Settling Down to a New Season

By Sandy Hu

Labor Day always seems a little sad to me, marking the unofficial end of summer. In San Francisco, our farmers’ markets are still bursting with heirloom tomatoes, peaches, nectarines and fresh herbs, but we know that soon all of nature’s largesse will gradually slip away.

We officially turn the page from a summer lifestyle that’s casual and informal, to settling back down to work and school. When my kids were growing up, I always tried to introduce a few new brown bag ideas to mark the start of the school year and to help all of us get back into the daily routine.

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Simple Tips for Summer Food Safety

By Sandy Hu

The other day, I told my optometrist I was working on a blog post about summertime food safety and immediately she chimed in with, “Don’t leave the potato salad in the car!” Like my optometrist, we’ve all learned a few food safety tips along the way.

But for an in-depth look, I turned to an expert, my friend Laura Brainin-Rodriguez, who has a Master’s Degree in public health, a Master’s Degree in nutritional sciences and is a registered dietitian. Here’s an astounding statistic Laura shared with me: The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) noted that in 2010, one in six Americans got sick from foodborne illnesses, and most frequently during the summer.

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Caramel Sauce – it’s Easy!

By Sandy Hu

There’s nothing like a bowl of frosty ice cream to cool down on a warm day and nothing more decadent than adding a drizzle of warm caramel sauce on top.

Caramel sauce is surprisingly easy to make and much more delicious than store bought. Try Katie’s recipe from her blog post early this year. I’ll walk you through the steps in today’s Video Friday demo.

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Breakfast at the Morningstar Inn

By Sandy Hu

Love it or hate it, travel comes with the territory in the PR business, an occupation that has taken up the greater part of my career. Most times the destination is a big city, where we stay at very nice, but impersonal hotels.

Recently, however, a visit to Rodale publishing brought me to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the Morningstar Inn, a delightful B&B run by affable proprietors Virginia Hadam and her husband, Tim Nickel.

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Dinner from Leftover Pasta and Two Chicken Breasts

By Sandy Hu

The other day, I was wondering what to do with some angel hair pasta in the fridge. I hadn’t made enough pasta sauce for the leftover and besides, I wasn’t feeling like a hot and heavy meal.

So, I began to think of what I wanted to eat: cold noodles…an Asian flavor profile with citrus and soy sauce…crisp sliced cucumber…the bite of green onion. I wanted to keep everything light and refreshing.

I had a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts that needed cooking so I thought I could make one sauce, divide it up using some for the pasta and some for a marinade for the chicken. Then grill the chicken, slice it and fan it over the noodles. So far, so good!

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