• Watch
• Listen Live
• Newsletters
• Podcasts
• Blogs
• Maps
• KTEH Information

Bay Area Bites

Culinary Rants & Raves from Bay Area Foodies and Professionals

• Events: Sip & Shuck

  Posted by Amy Sherman

  on May 14, 2008

  As the weather warms up it’s prime time for outdoor festivals. Head to Ghirardelli Square for sipping wine at the third annual Uncorked Wine Festival or to Golden Gate Park for shucking oysters at the ninth annual San Francisco Oyster Fest. Better yet, enjoy both!

  

  Ghirardelli Square hosts Uncorked! in partnership with COPIA, the American Center for Wine, Food & Arts located in Napa. Uncorked provides an opportunity to taste, learn and experience wine and gourmet food from throughout Northern California. Highlights include a food and wine pairing seminar, sensory wine class and chef demonstration ($10 fee). Check out the schedule online.

  What: Uncorked! Wine Festival
  Cost: Tickets are $40 and include unlimited wine tastings from over 50 wineries and a souvenir glass
  When: May 17th 1 - 6 pm
  Where: Ghirardelli Square, 900 North Point St, San Francisco
  How: Purchase tickets online

  

  The San Francisco Oyster Fest celebrates that classic combination of oysters and stout and features a great selection of contemporary live music. A wide variety of other beverages will also be available, ranging from beers, wines to premium spirits and though oysters are the main focus of the festival many other culinary choices will be offered. Festival events including the Shuck and Suck Competition, Oyster History Exhibition and Oyster Cooking Demonstrations.

  What: San Francisco Oyster Fest
  Cost: Tickets are $20 for a 1 day pass or $35 for a 2 day pass
  When: May 17th - 18th, 12 - 7, gates open at 11
  Where: Great Meadow at Fort Mason, San Francisco
  How: Purchase tickets online

  ShareThis

  
  

  Permalink - Comments

• Don?t Forget the Ants: 5 Picnic Essentials

  Posted by Stephanie Lucianovic

  on May 13, 2008

  With the temps being on the chillier side these days, I was about to get all Dylan on yo’ ass and announce, “If you wanta have a picnic, that’s up t’ you. But don’t tell me about it, I don’t wanta hear it, ‘Cause, see, I just lost all m’ picnic spirit. Stay in m’ kitchen, have m’ own picnic!” However, starting tomorrow the Bay Area mercury is going to fever up to the 80s, so it’s finally time to slap on the SPF 30, grab some grub and a stadium blanket, and leave the San Franciscan layers at home.

  Now, whether you pack cold fried chicken or lentil salad, whether you opt for a market-worn canvas tote or a full-loaded picnic basket, or whether you go to the beach or spread out in Golden Gate Park, I’m here to tell you about five indispensable picnic tools I can’t do without.

  Opinel No. 9 carbon steel pocket knife: I used to bring my trusty, fifteen-year-old Swiss Army knife on picnics, but as much as I loved the cunningly stored plastic toothpick, my old backpacking tool just wasn’t picnic practical. Gunk and crumbs got jammed in every crevice, and I never seemed to use any tool other than the corkscrew. Furthermore, both blades dulled quickly and I bent back way too many nails just trying to pull the bottle opener out!

  Once my husband got this classic, French folding knife for Christmas, we realized it was just what we needed for any and all of our cheese slicing, sausage cutting, or radish slivering. The carbon steel blade takes eons to dull and the entire knife wonderfully lightweight. Over one hundred years old, these knives are as brilliant as they are beautiful. ($12.55) (I might have to take up foraging just to have an excuse to buy the super special mushroom knife. But that’s another post.)

  GSI Lexan® Wineglasses: Elegant, stackable, and lightweight, I simply adore these wineglasses. I stumbled upon them at REI and couldn’t get over their brilliance. In fact, I might have to go back for the corresponding Champagne flutes. ($5.95 per glass)

  Small Wooden Cutting Board: Lightweight and packable, mine measures 10×10, but Crate and Barrel has some even smaller than that. ($8.95)

  L’Occitane Verbena Towelettes: Isn’t progress a wonderful thing? I remember when the only choice we had for après picnic clean-up reminded me way too much of changing my little sister’s diapers. Thank god L’Occitane stepped in with their version of wipes, which they call “towelettes,” thus elevating the product even further. French and herbalicious, the towelettes clean, refresh, and aromatherapize you as you lie in the sun and digest your wine and cheese. You can also get lavender flavored ones and they even repel mosquitoes! ($8.00 for a pack of fifteen densely packed towelettes.)

  Swiss Spice salt and pepper shaker: Sleek, refillable, and humid-proof, this combined salt and pepper shaker is as adorable as it is useful. It packs flat — unlike my old Morton favorites, which are decidedly not moisture resistant — and is just so darn adorable. ($16.00)

  ShareThis

  
  

  Permalink - Comments

• Smoothies: Youth-Powered Sweetness

  Posted by Thy Tran

  on May 12, 2008

  Teaching kids to eat and drink healthfully requires much more than admonitions. After carting away the vending machines and abolishing the Big Gulps, we can’t leave the kids empty-handed. Rachelle Boucher from Generation Chefs is working hard to fill the void. From the popular Pizza Smack-Downs at COPIA to her weekly cooking classes (free to high school students) in the beautifully outfitted kitchen at the Marin Youth Center (MYC a.k.a. “Mike”) she’s bringing fresh, whole, homemade food generously flavored with reaffirming messages and lots of common sense to a wide and diverse group of kids.
  
  
  A visit to one of her cooking classes reveals her consummate skill in converting teens to the cause of healthy eating. Endowed with humor, warmth, and endless energy, she’s a master of choreographing 25 wary bundles of apathy and hormones into productive teams of excited, skilled, fruit-and vegetable-loving cooks.

  
  Rachelle hefts up 20 pounds of refined sugar so the kids can see how much the average American teenager consumes every six weeks.

  Her class this past week highlighted our favorite fruit of the season–strawberries–along with one very shiny, red bike blender. The lesson for the day involved putting down sugary drinks and sipping fruit smoothies instead. In addition to fresh strawberries, melons, and bananas, the teen chefs could choose from a colorful array of juices, frozen fruit, yogurts, and natural flavorings. Most importantly, they learned that not a single grain of added sugar was needed to create a delicious drink.

  
  A rainbow of sweet goodness just before the pedal action.

  Mike Graham-Squire from the Youth Leadership Institute joined the class to show the teens how to select ingredients, calculate food costs, determine servings sizes and overall yield, and–most importantly of all–operate the bike blender. As representatives of schools and local community organizations, the kids were also learning how smoothies can be a healthful, interactive, and effective fundraising tool at large events.

  From the Country of Marin’s Nutrition Wellness Program, nutritionist Ellen Szakal taught the class how to read product labels to determine the number of teaspoons of sugar in each serving. A chart listing their favorite snacks and a hands–on exercise counting out a disconcertingly large pile of sugar cubes helped them understand just how much unnecessary sugar they were consuming each day.

  It’s a skill adults could use, too.

  Calculating How Much Sugar Is In A Container
  Looking at the Nutrition Facts label on the side of the package, find the number of grams of sugar. Then divide that number by 4. For example, ingesting 65 grams of sugar in a 20-ounce drink bottle (considered 1 serving) means swallowing 17 individual teaspoons of sugar.

  
  So much youthful energy, it takes extra hands to hold the jar still.

  Berkeley-based Juice Peddler sells kits for retrofitting bikes to become human-powered blenders. From the first-generation’s endearingly clunky tricycle platform and antique hand-drill to the fifth-generation’s sleek, high-density polyethylene design, the company has been at the forefront of DIY bike blender technology.

  The kids took turns pedaling their fruit concoctions and proudly shared tastes of their icy treats with other teams. Lined up for judging, the smoothies created a rainbow of delicious fun: Monkey Melons, Fruit-A-Palooza, Pink Panther, Go Mango, Fruit-A-Licious, and Pink-A-Licous Strawberry.

  I’m glad I didn’t have to judge, as it would have been a tough call to pick just one winner.

  
  Sammy and Brittney confer on the formulation of their team’s smoothie.

  Pinkalicious Strawberry Smoothie
  The members of Team Pinkalicious decided to celebrate the happy coincidence of their clothing colors with an appropriately hued smoothie.

  Serves: 6

  Ingredients
  10 ounces strawberries, hulled
  1 banana, chopped
  1 cup frozen berry medley
  1/2 cup yogurt
  1/4 cup orange mango juice concentrate

  Preparation
  1. Place all ingredients in the jar of a blender.
  2. Blend until completely mixed.
  3. Serve immediately.

  Minted Strawberry Agua Fresca
  Another excellent recipe from Generation Chefs that highlights the current season’s bumper crop.

  Serves: 6

  Ingredients
  2 cups ice cubes
  3 cups strawberries, hulled
  2 small mint leaves, optional
  1 1/2 cups cold water
  1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice
  3 tablespoons sugar, or to taste
  6 whole strawberries, split 3/4 up from the point, for garnish
  6 mint sprigs, for garnish

  Preparation
  1. Place all ingredients in a blender in the order listed.
  2. Blend until completely mixed. Taste and adjust for sweetness or tartness as desired.
  3. Pour into chilled glasses, garnish with mint sprigs, and slide a berry onto the rim of each glass.

  ShareThis

  
  

  Permalink - Comments