Wine and Poetry Gift Guide

Wine and poetry might just be the perfect Valentine’s Day pairing. Roses might as well go the way of tired cliches. Believe me, my first job had me sweeping a floral arrangement boutique and shredding thorns off long imported stems for the reddest holiday of the year. Chocolate has cleverly edged its way out of… Continue reading Wine and Poetry Gift Guide

Cookbooks to Help You Reach New Year’s Resolutions

New Year’s resolutions get a bad rap. Perhaps that stems from what starts one year as possibility and by year-end equals failure. I, however, do not fall into the camp that recycled resolutions denote some sort of inadequacy on the part of the goal-maker. Instead, I choose to consider that perhaps the lesson of that… Continue reading Cookbooks to Help You Reach New Year’s Resolutions

Food Poetry Fete: Plan a Burns Night

Poetry has its way of coursing its way into conversations unexpectedly. I’ve given up alcohol for the month of January, except, of course, I’m making an exception for Burns night. Burns night. It glimmered as a side comment in the long litany of instruction on how to properly roll out and blind bake tart dough. Much like… Continue reading Food Poetry Fete: Plan a Burns Night

Stinging Nettle Soup: Greens in Winter Food Poem

Greens in Winter Stiff edged leaves want to stick fingers, prick them if unaware of their nature.   Winter has left us bereft, for years we knew what to expect. But now,   farmers throw their hands out to the fields, then up to the skies. When precipitation   makes some states quake, ours is… Continue reading Stinging Nettle Soup: Greens in Winter Food Poem

Cooking Matters San Francisco: Teaching Kids to Cook Real Food

As this year winds down for another year to commence, out come the goals that might get recycled each year with the regularity of abandoned pine trees on curbs the last week in December. Let’s face it, we look forward to new beginnings. When the clock completes the circle toward midnight on New Year’s Eve,… Continue reading Cooking Matters San Francisco: Teaching Kids to Cook Real Food

Pineapple Guava Curd

A pineapple guava sits on the counter huddled as if in conversation with green-backed friends. Its unseen skill paints the splotched cream walls of our kitchen into dappled light nudging through long leafy fronds of palm trees. I want to bottle the aroma, all mai tai and lapping waves of an ocean too turquoise to be real. In the… Continue reading Pineapple Guava Curd

Holiday Gift Guide for the Specialty Food Fiend

Since the holidays are officially upon us, the season of finding the perfect gift for the food fiend in your life has commenced in full effect. Some of the best gifts that can be given include edible ones that take up a small footprint and also provide a different sort of instant gratification (plus they… Continue reading Holiday Gift Guide for the Specialty Food Fiend

When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Tortilla Espanola

So you might be scratching your head and holding up two words, weighing them to see if they might possibly even each other out, “lemons, tortilla espanola?” I know. It perplexed me too. What happens when you unwittingly walk away from a rather impromptu visit to Sacramento with three ginormous Meyer lemons in tow? You… Continue reading When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Tortilla Espanola