Monthly Archives: June 2011

My Dad’s Steak Sauce

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An Asian-style steak sauce that tastes of family and childhood.

On their wedding day, brides usually share a first dance with their father.

I did not.

It’s not that I didn’t want to. It’s just that when it comes to elderly Asian-American parents, you know you’re treading dangerously if you dare bring up any idea that involves them making even the slightest spectacle of themselves.

Oh, my shy, reserved Mom made it perfectly clear that if I made her get up and dance in front of everyone, she wouldn’t come to my wedding. I kid you not.

On top of that, my husband was quite sure his own father wouldn’t want to be two-stepping anytime soon. No, siree. My husband’s mother also was bedridden and couldn’t attend our nuptials. So, in the end, we decided to do away with that whole parental tradition and just share only the one dance with each other as man and wife.

I sometimes wonder, though, if I still should have taken my Dad’s hand and led him through one father-daughter twirl.

You see, my late-Dad actually liked to dance.

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A Visit to the New Love Apple Farms

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An apprentice watering vegetables at Love Apple Farm.

If paradise could be defined, it would be Love Apple Farms in Santa Cruz.

It’s hard to stroll around this verdant organic, biodynamic farm without feeling in awe of all that grows here — for just one fortunate recipient.

That would be Michelin two-star restaurant Manresa, a mere 15-minutes north.

Each morning, the produce is picked, then driven to the restaurant by noon, where Executive Chef-Proprietor David Kinch spotlights that abundance on that evening’s dinner menu.

Love Apple Farm started out as a two-acre spread in lawyer-turned-farmer Cynthia Sandberg’s backyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Last spring, she moved the farm to a much more expansive 20-acre spread in Santa Cruz.

Some of Cynthia Sandberg's famous tomato seedlings.

Potatoes ready for planting.

Dainty rat tail radish with a peppery bite. A favorite of Chef David Kinch.

The property was formerly the original Smothers Brothers Winery before the comedic duo relocated it to Kenwood. Sandberg proudly shows off a couple of bottles of wine leftover from that former venture. The property is full of lore, including the fact that it was also the site of noted winemaker Randall Grahm’s first job. The colorful founder of nearby Bonny Doon Vineyard once pruned grapes here.

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Chocolate Chunk Cookies — That Even Opposites Can Agree Upon

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Bread flour makes these chocolate chunk cookies extra tender.

It’s a good thing that opposites attract.

We often joke that my husband is the Nasdaq to my “flatline.” His personality tends to be more volatile than mine, which is fairly even-keeled.

And when it comes to cookies, he favors a soft, cakey texture to my fondness for crisp and chewy.

So, when Harvard-educated pastry chef Joanne Chang of Boston’s Flour Bakery & Cafe came out with a recipe last year for chocolate chip cookies that promised to be chewy with the addition of bread flour in the dough, I was intrigued whether it would somehow satisfy both my husband’s likes, as well as my own.

The recipe, “Chocolate Chunk Cookies” is from Chang’s cookbook, “Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery & Cafe” (Chronicle Books), of which I received a review copy. The cookbook includes more than 100 recipes from her bakery, where 1,500 customers come to get their sweet tooth fix every day.

The dough calls for both milk chocolate and semisweet chocolate. I used a sample of Taza Semi-Sweet Baking Squares that I had recently received. Unlike other chocolates, Taza’s products are processed minimally and made from stone-ground beans. The result is chocolate with a much rougher texture, but deep flavor. The baking squares are earthy, with a noticeable acidity and slight bitterness. An 8-ounce container is $10.50.

Taza's rough-hewn baking chocolate squares.

It comes in a resealable can.

The dough is a mix of all-purpose and bread flour, along with both granulated and light brown sugars, and plenty of butter. Chang recommends letting the dough firm up in the refrigerator for at least a day before baking the cookies to let the ingredients meld, which is what I did.

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Momofuku’s New Jarred Sauces

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Making this tender Asian pork dish is as easy as opening up a jar. Well, almost...

Think of this as David Chang in a jar.

But when you unscrew the lid, there won’t be curse words galore spilling out of it.

Instead, you’ll find easy-to-use cooking sauces from the famed chef who created the mini empire of Momofuku restaurants in New York.

The sauces, sold exclusively online at Williams-Sonoma, come in two varieties: Momofuku Asian Braising Sauce and Momofuku Clay Pot Cooking Sauce.

Chef David Chang has bottled his sauces to making cooking his cuisine a snap at home.

The former is a savory-sweet blend of soy, mirin, pear, dark brown sugar, rice vinegar, apple juice and sesame oil that comes with a recipe for “Asian Braised Short Ribs” on the back of the jar. The latter is a sweet-tangy combination of soy, mirin, lemongrass, fish sauce, shallots, ginger, cinnamon and star anise that comes with a recipe for “Clay Pot Pork.”

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The Village Pub Marks A Decade

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Asparagus flan with lobster and caviar at the posh Village Pub in Woodside.

If you want to know where the power people dine in Silicon Valley, look no farther than the Village Pub in Woodside.

I don’t think I’ve seen this many men in suits in a South Bay/Peninsula restaurant — ever. It was kind of a nice change of pace, too, from the usual “casual Friday”-look that sadly tends to permeate every day of the week here.

On a recent Friday night, when I was invited to dine as a guest of the restaurant, the elegant dining room with its dark,polished wood and plush burgundy velvet banquettes was hopping, with every seat taken. Quite a few tables were occupied by an all-male party, with at least one displaying an open laptop on the table.

Chef Mark Sullivan of Spruce in San Francisco opened the restaurant 10 years ago. The day-to-day cooking now is overseen by Executive Chef Dmitry Elperin, who has worked at such San Francisco stalwarts as One Market, Campton Place and Aqua.

An open hearth in the dining room affords a peek into the kitchen.

We had a prime table right in front of the roaring, open hearth that affords a peek into the kitchen. Dark, crusty loaves of bread (from sister establishment Mayfield Bakery & Cafe in Palo Alto) are kept at the foot of the fire to ensure slices arrive at your table warm each and every time.

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