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The Texas Vegetarian

The Texas Vegetarian

This is the meal that I cooked during class at the Culinary Arts Institute last Friday. Braised beef with soft polenta, roasted vegetables and asparagus.View image I couldn’t eat that much meat but the polenta, the roasted vegetables and asparagus were deeeelicious. Coincidentally, I read […]

Two voices of Organic Farming

Two voices of Organic Farming

Being a student at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) is a gift in my life for which I’m enormously grateful. It has re-founded my perspectives and my gusto for life. One of the things I’ve realized is how central to community are media like […]

Film: “Living Downstream”

Film: “Living Downstream”

Commenting on the post about Rachel Carson, Mary told me about Sandra Steingraber’s writings. Her book, “Living Downstream,” is now a film. The 90-minute HD documentary is just now released and beginning to play in festivals and community venues. I’ll explore when it’s in San […]

Alice Waters and Rachel Carson

Alice Waters and Rachel Carson

I am just blown away by Alice Waters and Rachel Carson. Well, blown away at first, but then anchored, educated and invigorated. Rachel Carson made words sing — and in so doing breathed soul into the organic farming movement. Example: “It is a wholesome and […]

Michel Guérard, on Dieting and The Right to Food

Michel Guérard, on Dieting and The Right to Food

The inventor of Cuisine Minceur (Haute Diet Cuisine), published his diet cookbook in 1976. Below is one of his recipes, “Fresh Tomato and Spinach Tarts with Thyme.” I like to read the recipes, menus, really, in his cookbook side by side with “Food For Life, […]

Calabacita and Peruvian filmmakers

Calabacita and Peruvian filmmakers

I received this pic on my phone, the text saying that my friend, Roberto, at Casa Juan Diego is venturing more and more into cooking vegetables for the men who live there. He made Calabacita Guajillo. Congrats, Roberto, it looks delicious. This menu move is […]

Of Cabbage and Spring

Of Cabbage and Spring

It feels like a Spring day here in Houston. As i entered Casa Juan Diego this morning my thoughts went to the early Texas Natives, the Texas Indians, who lived here 12,000 years ago. Hunters at first, they later prepared meals with the berries, leaves, […]

Foodways and Sexual Identity

Foodways and Sexual Identity

As I begin mapping the ideas that I want to study as I learn more in-depth cooking techniques, I’ve run into these two authors I’m starting to read now. First: Ehrhardt, Julia C.(2006) ‘Towards Queering Food Studies: Foodways, Heteronormativity, and Hungry Women in Chicana Lesbian […]

Social Media Compared to Cooking Tools

Social Media Compared to Cooking Tools

I found a post last year comparing use of social media to hot plates and cooking ranges. “Cooking Social Media with an EasyBake Oven v.s. a Viking Range.” Since last August I’ve been cooking every Thursday and Friday at Casa Juan Diego. I prepare lunch […]

Post-Sabbatical in San Antonio

Post-Sabbatical in San Antonio

I begin 2010 in San Antonio at the Culinary Institute of America. My plan is to develop a series of videos and digital media that explores Latin American and European cuisine, an encounter that has been in the making for 500 years. Taste and smell […]