About the author
Intro to Pastry
As we prepare to launch a new site, we wanted to celebrate a few articles from The Curator's archives. This article was first published at The Curator in August 2008. So first of all, my contributions to The Curator will only be about dessert. And dessert is completely unnecessary. And they're all going to start with the word "so." No particular reason. I just really like "so." It reminds me of Raymond Chandl...
On Sprezzatura and Chupa Chups
This article was first published in December 2008. So the story goes that when Enric Bernat, Spaniard and former employee of an apple jam factory, piped himself down on a barstool in Barcelona, it was the artist Salvador Dali who was sitting next to him. And it was also 1969. This was eleven years after Bernat parted ways with the fruit preservation and canning business. His investors simply hadn't entreprene...
Caramel
This article originally appeared in The Curator September 12, 2008. So long ago I can't remember when exactly, I heard that cliché, "begin at the beginning," and it made a deep personal impact on my writing life. No longer would I jump into a story with, "Assassin Prince Daniel wind-milled his arms as he leaned over the icy precipice..." From then on, I would only begin at the beginning. "Assassin Princes are cow...
Letter to a Young Poet
So vast was my fanboy admiration of Billy Collins when I was in college, so unencumbered by facts my ambition, and so shameless my neophytic insolence, that I wrote the Poet Laureate of United States a poem. An overconfident challenge ineptly disguised as a fan letter. It said, I am ashamed now to paraphrase: Dear Mr. Collins, Distinguished Professor of English at Lehman College of the City University of New York, r...
Chocolate Tasting
Photo: Robert Nagy So what are we talking here, like, four months till Valentine's Day? Worst holiday of the year for pastry chefs. You'd think, "But aren't all pastry chefs either sweet chicks or gay dudes who love Russell Stover's cheap-ass grab-bags?" And man, would you be wrong. First of all, nice girls are almost always depressed on Valentine's Day (take happy relationships in the U.S., subtract from population...
Sugar
By howzey on Flickr So you might be thinking to yourself, "didn't he do caramel last time?" and you'd be right, gentle reader, quite right. But just because caramel is principally sugar and butter doesn't mean this is a lame repetition of the same subject. This is no dolled-up retread. I'm not feeding you Dunkin' Donuts here (meaning this article wasn't prepared by unwashed hands, with weevil-infested flour, then ...
Caramel
From styeb on FlickrSo long ago I can't remember when exactly, I heard that cliché, "begin at the beginning," and it made a deep personal impact on my writing life. No longer would I jump into a story with, "Assassin Prince Daniel wind-milled his arms as he leaned over the icy precipice..." From then on, I would only begin at the beginning. "Assassin Princes are cowabunga and rich and can do a move where the...
