November 2005

Features

• Rushing Home for Thanksgiving

  Missing their families and their Southern roots, chefs Allison Vines-Rushing and Slade Rushing left Manhattan stardom to return to life in Louisiana. Here, they celebrate their homecoming with a Thanksgiving feast at their new Abita Springs restaurant, Longbranch.

• Saving Bali: Organic Farming

  American expats Ben and Blair Ripple have a mission: saving small Balinese farmers and their artisanal foods from extinction. The couple's amazing innovations have gotten celebs like Thomas Keller and Donna Karan to take notice.

• Holiday Menu: Reinventing Thanksgiving Classics

  Susan Spungen, author of the forthcoming Recipes: A Collection for the Modern Cook, is a master at creating the small, simple details that can transform a recipe—like using a single, beautiful herb sprig to adorn a sweet potato biscuit. Here, her inviting holiday menu.

• Los Angeles Club Scene: Cooking Clubs

  Writer Sally Horchow belongs to not one but two cooking clubs in Los Angeles, a center of cooking-club mania. She describes a memorable session with a guest instructor, charismatic chef Govind Armstrong of L.A.'s Table 8.

• California Strikes Oil: Artisanal Olive Oil

  Our massive taste test of 65 artisanal olive oils revealed Pasolivo to be one of California's best. Here, a splendid harvest meal with the family behind it.

• Sweet Nostalgia: Retro Candy Trends

  Pastry chefs, bakers and confectioners are looking back to the glory days of the ice cream parlor and the candy shop to get inspiration for their retro sweets—from cupcakes to doughnuts to homemade Cracker Jack.

• Tale of the Soup Peddler: David Ansel

  After David Ansel followed a girlfriend to Austin, the romance and his career faltered. So he did what anybody would do: He began selling soup door-to-door on his bicycle. Here, the story of his unlikely success.

• Merlot Missionary: Washington State

  Lettie Teague adores Washington State Merlots. But when she travels to the source, she finds winemakers ignoring the grape in favor of Cab or Syrah. What gives?