ludja

I love how Tomasi uses the pie as a symbol of a peculiarly decadent Sicilian luxury-- no insipid French soups here!-- filled with spices and truffles and surrounded by gold. The reactions of the diners, and the miniature character sketches they provide, are also terrific. Now, who's up for baking a big ol' macaroni pie? ← Yes, how could I forget...

Cool taboulleh salad with tomatoes, cukes, carrots, red onions, feta cheese, parsley, mint and lemon juice and olive oil. Fill a pita and you're ready to go. Watermelon for dessert. edited to add: The taboulleh recipe is not traditional but has evolved from a version in Schlessinger and Willoughby's "Thrill for the Grill". I usually add basil and or mint as well and sometimes radishes or cooked shrimp. Kairous1, the idea of cool Asian noodle salads sound great...

If you will be near the Trader Joes it should be fun to check out, but I don't think I've seen much variety in dried chiles at TJ's out here anyway.

There are several wineries near Cupertino, Saratoga & Los Gatos: Ridge Winery is on Montebello Rd. in Cupertino, as is the historic Picchetti Winery. In the Saratoga hills, you'll find the Cooper-Garrod Winery, and in Los Gatos, there's the Jensen's Testarossa Winery. Also, in the Santa Cruz mountains just south of Los Gatos are David Bruce Winery and Byington Winery, both on Bear Creek Rd. off Hwy 17. For a more complete list, check out this link. ← Sangiovese has some good winery recs. The wineries that do not require a lot of mountain driving and are located pretty close to one another are: Testarrossa Pichetti and another not mentioned, Savannah-Chenelle (up route 9 a little west of downtown Saratoga). I just went to Savannah-Chenelle for the first time and they have a suprisingly beautiful collection of pinot noirs. Cooper Garrod involves a little "more driving" but is still pretty accessible and is close to Pichetti. If I only picked three and wanted to avoid mountain driving I would go to Testarossa, Pichetti and Savannah-Chenelle. Ridge Winery is close to Pichetti but you do have to drive up a windy mountain road for another 2 miles or so. That being said, if you're willing to drive more out of they way for one winery this is well worith it--world class Zinfandels, Cabernet Sauvignon and an excellent Santa Cruz Mountain Chardonnay. The views fromteh winery are stupendous of the entire Bay and East Coast Mountains. On a clear day you can see SF and Oakland. They have a beautiful picnic area on their overlook as well. You could start with this winery first and bring a picnic lunch for after your tasting... Sharing tastings isn't a bad idea either. If you plan on spending any time in the Santa Cruz area there are two good wineries that also do not involve Santa Cruz Mountain driving--Storrs Winery in Santa Cruz and Bonny Doon, a little north of Santa Cruz off of Hwy 1. (I like David Bruce quite a bit but the drive might be a little intimidating for those not used to it.). As an aside on Santa Cruz, we happened to be there on a Thursday recently and really enjoyed their Farmer's Market which is downtown in the early evening. If you happen to be up on Skyline Blvd (the ridge road that travels the length of the Santa Cruz Mountains) a very nice winery to check out is Thomas Fogarty Winery. Nice gewurtztraminer and pinot noir. The last chardonnay we tasted there was nice as well; not heavily oaked. THe winery and tasting room are beautiful and also have great views of the valley. The easiest road to get up on Skyline are Hwy 92 (which is farther north). Hwy 84 is the next easiest. Palo Alto has a nice Farmer's Market on Saturday's. Sunnyvale has a smaller market on Saturday's also in their downtown area. Sunnyvale has a couple of great food vendors as well--Esther's Bakery with excellent German pastries made with butter. (Some of the best commercial pastry I've ever had) and a great tamale stand. Mountain View has a very nice Farmer's Market on Sundays.

Interesting to hear your impressions... The Alemany Market (also in SF) has quite a few Asian and Hispanic vendors and while the market is smaller, they seems to have some types of things that the Ferry Market has less of, like Asian greens. There are so many good markets out here to choose from though--in my neighborhood (Silicon Valley) I have the Palo Alto, Mountain View and Sunnvyale markets all within 10 miles of each other. The vendors at these places seem to be from pretty small farms and there is more of a laid back feeling and, of course, cheaper prices. I still enjoy the SF Ferry Market though and try to make it up there as often as possible. The stone fruits *are* stupendous right now and it is really great to be able to taste before you buy in order to get the best specimens.

The involtini look great. It cooled off a little today and I had some nice ripe tomatoes so thanks to this thread I opened up Bugialli's "Foods of Sicily and Sardinia". I made "Vermicelli al Tonno e Capperi". Sauteed onions and garlic, then add tomatoes which have been pushed through the fine holes of a food mill, chopped parsley, capers and canned tuna in olive oil, drained. Simmer for ~ 15 min and serve with shredded basil on top. The tomatoes were actually my first "good ones" of the summer, big, local red beauties. It was a nice way to use them. My other inspiration for cooking Sicilian was my viewing of "The Leopard" on dvd yesterday. Wonderful movie with incredible Sicilian scenery. There is a banquet scene and although the food is not focused on per se, you can fill in the blanks of the formal, multicourse meal iwth your imagination, especially after reading this thread. If you can get the new (2004) Dvd release do watch the longer, untrimmed Italian version with English subtitles; I found it more enjoyable than the dubbed English version. I read the book many years ago but this was my first viewing of this classic Italian film.

An Austrian EisKaffee is delicious and simple especially in these dog days of summer. Add scoops of vanilla ice cream to a parfait glass, fill with cold strong coffee and top with whpped cream. Garnish with pirouette cookies or other crisp, rolled cookies. Alternating layers of granita and whipped cream are also very refreshing with fruit or coffee granita

Have you played around with making pie crusts? With peaches and other such fruits in abundance right now it is a wonderful time to make pie. You could start with single crust pies...less fruit inspired but also great for summer: coconut custard pie, chess pie, buttermilk, pecan pie... I have pie on my mind a bit right now b/c I made my first coconut custard pie which was really delicious. edited to add: Do you think you will have to adjuxt the recipes for altitude being at ~5000 feet or so?

I've always wondered why a company like Bueno or anyone else does not try to distribute frozen roasted New Mexico Green Chile more widely across the US. Most people with any tolerance for chile heat love the green chiles when they visit NM. Green chile cheeseburgers, green chile stew, enchiladas, etc... I've wondered if they could produce enough to ship a substantial amount of green chile out of state or if they think there is not enough outside interest. Export would certainly not be tolerated if it cut into local consumption at all though! Or maybe it is a controlled plot by the NM tourism board to keep visitors coming back to New Mexico for their green chile fixes.

Hey Daniel--If you're looking for that New Mexico roasted green chile taste it is difficult to get the further you are away from New Mexico. The chiles are a variant of Anaheim but typically have more heat and flavor. The flavor and heat are reputed to really be influenced by the "terroir" so Anaheim chiles grown in other places just don't taste the same. That being said, I don't know if anyone has tried growing some of the New Mexico cultivars, for eg. Big Jim, outside of the state and compared them. The green roasted chile needs to be frozen so that limits the ease of selling it/bringing it to other places. (I do ususally carry a few tubs back on the plane in a insulated case each time I visit NM.) If nobody in NYC comes up with a response you could try some of the following: Roast some Anaheim chiles, maybe a few pobanos as well and use that on a homemade burger. It is possible to order roasted green chile from Bueno Foods in ABQ although the shipping gets pricey. Their website says you can also email them and ask if there is a distributor near your location. edited to add: Canned or bottled green chiles or green chile sauce will not approach the flavor you remembered.

I forgot to mention that as well...

Only low 90's and low humidity in SF Bay Area (on the Peninsula) but it still feels plenty warm for around here. Started off things with mojitos. Dinner is sliced tomatoes and avocado on toasted bread with lemon, s&p, basil and mayonnaise. Sliced peaches in cream for dessert.

From the Page Six in the NY Post a few days ago: click

Glad to hear of your safe return, Verjuice.

An excellent dessert I always remember out at a restaurant was a dark flourless or almost flourless chocolate cake with a quenelle of thai basil ice cream. The outside of the ice cream was studded with grated dark chocolate... (Gerald Hiroygen at an earlier restaurant in SF, Pastis.) Beautiful looking cake, Chufi!

Here's a link: click

This is a famous spot for windsurfing--at the outlet of Waddell Creek at the eastern end of Big Basin Redwood Park. (If you bring two cars you can take a wonderful 14 mile hike that starts deep in the redwoods in the mountains, pass large waterfalls and finally ends up at the beach. The change in terrain over the course of the hike is spectacular.) Green chile or artichoke soup at Duarte's in Pescadero with some of their home made bread alongside and pie for dessert is a good ending to the day. Another good option after coastal hikes in the area is a super burritto at Tres Amigo's on Hwy ! at the junction with Hwy 92 in Half Moon Bay. Windsurfing at Waddell Beach Farther up the coast, just north of Half Moon Bay at Pillar Point is the site of the Maverick's surfing competition and the largest waves in California. They are also among the larges wavest in the world for surfing at 30-70 feet.

According to announcements, he will eventually open a burger place in Yountville. In the meantime he is opening a temporary restaurant in the same location called, "Ad Hoc" serving simple "American" food. I think Ad Hoc is due to open very soon. click

Well--I guess this email will reach you too late and there should also be plenty of signs in Half Moon Bay--but if you are driving up Hwy 1 to SF you will need to detour east at Half Moon Bay. A section of Hwy 1 between HMB and SF is still closed due to rockslides earlier in the spring. You'll still have a nice section of Hwy 1 to drive on though--especially with the current high pressure system that spells hot weather inland but little fog at the coast.

It is thoughtful to bring up this point, sangiovese, for an out of towner not familiar with the area. However, The Four Seasons Hotel is on the west side of 101, right off the highway, and while it is technically located in East Palo Alto it is not located, I think, near any area that would now be considered 'sketchy'. It is located in a completely redevloped area on the very edge of East Palo Alto. It is a five minute drive from downtown Palo Alto. We had some great innovative cocktails recently at the beautiful bar at the Four Seasons. The attached restaurant is very nice looking as well and the menu looked interesting. Personally, I would rather be based near Palo Alto than San Jose as I think there is more interesting sights and dining located around Palo Alto. Being close to downtown Palo Alto puts it, I think, in a great location although you will need to drive to go anywhere besides the hotel. It is pleasant to walk around Palo Alto to see the shops and scope the restaurants and cafes. Menlo Park which is the next town north also has a nice little downtown. If you go to Menlo Park consider stopping in at Kepler's, a great independent bookstore at the cross roads of El Camino and Santa Cruz Ave that has served Stanford and the surrounding community for 50 years. There is a nice cafe right next door. Across the street is Santa Cruz Ave, the Main St for Menlo Park. There are a few nice french restaurants there--The Left Bank and another that I don't know the name of. Further down the street is a branch of Peet's Coffee, a bay area landmark. A new restaurant in Palo Alto that has been getting some buzz and that some of friends has enjoyed is a high end Indian fusion restaurant downtown--I can't think of the name right now but will try to find out the name and report back. Two casual places in Palo Alto that I like are located near a separate food/business center in Palo Alto on California St--Cafe Riaci and Cafe Brioche. The first has a wonderful outside dining area and serves great fresh Italian food. There antipasti platter is very good and they always have a good selection of fresh, grilled fish. The second is a French-Cal inspired type of place. Trader Vic's in Palo Alto (on El Camino Real) is a nice place to go for cocktails--both the drinks and the atmosphere are very good. I'd skip the food there though and maybe just get a few appetizers. Are you also interested in some less fancy places? There are many good options for casual Mexican, Chinese, Afghan, Middle Eastern and Indian... Are you interested in visiting some wineries in the Santa Cruz mountains? There are some really great ones to visit. There are also many nice farmer's markets in almost each town on the weekends--Palo Alto, Mountain View, Sunnyvale, for example. Besides offering all the great fruit now available many of them have other prepared food that could be fun to eat or take home.

Those blueberry tarts look wondeful, Lumas. I like the idea of kirsch-flavored custard with the blueberries...

There is an excellent seafood restaurant in Pacific Grove called "Passion Fish". (Pacific Grove is a tiny town adjacent to Monterrey and just north of Carmel.) The restaurant focuses both on sustainable fish and seasonal produce. I had heard positive recommendations from several people on eGullet and just checked it out a few weeks ago. Our appetizers were oysters on the half shell with tamarind gelee and Dungeness crab cake with a lime relish. My main was an excellent dish with grilled Alaskan halibut with a cilantro-citrus sauce, garlic noodles and watercress. My companion's dish was California sturgeon in a charmoula marmalade with a Morrocan salad. Desserts were great too but are slipping my mind right now. One was an excellent dark chocolate cake. Excellent and reasonably-priced wine list as well. (They have plenty of good non-seafood options as well for those so inclined.) Have a nice trip! edited to add desserts: chocolate truffle torte with blackberry coulis and organic raspberries in a cabernet syrup over vanilla ice cream.

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I tasted some delicious organic Mara des Bois strawberries at the Santa Cruz Farmer's market a few weeks ago; they do have a truly great flavor! I like the smaller size as well compared to the commonly sold California cultivars. It would be interesting to hear more about strawberries and your farm, organic trish! Do you grow multiple strawberry cultivars or else focus on Mara des Bois?

Thanks for the great essay and photo report, Daniel, including the menu! Looks like a great meal; I like what you guys ordered. As mentioned above, the "pimento spread" is almost certainly Liptauer Cheese which is a staple in Austria. I agree with you re: cooking blood sausage (Blutwurst) out of the casing. My Mom always cooks it in the casing initially but then splits it towards the end to achieve the very texture you mentioned--less soft and moist. Pretty neat that they have a selection of ice cream coupes on the menu. These are *extremely* popular in Austria where they are called "Eisbecher". The Salzburger Nockerl looks like a textbook example! edited to add: It would be interesting to try their Backhendl or "Austrian Fried Chicken". This is a very traditional Austrian dish and the versions I have had in Austria have always been excellent. Granted these were often served on farms with freshly killed chickens.