Meet Ayun Halliday

I discovered the talented not to mention hilarious Ayun Halliday only recently when she added my blog to the list of links on her blog and we traded some emails. On vacation in London or "holiday" as the Brits say, I read her latest book Dirty Sugar Cookies subtitled culinary observations, questionable taste. If you are looking for a book to make you laugh out loud, embarrassing yourself in front of strangers on a plane this is it. Having grown up in the 70's and 80's there was a lot I could relate to in her stories of a well-spent youth. The format of the book is much like the Ruth Reichl trilogy of autobiographies, each chapter concluding with a recipe. Her recipe instructions are a hoot. For example, she begins her recipe for Vietnamese sandwiches by instructing you to: Grate a fat carrot. Sprinkle it with 2 tablespoons of seasoned sushi vinegar and then give it some privacy. Slice half a cucumber movie star thin... It's hard to share how funny the boo......

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Read All About It

Ok, so there's not much to read, just the line "Warm, friendly food musings" still it was awfully nice to be mentioned in an article about the best food blogs in The Guardian . I'm in the company of the usual suspects, Heidi , Pim and Clotilde , etc. Now that I'm back I'll be sharing stories from my trip including a round-up of restaurants in Barcelona, my favorite spots for food shopping and what food trends I saw in London. Stay tuned! FOOD...

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This is Barcelona

So I know what flamenco is and I know what pop is but when the box office told me the show at the Palau de la Musica Catalunya was "flamenco pop" I really didn't know what to expect. Here in a modernista (art nouveau) but positively psychedelic building that is covered in colorful stained glass, glittering mosaic tiles and sculptures of galloping horses, with every possible surface adorned, loud contemporary Spanish music throbbing and lights flashing I can tell you, this is Barcelona. Achingly modern, distinctly Spanish yet unique and most of all, wildly enthusiastic, Spanish diva Rosario, prances across the stage like a Spanish Tina Turner, belting out songs with soul and emotion. So too the chefs of Barcelona seem filled with soul. Whether it's perfectly executed traditional dishes like the tortilla at Cal Pep or taking traditional dishes and giving them a modern twist like Iberian pork belly with lentils braised with calamares ala plancha at Cinc Sentits , so......

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There she goes

I'm going on vacation and I'm not going to post anything until I get back. I know, it's shocking, not to mention a first in three years of blogging. I do hope you'll forgive me. I'll be back June 20th and will have lots to share then. In the meantime please feel free to peruse the archives, you never know what you'll find, or try a recipe in the Get Cooking! section. Every Monday there will be a new post from me over at the Dannon Kitchen . If the withdrawal gets to be too much, check out a selection of my daily food bog reads here (please note, this list is not by any means comprehensive of all the food blogs I read and is in no particular order). READ MORE Over at the Dannon Kitchen is my take on Turkish Comfort Food and one of my favorite recipes for a creamy Turkish chicken rice soup. FOOD...

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