The 70's came back with such vengeance, I had all my polyester clothes dry-cleaned. Kidding, of course. That decade was not my coming-of-age. I am a bit too young. What I know about that time is second-hand: my cooler, older cousin from Hawaii who showed me how to disco (mahala!), TV shows, movies, and a San Diego friend who has a flair for 70's interior design to this day.
Speaking of Cali - I did some time in La la land. And when I was homesick, I flew out to northern California. What I discovered! If I could choose a place to have grown up - it would be Napa Valley or Sonoma. That would be home. And as for my friends, I'd see them in San Francisco. And when I needed to write in solitude, I would have a place in Santa Cruz. A girl can always dream.
I devoured Luke Barr's Provence, 1970 because I had the privilege of knowing what casual dinner parties could be like in northern Cali. It is one of the most wonderful things that could be enjoyed in this world.
Those casual get-togethers opened up a can of wonderful duck confit. Ideas would be thrown left and right. And they centered mostly around food. What is going on with the restaurant scene, who opened up a specialty food store, and which chef was doing something revolutionary.
I never thought about how magical it all was until I finished reading Barr's account of a time and place that would impact the culinary world to this day and beyond.
