Two Thanksgiving Menus

It’s dark, now, as I leave the office in the evenings, and I’m finding it harder to motivate for anything but curling up in a big chair with a book and a cup of tea. But the “to do” list seems to double in length daily, and somehow it seems like time is being trimmed [...]

Local Quinces In Season

  I would like to remind everyone that Fall is officially here in California and the quince fruit is now in season and available at your local farmer’s markets. Early in July I wrote about my first attempt at making jam. It was quince jam, and it turned out to be delicious! You can view [...]

Traditional Pesto Sauce, and a little Food for Thought

Many people may not realize it, but the word pesto literally means: to pound or to crush, in Italian. It seems obvious when you think of similar sounding words like mortar and PESTLE, but for some reason, until recently, I never made the connection. Homemade pesto sauce was almost a weekly tradition for me and [...]

Heirloom Tomato Ketchup

We’re brimming with heirloom tomatoes from our farm CSA box, but somehow none of my usual uses for tomatoes have seemed appealing lately. The tomatoes this year have been so good that they mostly beg to be eaten straight – sliced with a bit of sea salt and good olive oil, or layered into a [...]

The Best Green Salsa!

I’ve finally done it! I’ve successfully reverse engineered Taqueria El Favorito’s (fresh) green salsa, the best salsa I’ve ever encountered in all my travels. Now let me tell you, I’ve eaten Mexican food in Mexico, Portugal (please don’t even ask), France (same goes for here), Italy (and here), Venezuela, Arizona, New Mexico, and in hundreds [...]