Happy 20th "From Tapas to Meze"

I can hardly believe how fast 20 years go by.  I was such a tyke in the cooking field.  I'd just left Chez Panisse and was excited to write my first book.  It was a huge endeavor and in retrospect, I was so naive.  I loved small plates and that's mainly what I made when I worked at Chez Panisse.  It spurred an idea;- a very ambitious one, but still, an idea for a book.  

I decided that I wanted to write a book about small plates from the Mediterranean.  I left for Spain and tasted tapas from La Rioja in the north, east to Barcelona and then far south to Cadiz and the Strait of Gibraltar.  Then it was on to Morocco for an extended tour from Marrakech through the desert to Fez and beyond.  There I sampled flavors like nothing I'd ever had before.  Although I'd been to Provence numerous times, still I added Antibes, Nice and Bandol to the itinerary.   I don't think I realized how immense Italy is until I traveled (and ate!) from Puglia to Sicily and Sardinia and then all the way north to Cinque Terre, Venice and the Piedmont.  I spent Greek Easter on the island of Zakynthos in western Greece eating  spit-roasted lamb, tzatziki and the best rolled grape leaves and then traveled from Athens to Thessaloniki to taste every meze I could get my hands on.  And finally I traversed Turkey from Istanbul and south to Izmir, Pamukkale and Goreme.  I sailed the coast for two weeks from Bodrum to Marmaris tasting every kind of fruit the sea had to offer.  

What started out as a simple little idea of small plates eaten along the Mediterranean turned into a trip of a lifetime.  The generosity and sharing I experienced and everything I learned along the way made this one of the most rewarding journeys I've ever had.  The best part?  Learning that tapas, antipasti and meze are so much more than just a few small plates of food.  It's a lifestyle.  Along the Mediterranean people don't drink without eating something.  Civilized, right?  But it's also a way to extend the dinner hour and spend time with friends and family talking about politics, the latest gossip and anything in between.  

 

In late March 1994, I opened the door to find a delivery man.  He handed me my first book wrapped in brown paper.  I remember it like it was a few minutes ago.  I tore off the paper and I bet my eyes were almost bugging out of my head.  I was holding a hard covered book with the title "From Tapas to Meze"  with my name printed boldly on the cover in my hands.

A week later I was celebrating my first born at the Ritz Carlton.  Gary Danko, my best chef friend, was the chef there at the time and he hosted a launch party.  It was the who's who of the food world.  I don't think my smile could have gotten much bigger.

Happy birthday, From Tapas to Meze and thanks to everyone who helped make it happen!

-Joanne

Click here and try one of my favorite recipes from the book and make sure to enjoy it with friends, family and wine, of course!

first day of spring...

Headed out the door last night to the McEvoy launch party for my "Wine Country Cooking" book at the Ferry Terminal. McEvoy just does it right. They make the best olive oil and last night it was used to make delicious food from my book! Fun party with lots of people who wanted their books signed. After the last book was closed, I ran out the door. Gary Danko picked me up out front to go to Berkeley to the Parsi New Year (Indian New Year) dinner at Chez Panisse. We had a 9:00 reservation and we just made it! We started with a lovely plate of Bombay potato balls, fried curry leaves, and steamed semolina bread with avocado chutney. I am still dreaming of the chutney that Niloufer Ichaporia King, author of "My Bombay Kitchen," chef for the night, made. Alice came running over, elated! "The kitchen garden on the White House lawn..." was all she could say! Alice was beaming. She's been talking about this since Bill Clinton was in office. Anyway today, the first day of spring, all over the news, there it was, Michelle Obama and 26 5th grade students broke ground on an organic garden being planted on the White House lawn. Now that's ground breaking! And a great start to a fabulous spring!

india revisited

Looking through photos and writing about India for "blog virgin" dredged up a bunch of memories of my trip with my best chef friend, Gary. I remember distinctly the first night, like it was last night. I was pecking away in the middle of the night in the hotel room, the only light in the room was the screen of my Treo. I didn't want to wake up Gary but I was suffering the worst jet lag. Melatonin is no miracle. Maybe it was the excitement of the day riding around Delhi in an auto-rickshaw, really nothing more a mo-ped with a cart on the back. Totally scary! Totally wild! Totally fun! Crazy, old congested city, Indian music blaring from a boom box attached to the top of a telephone pole, breathing in all that pollution, women wrapped in those colored saris (what a great way to hide any weight gain!) Old Delhi makes Bangkok look like a sleepy village. And the food doesn't taste like any Indian food I've eaten in the US. And are they saying yes or no when they twirl their head around like that? As soon as any waiter hears that Gary has a restaurant, they are all over him hoping they can score an airline ticket to the States. He thinks they're cute. And me, I'm just trying to eat lunch. Yeah, its third world alright. Everybody wants to sell you something. "Indian music, you want?" "I make you beautiful sari madam." Sometimes I can't understand a word they're saying... Is this English? It seems like one long curly word. And jet lag is a killer... I don't get it... 13 AND A HALF hour time difference between SF and New Delhi! Come on, what's the point of the extra half hour? The difference between Manhattan and Trenton? Make it either 13 or 14! Its almost morning, this sleep thing is not working for me! I am so hungry. What do Indians eat for breakfast? Gotta go, I think Gary just opened his eyes.

blog virgin

So I've talked about this for over two years.... It all started when I was on a sweaty, hot bus driving around the countryside of Rajasthan in Northwestern India with my pal, Gary Danko. The roads were bumpy and dusty and I was really queasy. It didn't matter. Every day I'd get out my Treo to read my emails and I'd write back these lengthy stories to everybody about the food, the people, the Taj, all the while pecking away on that tiny keyboard for hours just to get the message across. When I got back, all my friends were talking about the trip like they'd been there and one after another said, "You should do a blog." "Blog this!" I thought. But the word kept ringing in my ears.... blog, blog, blog. Same thing happened a year later in Vietnam. Eating on the street with Bobby Chinn, Hanoi's food rock star, zooming through the streets of Hanoi at a thousand miles an hour on the back of a scooter and I just kept writing emails, long emails (but not while I was on the back of the scooter, mind you). And my friends kept begging me. You might call me a blog virgin but here goes...