My cooking is influenced by two themes: keeping as many ingredients as possible local and using a global palette of flavors.

    Going Local: There is no place more local than my garden.  Gardening is as therapeutic for me as making pots.  But it is also political.  For every potato I grow for myself, that is one less potato that has to be shipped to my table from Idaho.  I also get to control what I put on my food before it ever enters my kitchen.  And with no offense to the fine farmers of Idaho, my potatoes taste better for not having been shipped all that way.  This is even more true of the corn I grow.  Corn is at its best when picked after the pot of water has been put on to boil.  Even a visit to the farmer’s market can’t beat just picked and boiled corn.  Gardening is my way of taking back the joy of cooking and eating.

Favorite Recipes

Spanakopita

Broccoli Casserole

Spanish Pork Chops

Pumpkin Bread

Zucchini Bread

Cauliflower and Swiss Chard Gratin

Moussaka (gluten and dairy free)

Grandman’s Spaghetti and Meatballs

    While my close-in metropolitan suburb is not conducive to raising livestock, I still live by my fresh, local, and sustainable principles when buying and cooking meat.  For many years I was a vegetarian by default because I hated the way my  house smelled when I cooked meat.  Then 4 years ago I found myself driving down the gravel driveway of Cliff Miller’s Mount Vernon Farms in Sperryville, Virginia. It was my first introduction to grass-fed livestock.  The more I learned about the benefits of eating grass-fed livestock, the more it made sense.  I had spent enough time in the Animal Science department at UC Davis to know that steers are ruminants and thus eat grass and hay.  But I never put that together with the “ideal” of corn-fed beef I grew up with. Now I get it.  Oh, and it really does taste better, as long as you know how to cook it. I will post some of my favorite methods under my Favorite Recipes.

   Eating Global: I was blessed with globetrotting taste buds.  I grew up in a U.S. mecca of Mexican food so when I need comfort food, it is to

Favorite Kitchen Resources

Mt. Vernon Farms

www.mountvernonfarm.net

My Organic Market

www.myorganicmarket.com

Local Harvest

www.localharvest.org

Eat Wild

www.eatwild.com

Mexican cuisine that I turn.  But then I experienced good Chinese food and Indian food in college and spent six years in the San Francisco Bay Area with is smorgasbord of ethnic restaurants.  As I began to garden and then cook more, I gained the courage to experiment with cooking different cuisines.

    Today I experiment with Greek, Italian, Turkish, Moroccan, Afghan, Thai and Indian flavors. But I also fall back on my grandmother’s classics, as well as my own new creations.  A sampling of my favorites are found above.