For chefs, being invited to cook at New York’s James Beard House is like the Oscar is to Hollywood actors.

Boquerones

Pan Seared Salmon with Roasted Baby Potatoes and

Recognized for the better part of this decade as creator of exquisite wine country desserts, Nicole Plue is one of five nominees for the prestigious James Beard Foundation’s award of best pastry chef in the nation.

LONDON  — More than 100 well-heeled diners are sitting in the august British Library, eating a fennel slice, an olive and a kumquat while stroking pieces of velvet, silk and sandpaper. The scent of cloves wafts around the room as an airplane engine roars. And this is just the appetizer.

An $11,000 coffee maker ought to make a damn fine cup of coffee.

Like most girls in the pre-feminist era, I was required to take Home Ec in eighth grade, to learn the housewifely skills of sewing and cooking. The only thing I remember learning, however, was how to boil water — although they called it chicken-noodle soup. We used dried Lipton Soup mix. (No joke, they actually taught this in school.) My first attempt wasn’t very successful — I was busy gossiping in the back of the room and forgot to put the noodles into the water on time, so they were just a little crunchy. But I studied hard and eventually I got the hang of it.