Pickle Your Harvest!

Autumn is less than a week away and your summer harvest or favorite summer market produce will soon be replaced with more cool weather offerings. A great way to give cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, green beans and peppers a great send-off is to pickle or ferment them. It’s an easy way to preserve them and transform them into a delightfully sharp and sour snack or meal ingredient.

I spent time recently with a group of San Diego’s Master Food Preservers and oh, were they helpful in laying out how to make pickles and sauerkraut. It’s a blast and the results are delicious. Get the kids involved too! These will make great holiday gifts! Learn how and get recipes in my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Food section!

Many thanks to photographer Meg McLaughlin for the beautiful shots!

Eat for Life!

If you’re pregnant, know someone who’s pregnant — or are very much not pregnant but want to eat well and healthfully, there’s a new cookbook coming out on Sept. 8 by San Diegans Torie Borrelli Hall and Eric Wolfinger called “Eating for Life” (self-published, $49.99). The cookbook, subtitled “A Holistic Cookbook for Pregnancy and a Thriving Family,” will be available for purchase on their website, eatingforlifecookbook.com.

You’ll get both a great deep dive into nutrition to help you make solid food choices and recipes written by both both authors for foods from eggs, bones and collagen to a variety of other proteins, carbs and legumes, ferments and sweets. Some look familiar but others (Liver Meatballs Made 3 Ways) are unusual and intriguing. I’ve included three in my new story on the book for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Food section: High Protein Pancakes, Spaghetti Carbonara (with Extra Yolks), and Dry-Fried Green Beans With Anchovy Bagna Càuda. I think you’ll love them!

A Summer Dessert Finale

Technically summer isn’t quite over. But you can feel that change is coming. So, let’s give summer desserts the finale they — and we — deserve. Let’s take into September a rainbow of berries, the crack of a splitting watermelon spilling its juice, and memories of sitting around a firepit with gooey s’mores. I corralled longtime pastry chef Jeff Bonilla of US Foods into creating a few recipes we can indulge in: Watermelon Granita, Summer S’mores Bars, and Clafoutis aux Baies With Herb Sugar Dough. You can find the recipes in my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Food section.

Many thanks to photographer Kristian Carreon and the delightful Clayton’s Bakery and Bistro for lending us their kitchen for our cooking demo.

Folklectic Style: A Step in the Past with a Look to the Future

Are you conflicted in how you approach your home’s decor? You want the latest new tech and the trendiest new furnishings but you’re also a product of your own nostalgia for items like Grandma’s hand-sewn quilts, Mom’s old ceramic jewelry dish or Granda’s hand-carved animals? Maybe it’s time to give in and incorporate your nostalgic affection for a more lived-in style with your enjoyment of contemporary decor. This approach even has a name: folklectic: a portmanteau for folksy design combined with today’s eclectic sensibility. Read my latest story for The San Diego Union-Tribune to learn how to capture this in a way that makes your home both fresh and cozy.

Many thanks to photographer Kristian Carreon for his beautiful photos. And I took a couple, too!

Summer (Food) Smoking is the Flavor Bomb You Need

Here’s what I’ve learned about smoking food. You don’t need a big ol’ smoker (unless you’re smoking a turkey or rack of ribs or the like). You don’t even need a grill, although you can use even a gas grill for smoking. Got a stove? Got a cast-iron pan and some aluminum foil? Can you buy a box or bag of wood chips?

If so, then you, my friend, can take up smoking everything from vegetables, steak, pork chop or fish to — get this — chocolate chip cookies. I learned how from chef Andrew Bent and now you can do it, too. And with ease. Just check out my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Food section, which includes Bent’s recipes, and you’re ready for Labor Day and beyond!

Many thanks to the great Nel Cepeda for his beautiful photos!

I've Been Featured in SDVoyager!

SD Voyager has just featured me in one of their "Local Stories." They send you questions and you write long answers and send them photos. Kind of fun! My mom liked it!

Memories of the late great Red Door restaurant when owned by Trish Watlington. I don’t remember who took the photo, but thank you!