Mostly Meatless Italian Recipes from the Culinary Institute of America Cookbook by Ruth Paget

Mostly Meatless Italian Recipes from the Culinary Institute of America by Ruth Paget 

One of my treasured cookbooks is the Culinary Institute of America Cookbook for the home cook with over 375 recipes. The recipes represent the best multicultural recipes of New York and the Northeastern United States with many of Italian origin. 

I recently re-read this cookbook with any eye towards mostly meatless recipes to prepare for the 21st century with its issues of greater food insecurity even in the United States. I looked for recipes that I could build meals around that did not sacrifice protein, calcium, and iron despite greater vegetable intake.

I chose four sample mostly meatless recipes that are Italian, because I love Italian food. These recipes include: 

-lobster and prosciutto crostini 

Basically, a crostini hors d’oeuvres is a toasted baguette slice with a somewhat luxurious topping. 

In this recipe, the toasted crostini slice is spread with garlic butter and then goat cheese. A prosciutto slice is place on top of the goat cheese and thawed, cooked lobster goes on top of the crostini. For garnish, you place a sautéed sage leaf on top of the lobster.  

This lobster and prosciutto crostini would pair well with chardonnay wine or champagne. On the West Coast, you could replace lobster with Dungeness, if you cannot procure frozen, cooked lobster. 

-cannellini bean purée

I consider cannellini bean purée to be an Italian version of hummus. You can spread it on toast rounds as a crostini or use it as a dip for vegetables. 

The ingredient list for this recipe seems long, but most of the herbs called for will be tied in a cheese cloth that boils with the beans to season them. The cheese cloth and herbs are removed before puréeing the beans. Olive oil, lemon juice, and hot pepper sauce are mixed into the beans before serving. 

This bean spread on a crostini would look good with sautéed sage leaves on top.

-Panzanella – toasted bread and tomato salad 

Panzanella salad makes great use of hard, artisanal bread made without preservatives, usually called day old. There are three uses for this type of bread: 

-cut it into large, rectangular slices to dunk into soup 

-toast cubes of it to use like a crouton in Caesar salad 

-toast cubes of it and add tomato cubes and vinaigrette to it to make panzanella salad. (Slices of red onion go well with this salad, too.) 

-Spring Greens and Cannellini Bean Gratin 

For this recipe, you can use canned cannellini beans. To begin, you sauté the beans with tomatoes and vegetable broth. Then, you sauté Swiss chard or collard greens. The beans and greens are then mixed together in a baking dish with breadcrumbs placed on top before baking. (I like to add grated Parmesan cheese to the gratin for extra flavor.) 

There are many more mostly meatless recipes in The Culinary Institute of America Cookbook as well as pantry lists for setting up a European pantry focusing on ingredients for French, Italian, and Portuguese cuisine. This cookbook contains much knowledge that is still useful for 21st century concerns. 

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

Cowboy Eggs Benedict at Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget

Cowboy Eggs Benedict at Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget 

The Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California does not offer complimentary breakfast. Instead, the hotel has an informal café where you can order small or large breakfast at a counter and pay according to what you order. 

Servers will bring items to your table and clear dishes.

I liked this arrangement, because I like large, warm American breakfasts when I travel. Laurent, on the other hand, prefers lighter fare like croissants, yogurt, and orange juice. Hotel Cerro can deliver both at the same time with Swiss aplomb. 

I ordered a twist on traditional Eggs Benedict called Cowboy Eggs Benedict. The twist in this dish is using a thick, black peppery sausage patty in place of Canadian bacon in this tasty breakfast sandwich. 

Aside from the sausage patty, the eggs Benedict was made the traditional way on a split, toasted English muffin with the sausage topped with a poached egg and lemony Hollandaise sauce. 

The Cowboy Eggs Benedict came with a generous helping of oven-baked, small new potatoes in their skins that were seasoned with olive oil, salt, and pepper. I dunked these in spicy Cholula sauce. 

I sipped American diner coffee with cream as I ate and liked the Western spin on the Eggs Benedict. 

The day I ate this breakfast it was rainy and cold, making the food especially flavorful. 

I like the breakfast dining arrangement at Hotel Cerro in San Luis Obispo, California and thought the food was fresh and the service was quick. For a good breakfast before setting out touring or driving home, it was perfect. 

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

Morro Bay Oysters and Dungeness Crab Salad at Tognazzini's Dockside Restaurant in Morro Bay, California by Ruth Paget

Raw Oysters and Dungeness Crab Salad at Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant in Morro Bay, California by Ruth Paget 

On our family mini recharge trip to San Luis Obispo, California, we returned to Salinas via a side trip to Morro Bay for lunch at Tognazzini’s Dockside Restaurant. (The Tognazzini’s also run a fishing company located on the dock outside the restaurant.) 

My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I began our meal with six raw Morro Bay oysters. I squirted lemon juice on mine and ate a few with cocktail sauce and creamy, grated horseradish. I love cold, briny raw oysters, but recognize that not everyone likes them despite the quality. For me, however, our New Year’s Eve meal was off to a great start despite the rainy, cold weather. 

While we were eating, Tognazzini’s fishermen were hauling in 4-feet flatfish and weighing them outside our window on the dock as mealtime entertainment. Tognazzini prides itself on boat-to-table cuisine. They even claim they can provide the boat name and captain’s name for your fish order. 

As our main dish, Laurent and I ordered the Mariner Salad that you can add a variety of fish and seafood to as protein ranging from shrimp to salmon. Laurent chose this and ordered Dungeness crab as our shellfish protein since the end of December is in Dungeness crab season. (Florence ordered the calamari and chips plate.) 

I grew up living on salads in Detroit, Michigan where I ate Greek salads in Greek town at least once a week and Cobb salads at Syros Restaurant around the corner from my apartment building about twice a month. Seafood salads were a treat I could order at Lelli’s Restaurant when I was taken there by my mother and babysitters.  I love salads in general and view seafood salads as a great treat.

The Mariner salad at Tognazzini’s features a bed of baby greens and seasonal vegetables. The seasonal vegetables for Californian winter included boiled beet slices, a neat pile of perfectly cut tomato cubes, cucumber slices, grated carrots, slices of red onions, and another neat pile of crumbled blue cheese. I ate my salad with house made blue cheese dressing and thought I had an outstanding finish to my recharge mini trip in San Luis Obispo County. 

We drove over the mountains from Morro Bay to Paso Robles and enjoyed viewing the rural landscape dotted with longhorn cattle, furry sheep, black and white goats, reddish-brown cows, and horse farms. The vineyards were empty of leaves with vines pruned back for winter. 

Back in Salinas, we ordered Gino’s mushroom and cheese artisanal pizza and drank champagne with it to ring in the New Year all refreshed from outstanding, Italian seafood meals in San Luis Obispo County. 

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

Primo Pumpkin Risotto at Novo Restaurant in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget

Primo Pumpkin Risotto at Novo Restaurant and Lounge in San Luis Obispo, California by Ruth Paget 

For a short recharge vacation, my husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I set out from Salinas, California down Highway 101 to San Luis Obispo, California (about 2 hours away). 

We stayed at Hotel Cerro by Marriott for its center of downtown location and valet parking option. Both hotel lobby doors let to dining and shopping venues for fashion and gourmet food purchases. 

For dinner, we went out the hotel’s back door and crossed the street to arrive at Novo Restaurant, which has creekside dining, a private party cellar room, and indoor seating by a full bar with liquor bottles and chilled wine storage units going all the to the top of the walls to the ceiling. 

Novo’s walls are red brick with large, glass ball lights suspended on wars over the bar and seating area. Tubes of glass went through the diameter of the glass ball lights that glowed. The trendy and cool décor reminded me of bars in Brussels, Belgium that feature menus with the best that Europe has to offer for food and beverage including sushi fusion food. 

I was very happy with our restaurant even before we had ordered. 

We started with eclectic appetizers – the warm chèvre goat cheese board and raw ahi (tuna) nachos for a Hawaiian fusion twist. Laurent and I ordered locally brewed Firestone Walker Belgian blonde ale from Paso Robles, California to go with the appetizers. Florence ordered a Lavender Linen cocktail to sip on throughout the meal.

I like Novo’s warm chèvre board, because it features all savory items. The tray arrives with eight diagonal baguette slices that have been grilled with olive oil. Warm chèvre on warm baguette slices is luscious on a cold, rainy, winter night. 

The warm chèvre board also comes with warm, heirloom cherry tomatoes in olive oil. These tomatoes were sweet and meltingly, soft on the tongue.  The final treat on the warm chèvre cheese board is a cupful of warmed black olives that taste like they have been dressed with raspberry vinegar.  All these contrasting flavors pair well with the low-alcohol Belgian blonde ale from Firestone Walker.

The ahi nachos were for Florence, but she let me taste several cubes of perfectly cut ahi with sautéed scallions and sriracha mayonnaise on house-made crispy tortillas. The nachos tasted great with beer, too. 

For our spa dinner, we ordered some choice items – lobster gnocchi pasta for Laurent, filet mignon with mashed potatoes and sautéed carrots for Florence, and pumpkin risotto for me. 

The risotto was made with pudgy, round carnaroli rice that had absorbed chicken broth and white wine with Parmesan cheese stirred in at the end of the cooking. Sautéed cubes of baked pumpkin, slices of porcini mushrooms, strands of shiitake mushrooms, and fresh baby lettuce were mixed into the risotto. A handful of pomegranate seeds was scattered on top of the risotto. The flavor was magnificent. I ate everything. 

Laurent and Florence were equally happy with their dishes. 

For a relaxing and cozy spa meal, Novo Restaurant and Lounge in San Luis Obispo, California is certainly worth a visit to this busy college town. 

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

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