Día de los Muertos is Coming: Make Pan de Muerto and Pan de Elote

In the U.S., we may associate Día de los Muertos — celebrated annually on Nov. 1 and 2 — as a Mexican version of Halloween. But the roots of Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, go back thousands of years to rituals that honor the dead in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Throughout most of Mexico it can be a celebration replete with Catrina dolls, calaveras, and ofrendas—altars displaying photos, food, liquor, and artifacts that recall the passions of the late person’s life.

But according to Coronado resident Maggie Unzueta, creator of the popular Mamá Maggie’s Kitchen blog, the people of her family’s homeland in the state of Durango, Mexico, only observed Día de los Muertos as a religious holiday, which involved attending Mass and visiting the cemetery. Since the release of the Disney animated feature “Coco,” however, she said Durango—and her family—have adopted the celebratory traditions. For Unzueta honors it by making numerous Mexican dishes, including the traditional Pan de Muerto (Bread of the Dead) and Pan de Elote, or cornbread. In my newest story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s food section, Unzueta shares her history with the holiday as well as these bread recipes.

How Could I Forget! I Won Awards!

Back on October 3, I received three awards for my writing from The San Diego Press Club’s annual Excellence in Journalism Awards. I earned first place in the category of Online and Daily Newspapers Science/Technology/Biotech for my piece on smart kitchens for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Home & Garden section. I followed my friend Nicole Larson in the Online and Daily Newspapers’ Gardening category with second- and third-place wins for my pieces on the Solana Center’s Tool Library and the composting service Food2Soil respectively.

Congratulations to the Press Club for celebrating its 50th year! I am so proud of my years as a member, board member, and president!

Three Recipes to Wake Up Winter Squash

In late August, when the afternoon light shifts and softens, I turn my attention to fall’s seasonal ingredients, including winter squash. But one issue I have struggled with is coaxing unique flavors from winter squash. If you aren’t savvy with your seasonings, squash can seem to have the same one note.

I asked a pair of chefs at The Wild Thyme Company, a longtime catering business, how they amp up winter squash flavors. Dawn Carvajal, the founder and owner, and Cecilia Valencia, the chef de cuisine, offered their perspectives. Valencia developed three recipes to demonstrate the versatility of winter squash: Chipotle Pumpkin Tamales, Delicata Squash Rings and Kabocha Caprese Salad. Each is easy to prepare and an entirely different way to feature the squash. Plus, each highlights the squash sans pumpkin spice. You can find them in my latest story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s food section.

Final Story for Hot Property Estates

If you’re a fan of San Diego’s Karina eateries, you may have some curiosity about the Columbia District condo of one of its partners, David Contreras Curiel. Even if you’ve never been to a Karina’s it’s worth a look because Curiel has an an unusual artistic eye and developed the eye-popping design himself.

The story is the last I’ll have in Hot Property Estates because it was just shut down by The San Diego Union-Tribune. It was a fun ride. I met fascinating and talented interior designers and architects, as well as their lovely, welcoming clients. My editors over the years have been superb. Will I continue to write about interior design? Of course. For now with the UT’s Home & Garden section, but hopefully for new outlets as well.

A Season Finale for Tomatoes

Over the summer I’ve jammed tomatoes, dehydrated tomatoes, made a slow-baked (four hours) tomato sauce with roasted eggplant and garlic, and created an astoundingly simple yet delicious tomato sandwich with salted heirloom tomato slices enveloped between two slices of cracked-wheat sourdough bread slathered in mayo. Oh, and there was also that small pizza in my air fryer, featuring sliced tomatoes, basil from my garden, a splash of extra-virgin olive oil, and plenty of mozzarella and red pepper flakes.

As we head into fall it’s time for one last explosion of tomatomania before we pull our plants and have to live with the less-flavorful imported fruit on display at the market. I called on my longtime friend chef Christina Ng to help me with a bit of a seasonal tomato blowout we can all savor.

Ng came up with two great ways to enjoy the end of the season. The first is temporal — a gorgeous savory tomato galette meant to be enjoyed now with her salsa verde. The second takes us through the cooler months with a recipe that allows us to savor today’s fruit months from now — a fragrant, rich, tomato and peach chutney. Learn how to make both in my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

What are the Essentials for Your Kid's First Kitchen?

Remember your first kitchen as a newly minted adult? If you have kids entering that phase and want to help them get set up — especially at a time when housing is so expensive — you’re probably trying to figure out, based on their interest in cooking or special nutritional needs, what is essential for them, what the quality of the item should be, and — especially for those young adults who are fledging in school far from home — how much to should spend or how sentimental you should be about tools that may be left behind in that first apartment should they decide to return home or relocate somewhere else. My latest story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Home & Garden section can help you prioritize needs and dollars—plus give you some tips on where to get these kitchen essentials.