Roasted Beet & Fennel Rocket Salad with Pomegranate Arils

I must admit my appreciation for arugula quadrupled once I heard that the Brits call it rocket. Who doesn’t want to eat a rocket salad? Okay, silliness aside, we have a newfound affection for the great sum of the parts making up this salad. Roasting beets brings out their natural sweetness and it is my… Continue reading Roasted Beet & Fennel Rocket Salad with Pomegranate Arils

The Long Walk Out of the Darkness

If you scan many bucket lists, you might find the words “run a marathon” on them. I do not delude myself to include it on mine particularly after a chat with the Mister reminded me that the original marathoner died after his 26.2. No thanks. I will happily cheer on my cousin Jacqueline as she… Continue reading The Long Walk Out of the Darkness

Dwelling in between

When you’re homesick, you look for something to stifle the pang. Shortly after starting my first job and in what I perceived at the time would be a temporary assignment before making a big move overseas, I found myself in that curious space of dwelling in the in between. Sure, I’d lived in California for… Continue reading Dwelling in between

Bulgur Collard Cakes

Repeat after me: bulgur is not boring. Au contraire, bulgur might just revolutionize your life. If you think that’s a tall order, what other grain really can make the leap from breakfast to lunch with the ease of this whole grain? Oats have their hands full keeping breakfast on the table in the winter months.… Continue reading Bulgur Collard Cakes

Pulling back the curtain & the allure of the grand reveal

I carted myself cross-town yesterday to take part in an annual rite of passage: the Fancy Food show. On the bus, among the other worker bees dwelling in San Francisco, I plotted my day by starting with poetry before experiencing the surge of sensory stimuli I have come to expect from any tradeshow. Taking the… Continue reading Pulling back the curtain & the allure of the grand reveal

When in Mendocino, California

When you live in San Francisco, you live for long weekends. We find particular joy in gallivanting around the state, letting the car whip around those scissor sharp turns that weave around mountains and alongside the coast. Mendocino, for the uninitiated, is one of the best places to escape from the urban environs for the lush… Continue reading When in Mendocino, California

White Bean Stew with Rosemary and Garlic

New Year’s Day in Texas requires a pot of beans- black eyed peas to be precise. Our next door neighbor would annually bring over the black eyed peas and requisite cornbread. As a transplant in California, I decided to do a small bait and switch with this tradition this year. Sunday afternoon, we settled in… Continue reading White Bean Stew with Rosemary and Garlic

Mending the broken bits

The surf and silt it washed up onto the shore beckoned me on a daily basis. This siren’s call became the mandate and mantra of what defined my days closing 2010 and beginning 2011. I would lazily roll over in bed to be greeted by the bright sunshine filtering through the wooden slats and the… Continue reading Mending the broken bits