It's Asparagus Season and Have I Got Some Special Recipes for You!

Well, two stories in the UT in one week and I’ve been waiting with anticipation for this piece to come out. It’s spring, and asparagus is at peak season. There are few people I know who don’t love it, but I did recently mention to someone that I was going to be writing about it, and I got that classic crinkled nose. How do you prepare it, I asked? When she said she boiled it, it was clear that her lack of enthusiasm was justified. Boiling is fine, but, oh, there are so many better ways to prepare it that will make you lust for spring just so you can eat those slender green spears.

I have my favorite go-to techniques but went to chef Kelli Crosson, executive chef at The Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla for inspiration for new ways to think about asparagus—and she delivered. Not only did she prepare three very distinctive dishes for me, but also offered some tips for selecting and preparing them. You’ll want all of this, including the recipes, in my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

How to Create a Moody Bathroom

Chances are you’re reading this on a bright, sunny spring day — a typical SoCal experience. It’s a vibe we tend to bring into our homes, with an emphasis on light-filled rooms and breezy decor. So, why would we want to add moodiness to our delightful sun-drenched world?

But moodiness is a decor choice, and while it might not translate well in home kitchens or living spaces in our part of the world, it can be a great choice for, say, a guest bathroom or powder room. Think of it as an enticing ornament you can share with guests — a space small enough that you can have fun playing around with the concept. I learned the do’s and don’ts of creating a moody bathroom from three local interior designers and am sharing their ideas with readers in my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Home and Garden section. Hope you find inspiration!

New Rancho Gordo Cookbook Celebrates Beans

Beans! So delicious! So healthy! So misunderstood. So, Steve Sando’s new cookbook, The Bean Book: 100 Recipes for Cooking with All Kinds of Beans, from the Rancho Gordo Kitchen, is a welcome bean bible. No canned beans here! Sando is the founder of Rancho Gordo, a renowned purveyor of heirloom beans. I spoke with him about all things beans and the recipes from the book I’ve included in my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Three Dishes to Get You Beyond the Seder This Passover

One of the more challenging issues for Jews who try to observe the dietary limitations of Passover — primarily no bread or other leavened grains known as “chametz” — is less about what to prepare or eat for the customary Seder meals on the first and second nights, and more about what to eat during the rest of the week. So in March — well before the arrival of Passover on the evening of April 12 — I sought advice from chef Jeff Rossman of Terra Catering and Shalom Kosher Catering.

Rossman offered me a slew of cool recipes to choose from, but a few caught my eye for various reasons. Salmon croquettes were something my mom loved to make for us during hot summer months. Hers were made with canned salmon — and Rossman admitted his mom did the same — and breadcrumbs. Rossman’s are elevated enough for adults to enjoy, using fresh salmon that you’ll sear, then bake and then mix with fresh herbs and enjoy with a luscious horseradish cream. Then I saw on his list a recipe for Honey Roasted Garlic Tzimmes. Now tzimmes, which is cooked root vegetables and usually mixed with dried fruit, is certainly a Seder dish. But I was sold on the inclusion of roasted honeyed garlic, which I’d happily eat throughout the week. The last dish I wanted to share is Rossman’s matzoh toffee, because it’s the easy treat we can make to snack on through the week. Never heard of it? Oh, you’re welcome. It’s matzo, with a glaze of homemade caramel (easy-peasy to make), topped with chocolate chips and then any other add-ins that make you happy — say, toasted pecans, toasted coconut, dried fruit. You can even combine different types of chocolate chips.

Check out the recipes for these dishes in my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Enjoy the Real Deal for St. Patrick's Day

Here’s some unsolicited advice: Don’t brag to your Irish friends that you’re having corned beef and cabbage for St. Patrick’s Day. And especially not to chef Maeve Rochford, owner of La Jolla’s Sugar and Scribe, whose mother, Mary Margaret, was born in Ireland.

According to Rochford, corned beef and cabbage has nothing to do with either Ireland or St. Patrick’s Day. It’s actually an Irish American dish that originated with the immigrants who arrived in New York at the turn of the last century: the Irish who were poor and couldn’t afford what they considered traditional Irish bacon and the Jews who made more affordable corned beef. Put together corned beef with Irish-style cabbage and potatoes and you have a dish people have been associating with St. Patrick’s Day for more than a century.

What we have instead in my new article for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Food section is Rochford’s traditional Irish meal for the holiday, straight from her grandmother’s Irish kitchen: Guinness Beef Stew; Soda Bread; a salad featuring fennel, gooseberries and Cashel blue cheese; and Butter Pound Cake With Rhubarb Compote. You’ll have the recipes and techniques to create a gorgeous, authentic meal for friends and family.

Weekend Breakfast with the Family? Solid Yes!

When was the last time you made a family weekend breakfast? We’re not talking a smoothie or power bar on the run, but an actual meal that had everyone in your household sitting around the table eating food you (all?) prepared with love, and actually having a conversation with devices put away.

Yep, we’re all busy. Maybe you’ve got work to do or a kid’s soccer practice or games to attend or four loads of laundry facing you. But how about carving out some regular weekend breakfast time for you, your family or your friends so you can reconnect? Even relax?

If cooking and relaxing seem like an oxymoron, I have recipes in my new story for The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Food section for three irresistible dishes — Green Shakshuka, a Kitchen Herb Frittata, and Torrijas French Toast — from chef Wesley Johnson of Urban Kitchen Group, that you can prep in advance and just heat and put together in the morning.