Tag Archives: Margaret Fox

Editing

Posted on March 8, 2010 | 2 comments

aka “Why I Don’t Twitter.” Yes, I edit myself and try to provide you with the best copy/stories I come up with. But hear this. I’ve been bothered by a recent episode of Rick Bayless’ One Plate at a Time.

Permit me a setup. Twenty years ago I slaved in the kitchens of Margaret Fox at Cafe Beaujolais, in Mendocino, CA. It was a month-long unpaid internship and I wasn’t even allowed a portion of the kitchen’s share of the tip money, which I could have used for firewood because it was freezing in my unheated cabin. I’d spent all my savings on cooking school and a rental car to drive to and from work. Luckily the subletter left a mattress and several blankets, and flying termites by the thousands.

The infamous Diana Kennedy was coming to visit, doyenne of Mexican cooking. One cook was caught rinsing a painstakingly roasted chili to rid it of seeds and skin. NO! Diana Kennedy is coming! She came and went, I got to spend three hours driving her to the airport (I was the only one with a day off, new car and insurance) and she made us some lovely shrimp with garlic, and picked fruit and made us berry ice cream.

I very much enjoy chef Rick Bayless, can’t wait to go to Chicago to visit his restaurants, and am a new devotee of Create. I love Mexico: One Plate at a Time. He makes his dishes sound so easy for the home cook. Recently I watched him rinse off a roasted chili pepper to get rid of seeds and skin. I was told 20+ years ago that was a no-no because you lose all the flavor you imparted through the roasting process.

So I asked him, and congratulated him on winning Top Chef Masters. If there’s any top chef I’d like to apprentice with, it’s him, because he’s a perfectionist, an innovator, a classicist and seems to value the people who work for him. And his website made me make it 300 characters. That took four edits. Perhaps they just want to weed out people without the patience to whittle down to 300 meaningful characters. Anyway, this is MY blog and hopefully you’re still reading.

I love getting inspiration from others, moms who bake, cooks/chefs with other styles of food and ethnic traditions. Right now I just wanted to know if it’s OK to rinse the pepper and retain the flavor! It’s a pain not to use water except to get the skin pieces off my hands. I’ll let you know if he answers. In advance I’ll say Thanks, Rick Bayless, for being the creative chef you are and I’ll see you in Chicago! Cheers, Dee

p.s. 452 words, and I do this as a hobby! I would’ve been horrified to get this assignment in high school…

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Holiday Treats

Posted on December 22, 2008 | 3 comments

At the store today they were promoting probably mulled wine. The guy left for a moment so I got to try a small bite of the chocolate-covered lebkuchen, like we got stale from Uncle Ernest every year and had to write thank-you notes before opening.

I’m thinking of my own trifle. I actually have madeleine pans, imagine that. But I bought some ladyfingers and I’m thinking of ladyfingers brushed with Framboise, layered with a light (fattening) chocolate mousse and fresh raspberries. Perhaps for Christmas. I love chocolate and raspberries together, reminds me of a mousse cake I used to make and, heaven forbid, decorate at Cafe Beaujolais in Mendocino CA for owner Margaret Fox. Decorating desserts was the bane of my existence.

Margaret taught me a lot about honesty, quality, hard work and determination. She is a fixture in my pantheon of Women I Admire. Don’t laugh. Look who men admired and half of them are criminals who stole our childrens’ futures, bankers, insurance tycoons, and auto magnates. But the Bernie Madoffs of the world certainly made themselves money in the process. That is not my sole criteria for the Pantheon. It is not a criteria at all, if you’d like to know.

Honesty, integrity, a sense of purpose, love thy neighbor… I’ll get you the list once I crystallize it in my mind. Right now I have to turn on the heat, feed the dog and work on dinner. To all a good night, Dee

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French Onion Soup

Posted on November 23, 2008 | 7 comments

Julia Child’s recipe is the best.  This soup does take time and attention.  It is featured in The Way To Cook, reference it in cookbooks on my site.

I spent my life savings to go to cooking school at ICE, Institute for Culinary Education.  Back then it was Peter Kump’s New York Cooking School (aka PKU).  After grade school, middle school, high school and a college degree it was my favorite school experience.

Graduation was dependent upon an internship (unpaid) for four weeks.  They tried to set me up at a yacht club in New Rochelle where I was supposed to microwave hot dogs for bratty four year-olds.  I didn’t see my life savings going in a good way with that offer.

So I drove to California and worked for Margaret Fox at Cafe Beaujolais, 5-gallon bucket at my feet to catch carrot peels that the organic farmers picked up every night.  Fresh-caught Pacific salmon to cook for staff meal.  Freshly picked chanterelles delivered to our door.  A view of red chard and the Pacific ocean from the sink.  Work for free?  If I could have afforded it I would have paid Margaret.  As it was rentals (cabin and car) took nearly all the money I had and the rest went to wood for the stove which only burned until about 2:00 a.m.

I worked nearly every station in that month, while I nearly froze in my country cabin.  I spent a lot of time in the Brickery, with a wood-fired pizza oven.  While there I had a large sink to wash salad greens and keep my hands clean at all times.  There was a beautiful vegetable garden there and a view of the Pacific Ocean.  There were always challenges at hand and I learned a great deal and taught younger cooks a bit as well.

After meeting Diana Kennedy and having terrific learning experiences in the kitchen, I drove to my new home in southern California.  I got a job at a four-star hotel and was given the pants and jacket of a 300-lb. man, pants to be held up by a rope.  I worked there for two days, scraping cheese off lion-headed French onion soup bowls after they’d gone through the dishwasher.

Sixteen hours, then I quit.  I broke my finger after interviewing for another job, which I was offered but couldn’t use my knives for six weeks.

So, when I bought these two Emile Henry lion-head soup bowls for Jim and me today it was with some trepidation.  Most of the labels came off, but I had to soak a few for a while and scrape them with fingernails and it brought back memories.

They’re clean now, and in a good place so that in a few weeks if I want to make Julia’s French onion soup with croutons and gruyere, I’m ready.  Always ready for the next challenge.  Cheers!  Dee

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