All about me
I make Tex-Mex cuisine, the kind that I grew up eating in Mexican restaurants throughout Texas, then learned to make at home, with fresh, seasonal ingredients. Here in France, some substitutions are necessary -- for instance, of the country’s 400+ cheeses, there’s not a Pepper Jack to be found -- but the integrity of each dish remains firmly intact. Think Tex-Mex with a French accent: Paris-Tex-Mex, y’all.
Beyond Tex-Mex, I specialize in Southern home cooking, soups, pies, and cakes large and small.
Want something special? Just ask me, and I’ll make it for you.
quote of the day
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When not flipping tortillas in my kitchen, I’m usually walking my Australian Shepherd puppy, Rose, at nearby Parc St. Cloud, practicing ashtanga yoga, or sitting at my desk, writing. As a freelance writer for the last 10+ years, I’ve written about more subjects than there are salsa recipes in Texas. Murder. Drug abuse. Dirty politics. Religion. Technology. Science. Healthcare. And lighter fare, too. Food. Travel. Home design. The arts.
An award-winning investigative journalist, I’ve written for Newsweek, People, Texas Monthly, National Geographic Traveler, Budget Travel, Cowboys & Indians, Entrée, and many others. I’ve interviewed Beyonce and Britney; David (Sedaris) and David (Lynch), and lots of other famous and non-famous folk, too. I’ve ridden elephants in northern Thailand; practiced yoga at an ashram on the Ganges in India; trekked through the Peruvian Andes; and driven through Mexico’s rich interior on a quest to find the best tequila.
My latest adventure starts here, in my new home in Paris, with my apron strings tied tight.
Read about my culinary capers on my blog.
Recipes
The kitchen counter was high. So high that I sat on a tall, wooden barstool while I watched my mother spin eggs, butter, and flour into velvety batters that would later magically emerge from the oven as delicious, fluffy cakes. I loved the whirr of her olive green hand-held mixer and the brrrup-brrrup-brrrup it would make against the inside of the Tupperware bowl, etched from years of use.
As soon as I could reach the counter, and after I’d outgrown my Easy Bake oven, I was making cakes of my own.
By the time I was 12, I had a subscription to Gourmet.
I moved to Paris two years ago, in part, to continue my culinary education by exploring regional French cuisine. My favorites so far: the Spanish-influenced Basque region, where the food, like the people, is bold, honest, and spicy; and the rustic, intense flavors of Provence. Perhaps because I’m also Southern, I relate to these cuisines more easily. I understand them. They make sense.
Living here has inspired me to play in the kitchen like never before -- by experimenting with flavors outside of my old culinary boundaries, and creating new dishes that synthesize Mediterranean with Mexican, and the tastes of the Southwest of France with the U.S. Southwest.
As I wander across France, hungry for my next culinary quest, I often find touchstones that remind me of home. Pine nuts in the South. Chorizo in the Southwest. Piperade, the onion-pepper Basque mixture that’s served with scrambled eggs. Not unlike migas, really. Even better, I’ve found, made with roasted veggies, and a little chipotle.
