Thank you Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000) for pulling up my review of La Tortuga in Seaside,California from the archives.
I loved the pescado a la Veracruzano in the old neighborhood.
La Tortuga Review by Ruth Paget
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Thank you Monterey County Weekly (Circulation: 200,000) for retrieving my article A Blessed Eid: Local Muslims Bake for the End of Ramadan from archives.
My article follows:
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
The longstanding outdoor play Streets of Bethlehem is being put on by the First Baptist Church of Salinas, California between December 4 - 7, 2025. There will be a food truck for meal purchase before and after the show. The event is free, but donations are accepted. (See website below)
Details about parking and tickets are on the event website below:
https://streetsofbethlehem.com/
Reposted by Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Southern Big Sur California Day Trip by Ruth Paget
My husband Laurent, daughter Florence Paget, and I began our tour of Southern Big Sur California at Morro Bay, about 5 miles to the coast from San Luis Obispo.
Morro Bay is famous for its oysters, portside seafood restaurants, cozy hotels, and charter deep-sea fishing boats.
There is plenty of public parking across from the portside restaurants that make it easy to dine, stroll, and shop. Morro Bay sits directly on Highway 1, making it an easy to go up the coast north to San Simeon and Hearst Castle as well.
If you turn right from Highway 1 at San Simeon, you can drive up the hills to Hearst Castle for a visit or just shopping at the gift shop, which has copies of the Hearst Castle cookbook.
The day we did our tour, we wanted to eat along the oceanfront and travel as far as we could in Big Sur before the highway closure point. We ate lunch at our favorite restaurant along the coast – the Cavalier Oceanfront Resort.
The Cavalier and hotel have been in Big Sur for the 30+ years that we have lived in California. We always went to this restaurant after visits to Hearst Castle when Florence was a child. Our main reasons for eating at the Cavalier are the excellent clam chowder and fish and chips with tart yet creamy coleslaw. I like the Cavalier’s comfortable booths, marble top tables, air-conditioning, and clean bathrooms, too. It is very enjoyable to eat at this restaurant.
On our day trip, we sampled the charcuterie platter, which came with locally produced ham and salume, slices of a cheese that resembled Manchego, dry toast, goat cheese, cranberry sauce, and large-grain mustard. That was a great start for the fish and chips Laurent and I ate and the turkey club sandwich that Florence ordered.
After lunch, we set out for the climb up along Highway 1 to Big Sur. Along the way, we passed a pullout for sea lion viewing. The sea lions roll in the surf and sun themselves on coastal rocks with occasional bursts of sea water showering on them from sea water crashing on the rocks.
Highway 1 begins to rise up at San Simeon and go from a two-lane highway to a single-lane highway with no passing just turnouts for slow drivers. Only 28 miles of Highway 1 is open from San Simeon due to falling rocks and repairs from landslides.
The fantastic views are worth the thrill of driving along the curvy highway. There are restaurants, hotels, gas stations, bathrooms, and general stores located at Ragged Point and Gorda Springs. Trees from Limekiln State Park line the way till you see sheer drops down to the ocean on the southbound lane side of the road.
We turned around at Lucia (28 miles from San Simeon) and took Highway 1 back to Highway 46, which cuts over the hills to Paso Robles and Highway 101 by the Firestone Walker Brew Pub.
Highway 46 goes through a good portion of the wine country of Paso Robles. Each inch of ground seems to have a winery on it. I looked at the wineries and thought they should all have markets with foods that go with wine and wine-related products like wine vinegar, picnic tables, bistros with live music, and maybe some artwork and books for sale.
I had fun thinking of wine country marketing ideas on the way back to ag capital Salinas, California with its 120+ agricultural products grown in Monterey County.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Wulong: The Taiwanese Tea Game Created by Ruth Paget
The story of tea in Taiwan is one of Wulong tea. Wulong tea leaves are oxidized more than green tea leaves, but less than black tea leaves. Wulong tea is also produced in the provinces of Fujian and Guangdong in the People’s Republic of China.
Terroirs (production areas) and cultivars (cultivated varieties of tea leaves similar to grape varieties in wine making) are important in Taiwan as they are in the People’s Republic of China.
Game Objectives:
1-Know Taiwanese Terroirs (Production Areas)
2-Know Taiwanese Cultivars (Cultivated varieties of tea leaves similar to grape varieties in winemaking)
3-Know Day 1 Production Methods
4-Know Day 2 Production Methods
5-Know Taiwanese Tea Brands
6-Reward: Drink some wulong tea and read about the Gong Fu Cha tea ceremony
Materials Needs:
-Tea: History Terroirs Varieties by Kevin Gascoyne, François Marchand, Jasmin Desharnais, and Hugo Américi
-index cards – large and small
-pens
Game 1: Know Taiwanese Terroirs (Production Areas)
The island of Taiwan has several large regions with subregions under them. On index cards, write the name of the main region on the front. On the back of the index cards, write the main characteristics of the main regions.
If a main region has a subregion, make separate index cards for the subregion. Write the name of the main region followed by the subregion. On the back of index card, write the characteristics of the subregion.
Quiz yourself on main regions and subregions till you know them three at a time.
The main regions and subregions in Taiwan follow:
-Nantou – main region
-Subregion: Mount Dong Ding
-Subregion: Mount Lin Xi
-District of Taipei – main region
-Subregion: Pingun
-Subregion: The Mucha Mountains
-Hsinchu – main region
-Chia Yi – main region
-Subregion: Ali Shan Mountain
-Subregion: Yu Shan Mountain
-Hualien – main region
-Subregion: Taitung
-Taichung: main region
-Subregion: Li Shan Mountain
Game 2: Know Taiwanese Cultivars (Cultivated varieties similar to grape varieties in wine making)
There are 5 main cultivars in Taiwan. Write the name of the cultivars on the front of an index card. On the back of the index card, write the characteristics of the cultivar in your own words.
Taiwan’s 5 cultivars follow:
-Qing Shin
-Si Ji Chun
-Cui Yu
-Jin Shuan
-Tie Guan Yin
Quiz yourself on the cultivars and their characteristics till you know them.
Game 3: Know Day 1 Production Methods for Taiwanese Wulong Tea
There are 6 steps in the production of Taiwanese wulong on the first day of production.
Write Day 1 on six index cards. Number and name the steps on the front of the index cards. On the back of the index cards, describe the step’s characteristics in your own words.
Quiz yourself on the Day 1 steps till you know them.
Game 4: Know Day 2 Production Methods for Wulong Tea
There are 6 steps in the production of Taiwanese wulong tea on the second day.
Write Day 2 on six index cards. Number and name the steps on the front of the index cards. On the back of the index cards, describe the step’s characteristics in your own words.
Quiz yourself on the Day 2 steps till you know them.
Game 5: Know the Taiwanese Wulong Tea Types.
Note the name of the tea type on the front of an index card. On the back of the index card, note the tea family (usually wulong), the name translation, alternative names if any, production area, harvest season, and cultivar.
Quiz yourself on the tea types till you know them three at a time.
It is usually easier to learn one characteristic at a time for the different tea types.
Game 6: Reward Once you have learned all the information in games 1 through 5, reward yourself with a pot of wulong tea and read about the gong fu cha tea ceremony in Tea: History Terroirts Varieties by Kevin Gascoyne et al.
Happy Playing!
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Saintoge: The La Rochelle, France Touring Game Created by Ruth Paget
My husband Laurent and I planned a beach vacation the La Rochelle, France region one year when we lived in Germany. We drove to France, but summer Atlantic storms washed up loads of seaweed and crustaceans on a daily basis on the beach at Châtellon Plage where we were staying south of La Rochelle.
Our beach vacation quickly became a cultural and historical walking tour of the region when I picked up a Saintoge touring guide in the hotel lobby. Saintoge is part of the ancient region of Gascony between Bordeaux and the French Basque country that extends inland and upward into the Pyrénées Mountains. This region has created a strong tourism market by making their many historical buildings from all eras multipurpose tourism venues featuring art, music, food, wine, and cultural events like those at Mont de Marsan for the Fête de la Madeleine.
We began our tour of the Saintoge Region with a visit to the Gallo-Roman site at Cassinomagus. This archaeological dig site features tours, concerts, a garden based on those ancient Rome, Olympic games for the young, a café, and a bookshop with general brochures and scholarly works by the University Press of France about Gallo-Roman history.
My blog about this site follows:
My husband Laurent and I ate lunch in the town of Cognac without tasting any on our trek to the coast. We ate outside and noted that the humid air did have a sour tinge to it from the “part des anges” or evaporated cognac that seeps through the top of ageing barrels.
Once in Châtellon Plage, we ate the first of many seafood platters thanks to the summer storms that washed up loads of crab and shellfish. The rule inland is not to eat seafood platters in summer and only in months with an “r” in them. At the seashore, though, this is okay thanks to limited time needed to transport them to restaurants.
Everyone who goes on vacation in France needs to visit at least one château. Our first stop was the Château de la Roche Courbon. The gardener here went to work later at Versailles:
My blog on this site follows:
The second thing you need to do on a summer vacation to France is visit a prehistoric site devoted to female goddess worship. We set out for the Pyrénées Mountains to visit the Dame de Brassempouy Museum. The real Dame de Brassempouy is now housed in the National Prehistory Museum in St.-Germain-en-Laye outside Paris. A replica is on view at Brassempouy along with a recreated site.
My blog on this follows:
On the way back from Brassempouy, we drove through Mont de Marsan during the July Fête de la Madeleine in this town. A bullfight had just let out and people were running through the street decked out in white clothes and kercheifs. The bullfighting here features acrobats who jump over smaller bulls before the larger bulls enter the arena. The GPS in the car was confused by closed medieval streets, but we eventually made it back to the hotel.
The following day, we went to the Abbaye de St.-Jean-d’Angély. This Abbaye houses a reliquary of the head of Saint John the Baptist, which was not on display. We visited the music practice rooms and were allowed to admire the engineering that kept the roof from blowing off in the storm.
My blog on this site follows:
Royal Abbey Saint Jean d’Angely
We made two trips out to visit Fort Boyard, a fort that sits in the middle of the ocean. Fort Boyard is the site of a famous French television show of aristocratic games of strength and knowledge. After our second visit, we ate a huge seafood meal après storm.
My blog on this site follows:
We saw La Rochelle on our boat rides out to Fort Boyard and finally visited it under the rain. This town is important for the Wars of Religion fought here between French Protestants (The Huguenots) and Catholics.
My blog on this site follows:
As our trip came to a close, we visited a chapel of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, which leads to this town in Spain.
My blog on this site follows:
Our final outing on this trip was to the Abbaye aux Dames in Saintes. We learned about the life in a medieval nunnery in this abbey founded in 1071. We admired modern art on the abbey’s whitewashed walls and read posters for upcoming concerts. The French attract three audiences to this site by making it a multipurpose cultural venue. We also visited the Gallo-Roman theatre at Saintes that is still used for events.
My blog on this site follows:
The La Rochelle region offers a surprising variety of site to visit on tonic walking tour of France. As a souvenir, we bought bottles of Pineau de Charentes, a cocktail wine drink that is a specialty of the region and merrily drove back to Germany.
(Note: Two great reading projects for a vacation in La Rochelle include the French-langual picaresque novel Gil Blas de Santillane by Alain-René Lesage and Cyrano de Bergerac, a play, by Edmond Rostand.)
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
Green Bean Casserole Recipe Created by Ruth Paget
Note: I ate this casserole frequently as a child in Detroit, Michigan. I relearned how to make this recipe from my daughter Florence Paget recently.
This Detroit recipe may have its roots in Appalachia. Its ingredients are all pantry items that you can use in winter when snowfall might congest roads for a day or two and you have to cook what you have on hand.
Serves 4 to 6 people
Ingredients:
-2 (14.5-ounce) cans Del Monte green beans, drained and rinsed
-2 (11-ounce) containers of Trader Joe’s condensed mushroom soup
-1 (8-ounce) container Kirkland UHT milk
-sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
-3 to 4 cups Fresh Gourmet Dried onions to cover the top of the casserole
Steps:
1-Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2-Place green beans, mushroom soup, and milk in a disposable baking dish. Mix ingredients together until the green beans are well coasted with mushroom soup and mil.
3-Grind sea salt and black pepper over the top of the green bean mixture.
4-Cover the top of the casserole with dried onions.
5-Bake the casserole for 40 minutes and serve warm.
This casserole is a perfect lacto-ovo vegetarian dish containing:
-protein in the beans and milk
-carbohydrates in the vegetable casing around the green beans
-vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants in the mushrooms and onions
-calcium in the milk
This green beans casserole is also a tasty side for roast turkey.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France