friday feast: death by summer strawberries

“Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.” ~ Al Bernstein

Hello there, Cutie Pies.

Happy June! We’re kicking off the summer with some sweet strawberry love.

There’s nothing more beautiful or tempting than a bowl of juicy, fragrant berries. You do like them, don’t you? Strawberry lovers are considered, “health conscious,  fun-loving, intelligent and happy.” Non-lovers = “weird, boring, stuffy — picky eaters who avoid healthy foods.” No, that couldn’t be you.

Love the deep red color and all those tiny seeds — did you know each is actually an ovary and considered a separate fruit?

Last weekend, the mustached one and I braved the heat and humidity to check out the Strawberry Festival in Delaplane, Virginia. What’s a little weird is that Delaplane isn’t in a big strawberry-producing area — they have to import strawberries from California to feed the estimated 10,000 people who attend. I guess if you’re busy going on hayrides, playing field games, listening to music, watching puppet shows, browsing craft tables, checking out the peanut roasting machine and petting farm animals, you can work up a big appetite.

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chatting with cobi kim about veggietorials

I’m excited today to welcome my lovely niece, Cobi Kim, to the Alphabet Soup kitchen!

Cobi hosts the beautiful food blog, Veggietorials, where she shares her passion for all things plant-based. She features delicious recipes, product reviews for items she uses in her daily life, travel and cooking videos, and lots of photos and tips about what to order when eating out.

She prefers “plant-based” and “vegan-ish”  when describing her lifestyle, choosing not to call herself a “vegan,” since she is uncomfortable with labels that tend to separate rather than unite us. She aligns herself with the principle of “Ahimsa,” doing no harm by leading a life of non-violence.

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a sweet dash of aloha

In a perfect world, we could all have our cake and eat it too. We could savor chocolate cupcakes and lick every bit of ganache off our fingertips without an ounce of guilt.

In the real world, even before we take that first bite, we often hear the tsk tsks of those ever present sugar police, lecturing us about fat, calories, cholesterol, and glycemic indexes.

A Sweet Dash of Aloha: Guilt-Free Hawai’i Desserts and Snacks (Watermark Publishing, 2011) is a wonderful guide for those of us who’d like to find healthier ways to satisfy our sweet cravings without feeling deprived or compromising taste.

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author chat: a special aloha from margo sorenson

Of all the wonderful things Hawaiʻi has to offer — breathtaking natural beauty, world-renown beaches, stunning tropical flora, rich cultural diversity, divinely delicious variety of ethnic foods — its most valuable commodity is, and always will be, the genuine warmth and friendliness of its people.

Because I’ve always wished that this “spirit of Aloha” was more prevalent in the United States, I was especially pleased to read Margo Sorenson’s latest picture book, Aloha for Carol Ann (Marimba Books, 2011). In her heartwarming story, which is illustrated in bright colors by Priscilla Garcia Burris, Margo gives the “new kid in school” theme a tropical treatment. And there’s a nice twist: it’s a multicultural book where the main character is Caucasian.

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cobi’s wakame cucumber salad

My niece Cobi will be visiting Alphabet Soup later this month to talk about her wonderful website, Veggietorials: Recipes-Reviews-How-to’s for all things plant-based.

Perhaps, like me, you’re interested in incorporating more veggies in your diet, or even transitioning to an all plant-based diet for health reasons. Cobi will offer tips and share a favorite recipe to help us celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Meanwhile, thought I’d whet your appetite with one of Cobi’s videos featuring her recipe for Wakame Cucumber Salad. It looks so beautiful and refreshing, and I can’t wait to try making it myself. Luckily, we have several good Asian food markets nearby where I can get the dried wakame (seaweed). Enjoy!

Click here to print the recipe at Veggietorials.

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This post is being linked to Beth Fish Read’s Weekend Cooking, where are all invited to share food-related posts (fiction/nonfiction/movie/cookbook reviews, recipes, photos and musings).

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Copyright © 2012 Jama Rattigan of Jama’s Alphabet Soup. All rights reserved.