San Diego Cooks Turns 1!

November 6, 2025 //
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Cover of cook book, San Diego Cooks by Figure 1 publishing. Authored by Ligaya Malones and photographed by Deanna Sandoval.

About a year ago, San Diego Cooks (2024, Figure 1) finally made it out into the world. It is a collection of recipes from the region’s chefs, from Oceanside to La Mesa and everywhere in between. It is my first book, and defining myself as a published author still feels strange, like trying to identify something you’ve just tasted—that flavor, a spice or some other ingredient, is vaguely familiar, but you can’t quite place it. 

San Diego Cooks took five years to complete. It’s made for the home cook, meaning if you don’t need Michelin-worthy culinary skills to make the recipes in this book. But if you are up for a cooking challenge, those recipes are also included.

With the holidays sprinting toward us, I hope you’ll consider the cook book as a gift idea for some of your favorite people in your life, whether they’re a self-proclaimed foodie or not.

I’m grateful to the local and regional publications and broadcast programs who have helped share word of the book’s launch last fall, including:

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Categories California, Curious Palate, San Diego

The Update: I’ve Joined San Diego Magazine!

May 13, 2022 //
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San Elijo Vine & Tap (photo: Studio Comer)

Some professional news, as they say: In March 2022, I joined San Diego Magazine as a contributing food writer! I am excited to help illuminate the faces and places that have fed and hydrated (think: beer, wine, kombucha, spirits, coffee, juice!) our desert region for years, as well as those new to the scene.

Since I started, I’ve covered:

The story of San Elijo Vine & Tap, where owner Chris went from washing dishes and polishing glassware to ownership

Wine and game day foods pairings, thanks to the wine experts at SIP Wine & Beer in Escondido, and Vino Carta in Little Italy and Solana Beach

Notable sushi chef Rob Ruiz’s new social impact passion project in Vista

(Subscribe to San Diego Magazine here)

There’s a lot happening in San Diego’s food and beverage world—most immediately, I think of the groundswell happening in coastal Oceanside (all of North County, really), University Heights, and Little Italy’s transformation.

I’ll still write about San Diego, Hawaii, Mexico, and other destinations for national publications. For example, here’s a piece for Lonely Planet about San Diego’s underrated yet thriving live music scene. 

And my head is spinning with all of the ways I can lend my curiosity about the people and trends shaping my home city, in the same wide-eyed way I’ve approached travels to Japan, or Puerto Rico. 

Why we do what we do, how do we navigate challenges and prioritize joy? These are some of the driving questions at the core of my work. Every other week or so, I chronicle the city’s collective response, for San Diego Magazine. Join me.

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  • Keep up with my real-time travels and eats from San Diego and beyond on Instagram
  • Join me on Facebook
  • Support my immersive, sensorial travel and food journalism: send me a coffee!
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Categories Bylined, California

Postcard From: Scottsdale, Arizona (And, Arizona Makes Wine?!)

April 17, 2022 //
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Saguaro Lake

Travel has the power to surprise us in a number of ways. It can change the way we view ourselves. Even destinations themselves can reframe the way we see them. A perfect example of this happened during a long weekend in spring 2021, on a reporting trip to Scottsdale, Arizona and the surrounding Sonoran Desert.

Besides having the opportunity to stand up paddle board with one of my best friends on Saguaro Lake with REI (yes, lakes, rivers, and dams, in the desert!), and touring Frank Lloyd Wright’s meticulously and intuitively crafted Taliesin West, the region’s emerging wine scene intrigued me the most. See, while most people assume the area is all hot, dry, and void of life, certain parts actually offer an ideal wine-growing climate.

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Categories Arizona
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