Wings of Cherubs

The Pisco Punch is the most important cocktail in San Francisco’s rich mixology history. I talk about its origins during the Gold Rush Days of The Barbary Coast in the “Born in San Francisco” post, and I have always included the Pisco Punch in my Pisco cocktail classes. But for those wanting the full-story, including how its once secret recipe was rediscovered, a must-read is Toro-Lira’s “Wings of Cherubs.”
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97 Orchard

The story of the immigrant has always fascinated me. Perhaps because I have lived in so many places, I appreciate the importance of preserving one’s culture in foreign lands. In “97 Orchard,” the author focuses on the food, culture and history of 5 immigrant families — German, Irish, Italian, and Eastern European Jews — all of which lived in the same tenement building at 97 Orchard Street in the Lower East Side of New York City from the mid 1800‘s to mid 1900‘s. These stories show that the food we cook and eat is one of the most powerful components of our cultural identity.
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