She is the "Special Events Manager" at Food & Wine. She does have quite an impressive background in both food journalism as well as in professional kitchens (Le Cirque, Vong -- she has culinary training). She was also Steingarten's assistant for a number of years.
I found the Lychee soda to be satisfactory, but I doubt I'd make a point of buying it again. I do love their Jamaican-Style Ginger Beer, as well as their Green Apple flavours. In general, I find PC products to be quite good, and their always coming out with new things to try.
I like to blanch them first, sautee some pancetta, then fry them in the rendered pork fat. Poached egg on top, parmesan... perfect. (I often treat them like asparagus). Great stir-fried with spicy beef, too. Nice with scallops (recently: a ragout of spring peas, morels, and fiddleheads to accompany carmelized scallops with a lemon beurre blanc).
I just wanted to compliment you on a phenomenal BLOG, Chris. In my humble opinion, this is one of the best BLOGs posted on eGullet, period. Great work!
One of the biggest and best contributors eGullet has seen. Thank you for all your hard work and tireless commitment to quality, John. Your spot at the dinner table will be impossible to fill.
Regardless of whether you find the Google Ads amusing or not, what is your primary concern here? Amusing yourself, or creating a professional portal for your restaurants? The ads smack of a cheap free host or porn site. How many reputable culinary establishments do you see with banner ads dominating their design? Not many. There's a reason.