Grace in Small Things: Issue 29

1. Velvety roasted red pepper hummus
2. Fragrant rosemary sprigs decorating every other plate
3. Warm and spicy black bean and mango quesadillas
4. Vanilla-to-the-10th-power gelato
5. A sweet glass of Riesling enjoyed with new friends

Not What I Ordered

It escapes me how prosciutto can be so often misspelled, in Italian restaurants, no less.

If I had a dollar for every typo I've found in a restaurant menu - well, I could hire a personal chef.

While it may not be your strength, communicating your offerings with the respect your customers deserve by composing a menu that is correct is simply part of the job as a chef or restaurateur.

Sometimes, when perusing a particularly badly edited menu, I find myself more distracted by the errors than the foams and reductions that should be catching my eye, instead.

It's heartening to know that I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Favorite Places: Cafe at Rosemont

One of my favorite places is the Cafe at Rosemont just a few miles away from Lambertville, NJ.

The restaurant's decor is part general store/part art gallery - because most of the art you see on the walls is for sale.

It's a random assortment of tables and chairs, and mismatched cutlery, but it's not one of those precious twee shoppes. It feels more like you're eating at your friend's house.

And while you're eating your goat cheese with sundried tomato omelette, you can peruse the paintings and photographs that surround you.

They also have homemade butterscotch pudding, and many other desserts - their lemon pound cake is delicious - which are probably very much like what your grandma used to cook if she was a really excellent cook.

The surrounding area is farmland and rolling hills, so it's also a beautiful place to take a drive this time of year.

What's the Worst That Can Happen?

After visiting Fork last week, I bought the new book Forklore by its owner, Ellen Yin.

The opening chapters recount Yin's love for food, and how she had been working in a totally different field - healthcare administration - when she realized that she should give the restaurant business a try.

What was the harm? If it didn't work out, she could always return to what she had been doing.

I thought that was a wise observation: If it doesn't work out, you don't curl up and die. You just regroup and move on.

But maybe you'll create a successful and well-respected restaurant in the meantime!

Change is always hard, but the rewards can be amazing when you take a risk that you're passionate about.