To my surprise, I found additional photos from my recent trip to California on my camera and I couldn’t resist sharing these beautiful ones of artichokes from the stem to the table.
Jane saw these babies growing in fields as far as the eye could see and we quickly realized that we were passing through Castroville, the “Artichoke Center of the World.” The artichokes you eat are likely from this small Central California town — according to Wikipedia, they provide 75% of the nations chokes.
Weird, fun fact: Marilyn Monroe was named …

One of the themes on our trip to California was the lagniappe (pron: lan-yap). A lagniappe is a creole word that comes from the American South — probably around New Orleans.
According to author Julia Alvarez, Dominican Spanish la ñapa refers to “the little extra” added on at the end. Just when you thought you’d gotten all that you would get, along comes your ñapa, like a baker’s dozen (13), with one more kiss, one more pastelito, one more mango at the mercado.
The first lagniappe …

I’m sitting in our hotel bar drinking wine with my mom and our friend Jane. We are surrounded by the din of happy patrons, guests, and lots of dogs!
It’s so funny to me because when my mom made reservations for the night at Cypress Inn for tonight, she didn’t know that it was:
a) Co-owned by Doris Day (yes, she is still alive)
b) One of the most pet friendly hotels in the state (if not the world)

We realized there was something different about this place at check-in this afternoon when we …

I’m in Berkeley this weekend visiting my cousin and her family for Passover. It’s my first time in Berkeley since I was a teenager and I wasn’t sure it would live up to my expectations of awesome local food. On the first morning, it totally did. My cousin Jami, her husband Andrew, and their baby Jonah live in a house that is walking distance from the gorgeous scenes below.
First, a bakery, called La Farine. We stopped there so I could pick up a savory morning bun with ham, cheese, and …

I generally try not to mix business with pleasure on this blog, and most of my business doesn’t happen in Austin. It generally takes place on an hour-long conference call  with clients in other time zones, via e-mail chains, and at occasional out-of-town meetings.
The weekend before last, I happily mixed the two parts of my life on a road trip from Capitol Chevrolet down to the Pearl Farmer’s Market in San Antonio with a group of local food bloggers. Below is a slightly edited version of a blog I wrote …