If I took one of those psychological word pairing tests and the first word was seaweed, hands down my response as a match would be sushi. I suspect I am not alone that since my first introduction to eating seaweed involved this wonderful finger food, it would be a life long association. However I’ve...
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Kinsale was one of my favorite destinations while in Ireland. How could it not be? It’s very picturesque and known as the Gourmet Capital of Ireland. I will not comment on that claim, as I have not the depth of knowledge of Ireland’s food scene, but my limited exposure tells me, if its not...
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A topic smoldering in the back of my mind for some months as I’ve seen variations on this theme for months because of numerous holidays. When is bread more than bread? Or perhaps a bit more generally, when do baked goods serve a higher purpose? I’ve unearth a few instances, and I am sure...
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I’d been cooking with fish sauce for a while and knew well its potency and pungency, but until I broke a bottle and liberally doused myself and had to suffer through folks quickly backpeddling to give me “breathing space” did I really get it – this stuff is strong – really, really, strong! No wonder the...
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People who know me, know that sustainability is a subject close to my heart. Starting this blog and getting to know bloggers around the world made me curious to see if we were all approaching sustainability the same way, or if there are some new practices that we might share. I an not sure...
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Fish sauce are ubiquitous even though we may not always be aware of where they pop up – take Worcestershire sauce for example, or the Italian Colatura di Alici. In Asia, these sauces are considered core components in cooking and the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam all have their own versions of this wonderful condiment....
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When I first discovered San Francisco’s Japantown, I was in awe. I thought it was such a fascinating place, and it reminded me of those snow globes – a miniature of Japanese culture, and in my adopted city at that, what a happy coincidence. Part of the appeal for me, was that Japan was...
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In a recent bout of Mexican cooking (I go through periods, I just wrapped up a long stretch of Italian). I encountered, or more specifically, paid attention for the first time to the ingredient – avocado leaves (hojas de aguacate). In most cases, they list this ingredient as “optional”, but I had to wonder...
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photo from sfgate.com
In preparing a recent post on raw fish, I developed a craving for cerviche, and really who could blame me? Living in San Francisco, there was one restaurant on my radar that I knew could offer me an authentic, or at least close proximally, of the Peruvian cerviche I desired:...
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When we landed in Brunico, I was confused. Not necessarily a unique state for me, but you must understand, Brunico is in Italy – the map clearly says so. Yet, I felt we had taken a wrong turn at a mountain pass and and arrived at a village in Austria. I knew we had...
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