Salade Niçoise with the Works at La Parisienne Restaurant in Aiken, South Carolina by Ruth Paget

Salade Niçoise with the Works at La Parisienne Restaurant in Aiken, South Carolina by Ruth Paget 

After a morning of touring the Savannah River Site Museum where my husband Laurent and I learned about the physics and chemistry used in running a nuclear power plant, we set out for the La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery located just off Chesterfield Street in downtown Aiken, South Carolina. 

The day was warm already in the 70s in January in Aiken. I ordered one of my favorite French lunches – a salade Niçoise, which comes with the works at La Parisienne. 

When Laurent and I lived in Stuttgart (Germany0, I made salade Niçoise every week to help fight colds. My easy version of the salad has tuna on top of a mound of baby greens. I place rinsed, canned green beans around the sides of the lettuce along with a few anchovies. 

On the bottom of the salad mound, I alternate boiled egg halves, tomato quarters, and large Greek Kalamata olives. We used Paul Newman vinaigrette most of the time in Germany. 

My salade Niçoise is good for everday, but La Parisienne’s version is really tops with all the garden fresh ingredients they use. La Parisienne places a generous helping of dandelion greens in the bottom of a large salad bowl as the foundation of their salade Niçoise. 

On top of the dandelions greens, they place the following ingredients:  

-flaked tuna -boiled potato halves 

-sliced small peppers of various colors 

-sliced red onions 

-sliced boiled eggs 

-small Niçoise black olives 

-sliced tomatoes 

-sliced radishes 

-thin green beans 

The small and thin vegetables are supposed to offer concentrated and distinct flavors, which is true of the layered flavors in the salade Niçoise at La Parisienne. It tasted great on a warm and humid day. 

The vinaigrette especially made the salad taste good. It was made with white wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, and sunflower oil. That flavor combination always reminds me of eating in the countryside in France. 

The salade Niçoise at La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery in Aiken, South Carolina filled me up, but dessert lovers might like a piece of the lattice crusted pies that remind me of linzertortes from Linz, Austria. 

Travelers will be well rewarded with a stop for lunch or dinner at La Parisienne in Aiken, South Carolina. 

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

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Mushroom - Cheese Pizza and Greek Salad from Marco's Pizza in Augusta, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Mushroom – Cheese Pizza and Greek Salad from Marco’s Pizza in Augusta, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

One of my travel rituals when I go to the East Coast of the US from California is to order a large mushroom – cheese pizza and a large Greek salad from a local pizzeria to perk up after several airline flights.

In Augusta (Georgia), the pizzeria my husband Laurent and I order from is Marco’s Pizza, a local Georgia chain. They use high quality ingredients and deliver late at night, which pleases a hungry traveler like me. 

While waiting on the pizza delivery, I open the room window for fresh air, put away clothes, wash my hands and face, and brush my teeth. 

When pizza delivery arrives, I start dinner with the Greek salad. I am a Californian from Salinas, who can tuck into a family-size salad and easily eat the whole thing. 

At Marco’s, they make their Greek salad with a combination of crunchy, chopped Romaine lettuce and baby greens. On top of the lettuce, they place about 1/3 cup chopped yellow banana peppers, 1/3 cup chopped tomatoes, 1/3 cup chopped red onion, 1/3 cup sliced black olives, and 2/3 cup of diced, salty feta cheese. 

I add tangy, Greek lemon-oregano vinaigrette on top of the vegetables and feta cheese and toss everything together. This tart and tonic salad chases away any germs I may have encountered on the plane it seems and gives me the strength to finish organizing the room and take a shower. 

Once I am all squeaky clean, I leisurely eat two or three slices of mushroom-cheese pizza. At Marco’s, they use a mozzarella cheese that melts yet is firm and salty, which I like. The tomato sauce is savory and tastes great with the meaty mushrooms that probably come from the forest around Augusta. 

Marco’s uses protein-rich semolina flour in their pizza crust, which I also like for the rough finish on the crust edges. 

With tip, delivery of our large artisanal pizza and large Greek salad was $36. We ordered Marco’s several times during our stay in August, especially on NBA game nights when we watched the New York Knicks play teams from around the country. (I love games decided by 2 or 3 points.) 

Marco’s Pizza was a delicious, enjoyable, and convenient part of our stay in Augusta, Georgia. If you like pizza, it is definitely worth a try. 

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

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Goat Cheese and Dandelion Greens at the La Parisienne Restaurant in Aiken, South Carolina by Ruth Paget

Goat Cheese and Dandelion Greens at La Parisienne Restaurant in Aiken, South Carolina by Ruth Paget 

The La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery in Aiken, South Carolina is about 30 minutes away from Augusta, Georgia and offers visitors a relaxed atmosphere for lunch in small town America among its many touring options. 

Aiken is home to a campus of the University of South Carolina, the Savannah River Site nuclear facility, and an active polo club. Its English heritage is visible in its orange brick architecture and tree-lined boulevards downtown that promote businesses that elite Englishmen prefer like French restaurants and Belgian chocolate shops. 

One of Aiken’s busy restaurants is La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery located just off Chesterfield Street downtown. The restaurant has its own parking lot. You order at the counter, take an arrondisement (Parisian district) marker to your table, and wait for your waiter to bring freshly made food to you. 

On our first visit to La Parisienne, I ordered the goat cheese salad served on a bed of dandelion greens. A thick slice of oven-baked toast sat in the center of the salad with a large ball of goat cheese to spread out over the dandelion greens and cherry tomato halves in the salad. The vinaigrette was made with a perky raspberry vinegar and olive oil. I could have eaten two of those delicious salads. 

My husband Laurent ordered me a lemon crêpe instead that was filled with powdered sugar and freshly pressed lemon juice. That dessert was perky as well and filled me up. Both of these items were perfect for the hot and sultry weather in our restaurant located by the Savannah River. 

La Parisienne has a wooden guillotine in the parking lot to remind diners that not all of French history is rosy. 

Laurent and I walked through the convenient gate behind the restaurant to the Belgian chocolate shop next door – La Bonboniere. The handmade chocolate comes in a variety of flavors. I like the lemon cream filled chocolates with the head of an Egyptian women imprinted on them. 

I also like the chocolate ganache filled white chocolates that have “Aiken” printed on them in chocolate. The cutest chocolates are the ones shaped like horse hooves for the polo lovers in town. 

Tourists interested in a nice lunch in a nice place will love the La Parisienne Restaurant and Bakery in Aiken, South Carolina. 

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

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Italian Sausage and Linguine at the Italian Oven in Stockbridge, Georgia by Ruth Paget

Italians Sausage and Linguine at the Italian Oven in Stockbridge, Georgia by Ruth Paget 

One of my favorite places to eat lunch in Georgia is the Italian Oven in Stockbridge about thirty minutes south of downtown Atlanta. 

On my most recent visit to the Italian Oven, I tried several dishes that I could make at home with a little planning even if I do not have the restaurant’s secret seasoning mix. Every southern restaurant seems to have a secret seasoning mix, which makes it only possible for reviewer’s to give an approximation of a dish’s flavor. However, it is worth describing dishes for their nutritional and economical value. 

The first dish I tried at the Italian Oven is a perfect example of these values: sautéed slices of yellow Italian squash with lemony yellow horseradish mayonnaise. The squash slices were very thin from being cut with a mandolin. Squash is a little bland without a coating of horseradish mayonnaise that clears your sinuses and makes you feel healthy from all the Vitamin C in the horseradish 

My main dish was sautéed Italian sausage with strips of sweet red peppers sautéed in olive oil with garlic with linguine added. This dish requires two sauté pans in addition to a pot of boiling water for the linguine.

In the first pan, you sauté slices of Italian sausage until they render fat. The sausage they use at the Italian oven is pork from an acorn-fed pig. The sausage is dark colored with a nutty flavor. When the sausage is sautéed, it has a beautiful aroma of anise (black licorice flavor) from the fennel that is used to season it. This pan’s contents cook while the second pan also has items cooking. 

In the second pan, you sauté strips of sweet red pepper with garlic and olive oil until they are soft. Then, once the linguine is cooked, you add the drained linguine to the sweet peppers and toss them together. After that, you add the sliced cooked sausage to the linguine as toss them together. 

This aromatic combination arrives at the table sizzling hot at the Italian Oven where they grate Parmesan cheese over it. This dish is delicious for someone like me who likes pork. 

For dessert, I at a classic layered tiramisu dessert made with Savoiardi lady finger cookies, mascarpone cheese, stiff whipped cream, espresso coffee, coffee liqueur, and cocoa powder dusted on top. This dessert is a luscious treat for coffee lovers. 

Without reservation, I would say that this was another superlative meal at the Italian Oven in Stockbridge, Georgia that I would recommend to other diners. 

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

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Thriftbooks.com is carrying my books!

Thank you Thriftbooks.com for carrying Eating Soup with Chopsticks!

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

Thank You Biblio.co.uk by Ruth Paget

Thank you Biblio.co.uk for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks!

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

Mager’s & Quinn is Carrying my Book by Ruth Paget

Thank you Mager’s and Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis, Minnesota for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks about living in Japan as an exchange student!

Best wishes,

Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

Grilled Chicken Salad Recipe Created by Ruth Paget

Grilled Chicken Salad Recipe Created by Ruth Paget 

Serves 4 

Ingredients: 

-1 pound bag of cleaned lettuce 

-6 medium Campari tomatoes 

-1/2 red onion 

-black, pitted Kalamata olives (optional)

-4 chicken breasts (about 1 pound all together)

-3 tablespoons olive oil 

-oil and vinegar dressing or lemon juice and oil dressing 

Steps: 

1-Rinse 1 pound lettuce in cold water and drain it to perk it up and chill it. Mound lettuce in a large serving bowl. 

2-Rinse tomatoes. Cut them into sixths. Place tomato slices in a separate bowl. 

3-Peel red onion and slice it thinly. Place onion slices in a separate bowl. 

4-Place black olives in a separate bowl.  

5-Cook chicken for 5 to 6 minutes per side. Cut to verify it is thoroughly cooked. The flesh should be white not pink when it is cooked. Cut the chicken into cubes and place in a separate bowl. 

6-Place on all bowls on table with serving utensils, so diners can personalize their salad.

If possible, sprinkle fresh chopped chives or parsley on the salad.

(Note: You can substitute tuna, canned black beans, sesame seeds, or cheese cubes for the chicken or offer all of them for an eclectic dinner party.) 

(Note: Table wine can easily be turned into vinegar to use in vinegar and oil dressing - 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard for 2 to 3 people.  Maille or Pommery Dijon mustards are both good.  Sunflower oil can be used for a true Burgundy vinaigrette.)

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

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Salade Niçoise with Salmon at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California by Ruth Paget

Salade Niçoise with Salmon at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California by Ruth Paget 

Rainy and foggy weather in Los Gatos, California located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains whets the appetite for three-course lunches at Chez Philippe. 

On a recent visit for my husband Laurent’s birthday with our daughter Florence Paget, we all started our meal with escargots, snails baked with butter, parsley, and breadcrumbs. The sauce was excellent for dipping baguette slices in. 

For our main dishes, Laurent ate mussels steamed with white wine and crème fraîche with chopped parsley added at the end with fries on the side while Florence ate steak with fries. Both were reliably great and delicious just like in UNESCO world heritage bistros in Paris. 

It was not my birthday, but I think I got the best main dish – the salade Niçoise with seared wild salmon. Every French chef who lives near Alaska or the Alaska Current in the Pacific would probably choose to use “local” salmon in their American renditions of this classic French dish. 

At Chez Philippe, this spectacular salad comes with:  

-6 seasoned and seared chunks of wild salmon 

-slender French green beans cut into one-inch segments 

-slices of white onion soaked previously in water so they taste sweet 

-meaty anchovies 

-sliced boiled eggs with canary yellow yolks 

-tomato slices

-black olive slices 

-sweet red pepper slices

-boiled potato wedges

 -fresh baby greens 

This wonderful combination was tossed with a vinaigrette made with the addition of Dijon mustard.   (Champagne would probably go well with this dish or a Bloody Mary cocktail.)

Laurent ate a birthday mousse while Florence and I shared a crème caramel. 

We all had fun and ate very well at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California for Laurent’s birthday. 

For French food in a relaxed atmosphere, Chez Philippe is the place for lunch Los Gatos. 

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

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Shrimp Cocktail and Chile Verde from Super Pollo in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Gulf Coast Fare from Super Pollo in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

Super Pollo Taquería in Salinas, California offers delicious Gulf Coast Texan and Mexican fare for everyday dinners and special events. 

For my December birthday, I ordered a tonic winter meal made up of shrimp cocktail, chile verde con puerco, and Spanish rice. 

Super Pollo stuffs a large beverage container with briny shrimp that swim in a sea of pico de gallo salsa topped off with slices of avocado for its shrimp cocktail. 

Pico de gallo salsa is made with chopped red pepper, onions, tomates, and cilantro with the addition of spicy peppers and Tapatío hot sauce for Super Pollo’s shrimp cocktail. I wanted to eat the shrimp cocktail on a blustery day on a sailboat, but was happy at home with a Monterey Beer from Alvarado Street Brewery. 

Chile verde con puerco is made by browning onions and pork and making a spicy green sauce, the chile verde, to go with the browned pork. 

To make childe verde sauce, you roast Mexican tomatillo green peppers (minus the papery skin), jalapeño peppers and Anaheim or Poblano peppers. Once roasted, you place these items in a blender with a bunch of cilantro leaves, chopped yellow onions, and chicken stock and purée the sauce. 

You warm the sauce and browned pork cubes together and then serve the chile verde with Spanish rice. Spanish rice is made with chicken stock and tomato juice and is so delicious you can practically make a meal of it alone. 

This is a large and delicious meal. I add leftover chile verde to chicken noodle soup for a boost of Vitamin C. (I also add leftover salsa to chicken noodle soup for another meal for a Vitamin C and flavor boost as well.) 

If you want a tonic Tex-Mex meal in winter, the shrimp cocktail and chile verde meal I ordered à la carte at Super Pollo is pretty hard to beat. 

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

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Cabbage Recipes for Winter by Ruth Paget

Cabbage Recipes for Winter by Ruth Paget 

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

Five of the European recipes I like follow: 

*Dijon Pork with Apples and Cabbage 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*Balsamic Cabbage 

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

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

-Mix in the balsamic vinegar and serve warm. 

*Blaukraut 

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

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

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

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

*Cabbage and Apple Slaw 

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

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

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

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

*Chopped Vegetable Salad with Beans 

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

-Mix everything together and refrigerate. 

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

Happy Cooking! 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bon appétit! 

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

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Upscale American Sandwiches in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Upscale American Sandwiches in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

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

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

-Charley’s Cheesesteaks 

-Wienerschnitzel 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Fish on Fridays in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Fish on Fridays in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Pasta Champion San Francisco (California) by Ruth Paget

Pasta Champion San Francisco (California) by Ruth Paget 

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

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

These grains with good protein and fiber content include:

-buckwheat 

-whole wheat 

-oatmeal 

-brown rice 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-spaghetti with marinated fennel, tomato, and olives 

-papardalle with arugula, cherry tomatoes, and bread crumbs 

-jalapeño macaroni 

-crab pasta 

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

-oven-baked quinoa loaf

 -lemon-asparagus rice pilaf 

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

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

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Vegetable-Rich san Francisco by Ruth Paget

Vegetable-Rich San Francisco by Ruth Paget 

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

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

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

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

Some of the cookbook’s great produce recipes follow: 

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

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

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

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

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

-yellow squash soup made with cumin and salsa 

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

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

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

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

-braised bitter greens 

-roast-garlic mashed potatoes 

-chard and red potato gratin 

-oven-fried sweet potatoes 

-creamed spinach with bacon and onions 

-parsnip and potato purée If you love vegetable dishes, 

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

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

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Italian Focaccia Flatbread Economics by Ruth Paget

Italian Focaccia Flatbread Economics by Ruth Paget 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Several recipes that families might like follow:

-basil topped focaccia 

-focaccia with rosemary, oil, and salt 

-focaccia with garlic and tomato topping 

-focaccia with garlic and herb topping 

-schiacciata covered in caramelized onions 

(schiacciata is the word for focaccia in Florence) 

-schiacciata with slices of tomato and shredded basil 

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

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

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

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Refettorio Ambrosiano Recipes from Milan, Italy by Ruth Paget

Refettorio Ambrosiano Recipes from Milan, Italy by Ruth Paget 

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

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

-less than perfect looking, but still good produce 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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German Celery Root Economics by Ruth Paget

German Celery Root Economics by Ruth Paget 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ghost Tour Article from UChicago Magazine

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