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Q: How did I spend my holiday vacation?
A: On the Mediterranean, with Clifford A Wright.

Well, in all fairness, I was really curled up with his book, THE MEDITERRANEAN FEAST. What a work of culinary art! My God, if I started last year and wrote until I dropped dead, I could not write such book. It has everything you want in a book: drama (how about those Crusades!?), happiness (just reading about cannolis is erotic.) There was a staggering number of facts I did not know, from the culinary gifts of the Arabs to the very foods we eat today. The book is also a cornucopia of horror stories: aside from hoardes of nutty royals and emirs, it chronicles plagues, famines - and even nuns .

And it has wonderful recipes galore!!! My head spins with the number I tagged to try later. Aside from being a gentleman, Clifford is a machine.

I can't wait until Thursday night at the Pasadena Library to bow to this amazing cooker and scholar.

Until then I'll be reading "THE LOST RAVIOLI RECIPES OF HOBOKEN: A Search for Food and Family" (more about that wonderful book next time) - but I'll be dreaming of harissa! (That reminds me - when I talk to Clifford, I will ask him if he ever met anyone who really likes cassoulet.)

I wish you good friends, good deeds and good cooking!