"To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art."

I love food. Good food. And as such I written a manifesto of sorts:
My plea to chefs everywhere…

Let your appetizers be appetizing! Don’t toss chicken wings in Tabasco at me, instead, serve me thinly sliced beef carpaccio with a touch of mustard honey dressing or even better, crispy skinned confit de canard. Oooh!

And please, present only the highest quality fresh ingredients, the tenderest of baby vegetables barely cooked through so they retain the ‘firm to the tooth’ texture. Or the newest of new potatoes roasted till tender with a dash of olive oil and rosemary.

Give me the best cuts of meat, cooked rare, seared so all the juices stay inside until my knife cuts through to reveal the rosy pink interior and allows the flavours to run out and add itself to the tastes of the other delicacies on my plate.
Or fish, pan seared...the skin crispy and the flesh flaky and light, with a light sauce to enhance the subtle flavours.

And be sure not to douse the dish in sauces…a delicate drizzle of a classic port and wine sauce or a gentle suggestion of a heavier sauce is enough to do any well cooked meal justice.

As for salads, well, the days of iceberg lettuce should be long gone from your kitchens, and spare me the well drained, droopy greens of any other kind.
A salad should be a joy not only to eat, but to see. A combination of textures, colors and tastes that are united under a dressing that takes all of the ingredients and sets it to singing can be a feast all by itself.
Pecans and old blue cheese and new beet leaves…or put together some delicately sliced apple with endive and hazelnuts with a mustard wine dressing, it’s not hard to do.

Add to that a careful presentation of colors and placement and you’ll win me over heart and soul.
After a dinner like that, who needs dessert!?!

Ah food.

quote provided by La Rochefoucauld