Poire à la Beaujolais! And Reverie!

A note about work, a solid recipe and a peek inside Reverie, my sweet little chef/travel company

When I left restaurants, I started doing quite a bit of traveling around my work. I would teach baking workshops, both private and public, from NYC to L.A. to San Francisco. I also was hustling as a private chef to a few really lovely musicians and public figures from Kings of Leon to Al Gore. And, if you wanna know who kept my damn lights on for about three years and was a champion employer while I wrote my book, I will forever shout out Kelly Clarkson. I built that clientele from selling pies out of the trunk of my car, hosting Buttermilk Road Sunday Suppers for several years (you can read all about it here in this old wordpress blog, ha!), to teaching workshops to doing freelance cookbook styling jobs and other media culinary producing work. All of this happened from 2009-2020.

That was a lot of name dropping, gross, sorry about that, but it feels important to say: you have to work while you write books, people. (And I also want to give credit where credit is due.)

There is a strange misconception that I am out here just resting on my writerly laurels (an old boss of mine, a real ding-dong, actually said to me once, when I was cooking for Kelly, because I did not broadcast my job, “wow, must be really nice to just hang out in L.A. while you write your book!” - in L.A. I would cook from 6am-8pm, write on my afternoon break between 2p-4p, grab leftovers or takeout on my way back to my hotel and write from 10p-12am and do it all over again the next day. Not everyone instagrams everything). Truly, everything I do is to support my family and to find avenues for myself to continue to write. I am mostly saying this to young folk (because I could give a flip about the doubters - getting older is such a JOY!) who ask me for advice toward writing, on how to create a life where the writing gets DONE and the answer is, I work. I work and I work. This transparency feels important in a world where everyone seems to just “have it made” on the silly socials. And, it’s not just me - this is how every artist or writer I know who was not born with the benefit of a trust fund lives. It is beautiful and wild and wonderful - and hard a lot of the time. Yet, I feel really lucky, SO LUCKY, that I have found a way to use my high tolerance for a bit of uncertainty and risk to my advantage. It’s not for everyone, sweet babies. But, it’s for me.

Right before my book came out, after I decided L.A. was just too far from home and my kids, I said yes to a couple of retreats organized by a friend who is practically family, Emily Leonard. She needed a chef to cook for her guests. I invited my dear friend Julie Belcher who is a French trained artisan baker and she joined as my assistant. We cooked in France and then New Mexico. And while we were in the kitchen, watching the artists at the retreat float in and out of our space, asking questions, wanting to participate in our cooking, and finding a general good flow with each other as cooks, we started talking about doing this as our own thing.

Reverie was born.

This is my new gig, my new work, my new company (with Julie) and my new way to find a life where writing can be prioritized. We are building slowly and intentionally. We are not interested in tourism, but travel. We are not interested in celebrity, but true food communities and chefs and makers who keep our foodways systems strong and ever-enduring. We had two wonderful, sold out trips in 2022 to Toulouse and the Loire Valley. And in 2023, we have FOUR planned. Toulouse is already sold out, and the others are not far behind. (Not for nothing, there is currently a holiday discount code up until Friday for anyone interested in joining us). For 2024, we are *most* excited as we are building an impressive calendar with truly gifted and charming guest chefs from my life as a restaurant pastry chef. And, so, I wanted to take a minute to shout about it a little bit to let you know what I’ve been up to. I am so proud of what we are building and I hope you’ll check us out and maybe even join us some day.

Today, on Reverie’s IG and newsletter, we shared a Poire à la Beaujolais, or Poached Pear, recipe and I thought I might share it here with you today!

We will be doing a series of recipes that are special to the regions we will be visiting and really start giving you glimpses into our sweet retreats.

Red wine poached pears recipe

One bottle red wine (we used a cheap Cabernet Sauvignon)

1 cup water

Juice from two oranges

2 cup / 400g sugar

Orange or lemon peel

10 whole cloves

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tsp anise seeds or 2 star anise pods

1 vanilla pod, sliced in half lengthwise or 2 TBSP vanilla extract

5-6 ripe pears (Bosc or Anjou)

*Note: it’s always a treat to your recipes to toast your spices in a skillet before using. They just need a few minutes to wake up.

• Combine all ingredients except pears in a saucepan large enough to hold all of the pears. Bring to a simmer and stir to dissolve sugar.

• While poaching liquid is heating, peel the pears, leaving the stems intact.

• Once sugar is dissolved, add pears to poaching liquid. Cook for 20-30 minutes (depending on pear size and ripeness) in simmering liquid, turning frequently to make sure all sides are submerged.

• When pears are fork tender, take off heat and allow pears to cool in poaching liquid. If time permits, leave the pears in their liquid overnight to allow for maximum flavor.

• Gently remove pears to a plate with a slotted spoon or your fingers. Bring the poaching liquid to a boil and reduce until it reaches a syrup consistency and coats the back of a cold spoon. Allow syrup to cool.

To serve, cut the bottoms off of pears to stand on a plate. Using a pastry brush, gently gloss the pears with the tasty wine syrup Serve atop a pool of crème anglaise or with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Bon appétit !