Wooden spoons and cherries may be two odd kitchen pet peeves, but they were mine when I wrote my first cookbook, “The New Pastry Cook”, published by  William Morrow in 1986.  They still are.  I had a marvelous editor, Narcisse Chamberlain.  She was a seasoned professional who took a novice cookbook writer (me) and honed a book of, at the time, brand new ways of thinking about pastry.  She taught me much but there were two things that became my pet peeves – wooden spoons and cherries. Continue reading →