Apple Duck Confit at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California by Ruth Paget

Apple Duck Confit at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California by Ruth Paget 

My family is not going to the Summer Olympics in Paris (2024), but wanted to honor this event and went out for a swanky French dinner at Chez Philippe in Los Gatos, California high up in the Santa Cruz Mountains by San Jose. 

We began our meal with escargots (snails) that swam in delicious melted butter with pungent, freshly crushed garlic from nearby Gilroy and freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley. Snails are purged with white flour to clean their digestive tract, which makes them spongy, popcorn-like balls that easily soak up garlic-butter sauce. I like to soak up the leftover sauce with pieces of bread. 

As my main dish, I ate apple duck confit. Duck has a lot of fat and sautéing it in this fat makes it juicy with melted fat. Bordeaux wine is said to go well with confit. I did not order a glass of it, because the confit came with an applesauce to cut the rich flavor of the duck confit. This is a good dish for a designated driver. 

The apple duck confit also came with potato slices that had been fried in duck fat, making them dense and able to soak up sea salt. Crisp, steamed French green beans rounded out the meal for a refreshing finish. 

In place of dessert, I shared a cheese platter with my husband Laurent. We both love cheese and liked the well-aged cheese chosen for this platter: 

-roquefort from Averyron, France 

-pont l’évêque from Normandy 

-Brie de Meaux from outside Paris 

Eating at Chez Philippe is pleasant, and the restaurant sometimes has live jazz playing at dinnertime. (Check the website for jazz evenings.) 

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

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Tea Lunch at Dim Sum Inn in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Tea Lunch at Dim Sum Inn in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget  

I first learned about tea lunch with bite-size dim sum dumplings made with seafood, pork, and vegetables in Hong Kong as a teenager before going on a 3-week study tour in the People’s Republic of China with the Detroit Youth Tour to China in 1979.

I loved it that the waiters in Hong Kong all spoke English and could tell me what the dim sum in the steam carts they rolled among the tables were. They also showed me how the billing worked by placing a red ink round mark on the bill with the number of dim sum taken of each kind. At the end of the meal, they would total up everything along with the tea and you would pay at the table. That was a first-class introduction to tea lunch with dim sum dumplings in Hong Kong. 

Dim Sum Inn in Salinas, California continues this type of positive intercultural food experience. The menu has a photo of each dim sum, which is sold 4 to a basket along with a description of what the dim sum is in English. The dim sum arrive in a waiter robot powered by a waiter in so-close-to-Silicon-Valley Salinas. 

My daughter Florence Paget and I shared the following dim sum and jasmine tea: 

-shrimp dumplings steamed in rice flour pastry shells that looked like small, squinched, clutch coin purses. The gooey rice flour pastry makes the shrimp inside retain its salty, sweet flavor, but the texture of the steamed pastry shell might put off people trying dim sum for the first time. 

-deep-fried shrimp balls 

-pork dumplings coated in creamy and spicy hot peanut and red pepper sauce from Sichuan 

-Chinese donuts that resemble long Mexican churro donuts. The donuts come with a super sweet dipping sauce. 

The dumplings at Dim Sum Inn are not bite-size like the ones in Hong Kong. It takes about two bites to eat the dumplings in this great deal restaurant in Salinas, California that has: 

-a large parking lot 

-a large banquet room 

-easy to understand menus with photos 

-vegetarian dim sum and lunch items 

-easy access from Highway 101 and Highway 68 

Dim Sum Inn in Salinas, California merits a detour as the Michelin guidebooks say. 

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

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Cheddar Bread Recipe by Ruth Paget

Cheddar Bread Recipe by Ruth Paget 

Makes 2 loaves 

Ingredients: 

-1 (0.75-ounce) package instant dry yeast 

-1/2 pound shredded, sharp cheddar cheese 

-1 (10.75-ounce) can Campbell’s tomato soup 

-1 (4-ounce) jar diced pimientos with juice 

-1 cup scalded milk 

-1/2 cup butter 

-6 to 7 cups flour 

Steps: 

1-Dissolve yeast in water according to package instructions. 

2-Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl to form a dough. 

3-Place dough in a warm spot and let rise to double its size. 

4-When the dough has risen, punch it down and knead by hand for 15 to 20 minutes. 

5-Let dough rise again in a warm spot.

6-When the dough has risen again, punch it down and knead by hand for 15 to 20 minutes. 

7-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

8-Form two loaves. Spray Pam in two bread baking pans and bake loaves for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. 

Cheddar bread tastes great toasted with melted butter and a mug of strong black coffee with warmed milk to drink.

(A Rosevale Farm Recipe) 

Source: Winifred Sawle – Arena, Wisconsin 

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

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Top 20 Antioxidant Foods posted by Ruth Paget

Top 20 Antioxidant Foods List

 Top 20 Antioxidant Foods

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

Seafood Food Tourism in Salinas, California Posted by Ruth Paget

Nice round-up article about seafood food tourism in Salinas, California

 Press article about best seafood in Salinas, California 

Note: Most of these restaurants have parking.  

Salinas is also about 2 miles away from Monterey County’s fishing port at Moss Landing.

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

Vegetarian Singapore Rice Noodles at Dim Sum Inn in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Vegetarian Singapore Noodles at Dim Sum Inn in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

I chose to order vegetarian Singapore rice noodles at Dim Sum Inn on North Main Street in Salinas, California to try a Hong Kong classic dish that probably refers to a light lunch you can eat in Singapore’s heat using exotic curry powder from India. (Singapore is not in China though most of its inhabitants have Chinese ancestry.) 

Singapore rice noodles usually come with meat or shrimp, but I chose a lacto-ovo vegetarian version that came with scrambled eggs stir-fried into the mix.

I consulted www.recipetineats.com for a Singapore rice noodles recipe. According to this site, to stir-fry Singapore rice noodles, you heat sesame and peanut oil and add fresh ginger, fresh garlic, green onions, hot red chiile peppers, curry powder, and white pepper to the hot oil. 

Once the oil is thoroughly impregnated with those flavors, you add bite-size pieces of the following vegetables:

-baby bok choy (similar to cabbage, but bulb shaped) 

-broccoli 

-celery 

-carrots 

-green peppers 

-green beans 

Once those vegetables are blazing hot you add in the eggs to stir-fry scramble them. The rice noodles come last to be stir-fried. Rice noodles just need to be hydrated in warm water and drained before adding them to the stir-fry. 

This fragrant dish arrived hot on a waiter robot for a Silicon Valley touch at the table. The robot is operated by a waiter, which liberates the waiter’s arms to safely bring additional dishes. 

The Singapore rice noodles are a lunch special at Dim Sum Inn, which come with egg flower soup or hot and sour soup. I drank a strongly perfumed jasmine tea with my meal for the perfect afternoon lunch. 

Dim Sum Inn serves dim sum tea lunch daily in addition to lunch specials except Tuesdays when the restaurant is closed. Dim Sum Inn is in a large shopping center opposite Northridge Mall with lots of parking. The restaurant also has a large banquet room and an equally large menu for planning banquets and dim lunches for private parties in a friendly atmosphere. 

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

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Beach Fare at Michael's Taqueriía in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

Beach Fare at Michael’s Taquería in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

The La Playa Combo (Beach Combination) at Michael’s Taquería in downtown Salinas, California reminds you that Western America Salinas is only two miles away from the Pacific Ocean on the Monterey Peninsula. 

This generous combination platter has charbroiled shrimp (large enough to be considered gambas), blackened chicken, and a cheese enchilada covered in mild red chile sauce. The sides that come with this dish include refried black beans, Mexican rice, lime-chile sauce, fresh red salsa, and warm tortillas. 

I like to use the warm tortillas to make soft tacos. I make one taco with the charbroiled shrimp, Mexican rice, black beans, and lime-chile sauce. For the other tacos I make with the warm tortillas, I slice up the blackened chicken and add the chicken strips to the tortillas along with the Mexican rice, black beans, and fresh red salsa. 

After eating my little beach tacos, I feel like the cheese enchilada in mild red chile sauce is a dessert. I like the asadero melting cheese made from goat and cow’s milk, which comes from the northwestern Mexican state of Chihuahua. 

I drink Topo-Chico Mexican sparkling water with the La Playa Combo or Negro Modelo beer from Mexico and feel like I am on vacation in Mexico without leaving Salinas, California. 

Note: There is a parking garage by the Steinbeck Center on Main Street by Michael’s Taqueria.

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

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