Carmel Valley Garden Show 2026 posted by Ruth Paget

Watch the website below for information about the 2026 Carmel Valley Garden Show:

Carmel Valley Garden Show 2026

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

Carmel International Film Festival 10-1 to 10-5, 2025 reposted by Ruth Paget

The Carmel International Film Festival is being held from October 1 to October 5, 2025.  Early bird tickets are available till September 1, 2025.  Ticket and film submission information follow:

Ticket Information for Carmel International Film Festival 2025

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

Gremolata: The Fish Buying and Cooking Game Created by Ruth Paget

Gremolata:  The Fish Buying and Cooking Game Created by Ruth Paget

This game is named for the Italian sauce gremolata.  Gremolata can be used as sauce on top of fish made in a variety of ways, most notably on baked salmon.

Gremolata is made into a green, pungent cream by blending parsley, garlic, and lemon juice together.  Fishmongers in France will often sell gremolata's ingredients and dry, white wine along with fresh fish.  I first saw this retail combination in Trouville-sur-Mer across the Touques River from Deauville, France.

Gremolata sauce also tastes great on pasta, vegetables, and seafood.  I especially like it on steamed clams and mussels and seafood salads.  My mother-in-law often used this sauce combination on her homemade fish dinners.

Game Objective:

To buy the best quality fish you can afford and prepare it masterfully.

Materials Needed:

-The cookbook Foolproof Fish: Modern Recipes for Everyone, Everywhere by America's Test Kitchen

-Index cards

-Magic Markers

Game 1: Fish Buying Guide

Use index cards and magic markers to note the following buying vocabulary.

1-Fillets and steaks
2-Whole fish
3-Frozen fish
4-Sushi-grade
5-Sustainable fish
6-Buying in season

On the back of the index cards, write in your own words what the buying term on the front of the card means.

To memorize the terms, learn two at once.  Then, do the next two.  Quiz yourself on all the terms when you have gone through all the terms two or three times.

Have fun reading store labels on your next shopping trip.

Game 2: Fish Texture

Another item that America's Test Kitchen wants buyers to be aware of when buying fish is texture.

America's Test Kitchen identifies the following textures or groupings as important when buying, preparing, and cooking fish:

Write the following terms on index cards:

1-flaky, white fish
2-firm, meaty white fish
3-thin, white fish
4-salmon and char
5-oily, ocean fish
6-trout
7-monkfish
8-tuna
9-bivalves
10-crustaceans
11-cephalopods
12-tinned fish

On the back of the index cards, write the definition of the term on front in your own words.

To memorize the terms and definitions on the index cards, learn two terms at a time until you have gone through the 12 terms two or three times.

The texture of a fish offers ideas on how to cook it and adds to your ability to make a good fish purchase.

Game 3- Cooking Methods

America's Test Kitchen present nine different cooking methods for fish.  Make index cards for the following terms:

1-roasting
2-broiling
3-baking
4-pan-searing
5-steaming
6-poaching
7-braising
8-frying
9-grilling

On the back of the index card, write the definition for the cooking term on the front of the card in your own words.

To memorize the cooking terms, learn them two at a time till you have gone through them all two or three times.

Once you know the fish texture in the previous game, you can predict the best cooking methods using what you have learned in this game.

Game 4: Fish Types

America's Test Kitchen provides a handy chart of fish types you can find at the store or fish market.  There are 30 types in all.  This game lets you put what you have learned in games 1, 2, and 3 together and link it to a fish type.

Refer to Foolproof Fish for the fish types and note them on index cards.  On the back of the index card, use the chart in Foolproof Fish to note texture, cooking methods, and substitutes for each fish and quiz yourself until you have totally mastered those three elements.

Game 5: Reward

Read the recipes in Foolproof Fish and pick one or two to try making at home.

Note: In Salinas (California), you can buy fresh fish at Nob Hill Market or Star Market.  Close to Salinas, you can buy fresh fish at Phil's Fish Market in Castroville or Phil's Fish Market in Moss Landing.

Have fun cooking!

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books

Chamber Music Monterey 59th Season 2025-2026 Tickets on Sale reposted by Ruth Paget

Chamber Music Monterey 59th Season 2025 - 2026 Season begins in November 2025.  Details and Ticket information below:

Chamber Music Monterey 2025 - 2026 Season Begins in November 2025

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

Concorso Italiano 2026 at Bayonet Golf Course in Seaside, California reposted by Ruth Paget

The 2025 Concorso Italiano Auto Show is being held at Bayonet Golf Course in Seaside, California on August 16th.  Click below for ticket information:

Concorso Italiano Ticket Information

For 2026, check the website below:

Concorso Italiano Website

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

Compagno’s Market and Deli Feeds Locals and Tourists Alike in Pacific Grove, California by Ruth Paget

Sandwich King Bennett Compagno keeps his neighborhood fed on the border between Monterey and Pacific Grove, California.  My review follows:

Compagno’s Market and Deli

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

All-American Lobster Ravioli at Pub's (Growers Pub) in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget

All-American Lobster Ravioli at Pub’s (Growers Pub) in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget 

Lobster comes from the icy waters off the coast of Maine, making lobster ravioli in tomato cream sauce an Italian-American classic that may have originated in a place like Boston’s North End Italian neighborhood. (Harvard, MIT, Boston University and Tufts all have a guilty splurge dish in lobster ravioli.) 

When I saw lobster ravioli in tomato cream sauce on the menu at Pub’s in Salinas, California on a recent outing there, I immediately ordered it and planned an Italian-American meal around it. 

I began my meal with an order of fried calamari with chipotle aioli (garlic mayonnaise with chipotle peppers blended into it) dipping sauce. I love fried calamari with a light batter like they do it at Pub’s. That appetizer sets the tone for a delicious meal. 

The lobster ravioli comes with a salad, so we next ate a mix of fresh friseé lettuce, baby greens, and chopped romaine lettuce. I ordered blue cheese dressing with my salad and liked thinking I was eating creamy Italian gorgonzola cheese with light cream as a dressing. 

I guessed the blue cheese dressing was actually made with a creamy Point Reyes blue cheese from outside San Francisco. It was delicious and also set the tone for the much anticipated main dish. 

The lobster ravioli looked great when it came and also had braised prawns and whole octopus in the sauce. The ravioli was stuffed with ricotta cheese with chopped lobster claw meat mixed with it. The tomato cream sauce tasted as if seafood broth had been blended into it. The delicious sauce tied everything together and made me feel exceedingly healthy as I ate it. 

For dessert, I ordered tiramisu. To make this dessert, you place lady finger sponge biscuits in the bottom of a dish and dampen them with espresso coffee. Next, you spread whipped mascarpone cheese (like whipped cream) on top of the ladyfingers. Then, you sprinkle the top with cocoa powder and refrigerate the tiramisu before serving it. 

This meal was delicious and a bit more luxurious than what I normally eat, but I enjoyed every bite of it and highly recommend the lobster ravioli in tomato cream sauce at Pub’s in Salinas, California to everyone as a splurge meal to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, good grades, and graduations. 

(Note: The dining room we sat in had photos of the Salinas Rodeo on the wall. The back wall was covered with brand marks from Monterey County ranchers – 35 in all. These marks were placed on livestock to help separate animals after grazing and to keep cattle together on cattle drives east for slaughter in the Midwest.  The meat from the cattle was mostly sold to the Northeast.) 

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

Click for Ruth Paget's Books