Chinese Lion Dancer Leonard Han reposted by Ruth Paget

Chinese Lion Dancer Leonard Han has performed at many First Night Monterey Celebrations.

His website below details his many skills:

https://leonardhan.pairsite.com/mb/about

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

Taiko Drummer Ikuyo Conant Information reposted by Ruth Paget

Taiko Drumming Japanese Performing Artist Ikuyo Consnt can be reached through the organization below:

https://actaonline.org/region/central-coast/

Ikyuo Conant and her troupe have performed at various venues throughout Monterey and Santa Cruz Counties and encourage active audience participation.

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

Rumsien Ohlone artist Linda Yamane on Centeal Coast Information reposted by Ruth Paget

Rumsien Ohlone artist Linda Yamane, who does workshops in the Monterey Area, can be reached through the organization below along with other artists who practice traditional art forms on California’s Central Coast:

https://actaonline.org/region/central-coast/

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

Sardi's - like Birthday Party at Pèppoli Italian Restaurant in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget

Sardi’s – like Birthday Party at Pèppoli Italian Restaurant in Pebble Beach, California by Ruth Paget 

When I was a teenager, I religiously read Shirley Eder’s column in the Detroit Free Press about local, national, and international celebrities from all art fields, many of whom performed at the Fisher Theatre in Detroit. 

I especially like reading about casts from Broadway shows celebrating successful theatre runs by dining at Sardi’s in New York. 

For a Sardi’s – like birthday, my daughter Florence Paget and husband Laurent Paget took me to Pèppoli Italian restaurant in Pebble Beach, California, which has earned a highly coveted Michelin star for its food, wine list, service, décor including colorful and elegant Italian maiolicha ware, comfort, and details like having a fire going in the fireplace, white tablecloths, and muted light for nice photos. 

The scene was set for a delicious and leisurely meal for my birthday. 

We started with fritto misto, a mixture of lightly fried calamari, shrimp, thinly sliced leeks or what may have been cardoons, and thinly sliced, small Meyer lemons with a slightly peppery marinara dipping sauce on the side. I felt as if I were in Amalfi, Italy munching on fried lemons. 

Pèppoli has an extensive wine list, but I chose to drink a Peroni beer instead. Peroni is a pale lager made from spring barley, Italian corn, and hops. The Peroni website says it has a citrus flavor, but I liked the taste of grain that tasted nice with the fritto misto. It would also be a good choice for charcuterie. 

Laurent and Florence ate Caesar salads as a first course. I ordered polenta to go with my main dish and enjoyed sipping the Peroni beer as they ate. 

Florence and I ordered lasagna as our main dish, and Laurent ate pasta carbonara. The lasagna at Pèppoli is what I consider Bologna-style, because it is made with balsamella sauce (béchamel) and a ragù sauce made with tomato, chopped sirloin, and fennel-flavored Italian sausage. It is made to order with a perfectly crunchy topping of melted Parmesan cheese. Our waiter told us the lasagna was a signature dish at Pèppoli. I thought it was sumptuous and delicious for birthday mom me. 

Laurent is always happy with pasta carbonara made with pancetta, Parmesan, eggs, and salt and pepper. I made Laurent this dish weekly when we lived Stuttgart, Germany. It is easy to find great bacon in Germany. Pèppoli beats me, though, because they use house-made pasta in the dish. 

As a contorni, an Italian vegetable dish, I ordered polenta made from fine grain corn meal that has been stewed, cooled, and fried. The polenta arrived as elegant triangles standing up in a small pool of marinara sauce. The polenta was light and dainty, a definite mom treat for her birthday. 

Pèppoli is a great venue for birthdays, anniversaries, end of talent show parties for singers, wrap-up parties for theatre productions from Ariel Theatrical for young actors to Western Stage and Pacific Repertory in neighboring Carmel. Family reunion organizers might enjoy planning a catered meal here, too. 

My birthday with my family at Pèppoli Italian restaurant in Pebble Beach, California was marvelous in all aspects and a splurge as you would expect at a Michelin restaurant. It was worth every penny. Thank you Florence. 

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

Origami Paper and Folding Book for Stockings by Ruth Paget

Shout out for origami paper and a folding book as a small Christmas gift!  You can usually buy these for less than $20.

Doing origami projects together is a fun, family activity.

You can buy these at Michael’s or online at Amazon.

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

Trader Joe’s Big Belgian Chocolate bars can fill 3 stockings by Ruth Paget

Shout out for Trader Joe’s Belgian Chocolate bars that are the size of a paperback book!

One of these bars paired with a dessert cookbook would be a nice stocking stuffer.

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

Gingerbread House Wars White Flag by Ruth Paget

Gingerbread Wars White Flag by Ruth Paget 

I saw that Food Network runs a TV show now called Holiday Gingerbread Showdown, a competition about who builds the best gingerbread house often with a theme. 

I looked the show up online and realized this is becoming an established cultural phenomenon with events happening in places like Naples, Italy for military families and at Boston University. 

 I feel hopelessly left out of the competition due to lack of skills. When my daughter Florence Paget was little, we went to Cost Plus World Market and bought a gingerbread house kits. (4 different kinds of gingerbread house kits are available and on sale at Cost Plus World Market for $11.89 in Seaside, California with pre-baked panels, icing, candies, gummies, sprinkles, paper cut outs, and tray as of today 12-11-2025). 

Even with a pre-fab gingerbread house, my gingerbread house looked more like a log cabin than a snow-covered Hansel and Gretel cottage. 

Fortunately, the icing tasted good and the gingerbread was easy to chop up for sprinkles on ice cream. 

When Florence became older, one of her friend’s mom held gingerbread house decorating parties not competitions. My fellow mom knew how to make sticky icing that would hold gummies on the side of a house.

My testimonial on the gingerbread house kit is that it is fun to do as part of a larger activity. I would read the Gingerbread Man story book to Florence before building the house and have her work on a Gingerbread Man coloring book as part of Gingerbread House Day. I would play Christmas carols that we would sing along to as well. 

Now I would add watching the Food Network Gingerbread House Competition to this list of activities. 

The gingerbread itself is bitter, which is why I put chopped pieces in ice cream. It is also good dunked in tea with honey in it. 

We no longer build gingerbread houses, but if you have younger children, I would recommend doing one of the gingerbread house kits at Cost Plus World Market as a Christmas week activity.  Walmart and Target also sell gingerbread house kits.  Older teens might like Amazon’s gingerbread house kits - these kits prepare you for gingerbread wars.

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