About

The moment I was in an apartment in New York with Julia Child and Charlie Palmer, chef of the newly-opened Auerole in New York City, who were filming an episode for Julia’s latest TV show, I was hooked.

For most of my childhood I spent days with my grandmother in her kitchen leading up to Christmas Eve while she prepared a 12-course feast for the traditional Polish Holy Supper (called a Wigilia). She let me do simple tasks like rolling dough into noodles for the bobalkis, adding pirogies to the butter and onions, and stirring the cabbage soup (kapusta) while it simmered in a huge stock pot. For Easter we’d make coconut “eggs” covered with dark chocolate. She taught me the importance and joy of food traditions.

But the first real thing I ever cooked was French Toast that I always asked my grandmother to make me for breakfast. Once I was old enough to use a real stove she taught me how to make it myself. There was something so satisfying about whisking some milk and eggs together with cinnamon and vanilla and making something so delicious with so few ingredients.

Start Spreading the News…

I moved to New York City at the age of 20, and it was there, out of necessity, that I began to cook for myself. I prepared very simple dishes like casseroles and things from a can that I could heat on the stove that was about the size of an Easy-Bake Oven in the miniature studio apartment in Hell’s Kitchen where I first lived. Then I met my husband, Sean, who soon after introduced me to his two best friends, Ralph and Ken, duo-pianists who toured the world and just took an apartment on Park Avenue. They introduced me to foods (and drinks) I had never had before. Like lamb! And Scotch. And soufflés. And so many other things. They were also both excellent cooks and knew how to throw a proper dinner party.

Ralph and Ken instilled in me a passion for good food, cooking and entertaining that led me to throwing many of my own dinner parties in Manhattan making some ambitious dishes like beef bourguignon, gateau with chocolate pastry cream, pork loin roast with peppercorns, pumpkin creme brûlée, and so many others. I loved and enjoyed it so much that I seriously considered becoming a professional cook. In my research I had the chance to speak with André Soltner, then the head Chef at Lutèce (a 4-star French restaurant that sadly no longer exists) as well as Jacques Pepin, who was the Dean of the French Culinary Institute in New York (now called the International Culinary Center). I visited the impressive, sprawling campus of the Culinary Institute of America in upstate New York, and eventually took a stagiare in a trendy Italian restaurant just across the street from Lincoln Center before spending money on culinary school to be sure this is what I really wanted.

Sashay Away…

But after nearly eight months of working in that kitchen I realized that being a professional cook in a restaurant, with long hours on your feet in the sweltering heat and in constant danger of being cut or burned, was not my cup of Darjeeling tea. Instead I continued to explore cooking and cuisines in my own kitchen, pouring through cookbooks by Julia Child, Pierre Franey, Jacques Pepin, Craig Claiborne, Alice Medrich, Thomas Keller, Mario Batali, Jamie Oliver, and so many other incredibly talented cooks and authors. I also had the chance to eat in some of the finest restaurants in the world while living in New York which only further inspired me.

This blog is the result of all those years of exploring, experimenting, failing, succeeding and cooking all the things I love to eat. And drink! So I hope you’ll stick around and enjoy this journey with me as I share everything I’ve learned and the dishes I’ve created myself. Cheers!

Too Many Whisks!

You may be wondering, “why too many whisks, and how many is too many?”

When I lived in New York, I’d frequent Zabar’s on the upper west side, as many other Manhattanites did. It was, and still is, a food mecca. The variety and quality is astounding. But I eventually discovered the second floor. There’s no food up there, it’s entirely stocked with every type and kind of cookware and kitchen gadgets that you can imagine! Tart pans, copper pots, rolling pins, mixers, food processors, baking dishes, and whisks! I bought nearly every pot, pan and small appliance that is in our kitchen today on the second floor of Zabar’s. It almost became a fetish. I could easily spend two hours there just browsing through everything single thing.

Along the way I eventually acquired a little collection of whisks of every size and shape, not just to collect them, but for specific and different purposes. The huge balloon whisk was for whipping egg whites in the heavy copper bowl I bought at Zabar’s. The heavy-tined whisk was for beating thick batters. The flat whisk was useful for making roux in a saucepan. The silicon whisk didn’t scratch the stainless-steel bowl or make so much noise. Each whisk had a purpose!

But there were quite a few of them, and at one point I hung many of them along a rail in the kitchen. Friends that came over would see them and often say “wow, you have so many whisks!” And my husband would respond, “yes, a few too many whisks, that’s only half of them.” How impertinent!