Monthly Archives: July 2012

Four Oldie But Goodie Flavors from Kettle Brand Chips, Plus a Food Gal Giveaway

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Kettle Brand's Classic Cheddar Beer potato chips. Absolutely addicting.

Over the past three decades, Kettle Brand Potato Chips has come out with a whopping 40 inventive flavors — everything from Yogurt & Green Onion to Burgundy with Aged Cheddar to Roasted Red Pepper with Goat Cheese.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary, the Salem, Ore. company has decided to bring back four favorite flavors for a limited time only: Red Chili, Jalapeno Jack, Salsa with Mesquite, and Cheddar Beer.

I had a chance to try samples recently. The Red Chili, introduced in 1982, was ahead of its time with is almost sriracha spicy-tangy flavor. The Jalapeno Jack, devised in 1989, has a creamy note, along with a grassy back note of heat. The Salsa with Mesquite, launched in 1999, actually has the smoky, tomato, lime and garlic flavors of a chunky salsa. And Cheddar Beer, created in 2005, tastes of pungent sharp cheese. Although I didn’t detect the beer as much, this flavor was my hands-down favorite; so much so that I had to keep my husband from inhaling the entire bag so that I could enjoy just a few more of those crisp, substantial, cheesy chips.

The revival of four classic flavors.

The classic flavors come in 5-ounce bags for $2.79 each. They are available in select stores or online at BuyKettleChips.com. The Jalapeno Jack and Red Chili flavors also will be available in 8.5-ounce bags for $3.49 in grocery stores later this fall.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win 8.5-ounce bags of each of the four classic, limited-edition Kettle Brand Potato Chips. Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST July 28. Winner will be announced July 30.

How to win?

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Apricot Muffins with a Topping of Crunchy Goodness

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Sweet, salty, tender and crunchy -- that's what these apricot muffins are like.

Sweet, gooey caramel with a sprinkle of sea salt.

Skinny jeans with a billowy top.

And the gregarious jock with the shy, bookish girl next-door.

Plain and simple, opposites attract.

Why? Because in the immortal words of Tom Cruise to Rene Zellweger in “Jerry Maguire,” they complete one another.

The same can be said about the best baked goods. If there’s soft, there ought to be crunchy, as well, to provide added contrast and greater interest.

When I decided to bake a batch of muffins the other week, using summer apricots fresh from the farmers market, I knew I wanted the tender treats to sport not only a crunchy top, but one that was both a little sweet and a bit salty.

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New Citizen Chef Cooking Kits

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You can have this fresh, vibrant meal on the table in 15 minutes flat.

How many of us race home after work, wishing we had an extra pair of hands to help get dinner on the table fast?

Yup, that would be all of us.

Citizen Chef aims to come to the rescue.

The new San Francisco company just introduced a variety of cooking kits that are designed to get a healthful, tasty meal ready in only 15 minutes.

The refrigerated kits include already chopped veggies, a tub of sauce, and quick-cooking grains. You just add your own choice of protein — chicken, fish, shrimp, beef, pork or tofu. You can even use the kit as is, without adding any protein at all.

Choose from: Thai Sesame Stir-Fry (carrots, cabbage, and sugar snap peas in a coconut milk-base sauce with brown rice), Tuscan Limone Garlic Saute (broccoli, carrots and onions with couscous), and Hawaiian BBQ Stir Fry (carrots, purple cabbage and sugar snap peas with brown rice and a sauce made of roasted tomatoes, ginger and pineapples).

Each $10 kit serves 2 to 4, depending upon what else you add to it and how much of it. They’re available at Whole Foods and Mollie Stone’s Markets in the Bay Area.

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Granola — In Chip Form, Plus a Food Gal Giveaway

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Butter Pecan Granola Chips to munch on.

The folks in Oregon have gone and given granola a new look.

Willamette Valley Granola Company has eschewed the usual clusters for chips instead.

Yes, its new Granola Chips offer the crunch of granola, but in bite-size chips a little larger than a quarter.

They’re made with whole grains, including oats, barley, amaranth and quinoa. The chips get their sweetness from milled cane sugar and barley malt syrup. A 28-gram serving is 110 calories.

There are four varieties: Honey Nut, Vanilla Bean, Butter Pecan, and Wild Berry.

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A Toast to Absinthe

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A popular starter of hamachi sashimi at Absinthe Brasserie and Bar in San Francisco.

No matter how long you’ve lived in the Bay Area, it’s impossible to get to every restaurant you’d like to try.

There are just too many of them. With more opening each and every week, too.

Such is the reason why it took me this long to finally visit the 15-year-old Absinthe Brasserie & Bar in San Francisco.

When an invitation to dine as a guest at the restaurant presented itself a couple of weeks ago, it was the needed nudge that finally got me in the doors.

And boy, have I been missing out.

The lively restaurant in Hayes Valley is almost always packed, especially before nearby theater performances with folks grabbing a most civilized meal before racing off to the ballet or symphony.

Executive Chef Adam Keogh, who has cooked at Chez TJ in Mountain View and at a couple of Michael Mina Group restaurants, infuses classic French brasserie sensibilities with California flair to come up with menu items such as Atkins Ranch lamb sugo over papardelle ($22); spicy fried chickpeas ($4); and beef tartare ($16) with violet mustard, green apple and red onion.

A cocktail is a must here.

The plush dining room.

The restaurant is made up of several plush rooms, done up with burgundy walls sporting gold trim. There’s a large mural in one, depicting the inside of a dining room restaurant complete with servers and tables of diners.  At the entrance to the kitchen, there’s even a small toque painted above, appropriately enough.

When a restaurant is named for a once illegal spirit, you’ve just got to order a cocktail, don’t you? Absinthe has long been famed for its well-executed cocktails.

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