I made a truly epic cake for New Year’s Eve. I had originally thought the cake just accidentally happened, but I have since come to realize the cake was meant to be made. My hands and my spirit were meant to bring it to life for one epic moment in time. The cake was special, and it reminded me that I was, too. This multilayered cake is kind of like a metaphor for the life I have lived so far feeding into the life I am yet to live – culminating in this particularly sweet past New Year’s Eve.
Seasons
January 13, 2020
Recently, as I continue to tinker with my herbal salt fetish, I have noticed how good people and places inspire me just as much as the season’s new herb, fruit, vegetable, or spice. In my herbal salts, I try to evoke a particular aspect of the season that is special to me. Ingredients from my own garden and local farms mingle with other organic goods that are seasonal for most of us.
December 26, 2019
Finding useful information on cooking and cleaning Dungeness crab isn’t easy. I personally always forget the instructions, even though I have done it countless times. I figured a phot-post would make the most sense to share my knowledge, which is essentially self-taught from various You Tube videos and trial and error. Next year when I try to remember how to cook and clean it, I can look at my own notes cemented inside of this blog post. Here is a quick breakdown on how to cook and clean fresh Dungeness crab.
December 26, 2019
This is a supremely salty tasting salt, so use it sparingly or excessively depending on your appetite for saltiness. It’s heavy on the Winter Savory, a naturally “salty tasting” herb, so it just tastes a bit saltier than some of my other salts.
December 20, 2019
Chicories—which include three kinds of radicchios (Chioggia, Castelfranco and Treviso), escarole, curly endive and frisée—are members of the lettuce family. They are heartier and more assertive than lettuce, which is probably why I enjoy them. They are kind of like the New Yorkers of the lettuce world, in that they are loud and can be rambunctious. But unbeknownst to many chicories are tameable, and easily transformed into hearty salads, robust soups and braises and satisfying grain dishes that are perfect for the colder months. Rosemary, believe it or not is one of the most compatible herbs for winter chicories.
December 6, 2019
Read Full Recipe Print Recipe Herbs, Butter & Holiday Pies November 26TH 2019 I have used herbs in my pies since …
November 27, 2019
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of cooking a six-course Thanksgiving pairing menu to go along with the French fortified wine, Pineau des Charentes. This was a press dinner hosted by PlaceInvaders for Sopexa, who represents the wine. A total of twelve guests spent the evening warmly tucked inside a Placeinvaders purple Victorian “mansion” in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District. I conjured up the menu to evoke an autumnal European-American Thanksgiving vibe and, because I was the chef, I was bursting with fresh, fall-centric herbs.
November 25, 2019
Sage is without question the herb of the season. It’s hard to see, smell or taste, without thinking about the warming and comforting foods of fall, that start to bring us inside, literally and figuratively. As we begin to settle into the rapidly colder and darker winter, sage creeps into our foods; in soups, beans, stews and most importantly buried throughout most of the dishes on our holiday tables. Just as pumpkin pie spice is synonymous with fall, sage is tantamount to Thanksgiving. There is nothing more quintessentially Thanksgiving than sage, except I suppose the turkey.
November 24, 2019
Yesterday I was reminded of how amazing bringing joy to others feels, it doesn’t matter if it’s a human being or a pet. When you participate and focus on joy for others, good things happen. I’ve been noticing this a lot lately and a few years back began to notice that I do it a lot with food and recipes. My caring nature towards loved ones often leads me through adventures perfecting the foods and recipes they love. It doesn’t matter if I personally like the food or recipe choice, I still have the yearning to learn more and make the best version. Even when the food is something I totally dislike. I do it, usually only to (re)discover (over and over) what I have been telling kids forever while tasting things- “figure out what you like and don’t like about it and learn your taste and texture preferences”.
October 24, 2019
This time of year, with the onset of colder wetter days, my garden seems to burst with tender shoots of mint. This vibrant bumper crop, as they call it, always feels unexpected and yet deeply appreciated. With it, I start to see the full potential of mints warming and comforting qualities within my own cooking, especially as fall pulls and seemingly forces me into eating warmer, heavier and more comforting foods. Mint’s hidden talent of encouraging the fresh and healthy in any dish draws me in further.
October 22, 2019
Seasons | My Herbal Roots