Cookbook author finds the magic in vegetables

When she moved from Singapore to Seattle for college, Patricia Tanumihardja says, she was "shocked to learn that many of the fresh fruits and vegetables I had taken for granted back home were hard to come by."

Singapore is a tropical island that imports most of its food, so many of the same items were available year-round. In Seattle, many things were available only at certain times of the year. Quickly entranced by the "farm-to-table" movement, she eventually even ran a farmer's market in Pacific Grove, California.

However, the eating mindset of her native Asia stuck with her.