In 1930 Percival Chen’s father left him and his mother in mainland China to go to Vietnam and seek his fortune. He never returned and so, after his mother’s death, Percival left their province to go to school in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the Japanese invasion in 1941 meant that Hong Kong was no longer safe, but it precipitated Percival’s marriage to a young beauty much above ... Read More...
Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza
Patience is indeed a virtue when it comes to making good bread. There are few aromas more comforting and enticing then that of freshly baking bread and in Portland, few places better to find that aroma than Ken’s Artisan Bakery. I’m not just saying this because I’ve heard that Ken’s is great but because I used to go there on Sundays for a fresh croissant that was the epitome ... Read More...
Sometimes a Great Notion
When I learned that Ken Kesey grew up in Oregon I thought I was long overdue to read one of his books. I had seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and didn’t think I needed to revisit that subject so I opted for his second novel, Sometimes a Great Notion. The story is set in Oregon logging country in the early 1960s. It catches the Stamper family (aptly named) at the height of ... Read More...
The Chocolate Money
Call me twisted but when a book opens with a wealthy woman complaining that no one understood her nude-themed Christmas card, I’m going to laugh. And have high hopes that something snarky and fun is about to transpire. Unfortunately, this does not work out in The Chocolate Money. Babs is the heiress to the Ballentyne chocolate fortune. She and her young daughter, Bettina, live ... Read More...
The Art of the Restaurateur
At age twenty-nine, Nicholas Lander became the proud owner of L’Escargot, a London restaurant that had fallen on hard times. So began his journey into a world he would come to love and a group of people he would grow to admire. Throughout the 1980s Lander built L’Escargot into a London restaurant of renown. When health reasons forced him to sell it in the 1988 he realized that, ... Read More...
The Perfect Perfume
Combining my two favorite things: books and girliness. I don’t know if this will ever make it into stores but in theory (and with photos) it makes me smile. I am one of those freaks who thinks the smell of either a brand new book or a very old one is luscious. A perfect combination of history and mystery. Here’s the news: Wallpaper Magazine commissioned famed ... Read More...
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