Cinco de Mayo for Dos: Tortilla Soup and Spicy Guacamole

I’m well past the age when Cinco de Mayo means donning some culturally stereotypical hat and drinking myself into oblivion, so this year I used the holiday we’ve purloined from our friends to the south as an excuse to prepare a caliente feast for my husband and myself.

Since I don’t eat meat, I often enjoy the challenge of taking a recipe and creating two versions: one with meat for my husband and one sans meat for myself. Dishes like coq au vin are pretty much impossible, but soups and stews are a snap.

Derby Day Cocktail: Black-Eyed Susan

Shopping for a colossal hat and jetting off to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Derby has long been on my bucket list. I don’t follow horse racing in any capacity, but I do watch the Derby on TV every year, if for no other reason than to soak up the culture and ambiance à la distance.

But there’s no reason why those of us not fortunate enough to attend the race in person can’t celebrate on our own. This year I decided to get in the spirit by stirring up a couple of cocktails.

Vegetable Lasagna

Lasagna is one of my go-to meals to cook when I have family over. It’s simple, it makes a lot of food, and it’s good. Since I don’t cook with red meat very often, I only make vegetable lasagna, and I’ve refined and perfected my recipe over the past few years. I have to say, I’m pretty proud of it.

My dad came over for dinner recently and I thought it was a good excuse to prepare a lasagna feast, since I hadn’t made it in a while. The great thing is that you can use whatever vegetables are your favorite—just aim for about 2.5 pounds total. Sometimes I also add black olives, and I think capers could be a nice addition as well. I prefer my lasagna on the noodley side so my recipe calls for three layers, but two should work fine. I prefer to use real mozzarella, not the comes-in-a-bag, oddly powdery stuff. Also, my seasoning measurements are estimates because I normally just eyeball it. Basically, the recipe I’m sharing is a great place to start and then find ways to make it your own!

Pollo alla Valdostana

My husband and I recently took a quick weekend trip to Napa, and on our second night, we found ourselves in Santa Rosa, a busy town that lies within wine country but lacks the charm you’d find in, say, St. Helena. Unsure what to do with ourselves for the evening, we decided to try a hole-in-the-wall restaurant (LoCoco’s) that the concierge at our hotel recommended and ended up enjoying some of the best Italian food we’d ever had.