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Sonoko Sakai's delicious chickpea miso soup with tofu, spinach and green onion.
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Umami bomb: Aedan Chickpea #Koji potatoes, pink cauliflower and broccoli cooked with @Sonoko Sakai.
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Sonoko Sakai's soba at the koji dinner at Bar Tartine
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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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California Walnut Crepes with Ricotta Honey Orange Filling
by Epicurator Susie Wyshak Chef Alex Stratta’s California Walnut Crepe recipe stole my heart but instead of the savory route, the recipe immediately sparked a vision of walnut groves surrounded by grazing cows, buzzing bees, and child-like rounded orange trees dotted with fruit. This could only mean one thing: a sweet California Walnut crepe with a “taste of California” theme. I used Happy Girl Kitchen’s orange marmalade (which you can learn to make in their classes!) Booya! The nutty, not-too-sweet substantial texture of the crepes against the creamy and sweet filling sent my tasters to the moon. Our senses enlivened with the orange evoking a tinge of middle eastern flavors…
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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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Food Event Picks for February 2013
Hi folks! Now that Valentine’s Day is over it’s kind of nice to have a break from sweets. This weekend some friends are having a potluck where we’ll all cook a recipe from Jerusalem, which is a fun way to get people together around a theme. We have some great food events listed but I was decided to go on a quick hunt to see what other intriguing events were going on in the food and libation world in the Bay Area this February, and here’s what I found that I’d like to go to: Wilbur Hot Springs’ Guest Chef Series has Tim West as a guest chef, Feb 22-24…
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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…
