Jan adds lentils to her lentil beef stew.
Jan prefers cast iron pots and pans.
a funny situation than disastrous. But they ended up having a great meal. I could only sit and watch them enjoy it. I always mess up: Chopping onions the professional way. How I find inspiration to create a new dish: Lately, Pinterest. In the past, I found inspiration from my son, who became a professional chef and then became a winemaker. What more inspiration can you get than that? If I could spend a day with a famous chef, it would be: Julia Child — because she inspired housewives to try new things besides the everyday casserole. She taught women of the 1960s, to go for the beef bourguignon or pate de canard en croute (stuffed baked duck). Advice I would ask her: It’s not advice I’d ask, I would just love to know how Julia went about planning her dinner parties. I love how she ended each of her TV segments with a beautifully set table displaying the prepared food and wine. I’d just love to sit and talk with her about her cuisine experi-
ences. Maybe I’d ask her how she came about picking up all those great kitchen tools.
Tools of the trade Favorite piece of cooking equipment: My Jura coffee maker. It’s Swiss-made, and I fell in love with this coffee maker the first time I went to Europe and used one. I had to have one. A cup of coffee is the first thing I go for in the morning. Must-have kitchen tools: My wooden spoons and cast-iron pans. Go-to cookbooks: “Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook,” circa, old. Ingredient that I dislike: Cucumbers. I buy this in bulk: Sugar — only because I feed the Continued on page 48 bakersfieldlife.com
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