Category Archives: Food Philosophies
Eat Real Festival
It was a great weekend at the eatreal festival in Jack London Square in Oakland. The food truck trend was in full swing and there was a great variety of different foods from the many venders. If you missed it, make sure to put it on your calendar for next year. My favorite plate was the fish tacos from Cholita Linda.
The Changing of the Seasons
I’m a little late updating my seasonal ingredient list on my website, but hey, spring and summer were also late in the Bay Area.
Waning ingredients include all stone fruit, berries, melons, corn, and all of the summer produce that was deprived of sunshine this year.
Ingredients to look for in the near future that will be coming into their peak will be chanterelle mushrooms, grapes, pomegranates, shelling beans, apples, and hard squashes. Stay tuned for the change of the produce seasons.
Cooking Bacon
When I cook bacon at home with friends, I’m reminded from their perplexed reaction, that people aren’t familiar with the basic restuarant method of cooking bacon that is commonplace in a professional kitchen.
When people cook bacon at home on the stovetop, it is very messy and time consuming and requires constant attention. In a professional kitchen it is often necessary to cook large amounts of bacon with limited time.
So I thought it was worth posting this method for people unfamiliar with the “secret” way of cooking bacon and who are looking for an easier, cleaner way: THE OVEN. Simply lay out the strips of bacon onto sheet pans and put into a 350 degree oven for 15-25 minutes depending on the thickness and how crispy you like your bacon. It’s best to drain off the grease halfway through and turn the strips over. You can also cook the strips on a wire rack over a sheet pan but that leaves one more thing to clean.
Spring Redux
Summer is being stubborn this year as it awaits it’s grand entrance. The spring produce is hanging around for a bit longer in the Bay Area which means we’re still seeing fava beans, English peas, spring garlic, spring onions, ramps, fiddlehead ferns, and morel mushrooms in the markets.
Waiting in the wings are cherries, apricots, peaches, melons, corn, tomatoes and all of the wonderful sun-kissed summer produce. I know that winter will eventually end and we’ll be enjoying the summer produce soon.
I wonder what this unusual weather is doing to the wine grapes.
