Category Archives: Ginger

Adagio Teas for the Gourmet Tea Lover

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Genmai Cha from Adagio Teas.

Genmai Cha from Adagio Teas.

 

Born in Moscow, Michael Cramer (he Anglicized his original surname of Kreymerman after immigrating to the United States) grew up with tea as a staple.

So it may not be surprising that the former investment banker decided to establish a tea company in New Jersey in 1999 with his brother and mother.

What is remarkable is that Adagio Teas was profitable in its first year.

But when you taste the teas, you can see why.

There is a real vitality and vibrancy to them, as I found out when I was sent samples to try recently.

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Nouveau Vietnamese Fare at Khai

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Under glass -- white seaweed salad at Khai.

Under glass — white seaweed salad at Khai.

 

With the exception of sushi, we’ve become so accustomed to cheap Asian food in heaping quantities, that we fairly balk when we come across an Asian restaurant daring to focus on premium ingredients, handled with precision, and plated with finesse and restraint.

Khai, which opened in December in San Francisco’s Design District, is a modern Vietnamese restaurant that serves only one menu — a 10-course tasting for $95. If your eyes are already rolling back in their sockets at the thought of just how much food you could get for that price at your neighborhood pho joint, you are missing the point. Because at $95, this dinner experience is a relative bargain as far as tasting menus go in the Bay Area.

For a dozen years, Chef Khai Duong oversaw Ana Mandara in San Francisco. After it closed, he traveled around Asia, reconnecting with his roots. He even won a gold medal in the International Beijing Culinary Competition, besting 200 other chefs.

At 58, he opened a very personal restaurant.

At 58, he opened a very personal restaurant.

A candle illuminates each table.

A candle illuminates each table.

He always knew he wanted to come back to San Francisco, though, to open something unique. At age 58, he did just that.

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Basking in Luxury at the Four Seasons Oahu

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Brunch -- local fruit, banana bread and honeycomb -- is served at the Four Seasons Oahu.

Brunch — local fruit, banana bread and honeycomb — is served at the Four Seasons Oahu.

 

OAHU, HAWAII — Staying at the Four Seasons Resort Oahu at Ko Olina is every bit as posh as it sounds.

When my husband told a co-worker that we’d be staying there complimentary, as guests of the Hawaii Visitors Bureau, she gasped, “Do you have the right clothes for that?”

My husband and I also quickly calculated that the total price of our room for two nights nearly approached the cost of one month of our mortgage.

But if you possess the means, wow, what a way to relax in paradise.

A former Marriott, the property was completely renovated a year ago. Its 17 floors sport 371 rooms, the majority of them ocean front.

Our room with a view.

Our room with a view.

The resort will deliver cold beverages to you by the pool or beach via these babies.

The resort will deliver cold beverages to you by the pool or beach via these babies.

A wedding chapel on the grounds.

A wedding chapel on the grounds.

The lobby decor.

The lobby decor.

Take a load off in one of the airy sitting areas.

Take a load off in one of the airy sitting areas.

An especially nice touch is an iPad in the room, which among other things, allows you to order room service from any of the property’s five restaurants and lounges.

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Sugar and Spice, And Apricot-Ginger Cookies That Are Oh-So-Nice

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Start your ovens, people. It's cookie time.

Start your ovens, people. It’s cookie time.

 

Say good-bye to turkey, and hello to cookies.

With Thanksgiving over, it’s now the serious start of cookie baking season.

What better treat to get you in the mood, too, than “Big Chewy Apricot and Ginger Cookies”?

Nothing says winter holidays quite like the fragrance of cinnamon, ginger and molasses wafting from the kitchen. And this cookie has ginger in spades. Three kinds: ground, fresh, and crystallized. It’s ideal for a ginger fanatic like myself.

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A Load of Lemons, Part I: Meyer Lemon Cake

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More than a pound of lemons goes into this cake, along with almonds and candied ginger.

That’s what my backyard tree gifted me this winter: a load of Meyer lemons.

After last season’s dismal crop that netted me barely enough lemons to make a couple quarts of lemonade, I was overjoyed to see the bumper harvest this year from my one little dwarf tree.

When life gives you a load of lemons, you just have to use them, of course. In everything you can think of — and then some.

So, I couldn’t have been happier to spy this recipe for “Meyer Lemon Cake” in the new “The Sunset Essential Western Cookbook” (Oxmoor House), of which I received a review copy. The cookbook, by the editors of Sunset magazine, features more than 150 recipes that are so very Californian in spirit — everything from “Hangtown Fry” to “Char Siu-Glazed Pork and Pineapple Buns” to “Tagliatelle with Nettle and Pine Nut Sauce” to homemade fortune cookies.

This quite citrusy cake uses more than a pound of lemons. Most of them are pulverized — rind, pulp and all — to go into the cake batter, which contains no butter. Instead, ground almonds give it richness, along with five large eggs.

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