This section of Pebble Beach, California has 4 picnic tables and is located right before Bird Rock, the haunt of long-necked black cormorants. You can see brown pelicans flying in formation here, white egrets, and seagulls. Seals and sea otters play in the waves here.
Text and video by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Chicken Korma Cashew Curry at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget
I like everything on the menu at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California. I am a big fan of freshly ground and roasted spices sautéed in ghee, clarified butter, that are cooked with yogurt or coconut milk to make curry sauce.
I love to mix curry sauce with bites of basmati rice or chicken or seafood cooked in curry in naan flatbread that is baked with licorice-flavored anise seeds.
I did wonder when I ordered chicken korma why Avatar Indian Grill did not call this dish a curry. I was intrigued and wanted to see what was different about it. So, I ordered it and knew it would be delicious, because Avatar Indian Grill was making it.
When the chicken korma arrived, the first thing I noticed was that it was a curry made with the addition of crushed cashew nuts. I love this addition to curry. (I obviously do not have a nut allergy.)
The second thing I noticed about this curry was the yellow-brown ochre color. I checked indianhealthyrecipes.com and saw that tomatoes are not used in making chicken korma, so the curry in chicken korma is not bright red. The crushed cashews also contribute to this ochre color as well as turmeric used to marinate the chicken.
The chicken pieces in the curry were moist and flavorful thigh meat. Chicken korma must be an Indian comfort food with its curry base of sautéed garlic, fresh ginger, and onion.
The preparation of chicken korma with yogurt appears to be a Northern Indian dish while that made with coconut milk is a Southern Indian dish according to indianhealthyrecipes.com. Both versions sound delicious and would pair well with a chilled mango lassi yogurt drink.
For a delicious midday comfort food lunch, chicken korma with cashew curry at Avatar Indian Grill in Salinas, California is a great option for cashew lovers.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Foods of Italy Reviewed by Ruth Paget
Foods of Italy by Giuliano Bugialli honors Italy’s everyday foods eaten by Italians in their homeland and covers recipes from lesser-known regions especially those regions on Italy’s eastern Adriatic Sea coast.
I have made the following recipes over the years for flavor and economy even while using premium, high-quality ingredients like prosciutto, parmesan cheese, and pecorino cheese in moderation:
-bell pepper salad: made with tomato, garlic, chopped basil and mint, capers (optional for me), and strips of baked sweet green and yellow peppers that have had their skins removed and that are sliced. A simple oil and vinegar dressing is used with this salad. This salad is refrigerated before serving.
-marinated zucchini salad: great when zucchini explodes in summer gardens. This dish is not as straightforward as you would think. The zucchini is first baked and then sautéed in garlic-infused oil before marinating in the refrigerator.
-squash soup Mantua style: Mantua is the adoptive city of the famous Renaissance art patron Isabella d’Este. I have mostly made this soup with butternut squash. Basically, you bake the squash and then boil it in broth to make the soup. I purée my soup with the seasonings. Mantua style calls for making seasoning with prosciutto.
-cannellini beans with rosemary: for this dish, white cannellini beans are boiled and then baked with rosemary, garlic, and olive oil to make a tasty and not-too-expensive side dish in Italy.
-bean paste crostini: this dish calls for a purée of cannellini beans, garlic, and olive oil on toast rounds as an hors d’oeuvres. I use canned, rinsed beans to make this Italian hummus.
-tagliatelle with creamed prosciutto sauce: this dish is all good! Cubes of prosciutto are added to hot pasta with cream, butter, and parmesan cheese. I use thin strips of sliced pasta to make this dish.
-pasta and beans Puglia (Apulia) style: this dish from Italy’s boot heel on the Adriatic Sea mixes cannellini beans with puréed red onions and celery as a sauce for hot pasta that is probably sprinkled with grated pecorino cheese, the parmesan cheese of southern Italy.
For a glimpse into what Italians really eat everyday, Foods of Italy by Giuliano Bugialli is a great introduction.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Thank you Books-a-Million for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks.
Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
New York Meal at Pub’s (Growers Pub) in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget
My daughter Florence Paget took me out for a New York dinner at Pub’s in downtown Salinas, California for a daughter-mom outing before the big weekend with the Java House Grand Prix Monterey at Laguna Seca and the Obon Festival (July 27) at the Buddhist Temple in Salinas.
We started our meal with Monterey Bay deep-fried calamari. The calamari were lightly coated in polenta corn meal with a piquant dipping sauce and lemon wedges for squeezing. I really enjoy eating this dish in cool-weather Salinas with a sweet Meyer lemon lemonade.
Salads came with our main dishes. I chose Thousand Island dressing for my New York-themed crispy and chilled romaine lettuce salad with a juicy tomato wedge on the side. Life is good in America’s salad bowl capital. (Blue cheese dressing is available for diners who would like calcium and protein to go with their salad.)
Florence ordered a medium-rare prime New York steak with a baked potato along with steamed carrots, zucchini, and broccoli. The steak was juicy and perfect Florence said.
I ordered chicken fettucine Alfredo. The fresh pasta was bathed in a rich creamy sauce that tasted as if it had been made with cream, butter, mascarpone cheese, and Parmesan cheese. That sauce was so good, it would make garlic ice cream taste good. (Gilroy about 20 minutes up 101 makes garlic ice cream in America’s garlic capital.)
The cubes of chicken breast and thigh meat in the fettucine Alfredo were moist, tender, and flavorful. This delicious dish can also be made with shrimp and salmon at Pub’s.
To complete our meal, we had some elegant New York desserts – cheesecake for Florence and tiramisu for me.
For tiramisu, you line the bottom of a casserole with sponge cake lady finger cookies, pour espresso coffee over the lady fingers, spread whipped mascarpone cheese (similar to whipped cream) over the lady fingers, and dust the top of the mascarpone with cocoa powder. You then chill the tiramisu and serve it with raspberry sauce. Pub’s makes their tiramisu like this and it is a fantastic finish for a New York-themed meal.
For New York steak and Italian-American meals, Pub’s in downtown Salinas, California offers great food and a full bar.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Thank you Open Library Org online library for listing me as an American Food Writer and carrying my work.
Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Thai Red Curry with Shrimp and Vegetables at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget
Diners can order Thai red curry with just vegetables, chicken, beef, or shrimp and rice at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California. I love shrimp for many reasons and ordered it to go with the organic Salinas Valley vegetables in this spicy but not hot dish.
I like Thai curries like the one I ordered, because they start out with fresh, strong “aromatics” – onions, garlic and fresh ginger that are stir-fried. Homemade curry paste made from sweet red peppers is added in with shrimp marinated in fish sauce – Thai nam pla, followed by vegetables. Coconut milk is added as the last ingredient to complete the curry.
At Ginger Thai, this dish called Pad Prik Khing in Thai, is made with 3-inch strips of Chinese long beans, carrots cut in medallion shapes, and strips of red bell pepper. The vegetables were soft but not mushy and retained their shape. The long beans were crunchy in the center. The shrimp were large with a piquant, briny flavor and beautiful orange color. Everything combined in this curry to make every bite delicious. The curry sauce disappeared with every bite of rice. For flavor, this dish can compete European seafood dishes.
For nutrients, this dish has several winning ingredients. Shrimp contains both selenium and iodine, which keep the thymus gland working in good order. Carrots, long beans, and red bell pepper have Vitamin A, which is good for the eyes. Red peppers and green long beans contain Vitamin C, an antioxidant, which helps protect the body from cancer. The Thais, like the Chinese, also view vitamin-rich food as medicine.
Red curry with shrimp and vegetables, pad prik khing, delivers great flavor loaded with nutrients at Ginger Thai in Salinas, California.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
The Western Stage in Salinas, California announces upcoming 2025 - 2026 Plays. Click below for information and tickets:
Western Stage 2025 - 2026 Upcoming Shows
Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Thank you Santa Cruz Weekly for carrying my review of the Images of the Virgin exhibit organized by Dr. Jennifer Colby about the Black Madonna in various religions.
Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Keto Chaffles (Cheese Waffles) Reviewed by Ruth Paget
Even if you do not diet, the Sweet and Savory Keto Chaffles: 75 Delicious Treats for Your Low-Carb Diet by Martina Slajerova about cheese waffles makes excellent use of organic Monterey County agricultural products and those of California in general.
Low-fat mozzarella cheese is used in both sweet and savory waffles. Other cheese varieties that can be used in savory cheese waffles include mild to mature cheddar, Monterey Jack, Swiss cheese, Emmenthal, goat cheese or sheep cheese.
For savory waffles, Slajerova suggests making two homemade raw Italian sauces – marinara and pesto. Both of these sauces can be kept in the refrigerator for several days as well as the cheese waffles.
-For the marinara sauce, you will need to blend cherry tomatoes, basil, shallot or onion, tomato purée, olive oil, salt, and pepper together.
-For the pesto sauce, you will need to blend basil; macadamia, blanched almonds or sunflower seeds, pine nuts, garlic, lemon juice, and Parmesan cheese together.
-For the chaffle batter, you need to blend eggs; mozzarella or grated cheddar or hard cheese of choice; almond or coconut flour, and baking powder together before cooking.
Just these three recipes are worth the price of the book, especially if you add poached or fried eggs on top of the chaffle with some sauce poured on it.
There are some other delicious recipes for savory cheese waffles that I have noted below:
-salmon and cream cheese chaffles
-eggs royale with smoked salmon and Hollandaise sauce
-Quatro formaggi pizza chaffles with marinara sauce and a mix of Parmesan, mozzarella, gorgonzola and maybe goat cheese that is run under the broiler
-spanakopita chaffles made with frozen spinach and feta cheese
-rosemary and olive focaccia chaffle made with chopped black or green olives
If you are looking for a way to make organic ingredients shine, there are many good recipes for doing this in Sweet and Savory Keto Chaffles by Martina Slajerova.
(Note: Just making one of these dishes recipes in this book qualifies as a rallye game in my book.)
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Salinas (California) Go-To Summer Picnic by Ruth Paget
I like the store-bought picnics I can put together with little trouble in Salinas, California.
The following meal makes like my little town very much:
-cooked seasoned back ribs – less than $18 as of 6-16-2025 at Costco (locations in Salinas and Sand City by Seaside)
-Diet Pepsi – we get 24-packs at Costco
-cleaned, cubed, and fresh watermelon and strawberries from Whole Foods – Whole Foods is located in the Del Monte Center Shopping Mall in Monterey. You can get there via Highway 68 or take Blanco Road to Reservation Road (right) to Imjin Parkway (immediate left) to Highway 1 (Soledad and Munras exit)
-blueberry streusel banana muffins – from Costco
If you need a place to park and eat, Toro Park is located off Highway 68 as is Jack’s Peak Park across from the airport.
With a little organization, it is easy to picnic in Steinbeck Country in Salinas, California.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Sesame Beef and Broccoli at Saigon Noodles in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget
When I lived in downtown Chicago (Illinois) after I graduated from the University of Chicago, I ate sesame beef with broccoli at Chinese restaurants like Szechuan House and House of Hunan and felt like an empress doing so while working at my entry-level job in sales.
Later when I lived in Wisconsin, I bought a wok at a garage sale and restored it. I made broccoli beef myself to cook my own empress meals.
In my new town of Salinas, California, I tried sesame beef and broccoli at one of our local Vietnamese restaurants, Saigon Noodles, located on North Main Street by Grocery Outlet.
The Vietnamese stir-fry shallots in peanut oil and add in the beef with soy sauce and oyster sauce. The hot beef is finished with drizzles of sesame oil and sprigs of cilantro. The beef sauce is thick but not cloudy from the addition of cornstarch.
Many Chinese restaurants add cornstarch to stir-fry dishes at the end of cooking to add a glistening sheen to meat and vegetables. I think cornstarch “slurries” add calories and dull flavors a bit.
Fortunately, the stir-fry beef sauce at Saigon Noodles is savory, salty, and clear of cornstarch. I dipped my rice and steamed broccoli that came with my meal in the sauce and loved the rich flavor.
Saigon Noodles also offers this dish with chicken.
For a regal treat, I highly recommend the sesame beef with steamed broccoli and rice from Saigon Noodles in Salinas, California.
By Ruth Paget, Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Seafood Sizzling Rice Bowl at Korea House in Seaside, California by Ruth Paget
On my last visit to Korea House in Seaside, California with my daughter Florence Paget, we ordered shrimp tempura as our appetizer. The tempura arrived warm with delicious panko breadcrumb crust.
Florence ordered dak gui, Korean grilled chicken with soy chile sauce, while I ordered seafood dol sot bimibap, a sizzling rice bowl with seafood and egg.
The seafood dol sot bimibap came with octopus, shrimp, mussels, squid, zucchini, and eggplant and a fried egg on top of it all. You are supposed to mix everything together to evenly spread the spicy gochujang sauce in it.
Gochujang sauce is made with red chili powder, glutinous rice, fermented soybeans, and salt. Red chili powder contains Vitamin C, an antioxidant, which removes free radicals that can cause cancer from the body.
My food was hot and deliciously spicy. At the end, I ate the crispy rice that had baked on the sides and bottom of the stone bowl the dol sot bimibap was heated in. I love this Korean dish, which you can also eat with bulgogi, Korean BBQ beef.
I drank lemonade with my meal, but barley tea is the more traditional beverage.
For a pleasant afternoon lunch with some perky and exotic food, I highly recommend Korea House in Seaside, California.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Glass Noodle Soup with Seafood and Meat at Chopstix in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget
The glass noodle soup with seafood and meat at Chopstix Restaurant in Salinas, California located at the Northridge Mall on North Main Street tastes great and is also a great value for the amount of seafood and meat in it.
Shrimp and squid along with sliced pork and beef and pulled chicken breast sit atop a large mound of glass noodles made from mung bean starch in the delivery bowls. To this diners can add Thai basil leaves, jalapeño peppers, freshly squeezed lemon juice, and bean sprouts.
Finally, diners pour on shrimp broth that tastes like it has been made with shrimp shells that are discarded after the broth has reduced and the shrimp flavor concentrates.
The lemony shrimp broth is the constant flavor for all the different flavors and textures in the soup. This soup is a wonderful recharge in the middle of the day.
The clear glass noodles made from mung bean starch surprisingly contain some calcium and iron. Iron helps transport oxygen throughout the body, and calcium is used to help build bones. The mung beans are flavorless and take on the shrimp flavor of the broth while adding nutritional value.
The Vietnamese name for this delicious soup is Hu Tien Tim Thit, which I will learn for international flair.
This value packed glass noodle soup with seafood and meat is a great deal at Chopstix Restaurant in Salinas, California.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Educational tutoring services - two local and one other offering online instruction (kumon).
Sylvain Learning in Salinas, California
Mathnasium Tutoring Services in Monterey
Posted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Reliably Fresh Turkey-Provolone Subs from Jersey Mike’s in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget
I like reliable, no-surprises, fresh, and delicious turkey-provolone submarine sandwiches from Jersey Mike’s in Salinas, California located in the Northridge Mall on North Main Street.
The submarine sandwich, or sub, gets its name from the poofy, soft bread that the sandwich is made from that looks like a sub. My daughter Florence Paget and I share a “giant” sub when we order. It comes cut in four sections.
The turkey tastes as if it is roasted in-house, because it does not have a sour taste from preservatives. Provolone cheese is often bland, but Jersey Mike’s has a pronounced dairy flavor, which I like.
The sub comes with crispy, chopped romaine lettuce, sliced juicy tomatoes, lots of sour dill pickles, and creamy mayonnaise. When you do a basic turkey-provolone sub right, it is delicious and will fill you up for four or five hours.
To go along with your sub, Jersey Mike’s sells nice and salty Lay’s potato chips. I really like chips and think the turkey-provolone sub with chips is perfect for watching sporting events.
So, does Jersey Mike’s. They are sponsors of the National Football League and the National Hockey League. For a headache-free game day party, Jersey Mike’s subs from the Northridge Mall in Salinas, California might be a heart-healthy option as well.
(Note: There is also a Jersey Mike’s in the Gilroy Outlet Mall by Barnes and Noble.)
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
