Today I continue an informal tradition I seem to have established in recent years: celebrating Earth Day with a recipe that uses dark leafy greens, which are nutritious and overall good for our bodies. In 2022, I argued in favor of consuming radish greens, overlooked in favor of the colorful, spicy roots and often discarded […]
Vegetarian
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Winter Squash and Beans for the Season
As we open the calendar to the January page, we may wish to pay more attention to the food we eat and how we nourish our bodies. Then, as the month goes on, our daily to-do lists get longer and such wishes are pushed aside. When life gets complicated, sometimes summoning the energy to plan […]
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Mexican and Masala
The bright flags staked around the Taqueria Martinez truck parked beside A&L Feed at 2314 Central Ave. in McKinleyville advertise tacos and burritos. So does the truck itself, emblazoned with pictures of asada fries and tortas. But above the order window through which Miguel Santiago Martinez is taking lunch orders, there hangs a paper menu […]
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Spreading Vegetable Joy
It’s January and “Eat more vegetables” is in the air. There are variations, of course. Fruits are mentioned as well, the Mediterranean diet makes frequent appearances, the gut microbiome may also be invoked. The core message from many voices remains the same: Eat more vegetables. The path to implementing that resonant piece of advice must […]
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I’ll Have My Spinach with Cheese and Chocolate, Please
“Chocolate is a vegetable,” read a sticky note placed on the refrigerator door in the kitchen of the office where I worked some years ago. I smiled when I read it — that chocolate could be consumed with other vegetables, a culinary path I was not interested in exploring at the time. Then something happened. […]
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Cooking While Traveling
I love summer in Humboldt County for a number of reasons, including the amazing produce our farmers bring to the markets and the fog that keeps us cool (“Get Out into the Fog,” Aug. 26). Hence, I usually enjoy my favorite season in my favorite place. This year, however, after almost two years of not […]
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Simple Summer Salad
In my most recent article, featuring a side dish made with zucchini, tomatoes and carrots (“Summer on the Plate,” Aug. 5), I wrote that ripe tomatoes mark the official beginning of summer for me and I scoop up old favorites and unfamiliar varieties whenever I see them at the farmers market. My love story with […]
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Summer on the Plate
I did it again: In the spring, blinded by dreams of zucchini and their golden blossoms, I planted two seedlings in my raised bed (the land of experiments, I call it). As I write, I have harvested two small zucchini from one plant. And my dream is destined to end there. Fortunately, the zucchini harvest […]
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Tomato and Egg Stir-fry
When my editor suggested I write about the tomato and egg stir-fry dish I’d posted on social media, I thought, “There aren’t any unique stories (or secrets) behind this iconic dish.” Although this is a dish that’s popular across China, it’s simple and almost too plain to talk about. Then I thought about how life […]
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Breakfast with the Season’s Fruit
During the recent 15 months of isolation, outdoor physical exercise helped me manage my anxiety. I am deeply grateful that I could spend time in the forest, on the beach, on the water. My family in Italy, locked inside their apartment, provided me with a comparison that magnified my gratitude. Usually, I exercise early in […]
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Adventures on the Sesame Train
In the winter of 1974, newly arrived in Vancouver, B.C., I worked as a temp, barely covering my expenses. And with no sense of my professional future, I never worked long enough in any one location to bond with my coworkers. The short, gray winter days didn’t help, either. After work, walking in the dark […]
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Lentils: The Great Leveler
The worst lentils I ever ate were the ones I appreciated the most. In the early ’80s, my husband, Barry, and I joined hundreds of other North Americans and Europeans and went trekking in the Himalayas. We chose to walk the three-week Muktinath Pilgrimage trail, a windy, mountainous route along the Kali Gandaki gorge, the […]