While visiting Barcelona a few years ago I ate a sweet and savory cauliflower tapas that left me happily traumatized.  I now make this dish when I want a taste of Spain or to remember an afternoon with Gaudi and visiting the amazing  Picasso museum in Barcelona.  I dream of  going back to Spain with my son and have him sample both the art and food of this region.  It is so true when Latinos coming back from Spain say "que bien se c...

Seaweed or nori (sea vegetable) rolls are an easy and beautiful delicacy you can serve for a light main meal or as appetizer maki bites.  Arrange the maki on a nice plate or tray and you have a centerpiece for any cocktail party or get together.  Best part is that these rolls are as delicious as they are colorful and they take very little time to make. I made these seaweed rolls with spinach, scallions, quinoa, cucumbers and strawb...

Olives in the raw are bitter, mostly inedible and not much to look at.  But cured olives are savory, rich tasting and full of color.  I remember growing up in Peru, my grandfather Pepe a man of the land and an amazing cook, would bring home sacks of dry black olives that he would cure and integrate into different dishes. A black olive and onion salsa was one of his recipes and a home staple that we served with bread, over rice and...

Dandelion is claimed to be one of those miracle greens. It is bitter yet cooling and it is apparently good for stimulating liver function, reducing swelling and inflammation and improving digestion among a myriad of things.  Just the word "dandelion" sounds lyrical and makes me think of magical fairy food picked off by beautiful creatures frolicking in colorful fields in a faraway land.  Perhaps I have watched too many fantasy fil...

Some store-bought hummus are not bad but nothing like making it at home.  I find that I can taste more of the tahini in the homemade version and I can always adapt it to add a bit more of this and a bit more of that to get the exact flavor I want. Hummus is really nothing more than chickpeas/garbanzo beans, garlic, tahini (or sesame paste), olive oil, lime or lemon and whatever else you want to put in it to give it a kick such a...

 Summer, summertime and all great tasting light dishes are welcome.  I need nourishment but hate to feel too full when I eat.  This quinoa salad served chilled hits the spot in all areas including tummy satisfaction, good nutrition and feeling cool during the warmer months of the year. I basically threw in any veggies that looked good into my cooked quinoa and then topped it off with pomegranate. Delish! Keep cool people....

We were in Paris last week and I was reminded by how the French prepare vegetables that are simple and beautiful.  These vibrant and opinionated people (whom I love by the way) seem  to effortlessly throw raw or cooked veggies on a plate with a bit of a sauce and voila!  Lunch or dinner is served!   These radishes looked so rich and crispy on the produce shelf that I whisked them up right away to create a French style roasted sa...

When I lived in Buenos Aires I ate palmito (hearts of palm) salad all the time.  I loved it and ordered it in restaurants whenever I could find it.  I hadn't eaten palmitos in a while and then recently I was at a Brazilian restaurant and they had it on the menu!  It was so delicious that I have brought back palmitos into my cooking for the Spring.  You can buy palmitos canned at most local super markets. Palmitos on t...

Spring appears to be committedly here now and I get the fever for all things fruit.  These Bartlett pears were looking pretty and almost ripe at the produce section of the super market and all I could think was about grilling something. That something would be pears.  Grilled pears are great on their own since the cooking process brings out their sweetness. But wouldn't a chilled dill mayo just totally balance out the sweet and...

Beet and "Gorgonzola" Salad~ Beets always remind of dark burgundy lipstick, the kind worn by old Hollywood sirens.  Add the onions and the cashew Gorgonzola and it is like dressing and jeweling the siren to walk down the red carpet.  My grandmother used to tell me that her mother’s lips and cheeks were always a gentle crimson color (from eating beets) and I have been obsessed with that my whole life and, thus, beets.  As a teen...