recipes for cherished memories

Thanksgiving, my favorite holiday, is about a month away. And once again I won’t be in the U.S. to celebrate. I'm already preparing to extra-miss my family. But, I also intend to do my best to recreate the shared meal experience with my community here. In Lauren's words, “Living so far from home turns those with whom we share our meals, our laughs, our fears and hugs into our family.”

I was reminded of the fact this past Monday as I hosted Lara and Lorelei for my much-anticipated "Breakfast for Dinner" party. Now, I am again as I recall Lauren and I's latest resto date. We not only enjoyed amazing neighborhood pizza (I was obviously thrilled), but we also discussed the upcoming Parisian Kinfolk Gathering she’s helped organize this Friday with the lovely Holybelly team.

By the way, did you know restaurants began in France after the Revolution? I found out while researching this paper last spring.

“First, it put many domestic cooks on the street, and second, it set many nouveaux riches in search of good places to eat, nouveaux riches in search of respectability and well aware that the dinner table has always served as a place to administer qualifying examinations to the upwardly mobile,” (Ory 457, La Gastronomie). This phenomenon can be viewed as a mild democratization of an opulent dining experience, which of course, was only available to those that could afford it. At the same time, there was an “extreme centralism” of French cuisine shifting from Versailles to Paris.

Some of my favorite memories with family and friends have taken place around a table, and not necessarily in someone's home. There's something so intimate about "breaking bread" together. Or enjoying Corsican pies at a contemporary créateur de pizza.

Speaking of pizza, it's been too long since Chrissie and I made our own. And she's been on my mind as she trains for the New York City marathon in memory of her father. Please consider donating to a very deserving person and cause? I promise to thank you tomorrow at The Kinfolk Table (assuming you're in Paris) and share my mom's stuffed pepper recipe. There are tickets left! “Come enjoy the simple pleasures of a shared meal, where we purposefully nourish ourselves beyond our physical hunger.”