Veneto Cookbook Reviewed by Ruth Paget

Veneto Reviewed by Ruth Paget 

Veneto: Recipes from a Country Kitchen by Valeria Necchio offers its readers recipes from the inland countryside region around Venice called the Veneto. 

The larger towns of the Veneto are Vicenza (famous for its gold jewelry stores), Verona (famous for Romeo and Juliet), and Padua (famous for its university and the Scrovegni Chapel decorated by Giotto). These towns are surrounded by cornfields, which are harvested to make the region’s equally famous corn meal polenta. 

The country cooking of the Veneto can easily be made in Monterey County California with produce that grows in the county and the State of California. Some of the delicious dishes made in the Veneto include: 

-polenta with wild mushrooms and grana padano cheese For this recipe, you make polenta using the stove-top method and stir in grated grana padano cheese. (Grana padano is made in the Po River Valley and is similar to Parmesan.) 

When the polenta is done, you sauté mushrooms in butter and serve them on top of the warm polenta. 

-rice and pea soup (risotto really but like a sopa seca)

Risi e bisi (rice and pea soup) is made on April 25th for the Feast of San Marco, the patron saint of Venice. A grain with a pulse like peas is considered a protein combination, which makes this more nutritious than you would think. 

-rice and pumpkin soup 

For this recipe, the pumpkin is sautéed and then cooked stove-top in liquid till the flesh disintegrates. Then, the rice is added to the pumpkin broth for cooking. 

-bigoli with duck ragù sauce 

Bigoli pasta are whole wheat pasta that are usually associated with the cooking of the Veneto. Bigoli are fresh-made and thicker than spaghetti. 

In this recipe, a rich, long-simmered duck meat and fat sauce is served over hot pasta. 

-stir-fried dandelion leaves with pancetta 

This recipe is simple and delicious once you buy dandelion leaves. The leaves are sautéed with unsmoked Italian pancetta bacon. 

This cookbook is doubly useful for its listing of pantry items and cooking utensil listed for cooking food from the Veneto region. 

Readers interested in learning more about Italian food and culture will find Veneto: Recipes from an Italian Country Kitchen by Valeria Necchio a useful reference book. 

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

Venice: Four Seasons of Home Cooking Reviewed by Ruth Paget

Venice: Four Seasons of Home Cooking Reviewed by Ruth Paget 

Chef Russell Norman, who wrote Venice: Four Seasons of Home Cooking lived in Venice, Italy for 14 months collecting material for this travel memoir cookbook, owns the Polpo Restaurant in London, England and is the author of the Polpo cookbook as well. 

I enjoyed reading about his daily visits to Venetian markets for fish and/or seafood and produce and dashing home to prepare his treasures for lunch. 

He covers the changing market fare through the seasons, but I like 5 of his autumn recipes best, because they can easily be made with agricultural products from Monterey County California. 

These recipes include: 

-Autumn Celery Salad 

This salad is made with chopped and mixed shallots, celery stalks with their leaves, fennel bulbs, and comice pear with a dressing made of lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese on top. 

-Roasted Red Chicogy 

This recipe calls for splitting red chicory in half and brushing it with olive oil before roasting it and seasoning it with salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese. 

-Tuna, Radicchio, and Horseradish Crostini This bracing hors d’oeuvres is a toasted slice of bread with a chopped mixture of radicchio and tuna held together with creamy horseradish on top. 

-Gnocchi with Sage and Butter

Gnocchi are what I call dumpling pasta made with flour and egg and boiled. The gnocchi are flavored with a sauce of sautéed sage and butter. 

-Grilled Polenta with Wild Mushrooms and Garlic 

This recipe calls for grilled cooked polenta bars as an ingredient. It takes about an hour to make polenta from scratch before it can cool down into bars for grilling, so be forewarned about the time to make this recipe. 

Once you have made the grilled polenta bars, this recipe is a cinch to make. The mushrooms are sautéed in olive oil with garlic with chopped parsley added at the end and then placed over the polenta bars for serving. 

Readers who like travel memoirs and cooking will find much to like in Venice: Four Seasons of Home Cooking by Norman Russell. This book also interested me in dining at his Venetian-themed Polpo Restaurant in London, England. 

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

Smoked Norwegian Salmon and St. Germain Royale Cocktail Brunch by Ruth Paget

Parisian Vacation Brunch in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget  

For an après-Christmas brunch 2025, my husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I had St. Germain Royale cocktails with smoked Norwegian salmon.  

One of Florence’s Christmas gifts was a 400-page cocktails book, wo we had to let her practice a cocktail on us. She prepared a Veuve Clicquot cocktail with St. Germain liqueur made from flowery, white elder flowers. (Alone elder flowers have high amounts of Vitamin C, an antioxidants.)

I liked the St. Germain Royale cocktail and thought the sweet, effervescent flavor paired well with salty, Norwegian smoked salmon. 

Costco’s Kirkland brand uses farmed salmon from Norway that is smoked in the Netherlands the packaging relates. Laurent and I shared the package meant for four to six as brunch. (Florence had a taste and ate legs from a Costco rotisserie chicken.) 

The smoked salmon was tender and buttery in texture and had a delicate smoky flavor, which is what I like. I love fish in all its preparations including smoked. 

If you are someone who likes smoked fish, the Kirkland Norwegian salmon at Costco would probably be a welcome addition to your New Year’s celebration (price: approximately $24 per package). 

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

Authentic Monterey County California Lunch at Woody's in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget

Authentic Monterey County California Lunch at Woody’s in Monterey, California by Ruth Paget 

My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I ate an authentic Monterey County lunch at Woody’s Bar and Restaurant at the airport the day after Christmas that was healthy and delicious. 

The three of us started our meal with iodine-rich shellfish from the Monterey Bay Marine Sanctuary. Florence ate chunky, clam chowder with salty oyster crackers. Laurent ate a jumbo shrimp cocktail with piquant cocktail sauce made with horseradish. I ate a plateful of lightly fried calamari with creamy tartar sauce and tangy cocktail sauce. I squeezed lemon juice on the calamari for a zingy addition of Vitamin C. 

Seafood tastes superb in rainy, cold weather like the winter of 2025. I snuggled up in my sweater and hoody jacket and thoroughly enjoyed each bite of calamari squid. 

Laurent ate one of his favorite Monterey County meals as his main dish – sand dabs fillets sautéed in lemon-butter with mashed potatoes and steamed seasonal vegetables.

Florence ate a Cobb salad that Woody’s made with organic produce from Swank Farms and Country Store. The salad also had organic chicken and bacon from San Benito County. Florence likes Woody’s house made ranch dressing. 

I ate one Woody’s large, fork-and-knife sandwiches – the mahi mahi sandwich with citrus aioli, citrus-flavored garlic mayonnaise. Mahi mahi is fished from the Pacific Ocean and is also known as dorado and dolphin fish. 

Mahi mahi is a Hawaiian term for this predatory fish. Mahi mahi eat protein-rich prey like crab and other smaller fish. The flesh of mahi mahi is firm from hunting.  

Mahi mahi’s flesh is also white and readily picks up flavors in poaching water like onion. At Woody’s, the mahi mahi seems to be poached with water, onion, and olive oil.

The fillet is placed on a toasted Palermo bun with citrus aioli and lettuce and tomato. I added salt to the fillet along with dill pickle and red onion. 

The sandwich is too slippery to eat with your hands, but very delectable when eaten in bites with a fork and knife. I understand why the mahi mahi sandwich at Woody’s is a Monterey County classic dish. 

I ate the mahi mahi sandwich with sweet potato fries. Sweet potatoes grow in parts of Monterey County with sunny, warm weather and sandy soil. I always associate orange vegetables with Vitamin A, which is good for the eyes. 

For a terrific, authentic Monterey County lunch, the seafood and salads at Woody’s Bar and Restaurant at the airport in Monterey, California is a welcoming spot for travelers and locals alike. 

Note: With pineapple aioli instead of citrus aioli, this meal could equally be Hawaiian.

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

48th Santa Cruz Quilt Show on February 21 and 22, 2026 reposted by Ruth Paget

The 48th Annual Santa Cruz Quilt Show will be held on February 21 & 22, 2026 at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds.  

People entering quilts have to use the online submission form for insurance purposes. 

Details about the Santa Cruz Quilt Show can be found on the Monterey County Weekly Online Community Calendar below:

https://www.montereycountynow.com/events/#/details/48th-annual-quilt-show/17696045/2026-02-21T10

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

Parma (Italy): A Capital of European Gastronomy Reviewed by Ruth Paget

Parma (Italy): A Capital of European Gastronomy Reviewed by Ruth Paget 

Giuliano Bugialli wrote Parma: A Capital of European Gastronomy to firmly establish this small town in the Po River Valley between the Appenine Mountains in Northern Italy as a destination-worthy tour stop for outstanding food in Parma and its surrounding Emilia-Romagana region. 

Eight luxury food items assure work and healthy food for its inhabitants in this region:  

1-Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese 

2-Prosciutto di Parma 

3-Butter from Parma 

4-Balsamic vinegar from Modena 

5-Mostarda di Cremona – fruit mustard 

6-handmade, fresh egg ribbon pasta like tagliatelle 

7-handmade, fresh egg stuffed pasta like tortellini and anolini 

8-ragù sauce made from slow-cooked meat with tomato sauce 

Bugialli intersperses the cookbook’s well-written recipes with cultural photo essays about food and the people who have influenced the region’s diet with essays on the following: 

-parmagiano-reggiano cheese production 

-Parma and Duchess Maria Luigia, who was Napoleon Bonaparte’s second wife 

-Crosetti di Bedonia – flat pasta discs that are stamped with a family’s crest for events like weddings

-prosciutto di Parma production 

-pork and its various cured meats production including a meat map to show where cured meats come from on a pig 

Bugialli states that most recipes from this region are simple, but make use of its outstanding food products to create rich flavors. 

Some examples of recipes that make great use of Parmesan cheese, for example, include:

-creamy rice soup 

-Swiss chard gnocchi 

-cardoon casserole (cardoons are related to leeks) 

-fennel casserole 

Readers interest in using a limited amount of high quality ingredients to produce healthy and delicious food would probably enjoy reading Giuliano Bugialli’s Parma: Capital of European Gastronomy along with restaurant workers. 

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

Foods of Tuscany Reviewed by Ruth Paget

Foods of Tuscany Reviewed by Ruth Paget 

Giuliano Bugialli’s Foods of Tuscany provides several recipes that could be catered for large-scale events like the centuries’ old Siennese Palio Horse Race that draws Italian and European tourists to the small town of Sienna for a big financial impact. 

The Palio Horse Race in Sienna pits riders from the city’s various quarters against each other that brings money in various ways to tiny Sienna: 

-elite seating tickets 

-general seating tickets 

-hotels 

-catering 

-drivers 

-security 

-restaurants 

-bars

-transportation to and from the event via:

-taxi 

-car entals

-limousine 

-car 

-train 

-bus 

-airplane 

-souvenir sales, including: sunglasses, caps, T-shirts, programs, books, postcards, greeting cards, pens, phone covers

-advertising, including billboards, radio, internet, television, movie ads, newspaper ads, posters, coupons

Bugialli provides photo essays on other cultural events that are big money makers for the Tuscany region as well: 

-regata di San Ragieri – a yacht palio 

-sheep milk production of pecorino cheese 

Four of Bugialli’s recipes that cater well for large gatherings include: 

-herbed crostini

Crostini are usually toasted slices of bread topped with homemade condiments. In this recipe, various fresh herbs are chopped together with capers and hard-boiled eggs to make a perfect outdoor appetizer that goes well with white wine or beer

-Mugello-style Puréed Bean Soup flavored with fresh herbs 

-Orzo Pasta with Peas 

Orzo pasta looks like rice when cooked, but is double the size. 

-Pasta with Zucchini and Shrimp 

Bugialli calls for homemade spaghetti here, but you could probably use dry spaghetti for a large crowd. 

Foods of Tuscany contains well-written recipes, but Bugialli’s description of Italian festivals makes you think of the recipes in terms of catering for six to six thousand. 

Event planners, chefs, caterers, restaurant workers, and travel agents might all enjoy and benefit from reading Giuliano Bugialli’s Foods of Tuscany 

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

Foods of Naples and Campania Reviewed by Ruth Paget

Foods of Naples and Campania Reviewed by Ruth Paget 

I re-read Foods of Naples and Campania by Giuliano Bugialli to relive my vacations in Italy and find recipe ideas that would help sell produce and wine from Monterey County California where I live and California in general. 

I thought Bugialli’s following 4 luxury recipes could add money to some already profitable business sectors in California: 

*aceto de vino – red wine vinegar 

For this recipe, white bread is placed in a glass jar with red wine poured over. A cheesecloth is placed on top of the jar and let to sit for 25 days before using it. 

*peperoni all-aceto – sweet red peppers preserved in red wine vinegar 

For this recipe, roasted and peeled sweet red peppers are preserved in red wine vinegar with seasonings. The preserved peppers can be used as an antipasto. 

*limoncello – lemon liqueur 

For this recipe, lemons are suspended above grain alcohol in an enclosed container till a liqueur forms. Limoncello could easily be a Californian liqueur, too. Perhaps oranges could be used in the same way.

*finocchi al sugo – fennel casserole 

For this recipe, you cut fennel into eighths and sauté it with lemon, olive oil and garlic before simmering it in water. When it is done, you sprinkle chopped parsley on top. 

Bugialli also provides some food industry ideas with his cultural photo essays on: 

-open-air markets in Naples, including one for fish and shellfish by the port 

-dried pasta production 

-buffalo-milk mozzarella production 

For an informative read about Naples and its surrounding region of Campania and similar neighboring regions of Calabria, Basilicata, Apulia, and Molise in terms of cuisine, readers can use Giuliano Bugialli’s Foods of Naples and Campania as a reference for recipes. 

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

Apple Pie with Coffee for Christmas Dessert posted by Ruth Paget

People in California live in a state with lots of apples and is close to Oregon and Washington, which have tons of apples.  You can find pies for all budgets in California and it does taste good with coffee.

I did a sample product search at Nob Hill in Salinas, California  and found many apple pie options, which I listed below:

https://www.raleys.com/search?q=Apple+pie

After putting on a Christmas meal lunch, I left me pie and coffee in the late afternoon.  Busy parents might like this easy snack, too.

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

Tamale Making Workshop at Earthbound Farm on December 28, 2025 reposted by Ruth Paget

A Monterey County skill everyone should have is Tamale Making.

Tamales are usually seasoned chicken filled corn meal masa dough that is wrapped in corn husks and steamed 100 at a time.  They freeze well and can be reheated in a microwave.

I ate these as a teen in Detroit, Michigan with my Mexican-American friends.  I got to make bunuelos, fry bread with cinnamon-sugar, when I went to tamale lunches, too.

On December 28, 2025, there will be a tamale-making party at Earthbound Farm Stand in Carmel Valley, California.

Details about this food that is a big helper for working parents can be found on the link to the Monterey County Weekly Online Community Calendar below:

https://www.montereycountynow.com/events/#/details/tamale-workshop-with-chef-christina-lonewolf-martinez/17699025/2025-12-28T11

This is a great community tradition to continue.

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

Detroit (Michigan) Union Christmas Hors d'oeuvres Table by Ruth Paget

Detroit (Michigan) Union Christmas Hors d’oeuvres Table by Ruth Paget 

I went to many union Christmas mixer parties as a young person in Detroit (Michigan), because my mother was an elected union officer (usually recording secretary and/or trustee Union Printers’ Home in Colorado Springs, Colorado). 

The Christmas mixer was covert for next year’s union organizing I think in reality, but the mixer attendees kiddified the proceedings due to my presence. 

I was brought to the mixer, because I wanted to learn about politics and international affairs. My mother’s union included Canadian members (The union was named The International Typographical Union for printers now part of the Communication Workers’ of America.) 

Many of my mother’s colleagues were of Eastern European heritage and were heritage speakers of languages like Polish and Hungarian. During the height of the Cold War with the former Soviet Union, some of these people may have been recruited to translate in their heritage languages and maybe learn Russian in addition to their printing work. 

My mom’s colleagues made an “hors d’oeuvres table” for the mixer that resembled a Russian zakuski hors d’oeuvres table that is placed against a wall for easy replenishment.  It helps with crowd control, too.  You get your food there and then move out to the center of the room to mingle. 

The hors d’oeuvres table was laid out in three rows. The first row had china plates and white cotton napkins placed between the plates. You picked up a plate and kept the napkin between the plate and your hand. Under the plates was a sliced cheese hors d’oeuvres with a rye-krisp cracker square spread with mustard-mayonnaise and a rectangular slice of cheddar cheese on top. Two or three black olive slices sat on top of the cheese. (I think these were mock versions of Russian smoked salmon appetizers topped with sour cream and caviar.) 

The second row held a large bowl of baked, ridged potato chips. Above the chips was a large bowl of sour cream dip with French onion soup mixed in it. I still love this hors d’oeuvres combination. 

In the third row, there would be three-inch slices of celery stuffed with a mix of cream cheese mixed with diced pineapple. The sticky cream cheese was dunked in crushed walnuts to top of this crunchy delicacy. 

There was room for all these treats on my large plate; no small cocktail plates at the union Christmas mixer.

Next to the hors d’oeuvres tables was a cooler full of ice and mixed sodas. You had to balance the plate and soda in your left hand as you ate and drank. 

My mother’s colleagues joked with me about international affairs, “You have to have strong legs to do cocktail parties. There are never any chairs.” 

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

Holiday Hamburgers Fried This Morning by Ruth Paget

Ho Ho Ho!

The holidays are here.  I fried up 8 Omaha Steaks hamburgers this morning and pyrexed them to go with Caesar salad for lunches before Christmas.

Merry Mom is enjoying Christmas, too!.

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

Truffled Cheddar Cheese Holiday Nibble Suggested by Ruth Paget

Truffled Cheddar Cheese Holiday Nibble by Ruth Paget 

People who like the tangy flavor and dense texture of aged cheddar cheese might enjoy trying Modesto, California’s Fiscalini Farmstead’s truffled cheddar cheese as a holiday nibble. 

I bought Fiscalini truffled cheddar cheese at Nob Hill in Salinas, California and Petaluma, California’s Rustic Bakery Olive Oil and Sea Salt Flatbread at Star Market in Salinas as a handy wafer for the truffled cheddar. 

I like to eat tangy cheddar cheese with ale beers. Truffled cheddar has an earthy, tangy bite which I think would pair well with Belgian ales like Duvel (Flemish for “devil” – I drink these in mini versions) and Lindeman’s classic lambic beer. Georgia’s Blue Moon Belgian-style white ale would probably work with the truffled cheddar as well. Belgian ales are available for purchase at Total Wine in Sand City, California. 

This truffled cheddar snack and ale go well with shelled, walnuts to tone down the tangy flavor, which you can buy at Costco in Sand City, California. 

Happy last minute shopping for holiday snacks!

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

Foods of Sicily & Sardinia and the Smaller Islands Reviewed by Ruth Paget

Foods of Sicily and Sardinia and the Smaller Islands Reviewed by Ruth Paget 

I purchased Foods of Sicily & Sardinia and the Smaller Islands (Elba, Giglio, Capri, and Ischia) by Giuliano Bugialli after vacationing in the Sicilian city of Arcireale between Taormina and Syracuse when my husband Laurent and I lived in Stuttgart, Germany. 

Bugialli writes that Sicily has been at the crossroads of war and invasion for centuries beginning with the tug-of-war between ancient Rome and Carthage. Even Swabian Germans from the area around Stuttgart had been invaders of Sicily at one time. 

The Sicilians have developed a civilizations that is able to withstand misery, maintain cultural values, and eventually become rich enough to entice new invaders to chase out the old ones. I wanted to see what I could learn about survival in the 21st century from my trip there and used Bugialli’s cookbook to ferret out some great recipes and clues about how towns and lifestyle are organized in Sicily from the book’s photos. 

I chose the following four recipes to show how inventive the Sicilian are with vegetables, olive oil, lemons, oranges, red wine vinegar, herbs, and fish (California has all these ingredients and can do the same thing by the way.): 

*melanzane marinate (grilled and marinated eggplant) 

This dish calls for a marinade that will later double as a sauce. You marinate eggplant slices in a mix made with anchovies, garlic cloves, rosemary leaves, sage leaves, lemon juice, oregano, and olive oil. You then grill the eggplant and use the marinade as a sauce. 

*zucchini marinate (grilled and marinated zucchini) 

For this dish, you grill zucchini slices in olive oil and then let them marinate in a mix of olive oil, salt, basil leaves, mint leaves, salt and pepper, and red wine vinegar. 

*pesce all erbe aromatiche (swordfish or tuna fish marinated in aromatic herbs) 

For this recipe, fish strips are sautéed in olive oil and then marinated in a sauce made with mint leaves, verbena leaves, basil leaves, parsley, sage leaves, rosemary leaves, capers, oregano leaves, red onion slices, lemon juice, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. 

*insalata di arance (orange salad) 

This recipe is made with peeled orange slices laid out on a serving dish with chopped celery hearts and walnuts strewn on top of the orange slices. The oranges are then drizzled with olive oil and red wine vinegar and salt and pepper. 

In addition to well-written recipes, this cookbook provides cultural information with photographs about sheep shearing, the Vucciaia Market in Palermo, and the Sicilian cassata Easter cake. 

To enhance meals out to Sicilian restaurants in the United States or travel to Sicily, reading Foods of Sicily & Sardinia and the Smaller Islands by Giuliano Bugialli can serve as a great reference. 

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

Venetian da Fiore Cookbook Reviewed by Ruth Paget

Venetian da Fiore Cookbook Reviewed by Ruth Paget 

The da Fiore Cookbook: Recipes from Venice’s Best Restaurant by Damiano Martin has several recipes that are doable at home that could be served on the weekend or for a lunch with a Venetian Carnival theme or for a New Year’s Bal Masqué (Masked Ball). 

The recipes that I thought looked delicious and easy to prepare for a weekend lunch or party follow: 

*da Fiore Steamed Mussels made with garlic cloves sautéed in olive oil with chopped plum tomatoes, brandy, chopped basil leaves, chopped parsley, and salt and pepper -gratin of taglioni pasta with radicchio and shrimp 

-taglioni is a pasta that is thinner than spaghetti and made from eggs. Radicchio is a favorite lettuce-like vegetable in Venice that has a ball-like shape and red-purple leaves. Radicchio is bitter raw, but mellows with cooking, especially if mixed with Parmesan -

In this baked recipe, da Fiore calls for braising the radicchio and shrimp in butter with onion, white wine, and cream as a sauce. -boiled taglioni is placed in a baking dish with the sauce mixed in and Parmesan on top before heating. 

-this long description shows how much I love gratins! 

*pennette with sea scallops ad broccoli florets -In this dish, boiled broccoli is mixed with sautéed scallops to go with small tubular pasta cut on the diagonal and topped with Parmesan 

*spaghetti served with clams in a tomato-white wine sauce 

*whole wheat pasta (bigoli) with salsa made of sardines, white wine, extra virgin olive oil, and onions 

Finally, a dish I would leave to a personal chef or restaurant to prepare is pumpkin gnocchi with Parmesan, sage, and white truffles from Italy. (This dish just calls for extra dabs of butter.) 

Fish and seafood lovers as well as home gardeners will find many recipes of interest in The da Fiore Cookbook about Venetian cuisine in Italy by Damiano Martin. This cookbook also has dramatic, skyward photos of Venice that make it a nice coffee table book. 

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

Wonton Glass Noodle Soup at Chopstix in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Wonton Glass Noodle Soup Shout Out for Chopstix in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I learned to love wonton noodle soup when my sister K. worked at the Ho-Ho Inn in Detroit, Michigan and later when I would order it for take-out from Mekong House in Chicago, Illinois after work when I ate at home in the Marina City apartment building next door. 

Both the Ho-Ho Inn (Chinese) and Mekong House (Vietnamese) made delightful pork-scallion wontons soup. The dumpling wrapper was pinched together at the top to look like a little coin purse (so cute and delicious at the same time). 

It is pretty safe to say that I am predisposed to like wonton soup even before tasting it, but I really did like the wonton glass noodle soup made by Chopstix in Salinas, California that I ordered for delivery recently. (I like having a reasonable priced delivery option. I would have used this all the time when I lived in snowy and icy Chicago). 

The bottom bowl in the delivery kits was halfway full of transparent, glass noodles, which are usually made of mung beans. On top of these, Chopstix mounded up layers of steamed vegetables: broccoli florets, mushroom caps, slices of Napa cabbage, half moon slices of zucchini, thin slices of carrots with zigzag edges, and a few small slices of chopped onion. 

Over these vegetables and noodles, you use the second container of broth and wontons to pour over the pork-scallions wontons, shrimp halves, shredded chicken breast, and broth. For a large container of soup, there were easily three pours of soup to go over the noodles and vegetables. 

The broth itself tastes of onion, cilantro, and salt with the combined stocks of pork, chicken, and shrimp. I love flavorful, nutrient-rich stocks like these. Shrimp broth, for example, has calcium, selenium, protein, and antioxidants in it. 

For a robust comfort food soup, wonton glass noodle soup with vegetables at Chopstix in Salinas, California is pretty hard to beat. 

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

Pucker: A Cookbook for Citrus Lovers Reviewed by Ruth Paget

Pucker: A Cookbook for Citrus Lovers Reviewed by Ruth Paget 

Pucker: A Cookbook for Citrus Lovers by Gwendolyn Richards, a Calgary Herald food writer from Alberta Province (Canada), provides several recipes of interest for agricultural sales in places like California. 

The recipes that I thought looked especially interesting include:

-baked ricotta dipping pots with lemon and chives 

-shaved Brussels sprouts, shaved shallots, and chopped walnut salad with lemon dressing 

-chopped asparagus cubes (raw) with chopped green onions and sliced almonds with lemon dressing  

-roasted sheet pan lemon potatoes with garlic and oregano. After 15 minutes of baking, you add chicken stock and lemon juice to make the potatoes very tender. (A rimmed baking sheet would cut down on oven mess.)

-linguine with tuna and lemon dressing with arugula leaves mixed in 

Citrus lovers will enjoy the recipes for lemons, Meyer lemons (a cross between lemons and oranges), limes, and grapefruit in Pucker as well as chefs, busy young professionals, college students who like gourmet food, farmers’ market patrons, and world travelers. 

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

Chicken or Shrimp Caesar Salad Recipe Created by Ruth Paget

Chicken or Shrimp Caesar Salad Recipe Created by Ruth Paget 

Note: Alone a Costco Caesar Salad is a great value. You can serve 4 people a large salad with it for less than $9 in California. I use one as a part of more protein rich salads in this recipe also using ingredients from Costco. 

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

-1 Costco Caesar salad serving 4 to 6 people 

-4 (4-ounce) chicken breasts at room temperature 

-2 tablespoons olive oil 

-4 tablespoons steak seasoning 

Steps: 

1-Squeeze lemon juice on the Caesar salad and toss it to double up the volume of the salad. Sprinkle croutons across the top of the salad. Place salad dressing in a small serving dish alongside the salad. 

2-Heat a frying pan with olive oil in it on high. Add chicken breasts. Sprinkle with seasoning on both sides. 

3-Cook chicken for 15 minutes, turning several times to cook all the way through. 

4-Remove chicken from frying pan. Cut chicken breasts into cubes. Place in a serving bowl to go with the salad and dressing. 

Note: Coscto cocktail shrimp can be used instead of chicken in this recipe. Cut off the tail and cut the body in two. Place the shrimp pieces in a serving bowl alongside the salad and dressing. 

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

UNESCO names Italian Cuisine as an Intangible World Heritage reposted by Ruth Paget

Condé Nast Traveler just posted a story about Italian cuisine being named an intangible world heritage :

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/unesco-just-recognized-italian-cooking-as-intangible-cultural-heritage#:~:text=The%2520selection%2520is%2520a%2520timely,shared%2520moments%2520around%2520the%2520table.%E2%80%9D&text=Other%25202025%2520additions%2520to%2520the,See%2520UNESCO's%2520full%2520list%2520here.

I went to a book signing by Sophia Loren in high school in Detroit.  Like a lot of groupies I told her she was beautiful.

“I owe everything to pasta,” she replied.

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

Playing Classic Games to Create New Ones at the University of Chicago by Ruth Paget

The following transcript repost from CBS provides a peek inside the University of Chicago’s gaming lab:

https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/retro-bay-university-of-chicago-weston-game-lab/

Game on!

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

Halo Founder and UChicago Alumnus Interview reposted by Ruth Paget

Halo Founder and University of Chicago alumnus Alex Saropian interview at UChicago’s Year of Games follows:

https://news.uchicago.edu/story/trailblazing-halo-video-game-producer-advises-students-make-stuff

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

Mary Lee Sunseri - Big Kid Like her Too reposted by Ruth Paget

Mary Lee Sunseri is the Monterey Peninsula’s little kids’ entertainer that big kids like, too.

Her website information follows:

https://www.maryleemusic.com/

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

Charlesworth Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget - Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget

Charlesworth Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget – Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget 

I have used cemetery records for the most part to put together this mother lines genealogy project for all the great-grandmothers in our family trees. 

G1 refers to generation 1 and so on below: 

G1 – Florence Paget 

-daughter of Laurent Paget and Ruth Pennington 

G2 – Ruth Pennington 

-daughter of Clarence Pennington and Beatrice May Sawle 

G3 – Beatrice May Sawle 

-daughter of Frank Henry Sawle and Daisy May Bardsley 

G4 – Daisy May Bardsley 

-daughter of Edward Charles Bardsley and Etta Pearl Carpenter 

Born: April 25, 1905 

Died: April 14, 1984, buried in Arena Cemetery, Arena, Iowa County, Wisconsin 

G5 – Edward Charles Bardsley

-son of James Edward Bardsley and Anna C. Charlesworth 

Born: July 31, 1863 in Blue Mounds, Dane County, Wisconsin 

Died: July 31, 1949 in Black Earth, Dane County, Wisconsin 

G6 – Anna C. Charlesworth 

-daughter of Samuel Charlesworth and Elizabeth Catlin 

-immigrant to the United States 

Born: June 19, 1845 in England 

Died: December 22, 1912 

G7 – Samuel Charlesworth 

Born: 1814 in England 

Died: 1901 

He was a lawyer and Justice of the Peace in Dane County.

Note: Samuel Charlesworth’s wife was Elizabeth Catlin (1818 – 1905). She was born in England. 

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

Throop Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget - Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget

Throop Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget – Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget 

I used online cemetery records (Find a Grave) to develop this Throop family tree for my daughter Florence Paget and me. This Throop family tree is part of my mother lines genealogy project. 

G1 refers to Generation 1 and so on below: 

G1 – Florence Paget -daughter of Laurent Paget and Ruth Pennington 

G2 –Ruth Pennington -daughter of Clarence Pennington and Beatrice May Sawle 

G3 – Beatrice May Sawle -daughter of Frank Henry Sawle and Daisy May Bardsley 

G4 – Daisy May Sawle

-daughter of Edward Charles Bardsley and Etta Pearl Carpenter 

Born: April 25, 1905 

Died: April 4, 1984, buried in Arena Cemetery, Arena, Iowa County, Wisconsin 

G5 – Etta Pearl Carpenter 

-daughter of George Robert Carpenter and Phoebe Ann Throop 

Born: April 29, 1866 

Died: September 10, 1928 

G6 – Phoebe Ann Throop 

-Immigrant to the United States 

Born: April 20,1845 in Prescott and Russell United Counties, Ontario, Canada 

Died: February 8, 1935, buried in Black Earth, Dane County, Wisconsin Married: 1860 

May be related to Governor Enos Thompson Throop of New York. 

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

Sparkling Light Shows 2025 reposted by Ruth Paget

Monterey Bay Parent magazine has published and posted a round up of holiday light shows for the family including one at the Monterey Fairgrounds.

The Monterey Bay Parent article follows

https://www.montereybayparent.com/holiday-lights-on-the-monterey-bay/

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

Latinx Artist Amalia Mesa-Baines Information reposted by Ruth Paget

The artwork and scholarship of Amalia Mesa-Baines has had significant impact on the Central Coast of California.

Information about her presentations and how to purchase her artwork are available on her website below:

https://renabranstengallery.com/artists/amalia-mesa-bains/

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

First Night Monterey 2025 - 50+ Performances reposted by Ruth Paget

First Night Monterey is a family friendly New Year’s Eve Celebration featuring 50+ performances plus hands-on art to make from 3pm to midnight in Monterey, California.  

Information about First Night follows on their website below:

https://www.firstnightmonterey.org/

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

Chinese Lion Dancer Leonard Han reposted by Ruth Paget

Chinese Lion Dancer Leonard Han has performed at many First Night Monterey Celebrations.

His website below details his many skills:

https://leonardhan.pairsite.com/mb/about

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

Taiko Drummer Ikuyo Conant Information reposted by Ruth Paget

Taiko Drumming Japanese Performing Artist Ikuyo Consnt can be reached through the organization below:

https://actaonline.org/region/central-coast/

Ikyuo Conant and her troupe have performed at various venues throughout Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties and encourage active audience participation.

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

Rumsien Ohlone artist Linda Yamane on Centeal Coast Information reposted by Ruth Paget

Rumsien Ohlone artist Linda Yamane, who does workshops in the Monterey Area, can be reached through the organization below along with other artists who practice traditional art forms on California’s Central Coast:

https://actaonline.org/region/central-coast/

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

Sardi's - like Birthday Party at Pèppoli Italian Restaurant in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget

Sardi’s – like Birthday Party at Pèppoli Italian Restaurant in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget 

When I was a teenager, I religiously read Shirley Eder’s column in the Detroit Free Press about local, national, and international celebrities from all art fields, many of whom performed at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit. 

I especially like reading about casts from Broadway shows celebrating successful theatre runs by dining at Sardi’s in New York. 

For a Sardi’s – like birthday, my daughter Florence Paget and husband Laurent Paget took me to Pèppoli Italian restaurant in Pebble Beach, California, which has earned a highly coveted Michelin star for its food, wine list, service, décor including colorful and elegant Italian maiolicha ware, comfort, and details like having a fire going in the fireplace, white tablecloths, and muted light for nice photos. 

The scene was set for a delicious and leisurely meal for my birthday. 

We started with fritto misto, a mixture of lightly fried calamari, shrimp, thinly sliced leeks or what may have been cardoons, and thinly sliced, small Meyer lemons with a slightly peppery marinara dipping sauce on the side. I felt as if I were in Amalfi, Italy munching on fried lemons. 

Pèppoli has an extensive wine list, but I chose to drink a Peroni beer instead. Peroni is a pale lager made from spring barley, Italian corn, and hops. The Peroni website says it has a citrus flavor, but I liked the taste of grain that tasted nice with the fritto misto. It would also be a good choice for charcuterie. 

Laurent and Florence ate Caesar salads as a first course. I ordered polenta to go with my main dish and enjoyed sipping the Peroni beer as they ate. 

Florence and I ordered lasagna as our main dish, and Laurent ate pasta carbonara. The lasagna at Pèppoli is what I consider Bologna-style, because it is made with balsamella sauce (béchamel) and a ragù sauce made with tomato, chopped sirloin, and fennel-flavored Italian sausage. It is made to order with a perfectly crunchy topping of melted Parmesan cheese. Our waiter told us the lasagna was a signature dish at Pèppoli. I thought it was sumptuous and delicious for birthday mom me. 

Laurent is always happy with pasta carbonara made with pancetta, Parmesan, eggs, and salt and pepper. I made Laurent this dish weekly when we lived Stuttgart, Germany. It is easy to find great bacon in Germany. Pèppoli beats me, though, because they use house-made pasta in the dish. 

As a contorni, an Italian vegetable dish, I ordered polenta made from fine grain corn meal that has been stewed, cooled, and fried. The polenta arrived as elegant triangles standing up in a small pool of marinara sauce. The polenta was light and dainty, a definite mom treat for her birthday. 

Pèppoli is a great venue for birthdays, anniversaries, end of talent show parties for singers, wrap-up parties for theatre productions from Ariel Theatrical for young actors to Western Stage and Pacific Repertory in neighboring Carmel. Family reunion organizers might enjoy planning a catered meal here, too. 

My birthday with my family at Pèppoli Italian restaurant in Pebble Beach, California was marvelous in all aspects and a splurge as you would expect at a Michelin restaurant. It was worth every penny. Thank you Florence. 

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

Origami Paper and Folding Book for Stockings by Ruth Paget

Shout out for origami paper and a folding book as a small Christmas gift!  You can usually buy these for less than $20.

Doing origami projects together is a fun, family activity.

You can buy these at Michael’s or online at Amazon.

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

Trader Joe’s Big Belgian Chocolate bars can fill 3 stockings by Ruth Paget

Shout out for Trader Joe’s Belgian Chocolate bars that are the size of a paperback book!

One of these bars paired with a dessert cookbook would be a nice stocking stuffer.

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

Gingerbread House Wars White Flag by Ruth Paget

Gingerbread Wars White Flag by Ruth Paget 

I saw that Food Network runs a TV show now called Holiday Gingerbread Showdown, a competition about who builds the best gingerbread house often with a theme. 

I looked the show up online and realized this is becoming an established cultural phenomenon with events happening in places like Naples, Italy for military families and at Boston University. 

 I feel hopelessly left out of the competition due to lack of skills. When my daughter Florence Paget was little, we went to Cost Plus World Market and bought a gingerbread house kits. (4 different kinds of gingerbread house kits are available and on sale at Cost Plus World Market for $11.89 in Seaside, California with pre-baked panels, icing, candies, gummies, sprinkles, paper cut outs, and tray as of today 12-11-2025). 

Even with a pre-fab gingerbread house, my gingerbread house looked more like a log cabin than a snow-covered Hansel and Gretel cottage. 

Fortunately, the icing tasted good and the gingerbread was easy to chop up for sprinkles on ice cream. 

When Florence became older, one of her friend’s mom held gingerbread house decorating parties not competitions. My fellow mom knew how to make sticky icing that would hold gummies on the side of a house.

My testimonial on the gingerbread house kit is that it is fun to do as part of a larger activity. I would read the Gingerbread Man story book to Florence before building the house and have her work on a Gingerbread Man coloring book as part of Gingerbread House Day. I would play Christmas carols that we would sing along to as well. 

Now I would add watching the Food Network Gingerbread House Competition to this list of activities. 

The gingerbread itself is bitter, which is why I put chopped pieces in ice cream. It is also good dunked in tea with honey in it. 

We no longer build gingerbread houses, but if you have younger children, I would recommend doing one of the gingerbread house kits at Cost Plus World Market as a Christmas week activity.  Walmart and Target also sell gingerbread house kits.  Older teens might like Amazon’s gingerbread house kits - these kits prepare you for gingerbread wars.

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

Pecans, Walnuts, and Peanuts for Christmas by Ruth Paget

Pecans, Walnuts, and Peanuts for the Holidays by Ruth Paget 

When I was a child, my father always bought walnuts and pecans in a shell to snack on during Christmas. He sat on the window seats in our house in Highland Park, Michigan (an enclave of Detroit) and had me crush the walnuts and pecans in the holiday nutcracker. 

The nutcracker looked like a wooden cup that had a large wooden screw that you could turn into the cup through a grooved hole. The wooden screw eventually crushed one side of the nut well enough to pull it apart and remove the papery husks inside the nut. 

I did not like walnuts then, but enjoyed crushing the nuts in the nutcracker. I liked tipping the nutcracker into the garbage every use to clean things up easily. I realize now that my dad was being somewhat like Tom Sawyer getting me to do all the work while he munched away. 

One of the neighbor kids who was my friend also mentioned that I was doing a lot of work with nothing in return to my dad.  She then told him what her family had as treats. 

My dad sheepishly got me Fig Newtons, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, M & Ms, and Snickers Bars. 

I liked Halloween for Christmas and my opinionated, bossy friends in Detroit. 

(Note: I eat pecans, cashews, almonds, and walnuts now.  They are good with a sipped shot of Marsala.)

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

Holiday Treat - Butter-Pecan Ice Cream posted by Ruth Paget

Tillamook Butter Pecan Ice Cream Shout Out!

I really like this ice cream.  Needs no sauce.  Nice texture from soft pecans.

I bought mine at Nob Hill.  Great with espresso.

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

Versatile Cranberry Sauce Recipe by Ruth Paget

Versatile Cranberry Sauce Recipe by Ruth Paget 

Dave Faries’ article about cranberries in the Monterey County Weekly inspired me to write up my favorite recipe for cranberries. The Weekly article has historical information and gourmet recipes for this tart and bitter seasonal treat, which I have included in the hyperlink below: 

https://www.montereycountynow.com/news/cover/cranberries-sauce-up-thanksgiving-but-they-are-also-a-versatile-ingredient-the-rest-of-the/article_f331f22f-4903-4fe5-af76-ab4baf73a493.amp.html

When I lived in Wisconsin for 3 years, I made my version of cranberry sauce from cranberries that grow in Wisconsin as well as Massachusetts. 

My recipe has several uses. I would mix my cranberry sauce with yogurt for breakfast and as a sauce for vanilla ice cream. You can also add it to hot grain cereals like oatmeal, grits, or cream of wheat. It certainly pairs well with Thanksgiving turkey. 

Cranberry Sauce 

Yield: 12 ounces 

Ingredients: 

-1 (12 – ounce) bag of fresh cranberries 

-1/4 cup water 

-1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar or honey 

Steps: 

1-Rinse cranberries and discard any stems.  

2-Place the cranberries in a saucepan along with the water. Bring water to a boil. 

3-Let the cranberries begin to pop open and mash them down. This will take about 10 to 15 minutes. 

4-When all the cranberries have popped open, remove the cranberries from the heat. Stir in the sugar or honey and let it dissolve. 

The cranberry sauce can be used hot or cold depending on what you are serving it with. It can keep for about two days in the refrigerator. 

According to WebMd.com, cranberries provide 25% of Vitamin C for recommended daily values and 9% of Vitamin A and 6% of Vitamin K. Vitamin C is also an antioxidant. This tart berry is fairly healthy for your and plentiful in winter. 

I looked up cranberries on Nob Hill’s website and saw that their Raley’s store brand (12-ounce package) is selling for $3.19 as of today (December 8, 2025). I think this is a fair price for the amount of cranberry sauce you can make for several servings.  Making this cranberry sauce is a fun, family activity, too.

For more cranberry ideas, check out the Hello! 365 Cranberry Recipes by Ms  Fruit on kindle for .99 cents..  Information follows:

Cranberry Cookbook

Hoping you enjoy the cranberry sauce sometime this winter season! 

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

Carpenter Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget - Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget

Carpenter Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget – Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget  

My great-grandmother Etta Carpenter owned property in her own right in Wisconsin. This information can be found on platte maps in the Wisconsin Historical Society. Her family history illustrates westward European settlement of the United States. 

G1 refers to generation 1. 

G1 – Florence Paget 

-daughter of Laurent Paget and Florence Paget 

G2 – Ruth Pennington

-daughter of Clarence Pennington and Beatrice May Sawle

G3 – Beatrice May Sawle 

-daughter of Frank Henry Sawle and Daisy May Bardsley 

G4 – Daisy May Bardsley 

-daughter of Edward Charles Bardsley and Etta Pearl Carpenter 

Born: April 25, 1905 

Died: April 4, 1984, buried in Arena Cemetery, Arena, Iowa County, Wisconsin 

G5 – Etta Pearl Carpenter 

-daughter of George Robert Carpenter and Phoebe Throop 

Born: April 29, 1866 

Died: September 10, 1928 

G6 – George Robert Carpenter 

-son of Benjamin Carpenter and Elizabeth Eaker 

Born: September 7, 1841 

Died: July 8, 1887, buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Black Earth, Dane County, Wisconsin 

G7 – Benjamin Carpenter 

-son of Barnard Carpenter and Phoebe Avery 

Born: May 4, 1803, in Great Nine Partners, Duchess, New York 

Died: October 18, 1866, buried in Black Earth, Dane County, Wisconsin 

G8 –Barnard Carpenter 

-son of John Charles Carpenter and Ruth Horton 

Born: December 21, 1756, in Great Nine Partners, Duchess, New York Colony, British Colonial America 

Died: May 8, 1843, in Boonville, Boonville County, Oneida, New York 

G9 – John Charles Carpenter Jr 

-son of John Carpenter and Sarah Thurston

 Born: January 4, 1728, in Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America  

Died: 1804, in Milton, Saratoga, New York Note: He lived in Barrington, Bristol, Rhode Island in 1728 

G10 – John Carpenter Sr

-son of Benjamin Carpenter Sr and Renew Weeks 

Born: March 25, 1692, in Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America 

Died: 1766 in Massachusetts 

G11 – Benjamin Carpenter Sr 

-son of Joseph Carpenter I and Margaret Sutton 

Born: January 19, 1658 

Died: May 22, 1727, buried in Knockum Hill Cemetery, Barrington, Bristol, Rhode Island 

G12 – Joseph Carpenter I 

-son of William Carpenter and Abigail Briant 

Born: April 6, 1534, in Shalbourne, Wiltshire, England 

Died: May 3, 1675, buried in Knockum Hill Cemetery in Barrington, Bristol, Rhode Island 

G13 – William Carpenter 

-son of William Carpenter and unknown name mother 

-Immigrant to the US 

Born: 1605, in England 

Died: 1659, buried in Newman Cemetery, Providence, Providence County, Rhode Island, British Colonial America 

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

Bardsley Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget - Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget

Bardsley Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget – Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget 

My mother’s grandpa Bardsley lived with her family at the end of his life and loved doing crossword puzzles. He showed my mother Beatrice Pennington how to do them, and she still starts her day doing the newspaper crossword puzzle and the New York Times crossword puzzle on Sunday. 

G1 below refers to generation 1 and so on.

G1 – Florence Paget 

-daughter of Laurent Paget and Ruth Pennington 

G2 – Ruth Pennington 

-daughter of Clarence Pennington and Beatrice May Sawle 

-Ruth Paget was elected to serve on the Downtown District Citizens Council of Detroit, Michigan in 1982.  She resigned from office to attend college at the University of Chicago.

-Ruth's sister Kathleen has worked as a printer for the Atlanta Journal and Constitution daily newspaper.  

G3 – Beatrice May Sawle 

-daughter of Frank Henry Sawle and Daisy May Bardsley 

-My mother worked as a newspaper printer, most notably for the Detroit (Michigan) Free Press daily newspaper and various ethnic newspapers in Detroit. She was working for the Unique Press, which printed the Michigan Chronice, a black newspaper, when Rosa Parks sat down on the bus; the press was immediately stopped to cover the story. The daily Detroit newspapers were on strike at the time, letting the Michigan Chronicle scoop the story.

-Beatrice Pennington was part of the Detroit Free Press staff that was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1968 for General Local Reporting of the 1967 Detroit Race Riots.

-Elected to the Downtown Citizens Council of Detroit, Michigan

G4 – Daisy May Bardsley 

-daughter of Edward Charles Bardsley and Etta Pearl Carpenter

 -My grandmother worked as a newspaper printer 

Born: April 25, 1905 

Died: April 14, 1984, buried in Arena Cemetery, Arena, Iowa County, Wisconsin 

G5 – Edward Charles Bardsley

-son of James Edward Bardsley and Anna C. Charlesworth 

Born: July 31, 1863 in Blue Mounds, Dane County, Wisconsin 

Died: July 31, 1949 in Black Earth, Dane County, Wisconsin 

G6 – James Edward Bardsley 

-son of William Stevenson Bardsley and Betty Harrison 

 -Immigrant to the US 

Born: August 1, 1843 in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, England, UK 

Died: April 16, 1892 in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin (Lived in Black Earth and Springfield, Wisconsin) 

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

McFarland Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget - Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget

McFarland Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget – Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget 

My Scottish and modern-day Northern Irish ancestors were most probably Presbyterians when they immigrated to the United States, the national faith of Scotland and Northern Ireland. In Wisconsin, they are a famous family for founding McFarland, Wisconsin outside Madison.

I found most of the information for this virtual genealogy project in cemetery records, which sometimes differ from county records, because burials often happen after the filing of death certificates.

G1 here refers to generation 1 and on back through history. 

G1 – Florence Paget 

-daughter of Laurent Paget and Ruth Pennington 

G2 – Ruth Pennington 

-daughter of Clarence Pennington and Beatrice May Sawle 

G3 – Beatrice May Sawle 

-daughter of Frank Sawle and Daisy May Bardsley 

G4 – Frank Sawle 

-son of William Stephen Sawle Sr and Jeanette Scott Hodgson 

born: 1901 

died: 1996 

G5: Jeanette Scottt Hodgson 

-daughter of Jonathan Hodgson and Elizabeth E. “Lizzie” McFarland born: 1866 died: 1948, Arena, Wisconsin, Dane County

G6 –Elizabeth E. “Lizzie” McFarland

-daughter of George A. McFarland and Janett Scott 

born: January 8, 1840 

died: May 30, 1840 

G7 – George A. McFarland 

-son of Robert McFarland and Elizabeth Sinclair -settler of McFarland, Wisconsin born: January 22, 1802 in Hopewell, New York died: October 6, 1884 in town of McFarland, Wisconsin Note: Obelisk Tombstone Inscription reads Born in the Town of Hopewell, New York 

G8 – Robert McFarland Sr 

-son of James McFarland and Elizabeth Cooke (cemetery note in Hopewell, New York) 

 born: 1773 or 1776

died: August 2, 1859 buried at South Kortright Cemetary, South Kortright, Delaware county, New York 

(Note: Married Elizabeth Sinclair (1784 – 1860) in 1800.

G9 – James McFarland 

-son of Robert McFarland and Jennet (or Jenette) Scott 

born: c. 1675 in Scotland or Northern Ireland 

died: 1751 in Donegal Township, Pennsylvania (information online from will) 

G10 – Robert McFarland Immigrant from Northern Ireland to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (from will) 

By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France Died: in Donegal Township, Pennsylvania

Hodgson Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget - Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget

Hodgson Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget – Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget 

Among my Hodgson cousins there are many missionaries I was told by my great-aunt Winifred Sawle. She shared with me her sister’s genealogy of the Hodgson family when I was doing a family history project for my history class at Jane Addams Junior High School in Royal Oak, Michigan. 

I developed this genealogy for the Hodgson family using online public records. I am working on a mother lines project for both sides of my family. I am gathering facts at this point, but would love it if the older people in my family would write up their memories of the people they know to fill out the biographies.  

Genealogy morphs into oral history doing family memories. A great topic to discuss is how the family set up food systems for the family throughout history.  

Some ideas to consider when thinking about a food system are included in the following blog by the World Food Program.  https://www.wfp.org/food-systems  I am also proving a link to some detailed yet useful information from the National Institues of Health to consider about a family food system: 

 https://ods.od.nih.gov/HealthInformation/nutrientrecommendations.aspx

G1 refers to generation 1.

 

G1 – Florence Paget

-daughter of Laurent Paget and Ruth Pennington 

G2 – Ruth Pennington

-daughter of Clarence Pennington and Beatrice May Sawle 

G3 – Beatrice May Sawle 

-daughter of Frank Sawle and Daisy May Bardsley 

G4 – Frank Sawle 

-son of William Stephen Sawle Sr and Jeanette Scott Hodgson 

born: 1901 

died: 1996, Arena, Wisconsin, Iowa County 

G5 – Jeanette Scott Hodgson 

-daughter of Jonathon Hodgson and Elizabeth E “Lizzie” McFarland 

born: 1866 

died: 1948, Arena, Wisconsin, Iowa County 

G6: Jonathan Hodgson 

-son of Richard Charles Hodgson III and Jane Dixon Wright 

born: July 4, 1837

died: November 23, 1901 

G7: Richard Charles Hodgson III 

Immigrant to the United States in October 1845.

Born: 1797 

Died: 1881, Arena, Wisconsin, Iowa County 

Born in Barmston, East Riding of Yorkshire, Unitary Authority, East Riding of Yorkshire, England (Mentioned as Thornton, England in obituary) The obituary online also states that he was a Baptist who converted to Adventism) 

Ruth Paget note:  The Adventist Diet is important for the Sawle and Hodgson families and may be responsible for the longevity of Richard Charles Hodgson.  Information about this diet follows:

https://www.seventhdayadventistdiet.com/

Spouse: Jane Dixon Wright 

Born: 1800 

Died: 1875 

The following Clan Hodgson website brings “all things Hodgson” together:

https://www.thehodgsonclan.com/hodgson-origins

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

Sawle Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget: Virtual Genealogy Project by Ruth Paget

Sawle Family Ancestors of Ruth and Florence Paget by Ruth Paget 

I used online public records in the United States to put together this virtual genealogy project on my Sawle ancestors from Cornwall, England. The Sawles were famous as ship captains of Celtic origin.

G1 refers to generation 1. David Sawle wrote a genealogy of the family in England, which I will add to this first step of information gathering. 

G1 – Florence Paget 

-daughter of Laurent Paget and Ruth Pennington 

G2 – Ruth Pennington 

-daughter of Clarence Pennington and Beatrice May Pennington 

G3 – Beatrice May Sawle 

-daughter of Frank Sawle and Daisy May Bardsley  

G4 – Frank Henry Sawle 

-son of William Stephen Sawle Sr and Jeanette Scott Hodgson 

Born: 1901 

Died: 1996 

Frank Sawle’s sisters Elizabeth and Winifred were graduates of the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater and obtained teaching credentials.

G5 – William Stephen Sawle Sr 

-son of Captain Stephen Sawle and Margaret Dunn Rowe 

Born: 1858

Died: 1955 

G6 – Captain Stephen Sawle 

Immigrant to the United States. Entered the United States at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Settler of Arena, Wisconsin

Born: 1830, Porscatho, England 

Died: 1910, Arena, Wisconsin, Iowa County 

Spouse: Margaret Dunn Rowe 

Born: 1835, Tregony, Cornwall, England 

Married: January 29, 1857 in Cuby, Cornwall 

Died: March 1, 1909 in Arena, Wisconsin, Iowa County 

Margaret Dunn Rowe lived in Veryn, Cornwall and Gerrans, Cornwall before coming to the US with Captain Stephen Sawle. They entered the US at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

I will consult David Sawle’s genealogy for further information about the Sawle family in England. 

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

Pizza Stone Economics by Ruth Paget

Pizza Stone Economics by Ruth Paget 

One kitchen item that my family uses all the time and is very happy with is a pizza stone for baking frozen pizza. 

I have to admit that when my daughter Florence Paget bought the pizza stone I was not convinced of its worth. 

However, even after our first time using it, I noted that the crust on frozen pizza was crisp and crunchy and not spongy and soggy like it is when you just place the pizza on oven racks for baking. I also noted that when we used the pizza stone that the cheese on the frozen pizza was well melted, the tomato sauce was hot, and toppings like mushrooms were hot and soft. 

The crisp crust makes it easy to use a wooden pizza peel to slide the pizza off the pizza off the pizza stone and feel like a Neapolitan doing it. A crisp crust also makes it easy to use a roller pizza cutter. 

Eating frozen pizza cuts down meal costs. For years my family has eaten frozen vegetable pizza once a week. If you save even $5 a week on a weekly pizza night that turns into $260 saved in a year. (52 weeks x $5) 

The $260 saved can be used for holiday meals or invested in things like a family vacation and college expenses. This money does not pay for everything, but it helps. It can certainly pay for valet parking, if you go to Disneyland or a bus trip there for a high school graduation trip. 

A big added savings is using less energy to cook the pizza. I have noticed that pizza stones cook frozen pizza faster. I lower the temperature by 50 degrees F sometimes and can cook pizza at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, because the pizza stone retains heat and warms the entire oven. 

Energy costs are variable due to energy price changes, but if you save even $50 in a year cooking pizza at home, you can add that money to the frozen pizza savings of $260 to save a total of $310. 

My daughter Florence Paget bought a large pizza stone for $75, but you can buy them on Amazon and other cookware outlets for about $50 now. 

If your family eats frozen pizza on a weekly basis, the pizza stone will pay for itself in one year at either $75 or $50. It is also a good buy for flavor. 

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

Napoleon: A Life reviewed by Ruth Paget

Napoleon: A Life Reviewed by Ruth Paget 

Readers interested in the history that created modern France might enjoy the biography Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts (869 pages in Kindle version). 

Napoleon fought 70 battles and won 63 Roberts writes. Despite losing the decisive battle at Waterloo, the values of the French Revolution had become entrenched among the citizens of France no matter who later led the nation. 

Roberts enlivens the chronology of battles by writing about the generals who led them, many of whom later held positions of power when Napoleon declared himself emperor.  

Roberts writes about Napoleon’s military genius strategy of breaking up a large army into smaller units that could: 

-take advantage of terrain and microclimates 

-take advantage of battle victories that could break enemy lines into smaller units

-transmit communications quicker than larger units to obtain strategic objectives. 

I especially liked Roberts’ discussion of Napoleonic reforms that still exist in modern-day France such as: 

-the Légion d’Honneur, which French citizens from all levels of society could obtain 

-the Code Napoleon, the French legal code that France still uses as well as the state of Louisiana in the United States 

-the Lycée Français, or French high school, that also operates overseas as exclusive private schools notably in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco 

Roberts makes his biography of Napoleon read like a novel when he writes about Napoleon installing his relatives on thrones only to betray him and his mother who saves money in case relatives on thrones lose them so they have bread. 

Americans interested in Napoleon’s family might be interested to learn that his brother Joseph, the King of Spain, emigrated to the United States and lived in Bordentown, New Jersey. (See my blog on Bordentown, New Jersey for information about this town.) 

Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts is a very readable biography about a turbulent time in French history that francophiles and military leaders alike might enjoy reading. 

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

UChicago list of ethnic restaurants promotes business reposted by Ruth Paget

The linguistics department at the University of Chicago put together a list of ethnic restaurants in Chicago for its students that promotes business in general.  

Other cities and towns might be interested in making a similar list.

The website follows:

https://linguistics.uchicago.edu/notes-access-interesting-food-chicago

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

First QR Code Donation today by Ruth Paget

I made my first donation today using a QR code to Youth for Understanding exchange program for its scholarship fund.

To use a QR code, you open the camera function on your phone and aim it at the square code.  Guidelines surround the code.  You snap a photo.  An oblong bar will appear on your screen.  Tap the bar and you will be taken to your donation page.

Once there, you can see the monetary goal and amount raised so far as well as credit card information.

Once you donate, you can request a receipt.

I liked not having to type a long web address and liked having the donation going in immediately.

For information about YFU, check out their website.

https://yfuusa.org

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

Virtual Genealogy Project (Pennington Family) for Ruth Paget by Ruth Paget

Virtual Genealogy Project (Pennington Family) for Ruth Paget and Florence Paget by Ruth Paget 

One of the skills I learned while studying for an MLIS in Library and Information Science at San José State University in California was how to do genealogical research using public records such as newspaper obituaries and death notices. 

A librarian’s rite of passage prank is to have a newbie open a tightly coiled microfiche film container and put it into a reader only to have it fly half way across the library, because you failed to “firmly hold the microfiche on one side” while feeding it through the reader. 

The second rite of passage is recoiling the microfiche and trying to find the needle in the haystack obituary for an approximate death date of “sometime in 1898.” Once you find the obituary, you have to tightly recoil the microfiche to fit in a small tubular canister without letting it fly across the library again. 

Library staff like to remind librarians “only librarians with a master’s degree can do the genealogical work. That’s not in our job description.” 

Since I have graduated from library school, many genealogical records have been uploaded to the internet, most notably to ancestry.com. Genealogical research appears to have moved into phase 2.0 with many records appearing in search engines like Google.  

I recently did a virtual project test on my English Pennington ancestors. The first names of my ancestors reflect religious dissent through generations of Baptists, Quakers, Puritans, Church of England members (Episcopalians in the US), and maybe even some Masons. 

I was happy with the results of my online search and recorded the results below. G before a number means “generation.” 

G16 - Florence Paget

-daughter of Ruth (Pennington) Paget and Laurent Paget

G15 – Ruth Paget – Maiden Name: Pennington

-daughter of Clarence Pennington and Beatrice May Sawle 

Born: Wayne County, Detroit, Michigan 

G14 – Clarence Pennington 

-son of Frederick McKinley Pennington and Rose Nora Belle Thomas 

Born: Lee County, Pennington Gap, Virginia 

Died: Lee County, Pennington Gap, Virginia 

G13 - Frederick McKinley Pennington 

-son of Charles W. Pennington and Nancy Arminta Clark 

Born: 1896, Virginia 

Died: 1958, Virginia 

G12 – Charles W. Pennington

-son of Greenberry Pennington and Letitia Robbins 

Born: 1862, Lee County, Virginia 

Died: 1932, Lee County, Virginai 

G11 – Greenberry Pennington 

-son of Charles Daniel Pennington and Dianah Parsons 

Born: 1826, Lee County, Virginia 

Died: 1894, Lee County, Virginia 

G10 – Charles Daniel Pennington 

-son of Micajeh Pennington Jr and Nancy Baker

Born: 1804, Lee County, Virginia 

Died: 1876, Lee County, Virginia 

G9 – Micajeh M Pennington Jr 

-son of Micaajeh Pennington Sr and Rachel Jones

Born: 1763, Wilkes County, North Carolina 

Died: 1850, Harlan County, Kentucky  

G8 – Captain Micajeh M Pennington Sr 

-son of Benajeh Pennington Sr and Elizabeth Humphrey 

Born: 1743, North Carolina 

Died: 1815, Wilkes County, North Carolina 

G7 –Benajeh Pennington Sr

 -son of Epharaim Pennington IV and Joanna Davis 

Born: 1723, Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina 

Died: about 1794, Wilkes County, North Carolina 

G6 - Ephraim Pennington IV 

-son of Ephraim Pennington III and Mary, a Delaware Native American 

Born: about 1689 in Morristown, Middlesex, New Jersey 

Died: about 1750 in Rowan, Bladen, North Carolina 

G5 – Ephraim Pennington III 

-son of Ephraim Pennington II and Mary Brockett

Born: about 1668, Newark, Essex, New Jersey 

Died: about 1694, Morris, New Jersey

G4 – Ephraim Pennington II 

-son of Ephraim Pennington I and Mary (no name given) 

Born: about 1645, New Haven, Connecticut 

Died: 1693, Newark, Essex, New Jersey 

G3 – Ephraim Pennington I 

-Founding family of Newark, New Jersey

-son of William Pennington and Marie Wilson

Born: about 1629, Muncaster Parish, Cumberland, England 

Died: About 1660, New Haven, Connecticut 

G2 – William Ephraim Pennington

-son of John Pennington Esquire and Ellen Leigh 

Born: before 1595, Wigen, Lancashire, England 

Died: About 1652, Muncaster, Cumberland,, England 

G1 – John Pennington Esquire 

-Born July 5, 1573, Hawkshead, Lancashire, England

-Died: About 1652 in England 

Note: Legal names may differ from baptismal names. 

I enjoyed gathering this information and liked finding all the family groups that I am related to by marriage as well. You have to verify what you find out about your family online, but it does give you material to start with when researching your family history.

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

Sherlock Holmes Pub in Carmel, California by Ruth Paget

The Sherlock Holmes Pub in Carmel, California is closed now, but I used to love going there for British Pub fare and a Newcastle Brown Ale.  

Thank you Monterey County Weekly for retrieving this fun article about “my local” out of the archives.  The review follows:

https://www.montereycountynow.com/news/local_news/carmel-s-sherlock-holmes-pub-mixes-british-and-american-classics/article_618a214d-352a-5f95-999f-307c9f027e3a.amp.html

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

Au Jus: The Beef and Veal Society Game Created by Ruth Paget

Au Jus: The Beef and Veal Society Game Created by Ruth Paget 

One of the simplest sauce you can make for any type of meal is an au jus sauce, which is the cooking liquid. I add crushed shallot or garlic, sea salt, and chopped parsley to this and spoon it over the meat and buttered mashed potatoes and vegetables like green beans. I like simple preparations. 

I mostly cook pork chops, T-bone steaks, lamb shank, and now that I am older hamburgers for events like July 4th. The secret to cooking these items is knowing the weight and the internal temperature for the doneness you would like. In this game, you will learn some basic buying and cooking skills that will make your beef and veal purchases the best value for your money. 

Game Objectives: 

1-Describe meat cut by name 

2-Memorize cooking temperatures for desired doneness 

3-Identify where cuts come from using an animal map 

4-Reward: Learn to grill hamburgers 

Materials Needed: 

-The book Meat Illustrated: A Foolproof Guide by Cook’s Illustrated

-Index cards 

-pen 

-tracing paper 

-notebook paper 

-square stove top grill 

-metal spatula

-meat thermometer 

-your favorite fixings for hamburger 

Game 1: Describe Meat Cut by Name 

On an index card, write the main meat cut name and the subcategory name on the front. On the back of the card, note in your own words where the cut comes from on the cow or calf. You will use the following meat cut vocabulary for this game: 

*chuck 

-chuck-eye roast 

-chuck-eye steak 

-top-blade roast 

-blade steak 

-flat-iron steak 

-bone chuck roast 

*Rib

-first-cut standing rib roast

-second cut standing rib roast 

-rib steak 

-double-cut bone-in rib steak 

-rib-eye steak 

*Short Loin 

-top loin roast 

-boneless strip steak 

-porterhouse steak 

*Tenderloin 

-whole beef tenderloin 

-center-cut beef tenderloin roast 

-filet mignon 

*Sirloin -top sirloin roast -top sirloin steak -tri-tip roast -flap meat 

*Round 

-top round roast

-bottom round roast 

-boneless eye 

– round roast 

*Brisket 

-flat-cut brisket 

-point-cut brisket 

*Plate 

-skirt steak 

-beef plate ribs 

*Flank 

-flank steak 

*Short Ribs 

-English-style short ribs 

-Flanken-style short ribs 

*Shanks and oxtails 

-beef shanks 

-oxtails 

*Veal 

-shoulder roast 

-veal rib chops 

-veal cutlets 

-veal shanks 

Quiz yourself on the cut names and how to describe them till you know them. This list is long, but offers hours of free entertainment. 

Game 2: Memorize Cooking Temperature for Desired Doneness 

Page 11 in Meat Illustrated lists the cooking time temperatures while cooking and after resting to let cooking juices distribute evenly throughout the meat. There are only 10 items to memorize here, but they will make you feel more confident about cooking meat. 

Write the doneness levels down on the front of the index cards for cooking temperature and resting temperature. On the back of the cards, note the temperature for the various levels. 

Quiz yourself till you know the information. 

Game 3: Describe where the meat cuts come from on an animal map 

Use the tracing paper to outline the cow map in Meat Illustrated. Use a number to note where the main cuts come from. On notebook paper, write down the numbers. Use the map you drew on tracing paper to identify cuts and location and note them. Use the book’s animal map as an answer key. 

Quiz yourself till you know the information. 

Game 4: Reward: Grill Hamburgers according to the directions in Meat Illustrated 

Enjoy your burger and be ready for July 4th and summer picnics. 

(Note: My family orders sirloin burgers from Omaha Steaks.  They come individually wrapped in easy-to-open packaging.  They sell hot dogs, pork chops, chicken, and seafood, too.  Omaha Steaks are a novel holiday gift.)

Happy grilling! 

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

Greek Grape Leaf Recipes and Nutrient Profile reposted by Ruth Paget

The 5 Ways to Cook with Grape Leaves blog that follows looks great:

https://blog.markethallfoods.com/inside-market-hall/5-ways-to-cook-with-grape-leaves

Sautéed Greek grape leaves with lemon juice and olive oil are called Horta.  A blog recipe for them follows:

https://foragerchef.com/horta/

Department of Agriculture Information on how to prepare fresh grape leaves:

https://ucanr.edu/sites/default/files/2017-08/266942.pdf

Grape leaves’ nutrient profile follows:

https://foodstruct.com/food/grape-leaves

You might want to check this information with some other sources.  I used this site, because I liked the visual presentation of information.

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

Organic Spinach and Blue Cheese Salad at the Stillwater Bar and Grill at Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget

Organic Spinach and Blue Cheese Salad at Stillwater Bar and Grill in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget  

My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I decided to eat Sunday lunch at the newly re-opened Lodge at Pebble Beach, California. 

Our restaurant choice was the Stillwater Bar and Grill, which has large windows that look out over the Pacific and the 18th (5-par) hole on the golf course. The Stillwater serves American food with a great selection of seafood. 

What I really wanted on the fall day we went, though, was a salad. 

Monterey County grows delicious organic produce, so I celebrated fall with a “feel-good” salad as people in Detroit where I grew up were wont to say about the Greek salads we consumed in abundance during winter months to stay healthy. Stillwater’s “feel-good” salad is the California Coastal Spinach Salad is a lacto-ovo vegetarian’s dream. (Lacto-ovo vegetarians eat eggs and dairy in addition to produce.) 

This vitamin-rich salad contains: 

-baby spinach 

-frisée lettuce 

-magenta-colored endive 

-corn kernals 

-red grape halves

-cherry tomato halves

 -small cucumber slices 

-chunks of avocado 

-chunks of Port Reyes blue cheese

-toasted and sliced almonds 

The blue cheese dressing ties all these rather sweet ingredients together and adds additional protein and calcium to the blue cheese that is already in the salad. Blue cheese also contains iodine and selenium, which provide several health benefits as well.

Along with this delicious salad, I ate grilled baguette slices that had been stuffed with slices of Brie cheese and mushroom slices. The baguette slices were buttered, and the grilling gave them a golden, crunchy crust. The Brie cheese inside the baguette melted around the mushrooms, making each bite an oozing bite of deliciousness. 

Laurent and Florence both ate a seared sole fillet with baby vegetables and drank a Tiefenbrunner pinot grigio from Italy’s northeastern Alto-Adige region, which borders Austria. (This region has also been called the Sud Tyrol.) Both Laurent and Florence said the fish and wine together were a nice way to begin celebrating the holidays. 

For dessert, Florence and Laurent shared the Valrhona chocolate cake. I ate the toasted walnut cake that was loaded with caramelized milk whip and came with candied walnuts that were flavored with lavender. The desserts completed the meal and made me skip dinner. 

The meal was just wonderful and filling. 

The Stillwater Bar and Grill in Pebble Beach, California is a nice spot for weekend lunches with family (several came in while we were there) and gatherings for the holidays. The Lodge has private rooms and catering facilities for large events as well. 

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

Deluxe Bar Nibbles at Traps Lounge in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget

Deluxe Bar Nibbles at Traps Lounge in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget 

The place for deluxe bar nibbles at Pebble Beach, California is Traps Lounge located next to Pèppoli Restaurant (25 years at Pebble Beach and counting). 

My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I went out for a bar nibble meal recently that turned into a pretty delicious light dinner. Laurent and Florence shared an artisanal cheese plate that came with sharp cheddar cheese and loads of fresh Roquefort along with organic berries from Monterey County. 

Laurent ordered a very good Italian wine to go with the cheese – a 2023 Chianti Classico made by Antinori. The bottle had the distinguishing marks of a good Chianti – a rooster on the label and the letters DOCG on a ribbon label around the wine bottle’s neck. DOCG means “Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita” in Italian and designates this Chianti as having the highest legal rank a wine can carry in Italy. 

The Chianti Classico was dry and tasted of dried red berries and walnuts – all good flavors to go with artisanal cheese. 

While Laurent and Florence ate the cheese, I ate a jumbo shrimp cocktail with horseradish-rich cocktail sauce, which I love. The meaty shrimp whetted my appetite for more bar nibbles. 

I ordered the spicy, 10-wings plate with thick and creamy blue cheese dressing to share with Florence. This wing combination was famous as a specialty of Buffalo, New York when I was growing up in Detroit, Michigan. I liked being a working class sophisticate and always ordered the blue cheese dipping sauce like it was served in Buffalo as a teen. 

Laurent ordered the spaghetti Bolognese (a chopped roast boar and tomato sauce) as his main dish. He said it tasted great with the Chianti Classico. This dish also came with shaved slices of Parmesan cheese. 

The next time I go to Traps Lounge, I will order the pasta Bolognese, too. The spaghetti in this dish is house made and a little thicker than spaghetti made from dried pasta. 

The bar nibbles quickly became a nice meal at Traps Lounge at Pebble Beach (California), because the food was so good. 

If you like upscale bar dishes, the Traps Lounge at Pebble Beach is first-rate food tourism for you. 

(Note: You can buy the Chianti Classico by Antinori at the Stave Tasting Room at Pebble Beach.)

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

Tonic Fall Deli Meal at the Gallery Cafe in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget

Tonic Fall Deli Lunch at the Gallery in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget 

Cool, rainy fall weather was the perfect setting for a spa lunch outing at the Gallery Café in Pebble Beach, California for my daughter Florence Paget and me in mid-November 2025. 

We ordered fried calamari to start that came with a horseradish-rich dipping sauce. This crunchy treat has iron, B vitamins, and protein in it. Moderation, though, in eating is the key to keeping off weight when eating the yummy, crunchy breading. 

Then, I ordered a substantial deli-style Reuben sandwich that came with tender corned beef that was not overly salty, tangy Swiss cheese, salty but not watery sauerkraut, and piquant Russian dressing made with ketchup, horseradish, and Worcestershire sauce. The bread, of course, was a slightly bitter, grilled marbled rye. I like this flavor combination. 

The Reuben came with a neat mound of deep-fried onion rings and a house-made dill pickle. Onions contain many antioxidants, so I always order them when give that option. 

My favorite thing to drink with a Reuben is a pilsner beer, but I ordered unsweetened iced tea instead. The tea the Gallery uses is a strong black one, probably Indian Darjeeling. Black tea is an antioxidant, so I also order tea on spa lunches. (I call pretty healthy lunches “spa lunches.) 

My daughter Florence shared the calamari with me. For her main dish, Florence ordered a Killer Klub. The Killer Klub was made with the usual combination of turkey, Swiss cheese, tomato, and lettuce along with slices of fresh avocado – a very California touch. (Hamburger tastes good with avocado slices, too.) 

For people who enjoy cool, fall weather, Pebble Beach offers several activities to do besides golf – golf lessons, horseback riding, spa services, and walks along the oceanfront. Bird watchers can often see several species fly right over their heads and nest. 

I like to visit Pebble Beach to try out the dining options in fall, so I would add food tourism to the list of things to do at Pebble Beach, California. 

Enjoy the perfect sweater weather this fall with a great meal! 

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

King Trumpet: The Mushroom Society Game Created by Ruth Paget

King Trumpet: The Mushroom Society Game Created by Ruth Paget 

Different mushroom types provide varied nutritional and flavor profiles. In this game, you will gain knowledge to be a better mushroom purchaser and/or seller. 

Game Objectives: 

1-Know how various kinds of mushrooms grow 

2-Know where (which countries or regions) different mushroom varieties come from 

3-Know the nutritional value of different kinds of mushrooms 

4-Know preferred cooking methods for each mushroom type 

5-Reward 1: Choose a mushroom broth to make 

6-Reward 2: Make a recipe from the book 

Materials Needed: 

-The book Mushroom Gastronomy by Krista Towns 

-index cards 

-pens 

Game 1: Know How Various Kinds of Mushrooms Grow 

Knowing how various kinds of grow helps you identify them in the wild and in stores or markets For this entire series of games you will be dealing with the following varieties of mushrooms. 

Note on the front of an index card, the mushroom name. One the back of the index card, note how it grows and what it looks like: 

1-beech (shimeji) 

2-black trumpet 

3-button cremini 

4-portobello 

5-candy cap 

6-cauliflower (sparassis) 

7-chanterelle 

8-chicken of the woods 

9-cordyceps 

10-hedgehog 

11-huitalacoche 

12-king trumpet 

13-lion’s mane 

14-lobster mushroom 

15-maitake 

16-matsutake 

17-morel 

18-nebrodini 

19-oyster 

20-pioppino 

21-porcini 

22-reishi 

23-shitake 

45-truffle 

Quiz yourself on the mushroom names and how they grow till you know them. 

Game 2: Know Where (which country or region) Different Mushroom Varieties Grow 

Knowing the country or region a mushroom comes from helps you determine what kind of cuisine it might go best with such as French or Italian. 

Note the names of the mushroom varieties listed in game 1 on the front of an index card. On the back of the index card, note the region where the mushroom variety is from. 

Quiz yourself on the mushroom variety and the country and/or region of origin till you know them. 

Game 3: Know the Nutritional Value of Different Kinds of Mushrooms 

Knowing the nutritional value of different kinds of mushrooms helps consumers make better purchasing decisions and sellers make better marketing materials. 

For this game, note the mushroom variety name on the front of an index card and the nutritional value on the back that is listed in Mushroom Gastronomy. 

Quiz yourself on the mushroom varieties and their nutritional value till you know them. 

Game 4: Know the Preferred Cooking Methods for Different Mushroom Types 

The book Mushroom Gastronomy details the different cooking methods for mushrooms. You might want to review this section before playing this game. 

For this game, note the mushroom varieties from game 1 on the front of an index card. On the back of the index card, note the preferred cooking methods for each mushroom type. 

Quiz yourself on the mushroom types and preferred cooking methods till you know them. 

Game 5: Reward 1 – Choose a Mushroom Broth to Make 

Mushroom broths can be used as vegan soup stocks, so making them is a useful skill to have. Mushroom broths taste meaty without the expense and have good nutrients. 

Game 6: Reward 2 – Choose a Recipe to Make 

Mushroom Gastronomy is a well-organized cookbook, so try the recipes as a society game. The Mushroom Medley section has recipes that will work with white button mushrooms from the grocery store. 

Happy Gaming! 

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

Pretzels, Angus Burgers, and Rock Music at the Firestone Walker Taproom in Paso Robles, California by Ruth Paget

Pretzels and Angus-Sharp Cheddar Cheeseburgers at Firestone Walker Brewery Taproom in Paso Robles, California by Ruth Paget 

After a day of touring in Morro Bay and the Paso Robles wine country in California, my husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I went to the Firestone Walker Taproom for lunch. 

Stacked barrels greet you at the entrance of the Taproom that remind me of the bierkellers (beer cellars) I saw when I lived in Stuttgart, Germany. Firestone Walker is Anglo-American, so I should more properly call it a public house or “pub.” 

I think it is a great California brew pub offering fish and chips, burgers, deep-fried fish tacos, and salads on its menu. I like these meal options in bars. 

We started our meal with a huge warm, brown crusted, soft pretzel. We cut off chunks and dipped them in warm cheese sauce followed by sweet honey mustard sauce. That flavor combination for me is the taste of sweet German memories of visiting Munich. Pretzels seem to taste better in brisk fall weather redolent of freshly pressed wine grapes in Paso Robles. 

The Firestone Walker Taproom serves Angus hamburgers, which I love. I ordered a Cali-Western burger that came with sharp cheddar, honeyed bacon strips, and BBQ sauce. The two patties were juicy and cooked medium; the way I like it. I ordered skinny fries to go with my bar treat meal. 

I had fun listening to the rock music at Firestone Walker Tap Room and enjoying the end of a recharge vacation in Paso Robles, California. 

(Note: We stayed in the Springhill Suites Hotel in Paso Robles, California and all thought it was comfortable and had an easy to access location off Highway 101.)

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

Calamari Appetizers and Seafood Pasta at Tognazzini's Dockside Restaurant in Morro Bay, California by Ruth Paget

Calamari and Seafood Pasta at Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant in Morro Bay, California by Ruth Paget 

Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant in Morro Bay, California really does sit on the docks with coolers used to store fish in during the trip from the ocean to shore. The restaurant’s warm and cozy interior sets the tone for a sumptuous Italian seafood meal. 

On the night my husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I went for dinner, I started with lightly fried calamari cone-shaped bodies and tentacles with horseradish heavy cocktail sauce. The octopus bodies tasted of briny saltwater. I loved every bite. 

Laurent ate six Morrro Bay oysters that he said reminded him of Oléron oysters in Charentes-Maritime, France. Oléron oysters have a less salty taste and are clearer than other oysters. If you like raw oysters, they are a perfect winter appetizer. Florence ate a creamy clam chowder as her starter and said she would be back for more. 

Laurent and I ordered seafood pasta in Alfredo sauce that came with sliced scallops, whole sautéed shrimp, and an entire Pacific cod fillet that was chopped into large chunks. The Alfredo sauce was thick and creamy with loads of Parmesan, white wine for flavor, and a little garlic. The portion was large. We both ate every bit of our delicious iodine- and selenium-rich winter supper. 

Florence ordered Pacific cod fish and chips and ate the garlic bread topped with melted Parmesan that came with our pasta meals. 

If you want to stroll along the oceanfront after dinner like the Italians, it is easy to do. You can even check out seafood companies located dockside. 

Tognazinni’s Dockside Restaurant is a perfect spot for seafood lovers and those who believe in the therapeutic benefits of a winter shellfish meal. 

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

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