There's a great interview with my hero Thomas Keller at Epicurious.com. In particular, his musings on passion and community echo my feelings and experience with food. (Interview questions in bold):

One of the great things about bistros, and not just about bistros but about cooking and dining in general, is the sense of community. Do you feel that?

It's a real social interaction, whether you're cooking or whether you're eating. You have to feel comfortable in your environment. In the restaurant, we enjoy doing what we're doing together. That's really one of the wonderful things about being in a kitchen environment where there's a common vision and a common goal and a common respect for what you're doing. It's like nothing else, it really is.

And that passion translates to the food?

You have to be emotionally attached. I cook because it fulfills something inside of me, satisfaction, gratitude, making somebody happy. It's all wrapped up in those emotions, and eating should be the same. I understand in modern society we can't always be emotionally connected to what we're eating and what we're doing, but there are those moments when we have to sit back and appreciate it and say, "Okay, this is that moment where I'm just going to relax and have this event."

At the end, Keller closes with one of the best things I've ever heard:

"I think one of the true meanings of success is creating a memory for somebody."

Also included are menus, a cooking demo by Keller, and a video tour behind the scenes at Per Se all accessible from this page. I really need to start saving for a Per Se visit.

One of the things I realized while working at the restaurant on Nantucket was how dull my knives were at home. At Fifty-Six everyone's knives were razor sharp, and it made slicing and dicing nearly effortless, albeit dangerous. When I got home I got a stone and spent about an hour sharpening my two knives: an 8" chef's and a 4" paring, both from Henckels. (I have a few other knives, but I find I never use them. These two do the trick for all my home cooking needs.) Today's New York Times looks at knives and the trend for Japanese knives in, When a Knife Is the Gleam in a Cook's Eye.

There's a whole world of useless kitchen gadgetry out there, junk that will clutter your cabinets and ultimately make little difference in the quality of food you cook. But knives are an exception (another exception: pots/pans). Quality knives make all the prep jobs easier because they provide more control and cleaner cuts, and they're a pleasure to use. While they are expensive, they last forever and are a worthwhile investment. I bought my 8" in 1995 and have used it nearly every day since. My 4" was purchased in 1998.

As the gentleman says at the end of the Times article, "You know you've got the right knife when you're getting as much joy from preparing dinner as you are from eating it."

Over the next few weeks, I may or may not continue to recommend things I love for your holiday gift consideration. But today I offer Tom Colicchio's Think Like a Chef. Mr. Colicchio is chef/owner of both (the amazing and yummy!) Gramercy Tavern and Craft, in New York City. This cookbook is less about recipes — though it certainly has them — and more about cooking technique and philosophy, enabling the reader to actually learn by doing rather than simply follow a list and instructions. I've found it very useful and informative and it's quickly become one of my favorites on my cookbook shelf. When I started working in the kitchen this past fall, I was surprised to find how much I already knew. This book contributed to my knowledge and made my transition from aspiring amateur to aspiring professional that much easier. A great gift for someone who really does want to learn how to, "think like a chef."

And today I learned it's Brussels sprouts, not brussel sprouts. I guess I kinda of knew in the way back of my mind that there was some connection with Belgium, but not enough to realize it was Brussels sprouts. From Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters:

Brussels sprouts are a variety, gemmifera, of the cabbage species Brassica oleracea. Because of selective breeding done in the thirteenth century in Belgium, [B]russels sprouts do indeed look like tiny, perfectly formed cabbages. They grow on a heavy stock, several feet tall, with a few large leaves at the top. As with cabbage, there are both red and green varieties.

I guess the 's' is silent? I've never heard anyone say anything but, "brussel sprouts." Or maybe it's just me? Regardless, now's the season for these yummy sweet mini cabbages, and there's so many ways to prepare them. Tonight I'm just going slowly cook mine in some brown butter. But you could also make Martha Stewart's Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Apples. Mmm…now I'm hungry!