When I was a kid, my mother got me to eat celery by slathering a layer of peanut butter across the top.  When I learned to cook, I discovered that celery was part of the holy trinity of veggies that make up mirepoix (onions and carrots being the other two), the base for a lot […]

I grew up eating avocadoes.  My grandfather was an orange rancher in Orange County back when there still were oranges in the OC.  The orange juice from his trees is still the best I’ve ever tasted, but it was the few avocado trees he had in his orchard that I think of more often. Snacks […]

Out West, when I thought about corn, the vegetable took several different forms. There were corn tortillas, corn bread, corn salsa, tamale pie, corn chowder (remember that one?), corn muffins, corn chips, and, in summertime, corn on the cob. Here in the Midwest, it’s pretty much just corn on the cob, but boy do we […]

You know summer is finally here when you start thinking about how many days are left before it’s gone. Or is that just me? It’s not that I’m a pessimist.  I just look ahead to what’s next rather than fully enjoying the moment. Sundays are the perfect example.  Although Sunday is considered a weekend day, […]

Summer has always been the worst time to be sick.  When I was a kid, the loss of valuable vacation time to something as trivial as a cold, was enough to bring on bouts of childhood depression, also known as whining.  When I became an adult, it got worse. Not that I’m whining.  That’s a […]

I know it’s pathetic but I was looking through my old clippings last week and I stumbled upon the first menu I ever wrote for the Los Angeles Times (it’s here if you’d like to see it). It had a Spanish vegetarian theme and featured empanadas, garlic soup, and a great Catalan dish with grilled […]

[East Meets West Pink]
The Pacific Rim Paradox

Sorry for the title but I always loved that screwball comedy as a kid.(Learn more about it here.)  The movie’s about the place where they print money and I’m writing about the herb.  Get it? (Sigh.)   I don’t think Netflix is getting their money’s worth from me. Okay, the fact is nobody minds mint.  Most […]

When my youngest daughter saw the soup on the dinner table this week, she groaned. “Cold soup?  Can’t you just serve that to the grown ups?” Like most kids, she has pretty narrow parameters about the way she likes foods.  She’s more adventurous than her sister, but to both of them, cold soup is a […]