Sunday raid Sundays everywhere tend to be quiet but here in Médoc, especially in winter, they are extra quiet. All the stores are closed, there are no markets after lunch, there is nothing. Of course we always have good food around the house so I know we won’t starve, that would take weeks, but while […]
TUESDAY, P.M. Dear Carl I’m so glad you came over the other night; it was so very nice being with you, and may I say you’ve never looked so pretty nor been more charming – which is saying a good deal! Best Maurice It was the last day of my book tour in New York. […]
On an evening in late January 2014 I called Rica, my editor at Clarkson Potter. I had just (almost) finished my first cookbook – although according to Rica “we still had so much work to do”. The phone call was scheduled so we could go over the next steps, the cover, the title, all the […]
Right now I’m in bed. I have just said goodbye and goodnight to 15 lovely people who traveled quite far to be here. The last few days we’ve spent our time together cooking, eating, sharing stories and laughter in my kitchen and at our big table in the harvest room. That’s what we do here […]
June 5 I had opted for my friend’s neat and tidy, but albeit very small Fiat over my husband’s “hard to get into”, “hard to get out of” Land Rover that has no music, no air-condition and is always filled with dogs, vegetables and numerous kids. On sunny days like this one it’s a fantasy […]
“I shall always think of you and feel about you the way it was that Fourth of July day three years ago when you met me at the boat, and we went out on the cafe on the river and had a drink and later went on top of the tall building, and all the […]
Right now we are in early February which in Médoc means rain. The winter has been mild, not too many cold days and throughout December, not too many wet days either. December was simply glorious. I was beginning to think we’d get away with it, that the bursts of rain that often wash over us […]
The man who liked olive trees Several years ago I interviewed a Swedish chef in Paris. A young man with good looks and pretty dreams. He told me that one day he’d like to live in the countryside, grow his own vegetables, have dogs. I asked him if he wanted to realize these dreams back […]
Last year, not long before Christmas, after thinking about it for months I finally decided to announce that I’d be hosting workshops in my home in the Médoc. I hesitated, I was ambivalent about it, was it actually a good idea? 9 months later the answer is clear. Yes it was and is a fantastic idea. […]
Before summer came and went, or more precisely before August came and went there was talk in the little village of a restaurant about to open in the big house in the center of town. Nobody really knew what it would be like or if it was even true, the annoying little dogs that were […]