tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86664332009-11-21T20:29:12.541-08:00I moved to the Bay Area, then Paris, the Chicago, then back to the Bay Area, to pursue my passion for food.cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.comBlogger244125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-36193212701921305312009-11-10T16:00:00.000-08:002009-11-11T11:54:21.983-08:00

1. The Sniffler2. The Regaler3. The Seat Puller, who is often also4. The Seat Kicker5. The Passive Aggressive Second Seat Hoarder and His Jacket6. The Brazen, Who Shall Not Submit to the Will of The Passive AggressiveSecond Seat Hoarder and His Jacket7. The Brayer8. The Knowing Nodder, who is often9. The Approving Murmurer, as well as10. The Sarcastic Snorter11. The Slow Processor, who may also

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-35347781261738045592009-08-11T20:52:00.000-07:002009-08-11T21:24:48.175-07:00

Made this galette using Lindsey Shere's Chez Panisse recipe and Frog Hollow nectarines. It was devilishly simple, with a lovely flaky crust. Lately I have been making my tart dough with various percentages of pastry flour for extra tenderness, but this recipe uses 100% AP. Good to know I can still get delicious results without the "fancy" flour.

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-58400582697790068662009-07-26T20:41:00.000-07:002009-07-26T20:52:50.561-07:00

I wasn't in a very creative mood tonight. One of Matt and Angie's other pigs (not the mulefoots) just gave birth to two piglets. One didn't make it. Mother Nature--and mothers themselves, in this case--can be cruel.Now this little guy will have to be bottle-fed every four hours, because the mom has proven that she's incapable of caring for him. Quite the contrary, actually. She has supremely

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-41985360501067834252009-06-25T02:06:00.000-07:002009-06-25T02:27:31.475-07:00

Two people. Eight days in Italy. 39 gelato flavors sampled:LemonCoconutPistachioPralinePine NutRicottaCreamChocolateBacioNutellaVanilla and Nutella StripeVanillaPink GrapefruitStracciatellaStrawberryGreen ApplePearMelonApricotPeachBlood OrangeFruits of the ForestHazelnutPineappleWild CherryCassataRiceSlow Food Cookies and Cream (Crema di Grom)SpeculoosYogurtBananaCoffeeCappuccinoChocolate

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-62915453340505208472009-06-09T14:00:00.000-07:002009-06-09T14:00:01.062-07:00

What can you do with leftover bitter oranges?Make vin d'orange! Wait eight weeks. Then enjoy.

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-37873673522141144602009-06-08T14:00:00.000-07:002009-06-08T14:00:01.024-07:00

I'm a little bit obsessed with orange marmalade. I blame the Tartine cookbook. They propose the idea that zucchini bread and orange marmalade are a natural fit. After I read that recipe, it was all over.What isn't a natural fit with orange marmalade, I ask you? I know a lot of people hate it, but they're sickies. Learn to love the bitter, people. Bitter is your friend. Smear it on muffins, toast,

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-63881498441808985902009-06-07T18:06:00.000-07:002009-06-07T18:12:52.600-07:00

Hey guys,We got home from New England over the weekend, and the mulefoots are doing fine! They are big enough that we can let them out into their pasture now, and not worry about them getting through the fence. So far, they are curious about our gilts (soon to be sows!), and the feeling is mutual, as Roxy loves to walk along the fence and observe them quietly.We just call them by their tag

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-47659947982137870312009-06-07T18:00:00.000-07:002009-06-07T18:14:38.126-07:00

This month marks the third anniversary of our move to San Francisco. We've been living in the same place all this time, despite our best intentions to buy a house. The global economic collapse has gotten in our way just a bit. We live in a flat above our landlords, and we love them. They're Chinese, from Guangzhou originally, and refer to us as their Caucasian children. Our landlady, Melissa, is

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-56249851159135368452009-05-18T20:13:00.000-07:002009-05-19T18:05:33.091-07:00

Remember how I referred to "our pig" in my last post? We actually ended up buying two on the recommendation of Mulefoot breeder Mark Sponsler. Apparently pigs get lonely, and although the farm already has two resident sows, they can't all be combined in one pen. Violence might ensue. The sows are both pregnant, so the plan is to slip the mulefoots into the pen after they give birth, and hope the

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-63158103230062743952009-04-20T14:03:00.000-07:002009-04-20T14:12:41.590-07:00

Pretty soon, one of these little guys is going to be ours. And then, late next fall, he will become dinner. Many dinners, actually. Not just for us, but for our friends and family too. I'm not sure even Randy could get through 200 pounds of pork, as hard as he might try.How did this come to pass? Randy's little brother Matt has a small farm outside Grand Rapids with his wife Angie, a vet student.

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-78551421454739599052009-04-03T13:55:00.000-07:002009-04-03T15:16:11.828-07:00

"He sacrificed his own family to his perverse obsession with food." How could I resist a line like that?It's from a Japanese comic ("manga" for you cool kids) called Oishinbo. I have zero experience with manga. But wow. The American publisher gave me a review copy (disclosure alert) and it was such fun to read. So here I am, telling you to buy it. I promise I wouldn't do that unless I thought the

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-51418817156602363562009-03-04T11:39:00.000-08:002009-03-04T11:42:41.373-08:00

Even though I'm not the biggest poultry fan in the world (they remind me a little too much of my parrot sometimes), I've been roasting chicken on weekends for many years now. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you how a roast chicken makes your whole house smell cozy; how delicious and crispy the potatoes become when they get thrown in the pan too; or how easy it is to turn a tattered chicken

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-81893119251739277852009-02-20T14:06:00.001-08:002009-02-26T14:25:13.791-08:00

I get a lot of food emails. Many are spammy. Usually I ignore them, but a recent one from the National Honey Board caught my eye. It included a recipe for King Cake, which has been "a Mardi Gras focal point since the eighteenth century." I've never been to Mardi Gras; heck I've never even been to New Orleans. But I can't resist any recipe for eggy sweet bread, and that's what it seemed the good

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-22087426172112560442009-01-31T14:39:00.001-08:002009-02-04T16:22:13.927-08:00

So this is what I do with myself on a sunny weekend? Plod into a cavernous building, shove a free loaf of bread into my purse and start guzzling California Zinfandel?Why yes, that's correct. And I even made it home without much of a purple crust on my lips or crazy-colored teeth. I know, I'm classy. I thought the festival might be a snooty affair, but no. Nothing can be snooty when there are

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-53161643672501187362009-01-24T16:19:00.000-08:002009-01-24T17:49:09.305-08:00

One of my favorite discoveries at last week's Fancy Food Show resembled blood sausage from afar, but was in fact a "sugar plum and walnut log" made by an Australian company called Pastilla Nash. It's a dense roll of toasty nuts and fruit paste that can be sliced into pretty little rounds and served with cheese; I sampled a bit with blue cheese and it was very tasty indeed. It's like membrillo in

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-76565576184063273562009-01-21T20:45:00.000-08:002009-01-21T21:14:29.460-08:00

I baked this cake in honor of the return of Battlestar Galactica. Well, that's not exactly true. I baked a cake and then on a whim decided to ruin it with a bunch of the cheapo frosting in tubes that you buy in a fit of last-minute desperation at the supermarket and then discover years later at the bottom of a drawer.Good lord, I just realized that this is my second nerdy blog post in a row. Oh

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-34378814598872544042009-01-15T15:46:00.000-08:002009-01-21T21:15:34.516-08:00

Call me a nerd, but I get excited when companies take a thoughtful approach to redesigning and improving upon everyday products, especially when they do away with minor flaws and annoyances. Sometimes the tweaks are just for fun, as in the case of my pink sparkly spatula,* and other times they are borderline brilliant, like the Beater Blade or the zigzaggy brownie pan that everybody loves. Well,

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-60121617171286257812009-01-12T08:49:00.001-08:002009-01-12T14:47:03.922-08:00

After a few years of silent longing, I finally bit the bullet and bought eight copper cannelé molds and some beeswax. If you've never had them before, cannelés come from Bordeaux and are small, custardy cakes with incredibly molten, lacquered crusts whose hues range from a beautiful burgundy color to pitch black. The best crusts are formed by coating the interiors of the molds with a layer of

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-3475875378039529612009-01-12T08:23:00.001-08:002009-01-12T08:33:48.652-08:00

I picked up a package of extremely cute little Thai sweets at our local grocery recently. I thought the name of them was listed on the package, but it turns out that the label only referred to the bakery in the East Bay that made them.Each one came wrapped in a little palm leaf that was carefully stapled into a cup shape, and was comprised of a gelatinous coconut blob that had been doused with a

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-40318129553503395152009-01-10T10:00:00.000-08:002009-01-10T10:00:00.688-08:00

Last month we took my parents to an open house at McEvoy Ranch to taste their new batch of olive oil and see the property. Yes, yes, it was gorgeous:And I'm still thinking about the lemon olive oil shortbread cookies they were handing out. (The recipe is apparently in their cookbook.)But the highlight of the trip was seeing this guy on the way home:As they say on Cute Overload, ENHANCE!!

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-74095188371416939482009-01-08T08:26:00.000-08:002009-01-08T09:39:33.801-08:00

Here is what I did after drinking too many cucumber and gin thingies with Dana at Solstice last night:1. Knocked a full glass of water into the open drawer of my lovely antique wooden nightstand. 2. Flipped a bowl of beans and rice into an open kitchen drawer filled with silverware.3. Knocked over a full glass of water directly onto my cell phone.4. Clung to a wall.5. Texted my friend Megan, "I

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-58200861550710168602008-12-05T09:45:00.000-08:002008-12-11T14:51:34.546-08:00

Last week I went to a cafe in Oakland with my friend Riva. She ordered a hot chocolate and one of those cupcakes wrapped in plastic that are usually stacked limply near cash registers.I love sweets, but I almost never eat cafe pastries. They're a continual disappointment, almost always stale, or soggy, or gluey from being individually wrapped, or served freezing cold when they should be room

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-443989847971278582008-12-05T08:54:00.000-08:002008-12-05T09:37:45.244-08:00

As I was doing my Thanksgiving menu planning this year, I stumbled across a thread on Chow.com. "What do you do with leftover turkey?" someone had inevitably asked. "HOT BROWNS!" somebody else replied.Because I am irresistibly attracted to the unfamiliar when it comes to food, I had to know more. What the heck is a Hot Brown? It sounds like a topic that might need to be covered by Savage Love,

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-29565715415309634642008-11-22T09:47:00.001-08:002008-11-22T10:03:12.256-08:00

Here are pics from Kyoto's Nishiki Market and Daimaru department store food hall; and from Mount Koya, where we spent the night in a Zen temple and tried shojin ryori, vegetarian Buddhist cuisine...And here's Tokyo. We had a long lunch at Tofuya Ukai, a restaurant that specializes in all things tofu. If you want captions and bigger photos, the albums are posted on the right sidebar.

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8666433.post-28739225678401881512008-10-21T19:34:00.000-07:002008-10-21T19:45:42.570-07:00

Lots of hot dog love. From Japan...And a cute new Chicago-style dog cart in San Francisco's SOMA district...And a kimchi hot dog from the Happy Belly cart in Golden Gate Park...And in conclusion, a beautiful night shot of Wiener's Circle in Chicago....

cindymhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06280868668878261349noreply@blogger.com1