Trying Palak Paneer in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget

Trying Palak Paneer in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget 

On a recent visit to Ambrosia Bistro in downtown Monterey, California during the Pro-Am Golf Tournament at Pebble Beach, I tried the palak paneer, a spinach-tomato-onion curry that was mildly flavored for the first time. 

According to www.epicurious.com, palak paneer is an Indian dish made with cubes of fresh cheese and stewed spinach and vegetables and spices that becomes a mild curry. Spinach is full of iron, which is good for blood health and helps give you rosy cheeks. The calcium in the cheese is good for bone strength. The protein in cheese helps with muscle development. 

The epicurious.com recipe for palak paneer calls for turmeric (claimed to be a cancer fighter), garlic cloves, ginger, ghee (Indian clarified butter), pearl onions, coriander seeds, red chile powder, asafoetida powder (an Indian spice that tastes like mild onions), and chopped tomatoes (Vitamin C rich tomatoes are also anti-oxidants that remove free radicals that can cause cancer in the body.)

Those ingredients with chopped, stewed spinach, tomatoes, and onions create a mild curry that has further protein added to it when tomatoes combine with a grain product like bread or rice. 

I dunked vegetable fritters called pakora in the palak paneer curry, tofu masala curry, and butter chicken curry that I chose from the lunch buffet. I used naan flat bread for the remaining curry. 

As a final note, epicurious.com notes that if you cannot find paneer cheese, you can make this dish with firm tofu. The result would be vegan not vegetarian. 

Ambrosia has a spacious downtown location with an outdoor garden in downtown Monterey by the Casa Munras Hotel and one on historic Cannery Row. Both offer a bit of peace during hectic planned schedules.  

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Apple Lifestyle by Ruth Paget

Apple Lifestyle by Ruth Paget 

A Short Apple Lifestyle Memoir: 

I drank 

Freshly pressed apple cider 

With warm, plain donuts 

As a child on field trips 

In Detroit, Michigan. 

I ate 

Apple omelets 

As a teenager on field trips 

In Windsor, Canada 

I ate 

Apple slices 

For dessert 

As an exchange student 

In Osaka, Japan 

I drank 

Wassail 

Spiced with cloves and cinnamon 

As a college student 

At the University of Chicago 

I ate 

Tarte Tatin 

An upside-down apple tart with dollops of whipped cream 

As a DINK In Tours and Paris, France 

I drank 

Brut apple cider 

With galettes filled with ham, sunny side up eggs, and cheese 

As a BCBG 

In Nantes, France 

I ate 

Apple-chopped walnut coffee cake 

For kaffeklatsches 

As a young mom 

In Madison, Wisconsin 

I ate 

Sautéd apple slices With fried pork chops 

As a Navy mom 

In Norfolk, Virginia 

I ate 

Apfel strudel 

With raisins and chopped hazelnuts 

As an expatriate 

In Stuttgart, Germany 

I eat 

Organic applesauce 

As a writer 

In Monterey, California 

For all my apple reference needs 

I consult 

The Apple Cookbook: 

125 Freshly Picked Recipes 

By Olwen Woodier 

For savory and sweet dishes. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Chicken and Vegetable Recipes for Novice Chefs by Ruth Paget

First Try Pretty Good Recipes by Ruth Paget 

French chef Jacques Pépin’s cookbook Poulets et Légumes: My Favorite Chicken and Vegetable Recipes contains many recipes that novice cooks can get right on their first or second attempt at making them. 

Six recipes that stand out in this cookbook include: 

For chicken: 

-Roast split chicken with Dijon mustard crust – 

The hardest part of this recipe is removing the chicken backbone. You can see how this is done on youtube by typing “how to remove a chicken backbone” in the search bar. You will hundreds of choices to watch. Pépin serves this dish with mashed potatoes. 

-Chicken-African-style with couscous 

This dish is based on one from Sénégal. The chicken is marinated in an onion marinade that becomes part of the chicken stew. Couscous is served in a mound with chicken surrounding it. 

-Chicken and Rice with cumin and cilantro – 

This is arroz con pollo that is chicken wings stewed with diced tomatoes, garlic, ginger, and onions served on Carolina long-grain rice. 

For Vegetables: 

-Steamed asparagus in Dijon mustard sauce 

-Fricassé of Brussels Sprouts and chopped bacon - 

This is sautéed slices of Brussels Sprouts with chopped bacon. 

-Potato Gratin – 

The easiest things are often the best. Sliced potatoes baked in heavy cream with Parmesan topping. 

Novice chefs will appreciate Jacques Pépin for providing authentic recipes that work well the first time in Poulets et Légumes: My Favorite Chicken and Vegetable Recipes. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Poetry Workshop for Teens by Ruth Paget

Poetry Workshop for Teens by Ruth Paget 

I write nonfiction and read poetry to make my nonfiction stronger. When I was a youth services librarian I sometimes put together workshops to introduce young poets in Monterey County to library resources for their writing and to do some writing with them to do show not tell writing. 

Some of my notes for young poets follow: 

Use Your Five Senses 

-All good poetry and fiction writing uses the five senses to create feeling and mood that allows readers to see images in their minds.

-Using your senses allows you to show not tell your story or poem. 

-We’ll look at a few examples, so you can see what this means. 

Sense of Sound 

-The loud music was great. 

Versus 

-The rhythm throbbed

until my heartbeat pounded 

along with the drums 

making my house keys jingle.

-Which description makes you remember a concert better? 

Sense of Touch 

-I’m freezing. 

Versus 

-Ice needles sting my eyes 

water in my eyes freeze

burning my pupils. 

Wind cuts through my coat 

On my Chicago walk To School. 

-Which description makes you feel cold or imagine better what walking down a Chicago street would feel like? 

Sense of Taste 

-It tasted horrible. 

Versus 

My lips and jaw pinched together 

my throat closed 

my tongue arched 

against sugar on steak.

-Which description gives you a better idea that you do not like what you are eating? 

Sense of Sight 

-It was a beautiful sunset. 

Versus 

-Rays of pink 

shoot across the sky 

dividing the gray ocean 

from white clouds. 

The orange disc sank 

Through clouds and water  

-Which description gives you a better picture of what the sunset looked like? 

Sense of Smell 

-The dirt smelled. 

Versus 

 -Wet, dirty socks and 

cotton corn 

tickled my nostrils 

as I lay in the field by the house. 

-Which description makes you sense odor? 

Your Turn to Write 

-Think about the walk we did today. (I ran workshops after a walk outside.) 

-Write down 1 or 2 sensations you have about the walk for the following senses. You will use this data bank to write poetry from various cultures: 

-Sound: 

-Touch: 

-Taste: 

-Sight: 

-Smell: 

What is haiku? 

-A seasonal poem with the first two lines setting up a scene and a third one that relates something unexpected. 

-Traditional form: 

-First Line = 5 syllables 

-Second Line = 7 syllables 

-Third Line = 5 syllables 

 -Written in the present or now tense. Haiku 

Example 

-From Haiku Handbook by William J. Higginson 

-A haiku by Matsuo Basho (1644 – 1694) 

-English translation: 

The stillness 

Soaking into the stones, 

Cicadas cry. 

Write a Haiku or Two 

-Think back to your nature walk 

-Write a haiku in the “now” about something you experienced during the walk.  

What is a renga? 

-A Japanese renga is a party poem where one poet provides a lead line and the other poets provide lines until you run out of ideas. 

-Rengas can be serious, but they often become silly. 

Let’s Write a Renga

-Lead idea: Metamorphosis or change from one state to another. 

-How did you know you had morphed into a teen? 

-When I got keys to the car. 

-When I had to buy groceries for mom after school. 

-When dad made me clean toilets. 

-You get the idea from this. 

What is a ghazal? 

-Pronounced “guzzle.” 

-Ghazals are the poetic form used by the Persian poets Hafiz and Sadi and the Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. 

-The book Poetry for Dummies provides the following guidelines for writing ghazals: 

 -Every line must have the same number of syllables. 

-The ghazal is a series of 5 couplets (10 lines). 

-The first couplet rhymes.

-The poet’s signature (first name, last name, or both appears somewhere in the last couplet). 

-See the book for more details. 

Let’s Write a Ghazal -We’ll work on just one. They are hard. 

Try to put down 5 couplets, but break it down 

-5 couplets = 5 x 2 = 10 lines of verse 

-First couplets rhymes (10 lines – 2 lines = 8 lines to write) 

-Last couplet has your signature (8 lines – 2 lines = 6 lines to write) 

Just this brings you down to 6 lines in the body of your poem to work on. 

Write your first couplet and last couplet first and then fill in the rest. 

Parting Words 

-Poets often use metaphors such as “Love is a soaring plane.” 

Or 

-Similes such as “Love is like a soaring plane.” 

Metaphor = image picture 

Simile = an image picture using “like” 

Happy writing American bards!! 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Tips for Running a Bilingual Storytime by Ruth Paget

Tips for Running a Bilingual Story Time by Ruth Paget 

When I began to work as the Youth Services Librarian for the Monterey County Free Libraries (California), I looked up the census figures for Monterey County and saw that Hispanics represented 51% of the County and that this population was growing. I could also see that many children came from families where English was not spoken at home from the census.

I wanted to run bilingual story times, which would encourage Spanish-speakers to learn English and encourage English speakers and other children to learn Spanish as a job skill later in life. In business terms, those two goals were my Mission Statement. My Vision Statement was to get story times done in French, an Asian language, Italian, and German and other languages depending on demand. 

Songs teach rhythm, which is very important for oral understanding of any language, including English, and for making yourself understood when you speak a foreign language. You especially learn what is acceptable pitch in a foreign language. People usually do not want to buy things from salespeople, who sound like they are screaming. 

Songs with little exercise games help children learn to distinguish between right and left. Math and driving both need you to know the difference between right and left. These song-games build coordination as well. You are supposed to have finger plays with songs in story hours that go with a saying to help coordinate small-motor muscle movement in the hands. I prefer using art activities to develop small-motor muscle development, because most finger-play games use made-up vocabulary or are religious. 

Many people who do story time use puppets. The County did not have good puppets when I joined the county libraries and no stage, so I hired professional, puppet troupes to do puppet shows for the summer reading program. Professional puppeteers also know that children suspend belief when watching puppet shows; They are like television shows. 

Traditionally, puppet shows whether they be held in Java or Sicily, for example, had shows for the aristocracy where the children could learn etiquette and watch puppet shows about Roland the knight. The peasants got to watch Pinocchio by Collodi. 

When I ran the bilingual story time, I would give the song sheet lyrics on pieces of copy paper in English and Spanish. I let the moms who were there take the song sheets home, so they could sing these songs to their children at home and also learn English or Spanish. 

After songs, you read a story book or two, do some more songs with movement exercises, and an art project related to the books, so the children can remember the theme of the book and learn how to use items such as scissors, tape, paste, paints, and pencils. The best art projects also teach design and color coordination in addition to the use of basic office products. 

Children who go to story times and who are read to at home on a daily basis have an enormous advantage in number of vocabulary words they know when they go to kindergarten. They also know how to behave, so they can learn higher-level skills while other children are just learning the alphabet. (Spanish-speaking parents can use English-language audio books with their children and have them follow along with the text to learn English.) 

I went to story times at the public library in Highland Park, Michigan and at Bible School at my church on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings in addition to having my family read to me on a daily basis. I had a major problem when I went to kindergarten, because I could already read. My Chinese kindergarten teacher made me learn numbers and counting very well to stop disturbing class. 

Story times and summer reading entertainment programs are offered at 11:30 am usually, because that is the optimal time for children to absorb knowledge according to my former supervisor. I volunteered to do evening and weekend story times for working parents, but according to upper managers, the public was not interested, because families did sports and shopping on the weekends.  They were right.  I insisted on trying and no one came.

A good story time requires just as much planning as a lesson plan for children to learn anything in them. I have never believed in story time as “entertainment” or as a competitor for television, movies, and video games. And, certainly not a time to promote book tie-in merchandise displayed around the library, tie-in contests, and tie-in book bag choices in the library. 

If you want story time to be just fun, you can go to Chucky Cheese Pizza and play games to win stuffed toys. (Young children and teens should be viewed as minds to develop and not as a marketing group, who makes guilty parents buy them books to make up for not spending quality time with them.) 

The Monterey County Libraries had and probably still has one of the best collections in the country for doing bilingual story times. The books are located throughout its seventeen branches. Borrowers can request books from all branches online.

I used books similar to the ones below to do bilingual story times. You can use the Amazon “Look Inside” feature to help you judge, if you would like to buy these books, if they are not available at your library: 

Bilingual Song Books 

-The Bilingual Book of Rhymes, Songs, Stories, and Finger Plays by Pam Schiller, Rafael Lara-Alecio, and Beverly J. Irby 

-Pio Peep! Traditonal Spanish Nursery Rhymes selected by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Compoy 

-De Colores and Other Latin-American Folk Songs for Children selected, arranged, and translated by Jose-Luis Orozco 

Pre-School Games and Exercises 

-Unique Games and Sports Around the World: A Reference Guide edited by Doris Corbett, John Cheffers, and Eileen Crowley Sullivan 

-303 Preschooler – Approved Exercises and Active Games by Kimberly Wechsler 

Puppet Theatre 

-The Italian Puppet Theatre: A History by John McCormick 

-A Show of Hands: Using Puppets with Young Children by Ingrid M. Crepeau and M. Ann Richards 

Art Education for Preschoolers 

-Creative Art for the Developing Child: A Guide for Early Childhood Education by Clare Cherry 

-The Child Care Centers Management Guide by Clare Cherry 

A note on summer reading:

Some families do fun birthday parties for their children with pony rides, clowns, puppets, magicians, ventriloquists, musicians, artists who teach portrait drawing and cartoon drawing, juggling, English parlor games, etiquette lessons from around the world as host and guests eat lovely ethnic meals, self-defense sports demonstrations in sports such as karate and capoeira angola, and ballroom dancing lessons. Some families even teach old-fashioned ballroom dancing at these affairs.  

I planned activities like these for summer reading at the Monterey County Free Libraries to make summer reading a free summer camp for children and teens here.  Several of the programs featured bilingual entertainers.  It is fun and nerve-wracking to plan 130 shows like these in a six-week period, but I am glad I did it.

Finally, Two Theory Books about why Story Time and Summer Reading are Great Enrichment Programs for Youth:

-Play, Dreams, and Imitation in Childhood by Jean Piaget 

-The Bell Curve: Intelligence and Class Structure in American Life by Richard J. Herrnstein and Charles Murray 

-Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freyre

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Tortilla Making Failure by Ruth Paget

Tortilla Making Failure by Ruth Paget 

I could honestly say I had no culture shock when adjusting to life in Stuttgart (Germany) when I lived there except for on major drawback – no Mexican food. 

For a Californian, this is severe homeopathic withdrawal. I rely on Vitamin-C rich chile peppers, tomatoes, cilantro, and lime juice and sulfa-compounds in onions found in pico de gallo salsa to boost my immune system.  

Germany’s polar vortex winters convinced me to try making my own Mexican food. German bookstores do not carry English-language cookbooks. (They do have some tech ones I noticed on C+++ for designing apps.) 

I had a kindle and purchased Everyday Mexican by Rick Bayless to try and make an authentic Mexican meal at in Germany. German stores and the commissary on base did not sell tortillas. I turned to Amazon to order masa harina and a manual tortilla press.

I waited for these items to be delivered and reread the tortilla recipe many times. Finally, Laurent brought them home and said the mailroom people said, “You cannot live without those items in Germany.”

Masa harina is a corn meal that has been nixtamalized, soaked with calcium hydroxide and water and then rinsed. Nixtamalized corn becomes sticky so a corn tortilla can hold together with the addition of water before cooking without the addition of lard. (Flour tortillas use lard to hold together.) 

Using the directions Everyday Mexican, I patted out little balls of masa harina to press. I put plastic wrap on the bottom of the press and placed the dough on top. I put another piece of plastic wrap on top of that and pressed down. The ball went squish and stuck to the plastic wrap on both sides. I had obviously put too much water in the masa harina. On the next press, I dusted the bottom plastic wrap with masa harina and the top of the dough ball. That worked better. 

The tortillas were about ¼-inch thick, but I griddled them anyways. That is thick by tortilla standards, but I thought they looked sweet. I put them in a tortilla warmer that I had brought from California and prepared the taco toppings. 

I made my own seasoning for the meat with cayenne pepper and dry garlic from Gilroy, California. I grated allgäu emmentaler cheese (a local adaptation), shredded cabbage (a local adaptation with Vitamin C I found out), chopped tomatoes, chopped a mild green pepper, and put a spoon in the mild salsa I found in the snacks aisle at the commissary.  

The first thing Laurent said about the tortillas was, “These are thick. Are they cooked through?” I said I had tasted them and that they were good. 

Thanks to Rick Bayless, I knew that tortillas were versatile and had different names depending on shape and function, which I explained to Laurent as follows: 

“So, this chubby tortilla made into a taco is a gordita. If you keep the tortilla flat and put items on top of it, you have a tostada. If the tortilla is made into a boat shape with raised edges, it becomes a sope. If the tortilla is stuffed with beans and griddled, it becomes a panucho.” 

I would like to be a purist who always wants authentic food, but I learned to like the German tacos I made. The commissary finally sold Old El Paso hard corn tortillas, which I used, but I am glad I tried to make corn tortillas at home with Everyday Mexican by Rick Bayless. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Nopalito for Mexican Food by Ruth Paget

Nopalito for Mexican Food by Ruth Paget 

In 2024, I am sure many people in San Francisco have eaten at Nopalito Mexican restaurants, have read reviews of Nopalito restaurants in the newspaper and magazines, and have discussed its online reviews as if they were Parisians. 

I live in a small city about two hours south of San Francisco where not all the dishes described in the cookbook Nopalito: A Mexican Kitchen by Gonzalo Guzman and Stacy Adimando are available.  I would try all of Nopalito’s dishes that I suspect are popular in Veracruz Mexico on the Gulf of Mexico where Guzman grew up. 

Three dishes that I think look delicious and doable at home include: 

*Ensalada de Frutas (Fruit Salad with Chile Pepper and Lime) made with lime juice, orange juice, watermelon cubes, bite-sized melons, queso fresco (a Mexican cheese like mozzarella), spices and sauces made with sweet and mildly spicy red guajillo chile peppers and spicy, red arból peppers. 

*Ensalada de Nopales (Cactus Leaf Salad) made with dethorned, Nopale cactuas leaf paddles, salt, red onion, lime juice, tomatoes, avocado, cotija cheese (Mexican cheese like ricotta), and chopped fresh cilantro. 

*Panuchos de Pollo (Black-bean stuffed tortillas with shredded chicken) made with tortillas that are stuffed then fried or grilled. The panucho is topped with shredded chicken, citrus, achiote (a Mexican herb), pickled red onions, and spicy habanero chile salsa. Two or three panuchos can be eaten as a meal. 

For the moment, these items do not appear on menus in Monterey County, but this could change overnight as regional Mexican food is becoming popular. I filled three lined sheets of paper with names of Mexican taquerías in the city of Salinas alone. The Noplalito dishes might be here. I just need to visit all the taquerías to find this information out. 

Thankfully, if I decide to cook Mexican food at home, the Nopalito cookbook by Gonzalo Guzman is a good guide, because it shows how to make basic ingredients like corn and flour tortillas, Mexican cheese, and sauces. It is a great reference cookbook for this reason. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Whole Grains Revisited by Ruth Paget

Whole Grains Revisited by Ruth Paget 

The words “whole grain” on a package always prompt me to look twice at it to see if the product is really a whole grain product. I learned about whole grains in health and nutrition classes in junior high and high school classes in Michigan. 

My teachers emphasized that whole grains were good for maintaining weight and good health thanks to the fiber and nutrients in them. 

 As an older woman, I decided to review the health benefits of whole grains and looked at three websites that had information on them: Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins Medical School, and the Mayo Clinic. 

These sites identify a whole grain as being made up of three parts: 

-bran – the fiber-rich outer layer of a grain 

-germ – the cored of a seed where growth occurs 

-endosperm – the interior layer that holds the seed together 

Each of these three separate parts of grain contains nutrients that the Harvard site writes about in detail: 

*Bran Nutrients include: 

-fiber 

-B-vitamins 

-iron 

-copper 

-zinc 

-magnesium 

-antioxidants 

-phytochemicals  

*Germ Nutrients Include: 

 -healthy fats 

-Vitamin E 

-B-vitamins 

-phytochemicals 

-antioxidants 

*Endosperm Nutrients include: 

-carbohydrates 

-protein 

-small amounts of vitamins and minerals 

The sites all note that fiber helps lower cholesterol in addition to moving waste through the digestive tract.  

Whole grains do not have to be soupy porridges. It is possible to obtain whole grain benefits in delicious recipes like those in Betty Crocker’s Whole Grains cookbook, which has 150 recipes (available on Amazon Kindle). 

Three recipes that I thought looked delicious and easy to prepare include: 

-Summer Quinoa – Tomato Salad made with tomatoes, quinoa, red onion, garlic, basil leaves, parsley, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, and Parmesan 

-Tabbouleh with Garbanzo Beans made with bulgur wheat, tomatoes, green onions, bell peppers, cucumber, and parsley 

-Wild Rice with Cranberries made with wild rice, butter, salt and pepper, chicken or vegetable broth, mushrooms, almonds, and cranberries. 

Betty Crocker’s Whole Grains Cookbook contains a long list of whole grains for reference including several less common ones like amaranth and teff. Cooks interested in expanding their knowledge of whole grains would probably enjoy trying the recipes in Betty Crocker’s Whole Grains Cookbook. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Oaxacan Recipe for Success by Ruth Paget

Oaxacan Recipe for Success by Ruth Paget 

In Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico by Bricia Lopez, the family who created the Guelaguetza Restaurant in Los Angeles to serve the Oaxacan community there share some of their business secrets and many great recipes. (Pronounced “wa-ha-ca”)

Oaxaca is one Mexican state away from Central America on Mexico’s Pacific Coast. The Mexican state of Chiapas lies to the south of Oaxaca and next to Central America. The Mexican state of Guerrero lies to the north of Oaxaca and is home to the resort city of Acapulco. Oaxaca is famous for its Mesoamerican archaeological site of Monte Alban, mole sauces, and chocolate. 

The Oaxacan word guelaguetza that the restaurant is named for refers to the Oaxacan custom of sharing what you have with others no matter how much or how little you have according to Lopez. (Lopez notes that families keep track of the sharing through centuries in books.) 

Lopez writes that the restaurant’s owner found community through food and mezcal. His accountant told him that if he sold $300 a day, he would be profitable at year’s end. Lopez notes they made $300 the first day, $600 the next day, and $900 the day after that. 

The opening day menu had four items only: 

-mole negro – chile and bitter chocolate mole 

-mole estofado – chile and almond mole 

-tlayudas – very large Oaxacan tortillas 

-tamales de mole negro – wrapped and steamed corn masa that can have shredded chicken, pork, or beef with a mole sauce 

When the restaurant was reviewed by Jonathan Gold of the LA Times, business exploded. Eventually, Guelaguetza expanded to five restaurants, a money wiring service, and a newspaper. 

Moles have extensive ingredient lists. I let restaurants make them. When I order them, I make sure to also order frijollas de olla as a dip to go that I eat with tortillas or with salsa at home. Sometimes I warm a large tortilla, spread the tortilla with beans, place fried eggs on top, and spoon salsa on top of that with grated Swiss cheese to make my version of huevos rancheros. 

In any case, frijoles de olla are usually a good deal for your money. I order a large size and make it an appetizer for two meals. They are made with black beans, garlic, white onion, epazote (a Mexican herb), and sea salt. 

Another dish I have made that resembles a recipe in Oaxaca is huevos con nopalitos (eggs with cactus). I found the cactus in Wisconsin at a Hispanic market. I used the end of a vegetable peeler to dethorn the cactues, sliced it up, and sautéed it. Then, I scrambled eggs with tomatoes and onions and added the cactus to them. The cactus tastes like a tangy calamari steak. 

Tamales de mole negro are worth trying, if you can find them on restaurant menus or in Hispanic markets. Basically, these are steamed rectangles of corn masa with shredded chicken and mole negro spooned over the chicken with more masa placed on top of the chicken and mole. This rectangle of food is wrapped in banana leaves or corn husks for steaming and usually made 100 at a time. 

One of my high school friend’s mom made homemade tamales and told me they freeze well and heat up nicely in the microwave. Hispanic markets like Santa Fe can probably cater these for you for a first taste. I have even seen tamales for sale at Costco. 

The cookbook Oaxaca by Bricia Lopez has many great recipes and is also a good read for someone contemplating opening a Mexican restaurant or taquería. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Harvard is selling my book!

 Harvard Bookstore is selling my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks!  Thank you!  Veritas - thank you.

https://shop.harvard.com/book/9798638488505

Ruth Paget

Woody's at the Monterey (CA) Airport by Ruth Paget

Woody’s at the Monterey (CA) Airport by Ruth Paget 

On a recent visit to the Monterey-Carmel Airport (California) to pick up my daughter Florence Paget from a winter vacation in snow-bound Wisconsin, we decided to go to Woody’s, the upstairs bar-restaurant at the airport with an observation deck and indoor/outdoor seating. 

The suitcases came with us, and there was plenty of room to store them. Woody’s is set up to accommodate golf club suitcases for tournaments at Pebble Beach and other courses on the Monterey Peninsula. The region promotes golf tourism for all budgets. 

Florence was welcomed back to Monterey with a heaping dish of calamari as an appetizer. The calamari came with creamy tartar sauce and pungent cocktail sauce made with freshly grated horseradish. (I consider horseradish an elixir of good health.) 

We next ordered dishes featuring beef from the Harris Ranch northeast of Monterey by Highway 5. 

I had a cheeseburger that came with tangy cheddar cheese, 3 slices of thick-cut bacon, the Harris Ranch beef patty, lettuce and tomato, slices of red onion, pickled red onion, sweet pickles, and a brioche bun. I had pub fries and pepperoncino peppers on the side. The pub fries can be made into truffled fries for an extra charge. 

Florence ordered the patty melt, which came with the same vegetable additions for the burger with cheese on grilled and buttered rye bread. 

Sometimes you just want a cheeseburger, and Woody’s amply delivers on that. 

Woody’s will also validate parking tickets for up to two hours, so you can literally park across the street from the airport entrance and take the elevator or stairs up to the restaurant. 

Woody’s at the airport is a gem bar-restaurant that merits a detour on the way home from work for local commuters on Highway 68 for dining or take-out. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

10 French Antioxidant Foods by Ruth Paget

10 French Antioxidant Foods by Ruth Paget 

When I moved to France as a young woman, I was happy to learn that the French eat many antioxidant foods that remove free radicals that cause cancer in addition to drinking red wine, which they claim reduces breast cancer when combined with Camembert cheese. 

I still eat these foods in California where I live now to help with “digestion” as the French say: 

1-Homemade Yogurt 

I use a yogurt machine made by Mueller to cook 8 pots of yogurt. I buy Euro Cuisine Yogurt Culture from Amazon and add it to six Horizon organic whole milk packages to make my own probiotic yogurt. The cooked yogurt goes in the refrigerator overnight to further solidify. The taste of yogurt made this way is slightly sour and perfect with the addition of jam or fresh fruit. 

2-Maille Mustard from Dijon 

I make my own vinaigrette with Maille mustard (part red wine vinegar, 2 parts olive oil, and 2 parts Maille mustard). I use this vinaigrette on salads like the following: 

-baby greens 

-grated carrot salad -sliced tomato salad 

-tuna-black bean-roasted red pepper-black olive-pepperoncino salad 

-pasta salad 

3-Dark Chocolate Hot Chocolate for Breakfast 

4-Dry and Fresh Mushrooms 

The French eat mushroom quiche and sell it frozen at the grocery store. I tend to eat mushroom-cheese pizza in the U.S. as a quiche substitute. I also make mushroom soup and sauté mushrooms to go with steak. 

5-Pain d’épice de Dijon 

Gingerbread made with delicious spices sometimes called antiseptic such as cloves, ginger, and cinnamon.  

6-Carte Noire Coffee 

Coffee brand of strong Arabica coffee to sip after dining. 

7-Sauerkraut for Alsatian Flavor 

Sauerkraut with caraway seeds and seeds does taste really good with a cold wheat beer, hefeweizen.  

8-Curry Rice 

The French at one time had a colony in Pondicherry, India and have retained “curry” as a spice. Cooked rice with one teaspoon of curry and butter is a nice side with chicken or fish. 

9-Ratatouille 

A delicious vegetable stew made with olive oil, garlic, onion, eggplant, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, thyme, and rosemary. Ratatouille is excellent with baguette slices to soak up the cooking juices. 

10-Chocolate Mousse 

Mousse made with less sugar and more dark chocolate becomes a strong antioxidant. 

These foods have the added benefit of being delicious as well as good for you. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Eating Loco Moco in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget

Eating Loco Moco in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget 

Loco Moco, a Hawaiian dish, is my first choice on the Alvarado Street Brewery’s menu for breakfast or lunch with my family in Monterey, California. 

This California Brew Pub’s version of Loco Moco features a well-done Harris Ranch beef patty on top of a mound of bacon-fried rice. Shredded cabbage, grated ginger, and a fried egg sit on top of the beef patty. Bacon gravy covers everything. I like my fried egg over easy so that every bite of loco moco is unctuous and makes me forget about the calories. 

Loco Moco is a go-to dish in California as well as Hawaii, because California grows rice in the area around Sacramento north of Monterey. 

The Alvarado Street Brewery also makes excellent beer-battered, Pacific Cod Fish and Chips, pub-made pretzels, and pizzas in addition to brewing several kinds of beer, especially IPAs (India Pale Ales). 

The best thing about the Alvarado Street Brewery in addition to food is that it is a warm, welcoming place with music, regulars, and an outdoor beer garden. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Fish Tacos in Seaside, California by Ruth Paget

Fish Tacos in Seaside, California by Ruth Paget 

Tourists seeking local flavor at Googie’s Restaurant in Seaside, California (close to Monterey) might want to try the fish tacos. The Pacific cod used in the fish tacos can be broiled or deep-fried. I like crunchy extra calories, so I always get deep-fried fish tacos. 

The fish tacos come three to a plate with soft, corn tortillas, shredded cabbage, pico de gallo salsa, and fresh lime slices for squeezing. The pico de gallo salsa, pronounced “ga-yo,” is made with chopped tomato, onion, Serrano peppers, salt, lime juice, and cilantro. Its perky flavor ties the deep-fried Pacific cod and cabbage together with the savory flavor of the warm corn tortillas. 

Googie’s also serves traditional English fish and chips complete with vinegar in a bottle on the side. 

The restaurant’s location by the ocean and the Embassy Suites Hotel and Holiday Inn Express make it a great location for breakfast before touring downtown Monterey or shopping in Seaside. (Googie’s is in the Seaside Auto Mall for starters.) 

For Salinas diners, Super Pollo by Star Market also does great fish tacos with a creamy sauce.

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Vegetable Vindaloo in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget

Vegetable Vindaloo in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget 

Vegan visitors to Monterey, California might want to try the vegetable vindaloo at the Ambrosia India Bistro located in downtown Monterey by the historic Casa Munras Hotel and on Cannery Row. 

Vegetable Vindaloo is a dish from the southern Indian city of Goa, a former Portuguese colony. The website www.epicurious.com gives a recipe for pork vindaloo that covers the sauce or curry ingredients. I have left out the pork and list the spices below: 

The spices make the vindaloo curry hot, pungent, and delicious. Epicurious.com lists the following spices that go into a good vindaloo: 

-Kashmiri chiles which can be replaced by guajillo chiles 

-garlic 

-ginger 

-cinnamon stick 

-vinegar 

-sugar 

-tamarind paste 

-peppercorns 

-cumin seeds 

-turmeric 

-cloves 

 -salt  

The seasonal vegetables for a vegetable vindaloo are stir-fried in an Indian wok called a kadai. Ambrosia tends to always use potatoes, cauliflower, sweet red peppers, green beans, and onions in its vegetable vindaloo with additions from the 200+ crops grown in the Salinas Valley just east of Monterey. 

The spicy vindaloo curry tastes great with basmati rice. I order naan bread as well to soak up every last bit of the vindaloo. I like to think that the vegetables used in Ambrosia India Bistro’s vegan dishes are all organic and come from the Salinas Valley just east of Monterey. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Peruvian Cuisine Introduction by Ruth Paget

Peruvian Cuisine Introduction by Ruth Paget 

Peruvian food is not similar to Mexican food I learned as I read Everything Peruvian Cookbook: 300 Recipes for Fresh, Flavorful, and Exotic Dishes by Morena Cuadra and Morena Escardo. 

The difference in diet comes from the influence of more cultures being assimilated into Peru’s national culture than in Mexico. Cuadra and Escardo discuss the culinary contributions of Peru’s multicultural society as follows: 

*The Incan Diet of Ancient Peru 

 -The Incans ate a mostly vegan diet with eggs and dairy being taboo except for the ill -meat was eaten at celebration and religious rites 

-fish and seafood were good to eat and raw fish became what is known today as cebiche 

-On a daily basis, the Incans ate many carbohydrates such as potatoes, corn, quinoa, and kiwicha (amaranth) 

*Spanish Influence 

-The Spanish brought European food products to Peru that are now integral to Peru’s national cuisine such as rice, wheat, sugar cane, bananas, figs, dates, grapes, cilantro, garlic, onions, cows, goats, lambs, and pigs. -The Spanish had local farmers produce these items to save money and encouraged the eating of eggs and cheese called queso fresco, a type of Parmesan 

-Grapes went into the production of Peru’s national alcohol called pisco. 

-The Peruvians use onions and garlic along with native ají (chile peppers) to produce their base cooking sauce called aderezo. 

*The Arab Influence 

-The Spanish in Peru had recently freed themselves of Arab domination. However, some Spanish men brought Arab wives and servants with them to Peru who were considered very good cooks. 

-Empanadas, a small crescent-shaped pie stuffed with meat and/or vegetables is credited to the Arabs. 

-Very sweet desserts are also credited to the Arabs such as rice pudding and candied lime. 

*African Influence 

-Peru Imported slaves to replace Incans who had died. 

-Africans according to the authors used variety meats such as the heart and intestines to help economize. Many street stalls today sell items such as these. 

*Chinatown 

-When slaves were freed, Peru hired Chinese laborers to take their place as had been done in Cuba. -When the Chinese obtained money, they set up stores and street stalls that sold rice dishes. 

-The main Chinese contributions to Peruvian cuisine are ginger, scallions, and soy sauce. 

*The Italian Influence 

-At the end of the 19th century, Italians from Liguria came to Peru. The authors state that everyone in Peru now eats lasagna, gnocchi, ravioli, gelato, and panettone. 

-Salsa verde is Peruvian pesto. 

-Queso fresco, a white cheese, is Peru’s version of Parmesan. 

*Japanese Influence -Japanese farmworkers replaced Chinese farmworkers. -The Japanese brought their superb knife skills for sushi and applied them to cebiche, Peru’s raw fish dish cured with lime juice. 

After that informative introduction, I did read the 300 recipes, but thought trying Peruvian sauces is the best introduction to learn the flavor of the food when cooking at home. I chose the following sauces, because I thought they would go well with pasta, rice, potatoes, quinoa, sandwiches, some soups, or cooked fish: 

-salsa criolla made with onion, ají Amarillo (yellow peppers), lime juice, salt and pepper, olive oil, and cilantro. There is also a recipe for this with radishes. 

-scallion salsa criolla made with red onion, scallions, ají Amarillo, limes, olive oil, and chopped cilantro  

-black olive mayonnaise made with black olives, garlic, mayonnaise, roasted red bell peppers, and salt and pepper 

-avocado cream made with avocados, lime juice, scallions, ají amarillo, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and cilantro leaves 

-salsa verde made with vegetable oil, onion, garlic cloves, spinach, basil leaves, evaporated milk, queso fresco 

-scallion and egg dip made with vegetable oil, ají amarillo, sliced scallions, eggs, and salt and pepper  

-papa a la Huancaina made with ají amarillo, oil, evaporated milk, soda crackers, queso fresco, Bibb lettuce, potatoes, black olives, eggs, and parsley 

Cooks interested in trying a new cuisine might enjoy Everything Peruvian Cookbook by Morena Cuadra and Morena Escardo with its 300 recipes. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Bagels for Lunch by Ruth Paget

Bagels for Lunch by Ruth Paget 

Delivery has made it possible to avoid the lunch crunch lines I experienced as a young woman when I would wait in lines for sandwiches or cheeseburgers in Paris and Chicago. 

I was in line a few times when people would say at the counter, “I am still deciding” or “What comes on the cheeseburger?” These questions are innocent in and of themselves, but when asked during one-hour or half-hour lunch breaks now, they can create a tense atmosphere. 

I like how Bagel Bakery has reduced lunch line tension by using delivery and reserved take-out tables to reduce the number of people in line. Many people love toasty bagels, but it takes time to toast them correctly.  If you order ahead, you can avoid line rage. 

Some bagels I like from Bagel Bakery can be a little fragrant, making me want to eat them at home like the lox and cream cheese bagel. Lox is cured in salt water and smells briny like the ocean and tastes great. 

I also like authentic West Coast jalapeño-cheddar bagels with creams cheese with hot coffee and cream or a cold Starbucks mocha coffee, which Bagel Bakery sells. 

An office team ordering several bagels at once makes the delivery charge more palatable and gets everyone fed at once. 

A huge added plus is that delivery creates gig jobs that are taxed in California at least. Capturing money from the informal economy adds up and helps drivers pay bills with additional income. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Denver Omelets in Monterey County California by Ruth Paget

Denver Omelets in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget 

There are not as many Greek diners in Monterey County California where I live now, so I eat what I call Denver omelets at Denny’s. 

My local Denny’s calls their Denver omelets Mile High Omelets. (Denver is called the Mile High City, because it sits about one mile above sea level.) The staff and customers at my local are multicultural and like no-surprises American food just like I do to vary their diet. 

I like the take out and delivery options. Sometimes I just want to eat a Denver omelet while wearing sweatpants as I write, so I do use delivery, which always arrives with warm food. 

The Mile High Omelet at Denny’s, also known as a Denver or Western omelet, is made for people working in thin air at high altitudes. Diners at sea level like I am in Monterey County California know they might get a second meal out of their breakfast order. 

I am usually pretty hungry when I order a Mile High Omelet, which is made with three eggs and filled with ham, sautéed green peppers and onions, and melted Swiss cheese. The traditional side dishes that go with it include bacon, hash browns, and pancakes or toast. I put hot sauce like Cholula or Tabasco on the hash browns for added Vitamin C and sometimes order jalapeño peppers to go with the omelets. 

Denny’s offers a choice between toast and pancakes as a side. Between toast and calcium-rich buttermilk pancakes, I opt for the pancakes. I do not eat Denver omelets everyday, so I consider the pancakes a once-in-awhile dessert. I also tend to make the pancakes a second meal. 

Denny’s makes very good Cobb salads as well, if the Mile High Omelet might be too much to eat for you. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Guerrero (Mexico) Fare by Ruth Paget

Guerrero (Mexico) Fare by Ruth Paget 

Author Rachel Glueck offers an insider’s view of the Mexican state of Guerrero in her cookbook The Native Mexican Kitchen: A Journey into Cuisine, Culture and Mezcal. Glueck is married to an indigenous Mexican, who leads an Aztec dance troupe and runs a restaurant that serves Mezcal often made by members of his family. 

Guerrero is most famous for its resort city of Acapulco on the Pacific Coast of Mexico that heads south towards Central America. In Glueck’s introductory remarks, she notes that there are 65 indigenous groups in Mexico, that corn is revered for providing sustenance, and that the indigenous milpa cropping system grows beans, squash, chiles, and/or tomatoes together with corn. The milpa crops are all native to Mexico.  

The rest of Guerrero’s cuisine reflects the fusion of Spanish and indigenous foods. Pork and cheese, for instance, are of Spanish origin. The indigenous and Spanish ingredients come together in a dish of Oaxacan origin (Oaxaca is Guerrero’s neighboring state to the south) called a tlayuda, which people in Guerrero also eat. 

The tlayuda resembles a large, crunch tostada, but features asientos de puerco as a spread. Asientos de puerco is the settled fat from frying lard with remaining crunchy bits. I might substitute a salsa verde (green sauce made from Mexican green tomatoes) in place of asiento de puerco as a spread. On top of the tlayuda spread, cooks place refried beans, a shredded meat, lettuce, tomato, avocado, cheese, and salsa. The tlayuda is a filling dish made of simple ingredients that is enhanced with great salsas. 

Marge Poore, who wrote 1,000 Mexican Recipes, says that salsas are the distinguishing feature of Mexican cuisine. Glueck provides recipes for indigenous sauces that probably show up in Acapulco since they go well with fish or pork. Glueck’s sauce recipes are easy to follow and usually follow the pattern of sautéing vegetables, blending the cooked vegetables, putting the vegetables back in a pan to warm them, and stirring in the final ingredients like chunks of mango or pineapple. 

Glueck’s commentary on life in Guerrero often makes you overlook her recipes, but they are excellent and give an introduction to what indigenous food in Mexico is like.  

The following recipes might interest first-time cooks trying Mexican food: 

-peanut salsa made with peanuts, chiles, onions, tomatoes, and garlic cloves 

-salsa de piña made with pineapples for fish and pork 

-salsa de mango made with mangos and a favorite for fish or pork in Acapulco 

-tortilla soup made with chiles, garlic, onion, tomatoes, water or chicken stock, cream, cotija cheese, and avocado with garnishes like cabbage, avocado slices, and tortilla chips 

-pozole rojo soup from Jalisco (a state north of Guerrero) made with chicken breasts or pork leg, white hominy, corn, tomatillos, and chiles 

-esquites – Mexican street corn served with cream, cheese, chile powder, and lime 

-carnitas – Mexican pork belly braised with orange juice. 

 -liver and onions tacos 

The Native American Kitchen by Rachel Glueck has well-written recipes and is a good introduction for cooks who would like to make their first forays into Mexican indigenous cooking. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Feta Omelets at the Agora Restaurant by Ruth Paget

Feta Omelets at the Agora Restaurant by Ruth Paget 

A delicious memory I have of attending the University of Chicago is eating feta omelets at the Agora Restaurant in Hyde Park before going to study at the Regenstein Library. 

My college roommate was a Greek-American, so getting her to support the local Greek diner was no problem. We took the University bus to the nearest stop and walked the final few blocks. 

We were the steady diners, but three of our friends always tried to make it to breakfast, too. I warned them that if they did not come, we would talk about them. One of our male friends joined us for breakfast once and called us the female mafia. 

By the time senior year rolled around, we spent our breakfasts sharing job-hunting information. We were looking for work in different industries, which made it easier to share what we had learned. There was a recession in 1986 with fewer recruiters coming to campus. We were unhappy about this, but industrious about finding work nonetheless. 

I had found an international job in downtown Chicago doing informational interviews. I was a salesman at a translation agency that also did public relations work. (I eventually helped two classmates get work with the agency doing foreign-language narration and teaching/cultural consulting.) 

Since I was employed, I bought two extra pots of coffee for the table, so my friends could have abundant coffee refills as we talked about Richard N. Bolles’ book What Color is Your Parachute?, which counsels people on how to find dream jobs. 

We were all mortified that employment agencies downtown had typing skills tests. I told everyone to bite the bullet and learn to type 50 words per minute without a mistake; it could help with finding a job. Most businesses still used IBM electric typewriters in 1986 and were just beginning to introduce desktop computers to the workplace. 

The University of Chicago had “Apple” computers in the study halls, but companies downtown used all kinds of computers with Microsoft software being introduced. Knowing lots of software programs was an asset and hard to obtain. 

The tech change happening in 1986 was stressful. I credit the food I ate during this period of competitive and stressful tech change with keeping me strong, able to sleep, and willing to learn new ways of organizing and presenting information. Notably, I loved my weekly calcium-rich feta omelet with sliced, kalamata olives and roasted red peppers preserved in olive oil. 

Greek diners offer plenty of nutritious sides to go with omelets like this that I always ate including bacon, whole wheat toast with butter, calcium-added orange juice, and real cream to go with coffee. (In addition to dealing with technological change, I credit this meal with preventing me from having osteoporosis – weak bones – later in life.) 

After this robust breakfast, the female mafia would walk to the Regenstein Library like the “Reg Rats” we really were for a day of studying as we thought of dream careers and the reality of entry-level jobs. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Tex-Mex Food is a Community Asset by Ruth Paget

Tex-Mex Food is a Community Asset by Ruth Paget 

Smart Californians know that having a Tex-Mex taquería down the street with from-scratch food at reasonable prices is a community asset. 

That is how I feel about Michael’s Grill and Taquería in Marina, California. My family has been their customer for many years, but I think tourists to the Monterey Peninsula might also like their Tex-Mex food in a place with free parking out of the downtown bustle. 

Some of the dishes tourists might like at Michael’s follow: 

-La Playa Combo (The Beach Combo) with charbroiled shrimp, blackened chicken, a cheese enchilada with red sauce, rice, black beans, and warm flour tortillas 

-Quesadilla with carne asada (grilled think steak) – the steak is an add-on item to the folded-over large tortilla with melted cheese. This is like a grilled cheese sandwich. 

-House burrito – a wet burrito with green tomatillo sauce (Mexican greet tomato sauce) on top of a wrapped tortilla filled with charbroiled shrimp, blackened chicken, and Spanish rice with black beans on the side 

-large tacos with blackened chicken or charbroiled shrimp with chopped lettuce and grated cheese 

-street tacos for smaller appetites 

The ordering is taquería style. You place your order at the counter, pay, and receive a number on a stand to place on your table in the dining room. A server brings your food when it is ready. 

Michael’s is good food, good prices, and good people. 

The regulars know it is great, and first-timers might be pleasantly surprised. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Tomato-Black Bean Salad Recipe by Ruth Paget

Tomato-Black Bean Salad Recipe by Ruth Paget 

A vegan recipe for winter 

Serves 2 

Ingredients:

-1 (15.5-ounce) can organic black beans, rinsed and drained 

-1 (14.5-ounce) can organic, diced tomatoes with juice 

-2 tablespoons Maille mustard from Dijon 

-1 tablespoon olive oil 

-1 tablespoon red wine vinegar 

-1 teaspoon salt (optional) 

Steps: 

1-Mix the black beans and tomatoes with their juice together. 

2-Mix mustard, olive oil, and red wine vinegar together until they are homogenous. Pour dressing over the black beans and tomatoes and mix salad. 

3-Serve with pita chips or toast points. 

Source: Ruth Paget – Monterey, California 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Cannery Row for New Year's by Ruth Paget

Cannery Row for New Year’s by Ruth Paget 

Our family visits Cannery Row in Monterey, California to honor both John Steinbeck and Ed Ricketts. Steinbeck wrote the book Cannery Row that made the area famous. Ed Ricketts, Steinbeck’s friend and the character “Doc” in Cannery Row, is my fellow alumni from the University of Chicago, who wrote Between Pacific Tides with tide pools as a main character. 

The influence of both writers can be felt at the Chart House Restaurant on Cannery Row, which sits above the ocean with an excellent view of the kelp forest offshore in a dinner-only bar-restaurant, part of the nationwide Landry Restaurant Group. 

As you order your meal, you can watch sea otters twirling in the surf, dolphins diving in arches, white egrets hopping from kelp top to kelp top, black cormorant birds swimming in circles dodging waves, brown pelicans flying in lines and sometimes swooping down to snag a fish, and pudgy, tan-bodied Western gulls flitting about noisy white seagulls. 

It is easy to see why Ed Ricketts wrote about the ecosystem of the Monterey Bay here, and why it is worth reserving a window seat. The tiered seating in the restaurant, though, makes every seat a good one for bird watching. 

On our latest outing to the Chart House to celebrate December birthdays, I ordered kimchi calamari, which comes with a sticky, mayonnaise-like sauce that is not too spicy. My main dish was butterflied and deep-fried coconut-mango shrimp followed by coffee ice cream as dessert made without sugar. My husband Laurent and daughter Florence both ordered Monterey’s famous clam chowder, prime rib, and mango sorbet as dessert. 

Everything tasted great in the packed restaurant, which is a rave review all by itself. (Note – Landry has a loyalty card point program that works at all its restaurants. Ask the waiter about it. You can sign up online.) 

That was the birthday meal celebration. My husband Laurent and I came back for New Year’s Eve. Laurent ordered clam chowder while I had Caesar Salad with shaved Parmesan for starters. For our main dish, we both had broiled sea bas with a lobster Hollandaise sauce followed by Florida’s famous, tangy key lime pie for dessert. 

Our brisk walk in the salty air of Cannery Row from one end to the other took us past the restaurants for kids and teens like Louis Linguine, Gharardelli’s Chocolate Shop, Bubba Gumps, and Lalla Lounge. I am sure the women who worked in the sardine factories that Steinbeck made famous would love it that their grandchildren and great-grandchildren can eat tony restaurants like those in LA or San Francisco on vacation. 

When we reached the Clement Hotel (part of the InterContinental Hotel Group) near the Monterey Bay Aquarium where we were staying, we opened the window in our room and fell asleep to the rhythmic sounds of waves crashing on the shore while Florence and her friends may have been dancing at Sly McFly’s Night Club nearby. 

On New Year’s Day, Laurent and I ate in the hotel’s C Restaurant. The C is reliably great and serves posh kopi luwak coffee from Indonesia (priced accordingly). I could have just drunk that for breakfast, but ordered delicious eggs benedict and fried potatoes to go with it. Laurent ate an all-American breakfast of eggs over easy, bacon, fried potatoes, and rye toast breakfast with his kopi luwak coffee. From our window seat on the ocean, we could see seagulls circling. 

After breakfast, we went to Florence’s suite and drank some sparkling white wine for the New Year from De Tierra Winery in Monterey County. One of her friends proudly works at De Tierra – they are award winners.  

Laurent and I got the car from valet parking and drove home along the coast in Pacific Grove. Pacific Grove was teeming with people on a sunny New Year’s Day with glistening lapis lazuli water. I thought of John Steinbeck and Ed Rickett’s climbing on the rocks there and wading in tide pools looking for cute creatures from the deep. 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books