At Home at the Table

This essay originally appeared in Terroir Review on July 29, 2018

Fruit preparation at Chez Panisse

As a kid growing up in rural Pennsylvania, I had long dreamed of a life out West, shopping at farmers’ markets and hosting dinner parties featuring earthy Pinot Noir and picturesque salads with shavings of candy-striped Chioggia beets. My muse was the pioneering chef Alice Waters, whose books I devoured and whose legendary restaurant, Chez Panisse, I longed to…