all that and a bag of chips

There are absolutely no dangerous confusions.

Danish chef Claus Meyer, speaking of Chanterelle mushrooms.

Is there anything sexier than a man who cooks? Anyone who handles potatoes with that kind of care and attention...

Crushing madly on Claus Meyer who just now (through the miracle of television) made the most extraordinary salad dressing -- the recipe for which is nowhere to be found on the site supporting his show, New Scandinavian Cooking, so I'm going to have to pluck this one from memory. It went something like:

• 1 bit of honeycomb (plucked right from the hive of endangered brown bees, of course)
• dijon mustard, about 2 tsp
• shallots, 2 raw
• a splash of apple cider vinegar in which he had marinated something for 14 days (exactly what escapes me)
• little bit of grape seed oil

Blend it all up and then toss it with:

• 1 head of baby romaine
• a sprinkling of flowers (the edible kind)
• a handful of sliced shallots which you've roasted whole and pushed from their papery skins
• a sprinkling of fried new potatoes (just like kettle chips) procured from a little island off Finland and flash fired before my eyes

I'm off to find me a honeycomb and a bag of chips. At my local grocery, unfortunately.

My life is full of such compromises.