Here are some first bites from the 2012 Jazz and Heritage Festival in my hometown of New Orleans. I always start with these tastes of home: Brown Jambalaya made by Catering Unlimited; Fried Softshell Crab Po-Boy by Galley Seafood Restaurant; Cochon de Lait Po-Boy by Love at First Bite, and (not pictured) Pheasant, Quail, and [...]

Puerto Rico Slideshow from kim sunee on Vimeo. Some quick fast notes from Puerto Rico: Faded cerulean blue cobblestones Rice and Peas Powder sugar-dusted mallorca and papaya milkshake La Bombonera Jesus from Lares Old man in the doorway Yellow blossoms, achiote Rice and Peas El Yunque, Arabica Oceanside salsa and piña colada Prince, J. Lo, [...]

The gorgeous and lovingly crafted cookbook by Frances and Ed Mayes is finally here. I was very fortunate to spend some time with Frances and Ed and the talented photographer, Steven Rothfeld, as we cooked and photographed recipes for THE TUSCAN SUN COOKBOOK. This collection of recipes is a love letter to the people and [...]

French Fries smothered in gravy.

Meaty day. Started out driving with local celebrity Chef Al to Mat Valley Meats where owner, Nate, who will be the star of a new Discovery Channel show, has generously offered his location for a salumi-making extravaganza. Our fearless leader is François Vecchio, a 3rd-generation Swiss master butcher/Salumiere. Today, François is working with the first [...]

A perfect day for me is waking up early, basket in tow and heading to a local market, like the one in Santa Barbara. I recently visited friends and we spent a good part of the mornings tasting our way through the various offerings–golden raspberries and local avocado honey, caviar limes (aka Australian finger lime), [...]

Here’s a quick video I shot while shooting with Frances Mayes in Tuscany this past October. We spent hours and hours cooking and styling for her upcoming cookbook, The Tuscan Sun Cookbook. Just when we were deliriously tired and didn’t know if we should laugh or cry, Ed (much more charming and handsome than his [...]

As we prep for the celebratory Pizza Party (to celebrate 20 years of Frances and Ed in Cortona), I find myself in the kitchen with a sweet Italian man named Ivan and his robust and big-hearted mother, Domenica, who live just up the gravel road at the “House of the Sun.” Together, we make pizza [...]

As if we didn’t have enough food with 65 pizzas, endless bottles of wine, and a cake to feed 50 or more, Frances ordered up a whole porchetta from a friend who has a porchetta truck at the Saturday market in Cortona and also in the Porta Colonia parking lot every Wednesday p.m. . The [...]

The Osteria La Maesta in Emilia-Romagna is a lovely family-run open-air eatery where the good life is made of simple, delicious bites and a bottle of Malvasia seco frizzante. Addictive fried puffs of dough called Torta Fritta…

I was lucky enough to spend the morning inside the Ghirardi Onesto production facility in Langhiarano as a guest of the Consorzio del prosciutto di Parma where, along with Elissa Altman and Rowan Jacobsen, we watched Paolo, the production manager, show us everything from salting the hams to showering (the hams) to testing with a [...]