Again this year, on Saturday, July 7, Chef/Owner Steve Johnson will be participating in the Buzzards Bay Swim, an annual fund raising event organized by The Coalition for Buzzards Bay.

This is how it happened to me Nearly 36 years ago, in August of 1976, I arrived in Montpellier, France to begin my year abroad as a language and literature student at the university there.  In addition to my studies, I was hoping to broaden my life experiences and looking for adventure.  Having been born [...]

Portuguese sardines  These little fish have ALL the qualities!  First of all, and most important, they’re REALLY TASTY!  One of the most abundant species in the ocean and the current darling of the sustainability experts, health-wise sardines are an oily fish (like mackerel, bluefish, etc) and by that full of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins.  [...]

Turkish Pizza My dear friend Ihsan Gurdal (of Formaggio Kitchen fame) has taught me a lot about Turkish food.  Dining out together, cooking for each other on weekends, and traveling abroad have given us countless occasions to discuss good food.  On a trip to Turkey with him several years ago, I got a wonderful introduction [...]

Canned Portuguese Sardines The evening of July 4th, the end of a long holiday weekend full of beach picnics, cook-outs and fireworks displays.  Starting to wind down now after all the fun with friends, in anticipation of the upcoming work week.  Time for a quiet, simple, early dinner on the houseboat, but I’ve gone through [...]

On Saturday morning, July 2nd, I joined over 200 other swimmers to participate in the Buzzards Bay Swim, the annual fund raiser organized by the Buzzards Bay Coalition.  We all swam 1.2 miles from New Bedford across to Fairhaven, crossing the Acushnet River just south of the entrance to the commercial fishing port.   It was [...]

Those pesky birds! Memorial Day has come and gone, and all of the sudden summer is here.  After a prolonged stretch of gray, cool-ish weather during the month of May, Somebody-in-Charge flipped the big switch.  It began to seem like it would never happen, and people in general were really starting to complain about it, [...]

Late April Update – What a great month of April it’s been!  Up on the roof, we’ve already been harvesting chives, chervil and lovage, and several other perennials are already several weeks ahead of normal schedule.  Yesterday, in particular, was one of those “perfect days” for gardening:  I spent an absolutely delightful hour upstairs in [...]

April Showers – After a winter of brutally cold weather and tons of snow, the weather lately has improved incrementally, warming up bit by bit over the last couple of weeks.  Up on the roof the rosemary bushes have survived fairly well in the greenhouse, although I lost one to a combination of cold and [...]

Open Table Diner Feedback – A few months ago, a restaurant chef/owner in California posted on his blog a criticism of Open Table’s business practices while questioning its real value to restaurants, causing quite a stir in the food media.  You can read it for yourself: http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2010/10/18/is-opentable-worth-it/ In great detail and with well-constructed arguments, the [...]