From that pile of paper files, I found some of the most interesting things, some of which I would love to share with you.
I found a menu from THE Barefoot Contessa gourmet food shop from sometime in the late '90's. There is a catering menu and a list of their most popular dishes. A quick glance through that list and you know where most of the recipes came from for Ina's first cookbook, the original "Barefoot Contessa Cookbook". There was also this postcard that says ...
Oh, to have been in the Hamptons for one of the first copies of that cookbook. I wonder if they had any idea how huge Ina's cookbooks would become. Just so you know, the Barefoot Contessa food shop is no longer open. Thanks to my cousin Beth for picking those up for me.
In November 1996, I was living and working in Vancouver and I had an opportunity to meet friends of mine in Honolulu, Hawaii. One of the meals that we pre-planned was dinner at one of Hawaii's best restaurants, "Alan Wong's". We sat at the counter for dinner, looking in on the chefs working their magic. As I look at the menu that I kept from that memorable meal, I am in awe of some of the dishes. The first item on the menu is the "Opihi Shooter". Opihi are a Hawaiian seafood delicacy, they look like an oyster, but are very dangerous to harvest. They grow along the shorelines of rocky cliffs, where the pounding surf is a constant threat to people trying to collect them. The harvesters also have to use a very sharp knife because the opihi cling to the rocks as if their life depends on it, which it does. If I were at Alan Wong's today, that would be the first thing I would order, but I don't think we tried it that night.
Because we were sitting at the counter, we were able to chat informally with the chefs as they worked. I told them that I was a cooking in Vancouver and they joked that I should come and cook with them. It was a great evening and Alan Wong signed my menu with the inscription "To Moira, To the next generation of aspiring chefs. Aloha, Alan Wong". I was thrilled. Well, two days later, I was shopping in the middle of the afternoon and who do I run into? Mr. Alan Wong! He was with his wife and kids, and we had a nice chat. You would have thought that I had run into Magnum P.I. himself, I was so excited!
While I was going through all those files, I weeded out lots (at least 2/3rds) of papers that I have no use for keeping anymore. Of the papers I kept, there are lots of old menus, from places I have worked, as well as eaten. There are articles on many different food topics. From heirloom vegetable seeds to candy-making. From Sauternes (a sweet wine from France) to peppercorns grown in India. I was surprised at some of the information in those files, sometimes vaguely remembering cutting them out, and other times trying to recall what would have led me to be interested in such things.
I have kept lots of information about Chateau Drouilles, the place I lived and worked at in France, and in the coming weeks I will be writing more about that experience. I also found some of my own writing and I may share some of that with you as well. Can't guarantee that it won't be bad, but I have never made that guarantee with anything I have written!
