Once a week for the past couple of weeks, a box just like the one above has landed on my front porch bright and early in the morning.
Besides organic fruits and veggies, its contents have also included this:
And this:
And this:
All thanks to Full Circle, an organic produce delivery service, which started in Carnation, WA, and just launched in the Bay Area.
Clif Bar, everyone’s favorite on-the-go, organic, energy recharger, turns 20 this year.
To celebrate that momentous anniversary, the Emeryville company has created a new, limited-edition bar: Gary’s Panforte.
Yes, it’s inspired by the the famous Italian confection of fruits and nuts. Company Founder Gary Erickson decided to create this version in honor of his early cycling adventures over Northern Italy’s Passo di Gavia.
Chef Seamus Mullen was working grueling hours just after opening his Boqueria restaurant in New York, when he woke up one night with hip pain so agonizing that he had to dial 911.
The then 32-year-old chef spent the next three days hospitalized, with doctors running every test conceivable until they discovered the cause: rheumatoid arthritis.
The auto-immune disease causes the body to produce too many white blood cells and attack itself, causing painful and debilitating inflammation.
For a chef who works long hours on his feet, it was devastating news. But Mullen vowed he would not let it get the best of him. Not even when he competed on “The Next Iron Chef” three years ago, making it to the final three. The frenetic experience, though, led to another rheumatoid arthritis flare-up, leaving him unable to move quickly around the set. He was eliminated, and returned home in a wheelchair.
But Mullen fought his way back, making changes to his life, including in his diet. He doesn’t believe that food can cure illness, necessarily. But he does believe that what you eat can improve your sense of well-being.
To that end, he’s written “Hero Food” (Andrews McMeel), of which I recently received a review copy. Arranged by the seasons, it spotlights the 18 ingredients that have made a dramatic difference in his life, including almonds, parsley, fish and olive oil.
It’s no surprise that blueberries — rich in Vitamin C, manganese and antioxidants –make an appearance in the book. Specifically, in “Mutti’s Blueberry Boy Bait,” a cake that his grandmother started baking for him when he was just a tot. It’s based on a recipe by a 15-year-old girl who competed in the junior division of a Pillsbury baking contest in the 1950s.
I couldn’t resist the name, which appears to be apt, given that my husband was as endearing as can be after having a slice warm from the oven.
There’s a new tofu in town — but its origins are age-old.
Misozuke is tofu that’s coated in miso, sake and sugar, then allowed to cure for two months.
The result is tofu like you’ve never had before — salty, umami-potent, spreadable like softened butter and as creamy as foie gras.
Vegans also have embraced it as a cheese substitute.
Rau Om misozuke is made by Oanh Nguyen and Dang Vu, two Bay Area entrepreneurs who have biology degrees from MIT and Harvard.
If you missed the Food Gal’s most recent appearance at Macy’s Union Square in San Francisco last Saturday with Brazilian food entrepreneur Monika Batista, you missed a delightful, delectable time.
But don’t despair.
Thanks to to Macy’s regulars, Barry and Evan Jan, here are photos they took that captured the afternoon’s cooking demo, as Batista showed how to make the Brazilian cheesy snack bread known as pao de quejo.
Gluten-free, they are made from yuca root flour.
