Let the Salad Season Begin!

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

For any food lover, this is the best time of the year, when farmers’ markets and produce counters are burgeoning with seasonal fruits and vegetables. At the Alemany Farmers’ Market in San Francisco yesterday, stalls were bustling as shoppers filled market baskets and grocery carts, eager for a taste of summer.

From now through fall is peak salad time. Quick to fix and healthy (if you don’t overdo the dressing), salads are a boon to people too busy to cook. Toss in some protein – drained canned tuna, leftover shreds of rotisserie chicken, rinsed and drained canned beans, hard-cooked eggs – and you can make it an easy, no-cook, one-dish dinner.

Click to read more ...

Before the Barbecue – a Time to Remember

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

Last September, we took my mom’s ashes to be buried in the Matsukawa family plot in Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawaii. The graveside memorial service was a wistful gathering of my many cousins, my aunt and mom’s friends.

While in Hilo, we put flowers on my uncle’s grave at the Veteran’s Cemetery. Hiroshi Matsukawa fought with the Japanese-American 100th Infantry Battalion that merged with the 442nd Infantry Division, considered the most decorated infantry regiment of World War II. Uncle Hiroshi died in combat in Italy before I was born, but as kids, we spent every Memorial Day at the Veteran’s Day service at this cemetery.

Click to read more ...

Breakfast for Mom that Kids can Make

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

Until the day she died, my mother worried and fretted about me, even if the tables had been turned and I was her caregiver. Mothers are like that.

I tend to be the same way with my boys, even if they’re grown men. But I try not to show it too much. A sneeze? I’m thinking, are you coming down with a cold? But I restrain myself from asking; I don’t want to be hovering.

Mother’s Day is on Sunday and mothers across the U.S. will be feted, usually with breakfast in bed. That seems to be the typical treat for moms, while dad is usually honored with a barbecue. It may be that sleeping in is the most luxurious treat for mom, who is usually the first one up in the household, making breakfast.

Click to read more ...

In Love with Lentils

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

Lentils have so much going for them. They cook fairly quickly, they store well and they’re good for you. But I never think of making anything with this versatile legume.

The last lentil recipe I cooked was Mejadra, a traditional Arab comfort food of rice, lentils and spices from Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's Jerusalem: A Cookbook. Part of the deliciousness in that recipe comes from frying sliced onions until they turn into aromatic, caramelized strings that are stirred into the dish and also sprinkled on top. It’s not a difficult recipe, but not one that I’d whip up on the spur of the moment, when I’m hungry for dinner.

Click to read more ...

Looking Back: Food Tips I Learned from my Clients

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

Like most bloggers, I’ve always had a day job. And if you’ve followed my posts, you know what it is: doing PR for food clients. It’s a job I’ve loved, that has sustained me over decades.

My client list over the years reads like a supermarket shopping list – agricultural commodity boards like mushrooms, raisins, dried plums walnuts, almonds, strawberries, iceberg lettuce, avocados, limes, papaya, fresh ginger, garlic, turkey, duckling, beef…. And brand accounts like Fleishmann’s Yeast, Spice Islands, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Glad Press ‘n Seal Wrap, Kikkoman, Ghirardelli, Progresso and Kerrygold. I’ve also worked on wines, liqueurs and more.

Click to read more ...