One of my fondest memories was being hired to do a staff dinner for a friend's restaurant. I had been obsessed with cooking Mexican food and he wanted me to cook for this event, despite the fact that I had no idea what I was doing. I was reading Diana Kennedy books religiously and during the party, a young Mexican-American woman asked who the abuela was cooking all the good food. I was just channeling Diana. Fast forward 20 years or so and I found myself on a road trip through Oaxaca with Her Nibs and there were many moments I just had to pinch myself. We were meeting the chile growers she'd known, hoping to create an importation project. It never got off the ground but we're still pals and on Saturday, she's signing books at our Ferry Building store in San Francisco from 10:00 am until about 1:00 pm. It's a market day so try and use public transportation if you can. We'll have lots of copies of her books to sign and of course bean samples for you to try. We'll also have Don Bugito on hand so you can try their insect snacks. Don't laugh. They are great. I'll be there as well, but I'm not quite the attraction that Diana is!