It really can’t get any easier. You put your food in a container, put the container in an oven, and point the oven towards the sun. That’s basically all you need to know to start solar cooking. As I noted in a recent “Local Flavors” column about solar cooking for the Tribune newspaper, “… this cooking method captures the power of the sun. It’s a passive … Continue reading Sun’s Out, Let’s Get Cookin’!
Every so often, it’s fun to do a chef profile for my Local Flavors column in the Tribune newspaper (San Luis Obispo County, California). I ask the chefs to pick a local and/or seasonal ingredient, explain why and how they’re using it in their menus, and how cooks at home might approach the product. Most recently, Chef Leonard Gentieu of Onboard Nautical Events in Morro … Continue reading Cook Abalone at Home for a Sustainable WOW Factor!
The original version of this article appeared in my “Local Flavors” column in the Tribune newspaper on April 9, 2015. In light of what recently happened with the West Coast sardine fishery (closed because the population has crashed), this is a look at a fishery that not only came back, but is now rated sustainable by Seafood Watch and the Marine Stewardship Council. This article … Continue reading A Line on Sustainable Seafood in Morro Bay
(A version of this piece originally appeared in the Spring 2015 edition of the Solstice Green Directory) By Katy Budge A popular culinary herb throughout the world, Ocimum basilicum – aka basil – has a long and intriguing history. Native to India and cultivated there for over 5000 years, basil was considered sacred, a status that helped garner its “basilicum” moniker in the Western world. … Continue reading Basil Up!
Whenever I go to a city, my cultural exploration always revolves around food, and recently I got to indulge that passion in San Francisco. There’s always a theme when my besties and I go out and about in this wonderful city (this time it revolved around SF Beer Week), but a continually underlying theme is also “old school” spots, especially those on the SF Heritage … Continue reading “Forks in the Road”: San Francisco Treats
The impetus for this posting started when my cousins sent me a bottle of 2011 Coenobium Ruscum, an Italian white blend of Malvasia, Trebbiano and Verdicchio made by the Monastic Order of Cistercian Nuns in Vitorchiano, Latium, Italy. Certainly this needed to be a special occasion wine, and this past Thanksgiving seemed the perfect time. Not knowing quite what to expect in terms of food … Continue reading Orange is The New Wine?
… I still got to check out a couple beehives up close and personal, and I also got to learn quite a bit about bees and honey. Continue reading Some A-Bee-C’s about Bees
I recently got an email from a food/wine/lifestyle company I freelance for, and was pretty shocked by its contents. Effective immediately, all writers and editors were to cease using the term “kaffir” – and that is the last time I will use it in this piece. As many of you may know, that term refers to a type of lime typically used in Thai … Continue reading No More K-Word Limes!
I’m involved with a local gleaning program, GleanSLO, and usually it’s a slam dunk win-win-win all the way around. The GleanSLO volunteers go to a property – either commercial or private, to glean leftover produce and take it to our local food bank. Hungry people get healthy food that would otherwise go to waste, the property owner gets a tax credit and the … Continue reading Gleaning Among the Ghosts
Turns out all these years I’ve been drinking the wrong coffee. I always liked dark, dark, dark roast, erroneously thinking that was giving me more caffeine bang for my buck. Now I’m a light roast gal who also really appreciates the labor that went into my cuppa joe. As part of a recent Costa Rica trip, I took a tour of the Don Juan Coffee … Continue reading I Saw the Light (Roast)
