Learn How to Make Your Own Spice Blend

Debbie Kornberg, owner of Spice + Leaf, has a magical touch with herbs and spices. While her focus is primarily on Middle Eastern flavors, her spice knowledge is global. She generously shared her method for creating blends, along with three stunning recipes that show off how to incorporate them in dishes. So, read my latest article for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Food section so you can start creating your own spice blends and elevate your long-time go-to recipes.

Seed Libraries Sprouting Across San Diego

Say the word “library,” and your word association is likely “books.” But across the country, including in San Diego, many libraries also lend other important items, including seeds for home gardens.

Many of these “seed libraries“ aren’t actually conventional libraries: They may be a service organized by neighborhoods, schools or other kinds of organizations. The common factor is that they are all a free community resource that offers locals the opportunity to grow everything from fruits and vegetables to flowers and native plants. All they ask is that patrons return the “borrowed” seeds by way of harvesting new seeds from the grown plants.

In my latest story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Home & Garden section, I explore the variety of seed libraries popping up across San Diego County—in public libraries, water districts, and Indian reservations. Kids and adults alike are learning how to grow plants and save seeds. It’s a community mission anyone can participate in.

Creating a Butterfly Haven

This time of year, it’s not unusual to hear people with gardens talk about buying milkweed plants or seeds so that they, too, can be a haven for monarchs. And they do, in fact, need havens. If you’re interested in attracting butterflies and other pollinators, you’ll want to know the best approach—like using only native milkweed to feed Monarch caterpillars and butterflies and planting a variety of natives so that flowering occurs throughout the year to support other butterflies, bees, and other insects. I got some great sources to help us learn how to go about it for my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Home & Garden section.

Want to Eat Fresh, Local Seafood? Here's How!

According to Tommy Gomes, a lifelong fisherman and owner of Tunaville Market & Grocery in Point Loma, “the uglier the fish, the better they taste. The more defense mechanisms a fish has, the better it tastes.”

Why? “Because everything’s trying to eat it out there,” he said emphatically. “The big fish eat the small fish, but we don’t eat the small fish. We eat the big fish.” If you’re a seafood eater and a home cook, it’s time to think further down the chain as well as think locally. San Diegans are fortunate to have a wide variety of local seafood — delicious local seafood.

In June, when I visited Gomes and chef Christina Ng, who created a few recipes for me, we decided on bocaccio rockfish, a firm whitefish, to pan roast and serve with her Ratatouille Sauce, and kingklip, another firm, white-fleshed fish, to stir fry with vegetables and serve over Sesame Scallion Noodles. Ng was also preparing a seafood gumbo, which included a few pounds of cut-up fish—mixed odds and ends to show how home cooks can collect various off-size pieces and meld flavors. You’ll love these recipes in my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Designing a Room Your Teenager Will Love

Congratulations! You got your kid through infancy, the toddler and young child years, and into their tweens. But now you’ve got a teenager, and their bedroom probably no longer reflects their maturing personality, interests or needs.

Everything changes with a teenager. Everything is bigger — their clothes and shoes as well as their appetite for independence. So, their living space should reflect their burgeoning vision of themselves.

Designing an updated bedroom with them could be an opportunity for some life lessons, as well as some fun. It’s an opportunity for them to think about what makes a space their own, how to budget, how to collaborate (with you or a designer), and perhaps how to create or repurpose objects to put their own signature on their most intimate environment. Fortunately, I got lots of insights on how to do this from two interior design firms with lots of experience for my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Home & Garden section.

Cooking, Havana Style

For Sandra Cardet, Cuban cooking is pretty much all about the sofrito.

Cardet, founder and co-owner with her son, Alex Guevara, of the Cuban restaurant Havana Grill, explained that “some people around the world call this the Holy Trinity, because it’s onions, peppers and garlic cooked in olive oil. And when you’re frying this up as the base of the dish, the aromas that come out of your kitchen are just fantastic. But the secret is to make a really good sofrito.”

You can learn Cardet’s tips and get her recipes for several of her favorite dishes, including her version of the Cubano sandwich, in my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Food section.