While
it certainly took some courage to eat the first oyster, it is that
tenacious ancestor who first figured out how to eat an artichoke
who truly deserves our praise. More...
Sushi
is definitely a guy thing. Why, is something of a mystery. Sushi
teacher Mineko Moreno, co-author of Sushi For Dummies, thinks men
are attracted to sushi because they perceive it as edgy, even dangerous. More...
Citrus
is all about scent: the fresh burst of lemon, the sharp tang of
lime, the surprise of grapefruit. But you haven’t experienced
citrus, from sweet to bittersweet, until you get to know two of
the lesser-known members of the clan. More...
The
road to Tierra Miguel farm winds from the I-15 at Fallbrook up a
steep and stony valley, past historic Gomez Creek and Warner Ranch,
past the starkly anachronistic mega-story Pala casino, and finally
into the Pauma Valley at the foot of Mount Palomar. More...
A
morbidly entertaining foodie game is Last Meal, in which you decide
what – besides hemlock – you would choose for your ultimate
menu. That you would want many, many courses is a given, but a surprising
number of people would include mushrooms, preferably wild, in that
final request. More...
Crack
into a ripe pomegranate and you open up a Byzantine jewel box of
juicy, ruby faceted seeds, packed tightly into white-hulled chambers.
This wealth of seeds gives the pomegranate its ancient prestige
as a symbol of wealth and fertility, but also poses tactical challenges
for those who would attempt to eat it. More...
I
discovered coffee early one morning in a French truck stop, on a
back road in Normandy. We were on a motorcycle, it was December,
raining and cold. We walked in the door like gunslingers in a spaghetti
western, desperate for anything hot to drink. More...
The
smaller and more delicate the vegetable, the more desirable it is,
even though summer is the time when giant squash bloat up in back
yards across the land in a misguided effort to show that bigger
is better. More...
On
the surface, your common mussel seems awfully - well, common. Mussels
are everywhere you look at the seashore: clusters of salt-water
wallflowers, shells tightly closed, rooted in one spot for a lifetime,
and apparently doing very little. That very ordinariness makes it easy to overlook what remarkable
creatures mussels really are More...
Everyone
eats rice. Not everyone eats potatoes, or corn, or wheat - but every
person on earth eats rice in some form. Yes, even you, Mr.Tater-Tot,
there in front of the TV. There's rice in your beer. More...
More
than any other spice, ginger has a presence that transcends taste
and scent. The warm perfume of cooking ginger is a nostalgic waft
from the past. More...
The
apple has accompanied humankind since Eden. As Carl Sagan observed,
“If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first
create the universe.” More...
Fall
in Southern California is a sunny, cool oasis of color and scent.
The last of the year’s bounty spills from our gardens and
farms More...
We’ve
gone protein mad. From A (as in Atkins) to Z (as in Zone) the hunt
is on for protein sources that we can actually feel good about eating. More...
I
want a goat. This happens every year after the Fair, but lately,
now that I’ve made a couple of simple, creamy-sweet fresh
cheeses at home, this whole goat thing has become a minor obsession.
Fresh cheese, after all, is easy to make More...
In
America today, we eat too much and do too little. As a result, too
many kids are turning into piñatas: round and sturdy on the
outside, but full of junk on the inside. More...
The
Waldorf School is located in one of San Diego’s grittier areas.
The neighbors keep large dogs, and most houses have bars on their
windows. But at the pink-painted school, beds of bright flowers
and scented herbs greet visitors and fill the corners of the parking
lot and offices. More...
Fields
of purple tasseled spikes of lavender in bloom are wonderful to
see. And it’s a bit of heaven to breathe in the clean, sharply
pungent scent that rises from a single, sun-warmed plant. More...
Someone
once asked me to explain the difference between the pointedpersimmon
(Hachiya) and the flat-bottomed (Fuyu). It’s simple: bite
into an under-ripe Hachiya persimmon and you’ll remember which
is which for the rest of your life. More...
Growing
up in the frozen North, I don't recall growing anything more than
some scandalously hot radishes and smelly wild leeks. Imagine my
shock when I moved to San Diego. More...
Many
culinary carpetbaggers blew through town during the recent IACP
convention, but the most eagerly anticipated event by far was the
benefit dinner by ruling culinary godlet, Chef Charlie Trotter. More...
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