I like to prepare garlic this way rather than using a garlic press because it is easier to clean up and you don’t have to dig out the garlic left in the press, or throw it away in frustration. The only waste is a small piece of waxed paper. I keep a small ball peen hammer in my kitchen-tool drawer.

Garlic bulb w/3 cloves

Store garlic in a basket or other container that allows air to circulate. The garlic you buy in stores is sometimes called dried. You can buy fresh garlic at Farmers Markets in summer but it is eaten raw usually as a veggie in salads.

Raw garlic has medicinal uses as an anti-bacterial and anti-viral. If you decide to eat some garlic when you feel a cold coming on, remember why garlic is called the ‘stinking rose.’

• To smash garlic

First, make sure your garlic is fresh with no visible mold or moldy odor. Also, if it’s late in the season your garlic could start sprouting.

Then place your garlic cloves on your cutting board and give them a tap with the hammer. This loosens the papery skin making it easy to remove. Discard the skins. Slice the cloves in half. If they have started to sprout remove the inner green sprout or the garlic can be bitter. This doesn’t matter so much if you are cooking your garlic but is noticeable when you are eating the garlic raw like in hummus or other dips.

Tear off a piece of waxed paper and place it on your cutting board. Place the cut pieces of garlic on the waxed paper and fold half of the waxed paper over the top of the garlic pieces.

Using the hammer, crush each piece until it is fully smashed.

Scrape the smashed garlic from the waxed paper into your food with the flat edge of a knife.

When living in Alaska I was co-owner of a small natural foods store. While I wasn’t much of a retailer, I was able to influence a group of people to eat nutritious foods. I arranged to use a Home Ec kitchen in a local school where I taught a series of classes called Vegetarianism 101. These classes were unusual for a community of hunters and fishers. I was a radical.

Me and veggies

Some years later, after I’d gone to chef’s school, I cooked meat at the Four Seasons restaurant, in Soldotna, Alaska. Geri, the owner of the Four Seasons, was also a vegetarian. From its beginning, in 1978, the Four Seasons served steaks. Once Geri bought out the original owner it wouldn’t have done to eliminate meat from the menu.

Geri and I grilled steaks–every night.

She bought beef loins from which we cut each steak to order. My common comment to the servers when I got a table of steak orders was “Why don’t you tell them to go to Sizzler,” which was across town. They told me Geri said the same thing. Diners said they came to the Four Seasons because we cooked the best steaks in town.

I also worked in a restaurant in Alaska where I had to cook shell fish—local clams and mussels. To cook them we dropped them into a pot of simmering water seasoned with some garlic, green onion, salt and pepper. For public health reasons, these animals must be alive when dropped into the pot. They are kept alive and fresh on ice in a cooler. (If their shells do not open during cooking they must be discarded.) This was very difficult for me. I said “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry” every time I dropped one to its death while my chef laughed at me. I never eat mussels or clams.

I once helped out a friend who had a beach fishing site. At a beach site salmon are caught in seine nets secured on the beach and reaching into the water about 10 to 15 feet. The woven nylon nets capture the fish at high tide. When the tide recedes the pickers, which I was, wade into the water and remove the fish. Their snouts are stuck in the net’s squares. I wore knee-high rubber boots, and white ‘church’ gloves to protect my hands as I pulled the fish from their trap. I was doing my friend a favor and got through the day grateful I didn’t have to do it for a living. It wasn’t until years later that I hung my head in shame. I pulled those animals from the net and disrespectfully tossed them into blue fish tubs.

It is with terribly mixed feelings that I enjoy eating wild salmon.

I love salmon—it’s very nutritious. But I would never eat anything just because I believe it to be good for me. I also eat it because I love the taste. I pour on a little olive oil and put it under the broiler in my electric stove. I eat it with just some drops of Chrystal hot sauce. No other flavor gets on my salmon, just the pure taste. If you’ve got to sauce it up with something, I wonder why you’d eat it at all. I say a little thank-you prayer each time I eat salmon, and deal with my feelings.

Though I haven’t eaten land animals in many decades, I do have respect for hunters I knew in Alaska. They process the animal then can or freeze the meat for their families. The difference between killing one moose a year in the wild is a far cry from factory-farming and processing animals as a commodity.

Although a growing number of us need to lose weight, weight loss is not the only reason we need exercise. There are many benefits from regular exercise. At every age there are rewards. You don’t need me to tell you this, but I’ll do my best to give you a push.

Friend and dog walking the Mendocino Headlands

Walking is the cheapest form of exercise, requiring only a good pair of shoes, and, for most women, a supportive bra. You can walk any time. And while the minimum recommendation to have positive results is only 30 minutes most days, those thirty minutes can be broken up across the whole day.

Here are some ideas:

• Walk to work if you can
• If you drive or take public transportation, park or get off the bus several blocks before your destination
• Walk up stairs instead of taking an elevator
• Walk up escalators
• Take a walk during your lunch break
• Get your spouse and kids together for a walk following dinner—it’s just as important as homework

To get started, if you’ve not walked in some time, first make sure you have no health issues that would negatively impact walking. Then go to a sport shoe store with knowledgeable employees and ask to get fitted with a good quality shoe. These can be expensive. Whenever I am replacing my shoes I always get last year’s model, and have never paid more than $30. Good socks are also important. Sport socks are knit without those annoying knots near your little toe that can give you the excuse you need when you’re trying not to walk.

Start by walking somewhere safe for five or ten or more minutes. Or perhaps walk around the block. When I started running years ago, I was told in a workshop to run for five minutes—something I’d never done before—and add a minute a day. That worked so well that I was able to run in a 10k (6.2 miles) race four months later.

If you increase your time by a few minutes each day, before you know it you’ll be walking 30 minutes. Over time you can increase your distance and your speed. Doing this in increments is so easy you won’t even know you’re doing it.

Any walking at all is good, but you do have to challenge yourself to get continuing benefits. That means walk farther and/or walk faster.

Walking with a pal is a great way to go. You both get exercise while you catch up.

Walking outdoors connects you with nature, but the weather is sometimes uncooperative. Go to a mall or any large public building and walk.

Studies show that walking helps with memory by holding off memory loss that often comes with ageing. Even older people show memory improvement following periods of regular walking.

You are never too young to start a healthy activity that can last a lifetime. At 20 you are creating a good habit you can practice throughout your life—if you do, you’ll still be walking and active in your 80s.

I heartily recommend About.com for inspiration.