Carolyn Tillie

Okay, I'll be heading there before work some day this week! That lemon tart DOES look fabulous but it is going to be hard for me to find a croissant that surpasses those I get at Nugget in Vallejo. Yep, it shocked me -- I've been eating at hoity-toity bakeries in Paris, London, and Los Angeles (I'm thinking La Brea here), and Nugget's croissants are truly THE most flaky and buttery I've ever experienced. BTW, Melkor, I can't wait to meet you! Do you do sushi? There is an amazing Temaki place I frequent (two times a week, at least!) in Fairfield. Again, shocking... I've eaten at Matsuhitsa's and still find this small hole-in-the-wall comparable to those I've been to in SF, London, and L.A...

Please post back and tell me what you think -- I mis that place terribly and envy you a lovely afternoon... BTW, at Sen-Nari Sushi, make sure to ask if they have the softshell crab. It should be in season. Also, my other favorites they made was their version of the albacore tuna (slightly cooked with scallions, and a house sauce), shiitake mushrooms, and unagi.

I go through a bottle every other month or so -- it is my *bed-time* snack for a several consecutive evenings as I lie in bed with a chilled glass and a slice of Boucheron cheese. Exquisite.

You have more than enough time -- in fact the timing couldn't be more perfect! The distance from either LAX or Orange County is about a half-hour. Don't eat the airplane food, head straight for the sushi, then you can have a lovely afternoon coffee and pastry. Just a thought...

Shin-Sen-Gumi is at 18517 S. Western. 310-715-1588 Sen Nari is at 18222 S. Western. Basically, as you head west from the 405 on the Western exit, Shin-Sen-Gumi is on your left in the first strip-mall from the freeway. As you continue down the street a small way (past a car dealership), Sen Nari is on your right in the same strip mall as a Union Bank. BTW, if you go for sushi for lunch (as opposed to dinner). Right next door to Sen Nari is Bonjour French Pastry. I say this as the pastry shop is closed by the evening so it behooves you to head there during the day. While it is called a French Pastry, it caters entirely to the Japanese community so there tend to be delicate little pastries out of the ordinary, like ones made with Green Tea next to the St. Honore! Their number is 310-323-1468. Highly recommend! You see the real French pastry chefs working in the back, with cute, diminutive Japanese girls (with bows in their hair!) working the front...

Up until a few months ago, I lived near Torrance (for over ten years) and can HEARTILY recommend heading Gardena (two miles away!) for Japanese. You gotta realize that this is a HUGE Japanese community catering to the corporate offices of Toyota, Honda, et al. I used to each lunch there every day and miss it terribly. My favorite was Shin Sen Gumi for Yakitori and Sen Nari for sushi. The Depot is very good but I have to admit I was a bit jaded as when I wanted "upscale" cuisine, I would generally eat at Patina in L.A. The Depot has a dessert Bento Box made of chocolate that is pretty over-the-top. When I would have lunch there, I would have their "Club Sandwich" which was a crab cake, applewood-smoked bacon, and seared foie gras. Pretty fabulous for a club sandwich...

Melkor, when and where is the Napa market? I've been driving to Sonoma for their market on Tuesday evenings and Davis' market on Saturday mornings (both about an hour drive for me, although I enjoy the energy at both!).

Yeah, it may be true that that is what they get -- but you gotta remember that it doesn't mean there are JOBS out there. And these waiters that get more than $60k -- are they working Denny's? I don't think so... Like Stone said, a house is around $800k. I decided to live an hour east of SF (just outside of Napa). Houses are more affordable, at $500k, but it took me nine months to get a job and I'm thrilled to be getting $15/hour (just over $31k/year).

Among them all, who can descry A vice more mean than Gluttony? Of any groveling slave of sense, Not one can claim so small pretense To the indulgence which the wine Allow to human frailties As the inglorious, beastly sinner Whose only object is -- a dinner. William Combe, (1742-1823) "The Glutton" - The English Dance of Death, 1815

Of a side note... if you were a waiter at FL and informed you had a four-month vacation (probably NOT paid), would you go back to work there? Unlikely these folks have the funds to NOT work for four months. Just thinking out loud.

Living here in California, it is far easier to get game birds than game mammals (cheap, anyway). Subsequently, I have a good friend in Nebraska who sends me 30 to 50 pounds of venison two or three times a year (basically, when his brother goes hunting). Sadly, because of the expense of shipping, I've never been able to get bones which I would dearly love to get. Why? Consomme. If you really want to do something special with your venison stock, spend the time to turn it into a rich, elegrant consomme. With that you could add a splash of cognac or brandy and a sliver of a wild mushroom. Also, once made, you could freeze it for later use.

So... you figured it out, huh? Here's what happened with them: On my last day in LA, I had a lovely conversation with the Director of Catering. "Please call me if Patina ever moves up to the Napa area," I said. "Of course, Carolyn! We'd love to!" I was told. That was in November. In February, I heard the scuttlebutt that Patina was moving into Copia. I phoned the corporate office but was told that it was already staffed with people from Pinot Blanc (their Napa restaurant). In March I saw an advertisement for the very job with I held in L.A. I phoned and e-mailed again and was entirely ignored. I continued trying to make the contacts and couldn't figure out why no one was talking to me. Finally, I formally resubmitted my resume through Proper channels and was scheduled a phone interview with a flunkie in H.R. Two weeks later I received a "thank you but no thank you" letter stating that I did not have enough experience with large events. I know that is bullshit because I handled events of upwards of 1,000 people in LA in the Napa location can't handle anything much bigger than 200-300. So, somewhere along the way I DID burn a bridge but I don't know why/wherefore/with whom, etc. And the silly California employment laws keep people from telling the truth for fear of lawsuits. Somehow I've pissed someone off but I'm clueless to know what I did or how I can fix it. In retrospect, though -- if you google Joachim Splichal, you will find a website of some other Patina managers and the lengthy labor-related lawsuits they are filing against his empire. It is probably a good thing I'm not back there, I just hate not knowing the truth. I'm done ranting now. I'm just frustrated beyond belief.

Here in Fairfield, California, there is an amazing hole-in-the-wall sushi restaurant that specializes in Maki and Temaki. Trust me, it is just about the ONLY amazing restaurant in this otherwise hell-hole of a town. I have been both carrying their menu around with me AND have transcribed it into my Visor (Palm) and as I eat there at least twice a week, I check off what I've eaten. The biggest problem is that just when I was close to having tried everything, they added an additional dozen rolls to the menu! Here's a sampling of the offering (which I can't get enough of): The Awesome: Deep fried shimp, crab meat, cucumber, topped with unagi, avocado, ebi, spicy sauce, and house special sauce. The Crazy Monkey: Salmon, yellow tail, unagi, cucumber, and tobiko. The Angry Lion King: California roll topped with salmon and house special sauce - baked. Topped with crab meat and tobiko. With over sixty of these styles Temaki to choose from, it is going to take a while to get through them all! The biggest problem is their size. Two of us can order two rolls and be stuffed. Besides the fabulous rolls, there is also the traditional tempura, udon, etc... I figure I'll have finished the menu 100% in another two months -- and I've been working on this since November!

Yeah, another freak with a similar story... so here's mine. I just turned 39 years old. I've got over amost twenty years in combined retail management and the corporate life of adminstration. While working these silly corporate jobs, I acquired a Master's degree in Fine Art (Jewelry and Metalsmithing). The whole time I was working on my MFA, the Food Bug was biting me so immediately after graduation, I attended a credential course (basically 20 weeks for a Chef's Certificate). With that I began professional catering of Culinary Historical events with the idea that I wanted to write a book on The Eating Habits of the Victorian Gentry. I also catered events a la Renaissance Faire, Medieval Middle Eastern, you name it. In between the catering jobs, I curated Interntional art exhibits (and catered their openings). The corporate jobs got cushy as I was promoted within a Dot-Com to be a Technical Writer (lots of money) but 9/11 put me out of work where a prominant Los Angeles Caterer hired me to coordinate VERY large, upscale events (I'm trying not to drop names but I staged upwards of 20 events a week, from breakfast for 7 to seated dinners for 700 -- sometimes numerous events a day). Finally, wanting out of L.A. and believing my corporate, hospitality, and arts background would be gobbled up by the Food and Wine loving folks of Napa, I moved here before Christmas to realize my dream of being fully ensconced in the Industry (Food AND Wine). Guess what? Seven months later, I have sent out over 300 resumes, been on over 40 interviews, and still can't get hired. What's the moral of the story? Follow your dream, if you are willing to be kicked around, rejected, and otherwise shat upon. Sometimes it can work. Sometimes it can't. I haven't given up yet. But I have gotten too damned close to destitution, homelessness, and food stamps. Tomorrow is another day...

Not from Oregon, but my favorite Pinot is from Napa Valley's Robert Sinskey. Organic and stupendous, IMHO.

My pet peeve -- Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice. It is a grammar thing... it should be FreshLY Squeezed...

Or, if you are Gundlach Bunschu, it is a blend of every red grape grown on the estate (including Tempranillo!) and changing the vernacular from "Meritage" to "Bearitage" with that cute Bacchich-like California Brown Bear guzzling red wine! It is also their least-expensive offering...

Absolutely not. They are not food-grade quality and are often produced with techniques AND additional chemicals that enhance the AROMA which could make you ill. I know -- I tried once with an essential Cinnamon oil and was sick for days...

My 1980-ish copy of the *old* Joy of Cooking is beyond battered. The spine is dead and chunks of it fall out everytime I go for it (at least once a week for some form of reference). I suppose I should get a new one some day...

It aired here on the West Coast the other evening and was quite a gem -- too fun to watch Gordon Ramsey et al watching from a hiding place... they could NOT have faked their enthusiasm!

I have a picture book--no recipes--like this, called Critter Cuisine, by Al and Mary Ann Clayton. Full of lovely photographs of things like tadpole soup, bat sandwiches, roast armadillo and mouse kebabs. Buy it!! I've got both these PLUS one called 'Man Eating Bugs' which shows a picture on the front of a young girl with half a large tarantula in her mouth. Then there is the classic, 'To Serve Man' which (besides being a Twilight Zone episode), is a REAL cannibalistic cookbook by Karl Wurf. Out of print and expensive, but a fun read! (The Cowboy Stew where it is necessary to determine what kind of tobacco the cowboy chewed will help determine which spices to use...) Too fun!

While I own every copy of Saveur (save two) and enjoy it, I adore Gastronmica purely for the literati and obscure articles.

482 for me. Would buy more if I had a job... Will buy more when I get one!

Raclette. Cold and in your fridge, you will SWEAR something died in there. Slightly melted on a slice of baguette toast, fresh from the oven, served with chilled Caymus Conundrum and a few cornichons, heaven.

Odd eating utensils and whatnots from bygone days... I have numerous Absinthe spoons and glasses, oyster spoons and oyster plates, and marrow spoons. I am also proud of an antique foie-gras funnel (yes, that machine they force feed the ducks and geese with) which hangs on my kitchen wall. The Victorians did such lovely work in silver for their various eatings... strawberry forks, bon-bon servers, bread tongs, asparagus and sliced-cucumber servers, et al. I love all those old things and buy most of them from eBay. I just adore serving a dish that requires a special implement, especially osso-buco! I would love to own a duck press, but the CHEAPEST one I could find was $999.00 (excluding shipping!).