The Cooking Priest: Savoring faith, food, family

LOS ANGELES — Inside a packed auditorium, the enticing aroma of glazed onion, garlic, and pasta, smeared in pureed tomatoes, olive oil, and vodka made hundreds of mouths water.

“Am I making you hungry?” teased renowned cooking priest Fr. Leo Patalinghug who traveled 4,200 kilometers from his home parish in Baltimore, Maryland, for a three-day speaking tour at St. Mel Catholic Church in the city of Woodland Hills.

Like a skilled circus juggler, but one deft with a 12-inch cooking pan, he tossed his special recipe of penne alla vodka repeatedly into the air.

“It’s cool, huh, but it’s my job to make you hungry!” quipped Patalinghug, whose last name in Cebuano roughly means “l…

Keep on reading: The Cooking Priest: Savoring faith, food, family