Fame and Fortune

 

When I started this blog, the idea of doing something so public was (and remains) very exciting.  My ambition knew no bounds…. Not only was I going to help Sylvia and others with kitchen challenges, I was going to be the ‘New Millennium Julia for New Cooks’.  In my fantasy I was not only helping people towards a healthy relationship with food, I was on my way to fame and fun!  I’d go to cooking school!  Manufacturers of fantastic kitchen tools would vie for a mention on New Kitchen Primer.  Then there would be the public speaking dates.  Quit the day job!  Have handlers!  Someone to manage my appointment book!  Oh hell…. Let’s throw in a new wardrobe and makeover too!

In a funny sort of way, some of that stuff did happen.  Alas not the wardrobe and makeover, but that’s so superficial.  This has been an experience with substance.  There have been many ‘hits’ for a blog that was sparsely promoted and, at the end of the day, I have fully enjoyed myself.   I knew that I loved food and photography, but I also discovered that I love to write!  Who knew?!  

So this is it (for now at least).  The blog as it stands will remain accessible (apparently nothing dies in the blog-o-sphere) and I will do my best to finish the index so that if any of you out there want to return for a recipe, ingredient or method tip, whatever you need will be a little easier to find.  No new entries on this one.  If I find myself pining for a public fantasy life, I’ll simply start up again.

Ultimately it was my readers that really made this labor-of-love a not only a pleasure but a very important part of the last three years.

Thanks to all of you and Bon Appétit!

PS  Thanks to Ken Lax for the kitchen portrait

The Far Flung Correspondent: Hot Tea on a Hot Day

Pardon the  'blog absence'.  What I neglected to tell you when I wrote last is that after California, there was a long planned visit to the UK, and I trotted off to Wales to visit my mother and Cathy (the pastry chef sibling).

It was a beautiful day for a drive, perfect for engaging in a purposeful abandonment of purpose and direction.  The result?  We found ourselves at a lovely little hotel called Tudor Farmhouse, which is tucked inside The Forest of Dean. Not only were we in a historic spot, we were also experiencing a historic hot day, the hottest recorded for an October in 100 years.

As any Englishman or woman will tell you, nothing cools you down like a hot cup of tea. What better time to engage in a quintessential British indulgence, Cream Tea?  "Cream" in this instance means clotted cream, and as my 91-year-old mother will tell you, it's not something that you do everyday, but is entirely survivable. So a nice pot of Earl Grey, scones, jam, butter and clotted cream.  Heaven. What was also 'heavenly' was eating something that is not easily had here in the States (clotted cream has a very short shelf life). Dairy in the UK is a different animal (less processed) from what we experience here in the 'colonies', and the flavor is amazing. The Brits may be discrete in their social habits, but when it comes to cream and butter there simply is no restraint!

All that lovely fat to the brain the got me thinking.  Romans were living in this spot at one time; perhaps it's a sign of long embedded civilization that can produce something so, well, civilized!    

As a postscript, I want to let you know that I am in the process of rethinking New Kitchen Primer.  This is almost the 200^th entry and maybe it’s time to ‘shift gears’ (just a little).  Suggestions are more then welcome and please stayed tuned.