Bookhype.com is carrying my first edition books by Ruth Paget

Thank you bookhype.com for carrying my first edition books including More Leisure than Money: Tales of a Navy Wife in Virginia.

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

Operation We Are Here Resources for Miltary Spouses has included my Virginia book on their booklist by Ruth Paget

Thank you Operation We Are Here.com for including my book More Leisure than Money: Tales of a Navy Wife in Virginia on your list of resource books for military spouses.

This book is also sold as Virginia Mom.

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

Salinas (California) Go-To Summer Picnic by Ruth Paget

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

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Alibris.com is carrying my book by Ruth Paget

Thank you Alibris.com for carrying my book Eating Soup with Chopsticks.

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

The ALA Store (American Library Association) is selling a book I have chapters in by Ruth Paget

Thank you ALA Store (American Library Association) for carrying the Librarian’s Handbook.  I have chapters on restaurant reviewing and online columns in it. 

 (I used to write The Global Librarian column for the Special Library Association of the Bay Area when I was in graduate school at San Jose State University.)

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

Saxo.com in Denmark is carrying my book by Ruth Paget

Thank you Saco.com in Denmark for carrying my first edition of Eating Soup with Chopsticks.

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

Sesame Beef and Broccoli at Saigon Noodles in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

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

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