United We Stand, Divided We Fall

Roast Red Pepper, Steak and Feta Quesadilla with Roast Garlic Yogurt Sauce

Words escape my mind in an attempt to write a follow-up to last year’s story, Vanilla isn’t White. Instead, breaking news headlines are a cacophony of words. But, long-live visual artists who have the courage to inspire us into action and remind us that today’s politics aren’t normal. This past summer, The Brooklyn Museum had an inspiring exhibit, We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85. Last week, I visited the Whitney Museum’s exhibit, An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1940–2017. It was at the Whitney Museum, I read a poem by W. H. Auden: September 1, 1939. It’s an inspirational poem written on the onset of World War II. Sadly, Auden’s words continue to be applicable today.

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Super Green Pasta Salad to Talk About

Super Green Lemon Chicken Pasta Salad

Have a story about your favorite pasta salad? Talk to me in the comment section below. In my experience, pasta salads truly are the side dish to a barbecue or special event. Sans meat, it’s a classic vegetarian dish. Meanwhile, we attempt to serve vegans — who don’t eat dairy — a mayonnaise-based pasta version. It’s often an “oops… we spent hours rubbing down ribs with spices and marinating chicken — let’s quickly make a vegetable” dish. As an afterthought dish, pasta salads often taste like no love.

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Disconnect to Reconnect

Baked Shrimp Risotto

My neck is less sore these days as I walk without looking at a smart phone. Up until last year, I had a couple android tablets for reading digital magazines, newspapers and books on the subway. Since that time, I’ve rediscovered how print books not only allows my mind to escape into another world, but they allow my eyes to rest from electronics. Instead of staying up late at night working on food blog posts, sleeping thru the night allows my mind to rest. In turn, my writing and my focus at work is better. A friend called to express her dismay at our lack of communication. It was a touching and confusing conversation, because I thought Facebook told me all what’s needed to know about her daily life. These day’s I’m trying to call more people to say hello and listen to them. 

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Eat More Vegetables

Cumin top sirloin steak with peas and carrots

“Top sirloin steak isn’t the most flavorful part, but it’s not bad,” said Dad. Challenge duly noted. A few weeks ago, I took on a different challenge starting with a courtesy shipment of Butcher Box’s beef and pork. Prior to the shipment, I wasn’t craving the usual chicken and seafood meals. For some reason, they were becoming boring dishes.

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Diversifying Protein Sources with Maple Ginger Pork Chops and Colcannon

Maple Ginger PorkChop and Colcannon

The definition of healthy cooking is a different meaning to everyone. There are vegetarians, pescatarian, only chicken and fish, paleo and the list goes on. In this household, I’m weary of our mostly vegetables, poultry and seafood diet. A couple holidays ago, Dad placed a few smoked pork chops in front of Jacinto and me. In less than ten minutes, except for the 2 pork chops Dad quickly saved, we ate them all. The flavor was juicy, savory and different. Since then, I often think about ‘diversifying’ our protein sources.

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