracha and kejap manis in my pantry. Oops, must update my pantry item blogs, not that anyone ever reads them. Check them out, a five-part series. Also cookbooks, I looked at many and chose few and many are available for just a few dollars. No, I don’t sell them, but there are links on each to Amazon. Cheers, it’s nearly fifty degrees today, HOT! Dee

Netflix

Every once in a while my dear husband tucks in a video I may like and now that is Julia Child: The French Chef, disc 3. I remember why I loved her on TV and in her books, and I have many of them, all in storage. Now I have a library card and am eyeing The Way To Cook just to get the recipe in my book for scrapple (I believe it is Uncle Hans City Scrapple). I moved here with none of my cookbooks, which are literary material for me as well as ideas for recipes.

Omelets are next, I skipped the cakes as I don’t bake. Then we’ll send the disc back to Netflix and Julia will be gone. I’d love to think that several chefs are with me on my culinary journey: Julia Child; Simone “Simca” Beck; and James Beard. As to chefs that live today it would be Eric Ripert and Rick Bayless for their tireless efforts to improve their craft. What they do is excellent but they still want to be better and if I was that gifted I’d be flying right now.

My husband endures my culinary passions because he loves dinner, the fact that I actually cook him breakfast and dinner, and that he gets to talk about tech stuff too. He loves Alton Brown because it’s science, so he thinks a robot can cook his dinner. He is learning more about food and cooking, and no robots are involved. Cheers! Dee