Kevin at LAObserved points us to TableConversation.com, the delectable new online journal by LA food writer and cookbook author Barbara Hansen.

Born in Hollywood, I live in a 1920s house with a neighbor from Calcutta on one side and, on the other, Koreans who line their garden with kimchi pots.

My own garden contains a Oaxacan avocado tree, kaffir and Mexican limes, small, slow-growing Indian curry leaf trees, a bushy guaje plant with edible pods, epazote, verdolagas, assorted chiles and much more. Koreatown is close by, and I can almost walk to the kosher shops along Fairfax Avenue.

My kitchen is stocked with Indian spices, Mexican dried chiles., Thai and Indonesian sauces, chocolate and mole pastes from Oaxaca, olive oils from Chile and Argentina and cook pots from everywhere I’ve traveled.

Check out her recipes, ethnic restaurant picks and travel stories here.