Cabbage Recipes for Winter by Ruth Paget

Cabbage Recipes for Winter by Ruth Paget 

One of the best buys for .99 cents on Kindle is Ms. Fruit’s Hello! 365 Cabbage Recipes. This book has recipes from Ethiopia to Thailand with many from Europe and the US in between. Its multicultural offerings and price to fit all budgets make it a terrific buy. 

Five of the European recipes I like follow: 

*Dijon Pork with Apples and Cabbage 

-This recipe is made with green cabbage, apple wedges, olive oil, pork tenderloins, a Dijon-style mustard like Maille, white wine vinegar, and honey. 

-On a sheet pan, toss together the apple and cabbage wedges, salt and pepper, and olive oil. 

-Spread a mixture of oil, thyme, honey, white wine vinegar, and mustard all over the pork. 

-Place the apple and cabbage wedges on top of the pork. Roast the pork till the meat registers 130 degrees Fahrenheit. 

-Place the pork under the broiler till the apples and cabbage have a light char and the pork has a golden crust. 

-Cut the pork into slices and serve the apples and cabbage topped with chopped parsley. 

This recipe for Dijon Pork with Apples and Cabbage is worth the price of the book alone. 

*Balsamic Cabbage 

-This recipe is made with shredded green cabbage, shredded red cabbage, shredded carrots, salt and pepper, and balsamic vinegar. 

-Start by cooking the carrots, green cabbage, and red cabbage till soft. 

-Mix in the balsamic vinegar and serve warm. 

*Blaukraut 

-This recipe is made with onions, diced apples, red cabbage, vegetable broth, vinegar, and optional lingonberry jam. 

-Cook the apples and onions till they begin to soften. Add the cabbage and cook till heated through. 

-Stir in the apple cider vinegar and broth. Cook for 30 minutes. 

-Flavor with salt and pepper and lingonberry jam, if using. 

*Cabbage and Apple Slaw 

-This recipe is made with yogurt, sour cream, honey, shredded red cabbage, chopped Granny Smith apples, minced onion, and chopped parsley. 

-Make a sauce of honey, sour cream, and yogurt. 

-Mix parsley, cabbage, onions, and apples together. 

-Mix in salt and pepper. Mix the salad with the sauce and refrigerate till using. 

*Chopped Vegetable Salad with Beans 

-This recipe is made with canned cannellini beans, green peppers, chopped red cabbage, chopped radishes, lemon and oil dressing, and diced feta cheese. 

-Mix everything together and refrigerate. 

For more elaborate cabbage recipes, check out Gabriel Kreuther: The Spirit of Alsace – A Cookbook by Gabriel Kreuther and Michael Ruhlman. 

Happy Cooking! 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Fish Po'Boy Sandwiches at Bag O'Crab in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Fish Po’Boy Sandwiches at Bag O’Crab in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

A Louisiana option for fish on Fridays in Salinas, California is a deep-fried fish po’boy sandwich from Bag O’Crab. 

A spicy, deep-fried fish filet comes dressed with shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced pickles, and mayonnaise on half a French baguette loaf in a po'boy sandwich.  

This pretty unbeatable sandwich for flavor tastes great with equally tasty Cajun fries with spicy and salty seasoning. When it is hot outside, and you have lost a lot of salt in perspiration from working, the Cajun fries are a great replenisher of energy and make you relax. 

Bag O’Crab also has po’boy sandwiches made with deep-fried spicy shrimp that I often order, too, for a change. 

Either sandwich adds variety and a little exoticism to one’s diet. 

Bag O’Crab’s big seller is boiler bags with shrimp, spicy Louisiana sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cobb with garlic-butter sauce that are a nice treat for Saturday nights with cold beer. 

All these fun dining options are located off West Davis in the Westridge Shopping Mall in Salinas, California. Bag O’Crab has all major delivery apps for customer convenience.

Bon appétit! 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Upscale American Sandwiches in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Upscale American Sandwiches in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

You can learn a lot about the northern United States by trying some of its signature sandwiches that have gone nationwide and even global in some cases in Salinas, California. 

Three Salinas locations bring food for blustery and icy weather to you in mostly sunny Salinas: 

-Charley’s Cheesesteaks 

-Wienerschnitzel 

-Jersey Mike’s Subs (also has a Sand City location) 

*Charley’s Cheesesteaks offers a variety of meaty sandwiches like the following: 

-old school cheesesteak sandwich with USDA-choice steak, cheese whiz, and sautéed onions on a toasted bun 

-Philly cheesesteak with USDA-choice steak, green peppers, mushrooms, and onions topped with provolone cheese and served on a toasted roll. The sandwich also comes with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. 

-hot shot Italiano sandwich comes with oven-roasted turkey, pepperoni, banana peppers, melted provolone cheese, and dashes of Italian dressing on a toasted bun 

*Wienerschnitzel is a Salinas, California chain with several outlets in town. On a recent run to Nob Hill Supermarket on South Main Street, I saw that Wienerschnitzel is selling Italian meatball sandwiches.

Italian meatball sandwiches are an authentic Italian-American dish. They are not sold in Italy, but they are a big hit in the northeastern United States. 

I looked up the recipe for meatball sandwiches on allrecipes.com. If you are willing to get your hands messy and have time, then these sandwiches are easy to make. Otherwise, let Wienerschnitzel do the work. 

Meatballs are made with ground beef (sometimes ground pork is added for flavor), breadcrumbs, eggs, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and seasonings. The meatballs are baked and then dunked in warm tomato sauce.  

After that, they are placed in hollowed out baguette halves. Provolone cheese goes on top of the meatballs. The sandwich goes back in the oven till the cheese melts.  

Meatball sandwiches are not a handheld dish. You need a fork and knife to get every last bit of delicious of bread soaked in tomato sauce, especially if you are eating a top-quality tomato sauce. 

*Finally, Jersey Mike’s Subs is always reliably great for turkey-provolone cheese subs with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise on homemade Italian bread. 

I especially like to eat Jersey Mike’s Subs after going to Pebble Beach to do bird watching (look for brown pelicans and cormorants and even condors) like they do in the northern United States.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France 

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Fish on Fridays in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Fish on Fridays in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I like to rotate my family’s fish on Fridays tradition between fish and chips and Baja fish tacos in Salinas, California where I live. 

For fish and chips, my family orders from North Main Fish and Chips by Boronda Road. You can choose one, two, or three pieces of batter-dipped, deep-fried cod as part of your combination meal, which comes with an ample amount of French fries.  

For a Salinas touch, I order an extra side of coleslaw (non-authentic, but healthy) made with shredded cabbage and onions. North Main Fish and Chips uses a creamy, mild dressing that is a nice finish to the crunchy and warm meal.

I looked up the history of fish and chips in the Encyclopedia Britannica online and learned that it is considered a working class meal in the United Kingdom. Deep-fried, battered fish is believed to have come to England in the 1490s with Sephardic Jews who were fleeing expulsion and the Inquisition in Portugal. 

Britannica writes that a Jewish immigrant from Belgium named Joseph Malin is thought to have combined deep-fried fish with French fries to make the first fish and chip meal in 1863 in East London. (French fries are called chips in the United Kingdom.) 

When my family wants to add some variety to our family’s Friday night fish routine, we order fish taco combination platters from Super Pollo Taquería on South Main, which come with two soft shell corn tortillas filled with chunks of cod, shredded cabbage, shredded onions, creamy sauce, and pico de gallo salsa to add made with chopped peppers, tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. 

The sides that come with the combination platter are refried beans and Mexican rice. Mexican rice is made with chicken broth and tomato juice, which gives it a beautiful orange color and tangy and savory flavor. 

Both North Main Fish and Chips and Super Pollo offer more elaborate menu items with seafood, but fish and chips and fish tacos are a pretty good deal; these meals for three with tip and delivery fees are about $60. 

I like living in Salinas, California for the Friday night fish options, which make a fish meal affordable for families and provide an international dining experience for children as well. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Pasta Champion San Francisco (California) by Ruth Paget

Pasta Champion San Francisco (California) by Ruth Paget 

Thanks to doing the supplemental reading listed in my health and nutrition textbook at Cass Technical High School in Detroit (Michigan), I learned that several grains have very good protein and fiber content. 

Being a teenager in recession-era Detroit, I was very interested in inexpensive proteins with a high-fiber content, which made them an attractive way to stretch money and still be healthy. 

These grains with good protein and fiber content include:

-buckwheat 

-whole wheat 

-oatmeal 

-brown rice 

-pasta made with semolina flour, which comes from durum wheat 

(Quinoa was probably mentioned too, but I might not have noted it due to expense. Quinoa, originally from the Andes Mountains in Latin America, is now grown in Rockies in Colorado.) 

I ate tons of oatmeal as a child and teen in Michigan to brace myself for winter mornings. Later when I moved to Monterey County California, I made tons of refried rice to save money. Sacramento, California’s capitol, is an important rice growing region like that along the Mississippi River Valley. 

I have made use of California’s Asian markets and bulk rice buying at Costco and Foods Co (owned by Kroger) to make my beloved refried rice with cooked shrimp, peas, corn, carrots, and scrambled eggs.

I consider pasta made from semolina flour to be a gourmet treat, especially if you combine it with organic vegetables like those you can find in Salinas, California. 

I like to tinker in the kitchen and have cooked several recipes from The San Francisco Cookbook Volume II edited by Michael Bauer and Fran Irwin. These recipes are so loved that you can find them on many restaurant menus now. 

I think making them with children is a fun family activity that teaches self-sufficiency and nutrition at the same time. 

I like the following pasta recipes from The San Francisco Cookbook Volume II: -creamy lemony spaghetti with olives and basil 

-spaghetti with marinated fennel, tomato, and olives 

-papardalle with arugula, cherry tomatoes, and bread crumbs 

-jalapeño macaroni 

-crab pasta 

-pasta with saffron-scented cream, peas, and prosciutto 

-oven-baked quinoa loaf

 -lemon-asparagus rice pilaf 

I love it that San Francisco has encouraged the development of so many pasta dishes made with organic vegetables that the whole country can enjoy. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook Reviewed by Ruth Paget

The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook Reviewed by Ruth Paget 

One of the main reasons I have always eaten vegetables, grains, eggs, and dairy products is that they provide a huge nutritional value at a small price compared to red meat, which I eat once a month to save money as part of the Mediterranean Diet. 

Being able to easily follow the Mediterranean Diet is one of the reasons I like living in Salinas, California for access to the 200+ organic vegetables and fruits that grow here. (Salinas calls itself “Americas Salad Bowl.) 

San Francisco dwellers also like the organic food options available just two hours south of them in Salinas. The Bay Area’s love for produce is reflected in The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook edited by Michael Bauer and Fran Irwin. I

have made recipes from this cookbook over thirty years as part of the Mediterranean Diet. Despite rising food prices, these dishes are still relatively inexpensive to make compared to red meat. 

Some of the cookbook’s great produce recipes follow: 

-puréed artichoke bisque made with artichoke hearts (can use frozen), potatoes, and garlic 

-chilled cucumber soup made with puréed cucumber, garlic, and yogurt

-mixed greens soup with fennel-scented croutons made with spinach, Swiss chard, mustard greens, and kale, which are boiled and puréed with seasonings 

-sorrel and potato soup (can also be made with young spinach and dandelion greens) 

-fava bean soup made with onion, potatoes, and heavy cream (can also be made with lima beans) 

-yellow squash soup made with cumin and salsa 

-mustard-celery salad made with 3 cups of diced celery 

-fennel coleslaw made with green and red cabbage, carrots, and fennel 

-macaroni with wild mushroom gratin and Parmesan cheese – worth the price of the cookbook for this recipe alone 

-pasta with red peppers, greens, white beans, garlic, and lemon zest 

-braised bitter greens 

-roast-garlic mashed potatoes 

-chard and red potato gratin 

-oven-fried sweet potatoes 

-creamed spinach with bacon and onions 

-parsnip and potato purée If you love vegetable dishes, 

The San Francisco Chronicle Cookbook edited by Michael Bauer and Fran Irwin will greatly appeal to you, especially if you are looking for recipes that will help you follow the Mediterranean Diet. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Italian Focaccia Flatbread Economics by Ruth Paget

Italian Focaccia Flatbread Economics by Ruth Paget 

Even if you buy fresh herbs and produce like garlic, onions, and tomatoes at the supermarket, making focaccia (Italian flatbread) is relatively inexpensive. However, if you use herbs that grow at home to make focaccia, the savings increase exponentially. 

Carol Field provides many recipes in her cookbook Foccacia: Simple Bread from the Italian Oven that can save a family a lot of money, if it is eaten once or twice a week. It can also be used as a teaching moment with children as the French royal tutor Fénélon would say. 

Field writes in her introduction that the most famous focaccia comes from Genoa located in the coastal Liguria region between the French border in the north and Tuscany where Florence is located in the south.  

The basic dough for Genoa’s focaccia flatbread is made with flour, water, yeast, and sometimes olive oil and white wine. The yeast dough rises twice before being brushed with olive oil and baked. Field counsels home cooks to use a baking stone to generate high heat for crunchy crust. 

Field writes that Italians often use a dough starter called a biga in Italian made of water, flour, and yeast that is allowed to ferment before mixing it in with the regular dough. The biga gives the final product extra flavor and a chewy interior. The Genoese often add white wine to the dough and dimple it, so they can form little pools of warm olive oil, sea salt, and chopped herbs. 

Some of Field’s recipes are so easy and delicious that you want to ask yourself, “Did I really not know how to make this bread before?” 

The easiest recipes make a nice meal with salad and vinaigrette dressing, cheese, fruit salad, and white wine like pinot grigio or homemade lemonade. 

Several recipes that families might like follow:

-basil topped focaccia 

-focaccia with rosemary, oil, and salt 

-focaccia with garlic and tomato topping 

-focaccia with garlic and herb topping 

-schiacciata covered in caramelized onions 

(schiacciata is the word for focaccia in Florence) 

-schiacciata with slices of tomato and shredded basil 

Carol Field has recipes for more elaborate focaccia, but the ones listed above illustrate what I consider the Italian genius for living well on a budget thanks to being highly skilled, organized, and well educated.

Field’s Focaccia: Simple Bread from the Italian Oven belongs on every kitchen bookshelf. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Refettorio Ambrosiano Recipes from Milan, Italy by Ruth Paget

Refettorio Ambrosiano Recipes from Milan, Italy by Ruth Paget 

After attending an expo on world hunger in Milan (Italy), chef Massimo Bottura and other world famous chefs used the surplus food available in Milan to make meals for the homeless at the city’s Refettorio Ambrosiano that qualify as no food waste, delicious, nutritious, and economical to make. 

The Milan Refettorio Ambrosiano can operate thanks to help from markets and farms that provide: 

-less than perfect looking, but still good produce 

-produce with 2 or 3 days left to sell that cannot keep for a long time 

-organizing food in crates for storage and delivery at the donor site 

-people to drive the produce from the donor site to the refettorio 

-refrigerated pantries to deal with Milan’s heat at the refettorio 

Five of the stand-out, no food waste recipes in the Bread is Gold cookbook are economical to make with fresh ingredients for the home cook as well: 

*Summer vegetables with bean broth and croutons – The broth is made with water and boiled Parmesan cheese rinds that are removed before the beans are added in. The beans and broth are puréed. Place a variety of sautéed summer vegetables on top of the bean broth. Scatter seasoned croutons made from hard bread on top of the vegetables. 

The boiled Parmesan rinds could be fed to pigs as part of a circular economy around the cheese.

*Chilled cauliflower soup – Boil cauliflower with milk and salt. Purée the soup and refrigerate. Add cream and serve. Use less liquid to make a creamy sauce for warm vegetables or dressing for salad.

Other winter vegetables could be used in this recipe: broccoli, carrots, celery root, rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, or a combination of these. For extra flavor, you could boil the vegetable with a sautéed onion. 

*Chilled yogurt soup – Mix yogurt, vegetable stock (I make mine from reconstituted dehydrated mushrooms), canned chickpeas, canned lentils, salt and pepper, and olive oil together. (I would purée everything and then chill the soup.) 

*Green bean salad – Mix green beans, fresh cheese (mozzarella, but burrata could also be used) and charred Savoy cabbage together and drizzle it all with Balsamic vinegar. 

*Panada bread soup This simple soup is made by boiling Parmesan cheese rinds with water and removing them before adding cubes of hard bread. The bread and cheese broth are then puréed and served warm. 

Massimo Bottura and other famous chefs put together Bread is Gold recipes to solve hunger in Milan, Italy by reducing food waste. In the process, they put together recipes that everyone can use to stretch money, making Bread is Gold a good book to buy. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Eating Crunchy Fried Shrimp by the Pacific at The Brass Tap in Marina, California by Ruth Paget

Eating Crunchy Fried Shrimp by the Pacific at The Brass Tap in Marina, California by Ruth Paget 

I have to admit that my favorite bar food is fish and chips, but when beer-battered fried shrimp is available, I always order that. The Brass Tap in Marina, California offers both fish and chips and deep-fried shrimp in basket meals. 

The night my family went to The Brass Tap, my husband Laurent and I ordered the fried shrimp basket with French fries and coleslaw. Our daughter, Florence Paget, ordered the fish and chips basket. The coleslaw was creamy with pepper added and there were lots of fries. We all liked the basket meals and thought the amount of fish and shrimp was substantial. 

Both of these meals taste great in a cold, salty night breeze off the Pacific Ocean. The doors were open as we came in letting in the breeze and fog. There is seating in upholstered chairs and sofas outside with fire pits and colored lights overhead as well. 

I just love eating deep-fried shrimp dunked in spicy cocktail sauce and fries dunked in plenty of ketchup in weather like this. As I wrote that, I know full well that I am enticing East Coasters to dine at The Brass Tap, which offers those items at a reasonable price with 140 beers on tap. I had iced tea with my meal, but in the past I have drunk English Newcastle Brown Ale with fish and chips, and Czech Pilsner Urquell with fried shrimp. 

For diners looking for variety in fish and seafood, The Brass Tap has other options that look good including: 

-Boom Boom Shrimp in addition to other appetizers like Buffalo Cauliflower and Fried Green Beans  

-Blackened cod tacos 

-a Tap Salad with shrimp, lettuce, cheddar jack cheese, smoked bacon, tomatoes, and red onion (This salad shows off everything that is great about the Monterey County region.) 

The Brass Tap is a neighborhood bar by California State University Monterey Bay. Faculty and staff eat here along with older students. The music is slightly loud with a youthful ambience. On the weekends, there is a live DJ and karaoke. 

I think The Brass Tap is fun and offers the fish and seafood I like. The other food items are multicultural with items like BBQ wings, tacos, pizza, and Asian BBQ sandwiches on the menu. 

The Brass Tap is located right off Highway 1 down the street by Starbucks and close to Marina’s Century Theatres with lots of parking and good eating. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France 

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German Celery Root Economics by Ruth Paget

German Celery Root Economics by Ruth Paget 

I have to admit that when I first saw sellerieknolle, celery root, in a grocery store outside Stuttgart (Germany) when I lived there for five years, my first thought was “Ew. What is this?” as I turned one over in my hand. 

Celery root looks like a bulbous turnip with splotchy brown skin. I did not buy it, but looked it up on various health sites at home and saw that celery root is rich in fiber; vitamins B6, C, and K; has several antioxidants that help remove free radicals that may cause cancer; and has significant amounts of phosphorous, potassium, and manganese. I read that its flavor is mild, has white flesh, and can be used like a potato when peeled. Celery root is also inexpensive – definitely a great value for what is in it.

Next trip to the Edeka grocery store, I bought celery root and put it in soup that I puréed with an immersion blender. I also ate it as part of restaurant meals during our stay in Germany. Recently, I found some German recipes using celery root in a Kindle cookbook called Hello! 365 Celery Recipes by Ms. Fruit for .99 cents. My favorite German recipes from this book follow: 

 Bayerische Schweinbraten (Bavarian Pork Roast): I first ate this meal in the town of Eschenbach outside the US military base in Vilseck (Germany) close to the Czech Republic border. The roast goes very well with Czech Pilsner Urquell beer. 

The recipe in the book calls for mixing mustard with seasonings like paprika and caraway seeds and spreading this mixture over the pork before browning it on all sides. Then, you sauté onions, celeriac , and carrots in the frying pan you used to brown the pork roast before adding them to the pork along with some water. 

You bake the pork roast for 2 ½ to 3 hours and make gravy with the baking juices and puréed vegetables, if you would like The result is fork tender. The pork roast I ate in Eschenbach came with sweet braised red cabbage and two large dumplings. I loved being able to eat a Bavarian Sunday lunch in Germany and having the recipe to recreate this delicious large family dish here in California. 

In Stuttgart, I did more mundane dishes with celery root like celery root and potato purée, which the cookbook makes with the addition of cream after boiling the vegetables. I add butter to this dish and cream, because fat helps ward off cold weather as I learned during my Michigan upbringing. 

Another winning recipe from this cookbook is Chef John’s Root Vegetable Gratin. A German secret is to sauté vegetables before putting into bake in a gratin. Chef John’s recipe calls for potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, celery root, and parsnips flavored with garlic, butter, chicken broth, cream, and Parmesan cheese. 

There is also a great recipe for Creamy German Potato Soup made with onions, carrots, celeriac, tomatoes, and potatoes that is blended till smooth with an immersion blender. 

Finally, a popular vorspeisen, appetizer, is made with celery root, onion, vinegar, sugar, and rapeseed oil. This simple recipe tastes perky all year round. I often ate this salad before eating pork medallion meals in restaurants. 

I would wholeheartedly say that Hello! 365 Celery Recipes by Ms. Fruit on Kindle for .99 cents is a terrific buy. Economical celery has multiple uses in many cultures, which Ms. Fruit documents well. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Creating a Historical Ghost Tour as a Gig Job Reposting by Ruth Paget

 A fellow alum from the University of Chicago created a ghost tour for her hometown of Cedar Falls, Iowa that might interest other entrepreneurs - 

Ghost Tour Article from UChicago Magazine

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying Francr

Prime Pork Chop Dinner at Pub's Prime Rib in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Prime Pork Chop Dinner at Pub’s Prime Rib in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

One of the best times of year to order a pork chop meal at a locals’ favorite restaurant like Pub’s Prime Rib in Salinas, California is October when the weather turns from very hot to very cool. 

This is the time when areas with strong animal husbandry traditions separate the spare, weaker hogs and cattle for slaughter from the animals that will be kept for breeding over winter. What this means for the consumer is the abundance of pork products in fall like brats, sausage, bacon, and pork chops. One classic example of how this seasonal abundance was used in Germany is the Munich Oktoberfest, which was started to celebrate a wedding with many guests. 

Pork chops made from freshly killed hogs are very tender and some say more flavorful than pork that is preserved in various forms to last throughout the winter. What is true for hogs is traditionally true for cattle as well. 

With that backstory told to my family, my husband Laurent, our daughter Florence Paget, and I set out for a delicious meal at Pub’s Prime Rib downtown. Pub’s was established in the 1940s, and I like to think that John Steinbeck ate there. 

Our favorite family writer, Florence Paget, and her dad began their meals with French onion soup that was full of savory onions with gruyère cheese melted over the top of the bowl and down the sides just like you see in French cookbooks. It was a golden delicious stew. 

I started my meal with a wedge salad made with cold and crunchy iceberg lettuce with lightly salted blue cheese dressing, chopped fried bacon, and chopped, succulent tomatoes from the blistering hot summer even in Monterey County. I like this salad, because it is a nice contrast in texture, taste, and cooking method – raw. Good appetizers are supposed to contrast in this way with a main dish. 

For our main dishes, Florence had the prime rib with baked potatoes and vegetables. Laurent had lobster ravioli. Both of these dishes came with a large dinner salad beforehand. Laurent ordered seafood in a month with an “r” in it, which the French say are good months for seafood due to colder water. Florence was getting prime rib from freshly killed October cattle. 

I ordered the pork chop dinner, which I considered a German hauptgeriichte, or main dish from elite cuisine: 

 -a one-inch thick, large pork chop that came with caramelized apples, roasted baby potatoes, and sautéed spinach in a rosemary-mustard red wine sauce. 

The pork chop was easy to cut and the lovely side dishes filled me up, so I did not order dessert, but the crème brulée and New York Cheesecake both looked tempting. 

Pub’s Prime Rib in Salinas, California is a cozy place for dinner with a full bar in front and a good choice of meat and seafood dinners. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Grown-Up Kid at Earthbound Farm in Carmel Valley, California by Ruth Paget

Grown-Up Kid at Earthbound Farm in Carmel Valley, California by Ruth Paget 

When my daughter Florence Paget was a child, my husband Laurent and I liked to take her to the pumpkin patch at Earthbound Farm in Carmel Valley, California, which features farm-to-table organic produce that you can buy or eat in the café. 

We would take pictures of her and buy two pumpkins – one to carve as a jack-o-lantern and one to use for roasted pumpkin seeds and soup. 

At home, I would cut a hole out of the top of one pumpkin and pull out the seeds that are entwined in slimy membranes inside the pumpkin. I separated the seeds from the slime and rinsed them clean. I put the seeds in a bowl and poured in peanut oil and sprinkled salt on them. I turned the seeds to fully coat them in oil and lined a baking sheet with parchment paper. 

I baked the seeds at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes to an hour depending on the color and tuned them once. Florence liked the crunchy seeds with a chewy inside. (I know I can buy these, but the roasted seeds project is a low-cost STEAM activity.) 

For the soup, I cut the pumpkin into eighths and roasted the pieces in the oven till soft. I cut between the flesh and skin and scooped out the flesh. I sautéed onions in a Dutch oven and added vegetable or chicken broth along with the pumpkin flesh and a potato for thickening. 

I let the soup boil for half an hour and then mixed it with an immersion blender till it was smooth. Florence and Laurent do not like pumpkin soup, so I ate it all. I like this savory version that is full of Vitamin A from the pumpkin and Vitamin C from the potato. Vitamin A helps with vision and the immune system and Vitamin C is an antioxidant. (This is another low-cost STEAM activity.) 

Now that Florence is older, she is the one who takes me to Earthbound Farm in October for lunch. I like the organic Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwiches with sweet, juicy, and bright red tomatoes; delicate baby greens; and lean bacon on grilled brown bread with a baby greens salad on the side. 

The vinaigrette at Earthbound Farms keeps people coming back for their spa cure – yellow Anne raspberry vinaigrette, which is full of antioxidants and makes salad taste like dessert - almost. 

I discovered a great drink to go with my lunch: Goat Rock Hard Cider made with rosé and passion fruit from Sonoma Valley. It registers at 6.7% alcohol and costs $6.50. It makes you pucker at first, but goes well with the raspberry vinaigrette. 

We had chocolate chips cookies and soft serve ice cream for dessert. 

The 2024 Pumpkin Patch Outing was fun for Big Kid Mom. 

Note: You can prepare butternut squash in the same way.  I also make savory carrot soup with this method.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Labyrinth Walk with Pastry in Carmel Valley, California by Ruth Paget

Labyrinth Walk with Pastry in Carmel Valley, California by Ruth Paget 

A low-budget cultural outing I used to do with my daughter Florence Paget when she was a child was to visit the free, outdoor labyrinth walk at the Community Church of the Monterey Peninsula. 

Our first stop on the way to the labyrinth was the Carmel Valley Roasting Company in the Barnyard Shopping Center. They pride themselves on fine coffee roasts and smiled when I requested a creamy and fatty latte. 

They had other beverages I liked that Florence liked as well, which include: 

-Rishi Chai Latte – a spicy black tea infused with what seems to be star anise and cloves. The spices made it seem sweeter than it was. This drink originated in Central Asia. I took some to work with me everyday when I sold Persian carpets in addition to Tibetan art and Russian icons to set the mood as an art dealer of the exotic and wonderful. 

-Ghirardelli hot chocolate – San Francisco’s primo merchandise was one of Florence’s favorites to go with a pastry. 

 -Mexican hot chocolate (probably Ibarra brand or Abuelita) – I knew chocolate originally came from Mexico, so I just had to try this for variety. Mexican chocolate is flavored with vanilla and cinnamon in the modern day, which makes it sweet and exotic and a perfect brew for the art gallery job where I also sold milagro miracle crosses. 

Carmel Valley Roast Company smells buttery and sugary – all good scents to go with strong coffee. Florence ate a plain croissant or a chocolate croissant. I opted for a large bear claw filled with marzipan, almond paste. I ate half of the bear claw and gave the other half to Laurent at home. 

With our provisions in hand, Florence and I would go down Carmel Valley Road from the Barnyard Shopping Center to the labyrinth located at the Community Church of the Monterey Peninsula. 

The labyrinth is a small model of the floor labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral in France. We would walk through it doing a pilgrimage in Carmel Valley with mountains on either side of us on the valley floor. 

Florence was young, but I did tell her that people still went on pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela in Spain. 

I was happy to teach a little church history as Florence munched on a croissant and drank Italian hot chocolate. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Pistachio Crusted Chicken Salad at Elli's Diner in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Pistachio Crusted Chicken Salad at Elli’s Diner in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I usually order Cobb Salad when I go to Elli’s Diner in Salinas, California on South Main Street. However, when I want a treat, I order Elli’s Pistachio Crusted Chicken Salad. 

Both these salads remind me of the kinds of salads you could get in fancy department stores when I was growing up like Hudson’s in downtown Detroit (Michigan) – now closed. 

For the Pistachio Crusted Chicken Salad, Elli’s rolls a flattened chicken breast in crushed pistachios and grills it before chopping it up into strips. 

These strips are then placed on a bed of mixed organic greens with chunks of Granny Smith apples, diced cranberries and cherries, sliced almonds, roasted onion, and goat cheese. Honey-mustard dressing and a slice of grilled flatbread come on the side. 

I feel like I am in a show biz entourage with a delicious and elaborate salad like that. If I sit in the glassed-in terrace, I could eat the Pistachio Crusted Chicken Salad with my sunglasses on and feel like a movie star myself at Elli’s Diner in Salinas, California. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Georgia Mountain Trout Amandine at Atlanta Fish Market by Ruth Paget

Georgia Mountain Trout Amandine at the Atlanta Fish Market by Ruth Paget 

You can enjoy fish from all the US including lobster just 15 minutes away from joint base Clay-Dobbins Air Force Base at the Atlanta Fish Market in the ritzy Buckhead neighborhood. 

My husband Laurent and I started our meal with raw oysters from Maine. Cold water supposedly creates the plumpest and most delicious oysters, which is why we chose the Maine oysters. 

The oysters arrive with seafood sauce and crushed garlic on top and a sauce mignonette on the side. Sauce mignonette is made with red wine vinegar and minced shallots. “Ette” is a suffix meaning “little” and “mignone” is a French word for “cute.” All together mignonette means “little cutie sauce.” I tried some with my oysters and thought it was great for dipping. 

For my main dish, I ordered Georgia Mountain Trout Amandine for $29. “Amandine” means the fish comes with sliced almonds that have been sautéed in butter. The almonds are spread across the top of the fish. The fish itself came with brown butter made with emulsified herbs and seasonings. 

The trout was served with thin green beans and whipped mashed potatoes and butter. Both vegetables soaked up the excess brown butter and greatly enhanced the fish. 

The local catch trout amandine and Maine raw oysters at the Atlanta Fish Market were delicious, rather French, and a great deal for Georgia’s Buckhead neighborhood. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Chinese Buffet Strategy at Chow King in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Chinese Buffet Strategy at Chow King in Marietta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

There is so much food available at Chinese buffets on the East Coast like Chow King in Marietta, Georgia that you need a strategy to navigate them, especially as they now have pan-Asian offerings like Vietnamese phô soup, Japanese hibachi grilled food, and sushi in addition to piles of Chinese fried and stir-fried food. 

People from the West Coast should know that before going wild on all the sushi that the white they see in the maki rolled sushi is not octopus, but Philadelphia Cream Cheese. I like sushi and cream cheese, but not together. I ate what I took, but will pass the next time I see them. 

For the buffet offerings, I have taken my cue from Chinese senior citizens about what to eat. Most buffets have mounds of seafood refried rice and lo mein egg noodles that I always head for. The seafood rice is made with seafood broth, which gives it a bright orange color. It is then refried with egg, peas, and carrots. I fill half my plate with this item. 

The other half of my plate I fill with lo mein egg noodles that have been stir-fried in peanut oil with soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sesame oil added at the end. 

On top of the rice and lo mein noodles, I fill ¾ of the plate with stir-fried broccoli, mushrooms, and carrots flavored with nuoc nam or nam pla salty fish sauces from Vietnam and Thailand. The remaining ¼ of my plate, I fill with tangy orange chicken, which I consider dessert. 

I do two rounds of this combination and then eat chocolate pudding for dessert. 

Almost all Chinese buffets have these delicious items like the ones at Chow King in Marietta, Georgia by joint base Clay-Dobbins Air Force Base. Chow King has five large rooms, plenty of parking, and air conditioning, which add to the reasons for trying Chinese food. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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The Italian Oven in Stockbridge, Georgia by Ruth Paget

The Italian Oven in Stockbridge, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

On a visit to joint base Clay-Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta (Georgia), my husband Laurent and I headed south of Atlanta to meet my sister and brother-in-law for a meal at the Italian Oven in Stockbridge.  

I knew I would love the Italian Oven when we entered and good scents of baked garlic and luxurious, warm Parmesan cheese wafted out from the kitchen. 

As soon as we sat down at our maroon colored booth for six, the waiter brought a large bowl of homemade bread with warm, grated Parmesan cheese on the edges and a plate of olive oil for dipping the bread in. 

I ordered meatballs as a starter. They were made with chopped sirloin, pork, Parmesan breadcrumbs, and eggs to bind it all together before baking. The meatballs were served in a marinara sauce made with tomatoes, garlic, and basil with mozzarella melted on top. Those were over-the-top good. I highly recommend them. 

Next, I had a Caesar Salad with a sharp dressing made with crushed anchovies, coddled egg yolk, and white wine vinegar. The salt in the anchovies tasted great in the sultry 90-degree Atlanta heat. This salad is highly recommended as well. 

I was pretty full by this time, but still ordered Mushroom Fettucine Florentine as my main dish. Florentine in a title signals that there will be sautéed spinach in a dish. The spinach and beefy mushrooms in this dish came with a sauce made with tomatoes and cream and juicy shrimp. This was another winner. 

I enjoyed this delicious meal in a friendly atmosphere. I would love to go back to the Italian Oven in Stockbridge on future trips to Atlanta, Georgia. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Walmart is carrying my book! By Ruth Paget

 Thank you Walmart for carrying Eating Soup with Chopsticks, my book about living in Japan as an exchange student in high school.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Laguna Beach Books (CA) is carrying my book!

 Thank you Lagunas Beach Books (California) for carrying Eating Soup with Chopsticks, my book about living in Japan as a high school exchange student.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Cajun Vegetables at Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen by Ruth Paget

Cajun Vegetables at Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen by Ruth Paget 

Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen is most famous for its deep-fried chicken sandwich combination meals, but I sometimes like going to Popeye’s for a spicy Cajun vegetable meal. 

Louisiana vegetable sides often feature an addition of spicy andouille sausage, whose ancestor is a mild andouille sausage from France. Andouille sausage from Louisiana is made with pork butt, garlic, salt, black pepper, and spicy cayenne pepper according to the Taste of Artisan website. 

This type of andouille sausage is added to a sauté of onions, green bell pepper, celery, tomato paste, garlic, cooked red beans, chicken stock and hot sauce to make a stew according to the Damn Delicious website. Once the stew is cooked, these beans are served alongside cooked white rice. 

Red beans and rice is a Cajun comfort food from the Louisiana countryside. I like to order it with a chilled coleslaw, a chopped salad made with cabbage, carrots, and onions with a cream dressing. 

Popeye’s also offers Cajun fries with cayenne-heavy Cajun seasoning and mashed potatoes with spicy Cajun gravy. 

Monterey County does not have a Popeye’s as of August 2024, but there are two locations within the Congressional district: 

-Watsonville Auto Mall outside Santa Cruz 

-Gilroy Cross Mall by Barnes and Noble outside San Jose 

I like exotic fast food at a reasonable price, and Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen is just perfect for this. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Calamari Steak and Sand Dabs at Woody's at the Monterey-Salinas (California) Airport by Ruth Paget

Calamari Steak and Sand Dabs Combo at Woody’s at the Monterey-Salinas Airport (CA) by Ruth Paget 

Woody’s Restaurant and Bar at the Monterey-Salinas Airport in California is one of my go-to restaurants for delicious and unpretentious food in Monterey, California. 

In August 2024, my family went to Woody’s and sat outside on top of the airport roof and watched planes come and go as Laurent ate the homemade pasta of the day, Florence Paget ate prime rib, and I ate calamari (squid) steak and sand dabs with thick cut fries doused in black truffle oil. 

Black truffle oil has a powerful aroma, which coupled with warm olive oil make heads turn to see who has ordered the French Mediterranean Diet dish. The grand arrival of my combo dinner merited lingering over each delectable fry. 

Sand dabs are the West Coast equivalent of Atlantic sole. The sand dabs are lightly browned in garlicky butter with a dusting of freshly cut Italian parsley. They come with a yogurt sauce and a tartar sauce for dipping. 

Both of these savory sauces taste good with the calamari steak as well. I read in Claudia Roden’s Mediterranean Cookery cookbook that Greek cooks slap squid against a wall for almost an hour to tenderize it. I do not know what Woody’s does to tenderize its calamari steak, but the result is tender and oozy with garlicky olive oil. 

The calamari steak and sand dabs combo with extra black truffle oil fries is a signature dish for Monterey and Salinas, because restaurants can easily obtain these high quality ingredients. 

This combo at Woody’s at the Monterey-Salinas (California) Airport will surely please seafood and fish lovers. 

By Ruth Paget, Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Malai Kofta Dumplings at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Malai Kofta at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I tried potato-cheese dumplings with creamy tomato curry sauce at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California and loved saying their exotic name “malai kofta.” 

According to Swasthi’s Kitchen website, malai kofta can also be called “paneer kofta curry.” Paneer is Indian white cheese. Kofta are paneer balls made into oblong dumplings at Avatar Indian Grill. Malai Kofta is a vegetarian dish served in a thick, creamy sauce called a curry. 

Malai kofta is from Northern India and belongs to a family of dumpling dishes common in Central Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Balkan cuisines according to Swasthi’s Kitchen website. 

The paneer dumplings are made with boiled potatoes, crumbled Indian paneer white cheese, spices, and herbs. Once the dumplings are made, they are served in a curry made of boiled onions, cashews, and tomatoes that is blended to make a purée and cooked further with heavy cream to thicken. The curry is seasoned with cardamom, cinnamon, and cloves. 

The curry tastes fine with plain white rice. I also ordered butter naan, Indian flatbread to go with my meal. For an exotic and tasty lunch, malai kofta from Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California is an excellent choice. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Thai Red Curry with Pumpkin and Artichoke Hearts at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Thai Red Curry with Pumpkin and Artichoke Hearts at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

One of the benefits of living in Salinas, California is that it is easy to eat organic produce in any cuisine, especially Thai dishes at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California on South Main Street. 

I love pumpkin and artichoke hearts and ordered these in a Thai red curry to go with jasmine rice. Both vegetables in this dish were simmered with the red curry to become silken. 

The red curry usually is made with coconut milk, ginger and garlic paste, lime leaves, Thai basil, brown sugar, and red chile peppers according to the BBC Good Food website. 

Ginger Thai allows you to choose the spice level in your dish. There are 4 levels with level 4 being numbing. I choose level 3 for my meals, because I like the tingling sensation that goes with the flavor. Level 3 I think is still too hot for people who like mild food. If you love the flavor of pumpkin, the milder spice levels might be more to your liking.  

At all spice levels, the red curry has Vitamin A and Vitamin C. The orange pumpkin has Vitamin A. Artichokes have Vitamin K. This great tasting dish obviously has a lot of vitamin power, too. 

Diners looking to vary their vegetable routine might be interested in Thai red curry with pumpkin and artichoke hearts at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California on South Main Street. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Modern Mexican Fare at Alvarado on Main in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Modern Mexican Fare at Alvarado on Main in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I tried two modern Mexican dishes at Alvarado on Main in downtown Salinas, California recently that might interest adventurous diners. 

The first dish I tried was a street corn salad. Street corn is roasted and called esquites in Spanish. The roasted kernels in this salad were mixed with creamy cotija cheese from Mexico. Then, the esquites was mixed with baby salad greens that Salinas is famous for. 

The corn was sweet and full of vitamin C while the cotija cheese had protein and calcium. All good things to go with the fresh salad as a vegetarian delight. 

I order salads, so I do not feel bad about the calories if I get in dessert. I decided to order dessert at Alvarado on Main and had a Mexican hot chocolate pot de crème pudding made with Ibarra chocolate. 

Whipped cream topped off the pot de crème with a liberal dusting on sugar, cinnamon, and powdered hot chile pepper. 

Powdered hot chile peppers are an acquired taste, but the peppers, chocolate, and cinnamon are all good antioxidants made sweet with sugar. 

These dishes can be served pretty quickly for lunch customers and are good take-out items. Both are more winning dishes from Alvarado on Main in downtown Salinas, California. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Scottish Cold Reliever by Ruth Paget

 Scottish Cold Reliever by Ruth Paget

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup whiskey

-Juice of 1 lemon

-2 tablespoons honey

Steps:

Heat until honey melts in the whiskey and lemon juice.

Drink while warm.

Be prepared to use the bathroom.

Source: McFarland Family - Arena, Wisconsin - Elizabeth McFarland - my great-great-grandmother

By Ruth Paget, author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Vegetable Green Curry at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Vegetable Green Curry at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

There is shrimp paste in the vegetable green curry at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California, which gives it a delicious salty and sweet flavor along with many vitamins. 

I consulted True Thai by Victor Sodsook to find out what goes into this perky green curry and loved everything, which includes the following: 

-coriander seed 

-shrimp paste 

-anise seed 

-peppercorns 

-minced Kaffir lime peel 

-cilantro stems 

-lemon grass 

-Siamese ginger

 -garlic 

-1/2 cup green chiles 

-lettuce 

To make the curry, you dry roast the spices first and then grind them in a food processor. The herbs are then pounded in a mortar and pestle and added to the dry spices in the food processor. 

Next, the garlic and shallots are crushed in the mortar and pestle and then added to the food processor. The shrimp paste and green chiles come next and are added to the food processor and whizzed. 

The lettuce leaves go in last to be processed, giving the curry its moist texture. 

Ginger Thai serves its warmed green curry with stir-fried eggplant chunks, zucchini slices, bell pepper squares, and peppery Thai basil for a pungent, spicy meal that is good at any time of day. 

The meal comes with rice so you can soak up every last bit of the delicious curry. Ginger Thai lets you choose the spice level you would like; they have four options. I like the third level, which is spicy. 

The vegetables in the green curry are soft-bodied and soak up oil in the stir-frying process. I like the silken texture the vegetables have, but if you prefer firmer textured vegetables, you might want to try the yellow curry, which comes with potatoes and carrots.

For a huge vitamin boost, I highly recommend the green curry with eggplant, zucchini, bell pepper, and basil at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California that really highlight the produce grown in the Salinas Valley in addition to tasting great. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and creator of the games Sommelier, Camembert, Vienna, and Senf

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Glowing Satay Chicken at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Satay Chicken at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I tried a delicious Bangkok street food called satay chicken at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California and thought I could make a meal out of double order of this appetizer with a side of jasmine rice and a salad. 

According to the cookbook True Thai by Victor Sodsook, skewers of flattened chicken breast get a full curry treatment to become these delicious appetizers with equally delicious dipping sauces. 

The chicken is first marinated in coconut milk, brown sugar, nam pla fish sauce, coriander seed, and panang curry made with red chiles, coriander seed, shrimp paste, kaffir lime slices, cilantro, ginger, garlic, and shallots. 

When satay chicken is ready to be cooked, it is threaded on skewers and then broiled or grilled. 

The satay chicken comes with two piquant sauces for dipping: 

-curried peanut satay sauce 

-spicy cucumber relish 

The curried peanut satay sauce is made with unsweetened coconut milk, peanut butter, brown sugar, nam pla fish sauce, and massaman curry made with chiles, cardamom, cumin, shrimp paste, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, lemongrass, ginger, shallots, and garlic. 

That pretty spicy sauce is a counterpoint to the spicy and hot cucumber relish made with white vinegar, brown sugar, cucumber, Thai chiles, crushed peanuts, and cilantro. 

All of the delicious curries that go into making satay chicken give it a lemon yellow glow and luxurious albeit easily gobbled taste. 

I love having satay chicken and Ginger Thai Restaurant close to home in Salinas, California. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and creator of the games Sommelier, Camembert, Vienna, and Carnitas

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#26 Best Sushi in US at Sushi Hut in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

#26 in US Sushi at Sushi Hut in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I just had to try Sushi Hut in Salinas, California when I saw that the sushi restaurant was named #26 Best Sushi Restaurant in the US according to a national YELP poll on a local TV station. 

Prior to visiting Sushi Hut, I had eaten sushi as an exchange student in Japan and as an organizer of the first Japan Festival in Chicago when I would eat sushi at Suntory and Hatsuhana downtown. 

When I walked into Sushi Hut in Salinas, I felt like I was in a neighborhood sushi place in Osaka, Japan, because most of the boxed, ready-to-go sushi was rolls or round maki slices that you find in Osaka. Oval-shaped rice mounds with raw fish on top called nigiri sushi typically come from Tokyo. 

Sushi Hut can make all kinds of sushi on demand for sushi (raw fish and vinegared rice) and sashimi (raw fish alone). 

However, I was so impressed by the boxed sushi at the entrance that my daughter Florence Paget and I focused on trying those on several occasions including the following sushi types: 

-California rolls made with a dark black nori seaweed wrapper, sushi rice, sesame seeds, avocado, cucumber, and crabmeat mayonnaise. 

-Rainbow roll made with a black nori seaweed wrapper, sushi rice, sesame seeds, avocado, crabmeat mayonnaise, cucumber, and for fish – raw tuna, salmon, shrimp, halibut, and yellowtail. 

-Spicy Shrimp with tuna and jalapeño pepper roll with a black nori seaweed wrapper, sesame seeds, butterflied shrimp, avocado, tuna, 1 jalapeño pepper, and a spicy sauce made with mayonnaise, chile powder, hot chile sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, scallions, and dried fish shavings. 

-Shrimp tempura roll made with a black nori seaweed roll, sushi rice, sesame seeds, deep-fried tempura shrimp, avocado, cucumber, crab meat mayonnaise, radish sprouts, and spicy sauce made with mayonnaise, chile powder, hot chile sauce, sesame oil, soy sauce, scallions, and dried fish shavings.  

-California creamy roll made with black nori seaweed wrapper, chopped tuna, and creamy sauce made with sesame seeds, rice vinegar, vegetable oil, sugar, soy sauce, and mayonnaise. 

-Crunchy roll made with a black nori seaweed roll, sushi rice, sesame seeds, avocado, deep-fried tempura shrimp, tempura crumbs, and eel sauce made with sugar, water, soy sauce, and mirin sake. 

Everything was fresh and made you feel like you were sitting at an ocean-side sushi restaurant. 

Note: For more information about sushi, diners might have fun consulting the following books: 

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Sushi by James O. Fraioli and Chef Kaz Satao 

Sushi for Dummies by Judi Strada. 

Sushi Hut is customer friendly and offers a wide variety of Asian soda, boba, and teas as well as chips. I like it that customers of all ages are coming in to try the 26th Best Sushi in the Country at Sushi Hut. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and creator of the games Sommelier, Thutmose III, and Bento.

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Grilled Shrimp Banh Mi Sandwiches at Saigon Noodles in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Shrimp Banh Mi Sandwiches at Saigon Noodles in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

Saigon Noodles in Salinas, California has a selection of banh mi sandwiches all priced at $9 as of July 17, 2024 that you can get with grilled chicken, pork, or shrimp. 

I like the grilled shrimp banh mi sandwich at Saigon Noodles. They grill the shrimp with the tail shells on for flavor. I remove the tail shells and reinsert the still hot shrimp quickly for a scrumptious first bite of this Vietnamese sandwich. 

Most Vietnamese restaurants can make their own mini baguetttes for banh mi sandwiches (a vestige of Vietnam’s time as a French colony). The mini baguette at Saigon Noodles was crispy and warm, which made its fillings taste very savory – full of umami flavoring. 

There were about 10 grilled shrimp in my sandwich that came with long strands of carrot, daikon radish, cilantro, cucumber, and one whole shaved jalapeño pepper. Slices of sweet onion with umami savory Maggi mayonnaise lined the baguette sandwich. 

The bread counters the hot pepper taste and made the whole sandwich taste like a surf and turf meal with just the shrimp. 

I thought this tasty sandwich was a terrific deal at $9 and was full of vitamins and minerals. 

If you want seafood at a reasonable price, the grilled shrimp banh mi sandwich at Saigon Noodles on North Main Street in Salinas, California might just be what you are looking for. 

Note: For more information on Vietnamese sandwiches check out: The Banh Mi Handbook: Recipes for Crazy-Delicious Sandwiches by Andrea Nguyen. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and creator of the games Sommelier, Bento, and Thutmose III.

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French Zucchini Tian Casserole Baked in a Lodge Pan Reposted by Ruth Paget

 This recipe for zucchini (courgette) works for Italian squash, too.

Zucchini Tian Casserole Video

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Anti-Oxidant foods that taste good reposted by Ruth Paget

 Anti-oxidant foods that taste good:

Antioxidant Foods that taste good

Reposted by Ruth Paget, authors Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Cosplay Casino by Ruth Paget

You do need some real money and a real casino to play cosplay casino.

You can wear all your Cosplay costumes and make foil wrapped, homemade bling for the occasion.

Recycling clothes and costumes is the name of the game.

Note: You can do Cosplay Bingo, too.

Manga authors can write stories that show how to play gambling games like roulette, backgammon,  and poker.

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

5-Spice Powder Shrimp Stir-Fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

5-Spice Shrimp Stir-Fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

I ordered shrimp vegetable stir-fry from Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California and knew from the wonderful aroma that the restaurant used 5-spice powder to make this dish. Golden Star combines 5-spice powder shrimp with thin, bite-size pieces of broccoli, cabbage, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms to make this delicious “food as medicine” stir-fry. 

5-spice powder appeals to the following Chinese flavor profile: 

-sweet 

-bitter 

-sour 

-salty 

-savory 

The typical 5-spice powder blend is made with the following ingredients. Several of these ingredients contain strong antioxidants that help remove free radicals that can cause cancer from the body:

-star anise 

-cloves 

-Chinese cinnamon 

-Sichuan pepper

 -fennel seed 

These flavors blend with the usual Chinese seasonings of fresh garlic and fresh ginger that go in with the peanut oil to start a stir-fry. The shrimp is then added and cooked a few minutes and followed by the vegetables. The hot oil draws out moisture from the shrimp and vegetables. The moisture is hot and is perfect to cook seasonings without burning them. 

At this point, many Chinese restaurants will add in a mixture of cornstarch and water to give the food a glowing sheen. Golden Star does not appear to do this, which I do not mind. The vegetables in the shrimp vegetable stir-fry I ate were bright and tender as they were. 

The nutrient powerhouse in this dish at Golden Star was the broccoli with Vitamin C (an antioxidant), potassium, and vitamin B6 (nutrition information from the USDA – US Department of Agriculture website).

Cabbage has large amounts of vitamin C as well (nutrition information from the USDA – US Department of Agriculture website). Carrots contain large amounts of vitamin A (from the WebMD.com website). Mushrooms contain antioxidants (from the Medical News Today website). 

What is nice about this highly nutritious 5-spice powder shrimp vegetable stir-fry is that it is very flavorful without being spicy hot. The Sichuan peppercorns in the 5-spice powder made the dish refreshing without the numbing heat that they are famous for. 

People trying Chinese food for the first time might enjoy this shrimp vegetable stir-fry at Golden Star Chinese Restaurant in Salinas, California on South Main Street. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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4th of July Salinas, Monterey County, and Monterey Peninsula 2024

Many ways to celebrate the 4th of July in Salinas, Monterey County, and the Monterey Peninsula in 2024!

July 4th Salinas, Monterey County, and Monterey Peninsula

Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Raspberry Jam Gravy Recipe by Ruth Paget

Raspberry Jam Gravy Recipe by Ruth Paget 

This is an American heritage recipe from my father Clarence Pennington (World War II Veteran) and Frederick McKinley Pennington (World War I Veteran). This recipe has been reprinted by Mark F. Sohn in his cookbook Appalachian Home Cooking: History, Culture, and Recipes published by the University Press of Kentucky (2005).  

My father always made homemade biscuits to go with the jam, but I use ready-to-bake biscuits to speed up the cooking process. 

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

 -1 can 12 ready-to-bake biscuits 

-1 stick butter (equals ½ cup butter) 

-1 (15-ounce) can raspberries with juice 

-6 tablespoons sugar

-4 tablespoons flour 

Steps: 

1-Put biscuits in to bake according to package instructions. While they are baking, make the jam. 

2-Melt the butter in a frying pan. 

3-Add the raspberries with their juice to the butter. 

4-Mix the sugar and flour together. They will not clump if they are mixed together before going in with the raspberries. Stir the flour-sugar mixture into the raspberries. 

5-Simmer the jam until thickened. 

6-Take the biscuits out of the oven when they are done, split the biscuits apart, and spoon the raspberry jam gravy over the biscuits. 

Eat the biscuits and jam gravy while they are warm with a strong black coffee. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Apple Duck Confit at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California by Ruth Paget

Apple Duck Confit at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California by Ruth Paget 

My family is not going to the Summer Olympics in Paris (2024), but wanted to honor this event and went out for a swanky French dinner at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains by San Jose. 

We began our meal with escargots (snails) that swam in delicious melted butter with pungent, freshly crushed garlic from nearby Gilroy and freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley. Snails are purged with white flour to clean their digestive tract, which makes them spongy, popcorn-like balls that easily soak up garlic-butter sauce. I like to soak up the leftover sauce with pieces of bread. 

As my main dish, I ate apple duck confit. Duck has a lot of fat and sautéing it in this fat makes it juicy with melted fat. Bordeaux wine is said to go well with confit. I did not order a glass of it, because the confit came with an applesauce to cut the rich flavor of the duck confit. This is a good dish for a designated driver. 

The apple duck confit also came with potato slices that had been fried in duck fat, making them dense and able to soak up sea salt. Crisp, steamed French green beans rounded out the meal for a refreshing finish. 

In place of dessert, I shared a cheese platter with my husband Laurent. We both love cheese and liked the well-aged cheese chosen for this platter: 

-roquefort from Averyron, France 

-pont l’évêque from Normandy 

-Brie de Meaux from outside Paris 

Eating at Chez Philippe is pleasant, and the restaurant sometimes has live jazz playing at dinnertime. (Check the website for jazz evenings.) 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Tea Lunch at Dim Sum Inn in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Tea Lunch at Dim Sum Inn in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget  

I first learned about tea lunch with bite-size dim sum dumplings made with seafood, pork, and vegetables in Hong Kong as a teenager before going on a 3-week study tour in the People’s Republic of China with the Detroit Youth Tour to China in 1979.

I loved it that the waiters in Hong Kong all spoke English and could tell me what the dim sum in the steam carts they rolled among the tables were. They also showed me how the billing worked by placing a red ink round mark on the bill with the number of dim sum taken of each kind. At the end of the meal, they would total up everything along with the tea and you would pay at the table. That was a first-class introduction to tea lunch with dim sum dumplings in Hong Kong. 

Dim Sum Inn in Salinas, California continues this type of positive intercultural food experience. The menu has a photo of each dim sum, which is sold 4 to a basket along with a description of what the dim sum is in English. The dim sum arrive in a waiter robot powered by a waiter in so-close-to-Silicon-Valley Salinas. 

My daughter Florence Paget and I shared the following dim sum and jasmine tea: 

-shrimp dumplings steamed in rice flour pastry shells that looked like small, squinched, clutch coin purses. The gooey rice flour pastry makes the shrimp inside retain its salty, sweet flavor, but the texture of the steamed pastry shell might put off people trying dim sum for the first time. 

-deep-fried shrimp balls 

-pork dumplings coated in creamy and spicy hot peanut and red pepper sauce from Sichuan 

-Chinese donuts that resemble long Mexican churro donuts. The donuts come with a super sweet dipping sauce. 

The dumplings at Dim Sum Inn are not bite-size like the ones in Hong Kong. It takes about two bites to eat the dumplings in this great deal restaurant in Salinas, California that has: 

-a large parking lot 

-a large banquet room 

-easy to understand menus with photos 

-vegetarian dim sum and lunch items 

-easy access from Highway 101 and Highway 68 

Dim Sum Inn in Salinas, California merits a detour as the Michelin guidebooks say. 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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