Destination: Kansas City (Missouri)

travel: regroup and return (2022)…

Just as the world seemed to be galloping away from the pandemic, it was abruptly unhorsed by Omicron. As the new Covid variant – by far, the most infectious yet, we were told – raced around the globe in late 2021 and early 2022, spreading like glitter among preschoolers, I was on my way to […]

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travel: regroup and return (2022)…

Just as the world seemed to be galloping away from the pandemic, it was abruptly unhorsed by Omicron. As the new Covid variant – by far, the most infectious yet, we were told – raced around the globe in late 2021 and early 2022, spreading like glitter among preschoolers, I was on my way to […]

Continue

travel: grounded… (2020)

– This post is terribly tardy, largely due to a rapid resumption of life after a year arrested by a pandemic. The fair winds of 2019 sent me sailing confidently into 2020. Even before the calendar turned, the new year was already brimming with work and travel. There were new partnerships and exciting prospects shimmering […]

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travel: grounded… (2020)

– This post is terribly tardy, largely due to a rapid resumption of life after a year arrested by a pandemic. The fair winds of 2019 sent me sailing confidently into 2020. Even before the calendar turned, the new year was already brimming with work and travel. There were new partnerships and exciting prospects shimmering […]

Continue

travel: in dazzling relief… (2019)

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travel: in dazzling relief… (2019)

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favorite desserts of 2018…

– I have little to add to the thoughts that I previously recorded about pastryland in 2016, and which I reiterated in 2017. The majority of desserts I encounter in restaurants continues to be overwrought.  Sadly, excessive plating remains a popular style.  And pastry chefs haven’t lost their interest in unorthodox (sometimes bizarre) ingredients. In 2018, […]

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favorite desserts of 2018…

– I have little to add to the thoughts that I previously recorded about pastryland in 2016, and which I reiterated in 2017. The majority of desserts I encounter in restaurants continues to be overwrought.  Sadly, excessive plating remains a popular style.  And pastry chefs haven’t lost their interest in unorthodox (sometimes bizarre) ingredients. In 2018, […]

Continue

favorite desserts of 2017…

– Plums, ashen from the hearth, bleeding into gauzy muslin. Figs, syrupy and charred, nestled in a flakey frame. Saffron suspended in a milky cloud glinting with gold. And apricots, fleshy and warm, hugged in a doughy crust, with ice cream beside; a slice of the great American songbook. These are just a few of […]

Continue

favorite desserts of 2017…

– Plums, ashen from the hearth, bleeding into gauzy muslin. Figs, syrupy and charred, nestled in a flakey frame. Saffron suspended in a milky cloud glinting with gold. And apricots, fleshy and warm, hugged in a doughy crust, with ice cream beside; a slice of the great American songbook. These are just a few of […]

Continue

travel: hemispheres and horizons…

– The calendar has turned for the twelfth time on this blog, and once again, I find myself nearly immobilized by the daunting task of gathering the previous year in one post.  What has proven perennially to be one of my most challenging exercises, pausing to regroup, reflect, and record at year-end has turned out to be one of the most […]

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travel: hemispheres and horizons…

– The calendar has turned for the twelfth time on this blog, and once again, I find myself nearly immobilized by the daunting task of gathering the previous year in one post.  What has proven perennially to be one of my most challenging exercises, pausing to regroup, reflect, and record at year-end has turned out to be one of the most […]

Continue

travel: fairytale…

~ Five years ago today, I walked out of the law firm and into the unknown. What began as a shapeless but exciting restart on life quickly formed into an unexpectedly self-guided and fulfilling journey flooded with amazing people, places, lessons, and adventures.  Year after year, life has exceeded my wildest expectations. While I’ve enjoyed getting lost in the busyness of my new […]

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travel: fairytale…

~ Five years ago today, I walked out of the law firm and into the unknown. What began as a shapeless but exciting restart on life quickly formed into an unexpectedly self-guided and fulfilling journey flooded with amazing people, places, lessons, and adventures.  Year after year, life has exceeded my wildest expectations. While I’ve enjoyed getting lost in the busyness of my new […]

Continue

save the date: kansas city… (friends of james beard foundation dinner)

~ This year marks the seventeenth annual Friends of James Beard Foundation dinner at The American Restaurant in Kansas City, the longest-running fundraising dinner for the foundation in the country.  Over the past decade and a half, this event has brought some of America’s most respected chefs to my hometown to raise money for the James Beard Foundation (I’ve included a list […]

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save the date: kansas city… (friends of james beard foundation dinner)

~ This year marks the seventeenth annual Friends of James Beard Foundation dinner at The American Restaurant in Kansas City, the longest-running fundraising dinner for the foundation in the country.  Over the past decade and a half, this event has brought some of America’s most respected chefs to my hometown to raise money for the James Beard Foundation (I’ve included a list […]

Continue

kansas city: save the date… (harvesters chefs classic 2015)

~ This is my fifth year serving on the planning committee for the Chefs Classic, a charity dinner hosted annually at The American Restaurant that raises money for Harvesters, a food bank that serves the greater Kansas City area.  Because I obsess over documenting and recording things, I asked Harvesters to send me a complete roster […]

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kansas city: save the date… (harvesters chefs classic 2015)

~ This is my fifth year serving on the planning committee for the Chefs Classic, a charity dinner hosted annually at The American Restaurant that raises money for Harvesters, a food bank that serves the greater Kansas City area.  Because I obsess over documenting and recording things, I asked Harvesters to send me a complete roster […]

Continue

travel: leapfrogging…

~ Another year is gone, and I’ve barely written about it.  This is especially sad to me, since so many wonderful things happened. Every year, I pause at calendar’s end to record and remember the anxieties and adventures that made the preceding months memorable, including an accounting of all the restaurants I visited, and my favorite meals and dishes among […]

Continue

travel: leapfrogging…

~ Another year is gone, and I’ve barely written about it.  This is especially sad to me, since so many wonderful things happened. Every year, I pause at calendar’s end to record and remember the anxieties and adventures that made the preceding months memorable, including an accounting of all the restaurants I visited, and my favorite meals and dishes among […]

Continue