Q: Dear Chef Boy,

I've got the beet blues. I planted a big load of beets this year—a mixed bag with red, gold and other—and now, what to do with all these beets? I've gotten some advice on steaming little beet cubes to be used in salads and veggie medleys, or for my 8-month-old to eat. I've also seen something on grilling, then peeling, but what else is there?

—Beets Me

A: Dear BM,

Tabatha Roybal

A new place to pitch your tent

I’ve been harboring an embarrassing secret for a decade. I applied as a server at Hooters and was rejected. Maybe it was my weird, multicolored hair, my sailor mouth or perhaps it was the Corona bottle and Marlboro light I was nursing during my brief job interview, but the manager took one look at me and offered me a position as a cook. I left, my ego crushed like a beer can. But as luck would have it, a TGI Friday’s opened up a few weeks later, and it was like I had found my new home.