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Tayberries, Raspberries, Pop Tarts Oh My! A Visit to Oregon’s Pennington Farms
A little white sign lets you know you’ve reached Pennington Farms as do gigantic wood planks announcing berries for sale. Your drive to get to this farm, sort of near Grant’s Pass, Oregon, winds through the Applegate Valley, a bit of heaven lined with hills and meadows and vineyards. Californians (and those who’ve enjoyed some other agricultural fruits of Oregon’s back woods) might wonder if you’ve inadvertently dropped into Mendocino’s wine country. Because much like Mendocino’s famous Apple Farm, you’ve come upon one of those beautifully rustic spots that signal shabby chic rustic beauty as if you’d fallen into a Pottery-Barn-meets-Martha-Stewart type of catalog. Yet what Sam and Cathy Pennington…
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U-Pick Farms in Brentwood from End of May thru Sept
By Carrie Sullivan, our East Bay Epicurator I start looking forward to fruit-picking season in the fall – about 8 months before any of the fruit I love is ready! Call me obsessed. My favorite go-to area is Brentwood, located about 50 miles east of Oakland and Berkeley in East Contra Costa County. While I don’t exactly relish the drive to Brentwood, I have certainly found ways of making it more pleasurable, like taking the scenic back roads when I have the time, or making a day of it with at least one friend who shares my enthusiasm for fresh-picked (hand-picked and hand-chosen) fruit. Brentwood has seen some pretty massive…
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Celebrate International Women’s Day by Eating and Drinking … Of Course
Realizing that this coming Friday, March 8, is International Women’s Day got me thinking about all the female food-and-drink entrepreneurs I’ve met around Northern California over the last few years, and some of the fun and inspiring things they’ve told me. For instance, Deborah Brenner (pictured above) left a plush Manhattan marketing career to write a book about female winemakers in California. That book, 2006’s Women of the Vine, inspired Brenner to move to the Wine Country, make wine herself, and create Women of the Vine, a winery offering the creations of a dozen-plus female vintners. “I had spent the past 20-plus years in a very male-dominated field,” Brenner told…
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Temescal Food Tour in Oakland With Edible Excursions – A Photo Memoire
by Susie Wyshak Edible Excursions, a Bay Area food tour company has led many a foodie through the Ferry Building, the Mission District, and Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto. Starting in March, 2013, they’ll add Oakland’s new food goldmine — the Temescal district — to their gustatory adventures. On a sneak peak tour, we embarked on nothing less than artisanal food carnage, starting at the Sunday Temescal Farmers’ Market. The $75 tour is like an amazing 8 or so course tasting menu, where you usually get to meet the owner. Your palate journeys from sweet to savory, back and forth, with coffee in between. While by the end, I felt as if…
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Top Picks for Hands-on Cooking Classes at San Francisco Cooking School
I’m working with the new The San Francisco Cooking School which opened this Fall. It’s been enlightening to work with founder Jodi Liano helping create awareness for the school. Jodi has put assembled the largest selection of cooking classes — that’ll teach anyone, from a kitchen novice to a professional. I’m personally signed up for a ton of classes — and can’t wait to hone my skills, techniques and knowledge. Here’s my picks for some favorites below — but the full slate of classes are on the San Francisco Cooking School website. Fundamentals and Advanced Techniques: Asian, Italian, Shellfish, Cooking with Ratios, and Advanced Sauce Techniques. Global Cuisine Series. Hands-on…
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2013’s “Best Chocolatiers” Announced
Based around the International Chocolate Salon held late last year in San Francisco, the 2013 Best Chocolatiers and Confectioners in America Award winners were announced this week by TasteTV, which created the contest and event. I was a judge at the Salon, where I got to sample amazing artisanry and talk to the artisans themselves. Mindy Fong of SF-based Jade Chocolates was premiering her latest product: dried green mango with a chili-lime spice rub atop chocolate tiles. I snapped a picture of these spicy little guys: Wendy Lieu, who operates SF-based Socola Chocolatier with her sister, crafts truffles flavored with guava, lychee, durian, black sesame, bacon, pumpkin, PB&J, tea, Vietnamese…
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Behind the Wine, Within the Whiskey
I learned a lot about libations last weekend while visiting not one but two Elysian Fields of alcohol within a short stroll of each other on the scenic Alameda waterfront. First was the Rock Wall Wine Company, whose Open House on Saturday afternoon featured food booths, wine tasting and tours of the vast facility, which is located inside a 40,000-square-foot historic former military airplane hangar. It was inspiring to learn how grapes from the Napa Valley, Sonoma County and even nearby Contra Costa County are transformed into Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel and Petite Sirah a virtual stone’s throw from downtown Oakland. Let’s raise a glass to urban winemaking. My favorite wines…
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Berkeley’s Gourmet Ghetto Food History: A Video Tour
Berkeley, California is known as the birthplace of “California cuisine,” at least the kind using farm-direct, simple ingredients. Our friend Frieda DeLackner grew up in this luscious area and captured some of Berkeley’s unique food heritage on a fun short video, taking you on a tour through Chez Panisse to the Cheese Board Collective, famous for its wonderful 1 seasonal organic pizza flavor per day, its vast cheese selections and homemade pastries and bread. When you’re coming to the San Francisco Bay Area, we suggest watching the video and checking out our Berkeley food tour guide (which takes you to some fantastic food crafters’ shops). A Q&A With the Gourmet…
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Craft Cocktails and Wild Wigs for a Good Cause
Wear wigs, win prizes at Wig Out, a charitable post-Halloween hullabaloo at San Francisco’s Parc 55 Hotel on Nov. 2, 2012. Proceeds will go to Slap Cancer and Locks of Love. Guests are urged to sport their craziest wigs to the party. Dance beats will be supplied by the notorious DJ Ambrosia Salad, free hairstyle consultations will be provided by the folks from Carmichael Hair Salon & Color Bar … and drinks will flow: craft beers from Lagunitas, wines from Rodney Strong, and inventive cocktails by Fair Trade Spirits. Rumor has it that at least one of these cocktails will involve cotton candy.
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Blood, Bones and Beef Hearts: Where to Eat on (or Around) Halloween?
It’s that spooky season again. Where to live it up on or around the Day of the Dead? It’s not just about candy anymore — although it is still about blood, bones and Batman masks. Fear the food trucks. Friday, October 26 is the last time Off the Grid will appear at Fort Mason Center until next March. They’re turning their farewell gig into a Halloween haunt with decorations, live music from Rolling Stones cover band Black Angel, a costume contest (extra points for Stones-related guises) and Halloween specials at 34 food vendors and two full bars. (Hint: beef-heart tacos and pumpkin-cuchinta ice cream.) Off the Grid is also celebrating…
