collard greens

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The heart and soul of my solstice chili

My inspiration started and continues here

My little inspiration pumpkin keeps on inspiring me.

Long after the Halloween festivities, it still sits on my kitchen table emanating a holiday-like aura, showing no signs of atrophy or deterioration. It’s so stalwart and not to mention cute.

It’s often the way things work for me – something simple, something innocuous, something as ordinary as a Jack Be Little Pumpkin ignites a spark of creativity, and off I go. This spontaneity has served me well as a journalist and it has been a great asset as a food blogger. Continue reading →

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Carving out a treat betwixt the tricks

pumpkin cropped inspiration medIt’s pumpkin season – applause please.

There’s nothing like sauntering through a pumpkin patch in Los Angeles looking for the perfect pumpkin under sunny skies and 80 degree temperature.

It’s a tough job. But as a native Angeleno, I somehow manage to muscle through it.

Getting my Halloween pumpkin is actually an annual rite of passage into the holiday season. It gets me into that holiday state of mind. This year my pumpkin ranks up there with Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree. It’s small but meaningful to me. I don’t have small children at home anymore so I don’t need the “great pumpkin.” But I always need a little somethin’ somethin’ to inspire me. Continue reading →

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Milkn’ Cookies are just what the doctors ordered

Left Dr. Cheri Wiggins; Right Dr. Lennox McNearly

Left Dr. Cheri Wiggins; Right Dr. Lennox McNeary

Let medicine be thy food and let food be thy medicine – Hypocrites

The Greek physician Hypocrites was on to something when he made  this statement.

Lennox McNeary and Cheri Wiggins are on to something too.

Who could have imagined that a little cookie could be that medicine for a very important segment of our population – new mothers.  For these ladies necessity inspired invention – and a solution was born. Continue reading →

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Orange is the new mashed

Move over Mr. Potato Head. There’s a tastier tuber taking over this town.

Sweet potatoes are back with a sizzle. Whether fried or flambé they are rustling russets and leaving them spinning on the cutting board.

These beautiful on the inside, rustic on the outside potatoes are hallowed to me. They were the very first food my mom feed me when I was 6 months old. Mom said she would wrap a sweet potato in alumni foil and bake it in the oven until it was soft. Then she said she would scoop out the center, mix it with a  little Pet Evaporated Milk and that was my din din. She said I loved it. Continue reading →