Inspirational Hospitality
In the last few years I've enjoyed traveling either with my colleagues to different cities and countries or to their own homes to visit them. In turn, I've hosted many friends in my own home and home town. Sometimes the trips are short, just overnight, but regardless of the length of time spent, it is the time that I share with my chef friends, designers and planners that I have found to be an occasion in itself. I have been overwhelmed by such wonderful hospitality and of course, the time filled with food, fun and LOVE! These moments together fill me with the inspiration I bring back to my own work. Just recently my daughter Joanne Purnell (who is also chef de cuisine of Good Gracious) and I traveled to North Carolina where Janet Woodson, chef/owner of La-Tea-Da's Catering , and Mark Baldwin, chef/owner of Blue Ridge Catering , were our hosts. David Klingel with a bottle of blood orange juice infused with vanilla bean that he would use in our second course. At their home,...