Omnivore Books’ Punch Contest

I’m still working off the buzz from last night’s Punch Contest we hosted at Omnivore Books, the latest in our popular series of friendly neighborhood food competitions. (Previous throwdowns included pie, fried chicken, and pumpkin.)

The rules were simple: free entry if you bring your punch, boozy or non (okay, they were all boozy, who were we kidding?), or pay $5 at the door to drink as much punch as you can handle. Everyone judges, and the winners split the door money.

There were no actual requirements for entry, you just had to show up. Which of course, made it slightly nerve-wracking for us when it was ten minutes ’til, and the punches still hadn’t arrived. It was down to the wire, but I’m happy to report that we had 10 completely unique and intriguing entries.

Turns out, when you host a punch contest, people are happy, because you are providing them with tasty adult beverages, and the company of friends and neighbors. Well done, us.

And now a look at some of the entries:

One major trend was ingenious home made ice rings. This one was a frozen gingerale ice block, others were filled with fruit, and a vintage tupperware mold made an appearance. I was also intrigued with the variety of serving dishes – from crystal punch bowls, to jugs, to an electric fountain (alas, we didn’t have electricity, but the thought was what counted.)

Some of the punches arrived already prepared, but many were putting the finishing touches before the drinking started:

And here, the winners making their Mission Gutter Juice. It was a collaborative process.

First Place went to Mission Gutter Juice – “the punch you hate to love” with twenty votes! Just four ingredients – Vodka, Bud LIght, Fresca, and Lemonade Mix.

Second Place went to Jetsetter Punch: Brandy, rum, cachaca, cara, green tea, pineapple, and nutmeg syrup.

Third Place to Kagetaka’s Grog: a spiced persimmon vodka.

And Fourth Place – we didn’t announce it, but it was tied for my favorite with the Kagetaka’s Grog: The Whiskey Sunrise, featuring freshly squeezed grapefruit, orange, other citrus, maraschino cherries and sour mix.

And the fun didn’t end after judging! This place was a party until closing, including the late coming 11th entry, who after showing up after the judging was over, graciously donated their raspberry adult beverage to keep the party going. Thanks guys!!!

The next contests are in the works, but you can be sure to see soon Food/Art puns (such as “Finnegan’s Cake”), a Cookie Competition, and bring your best Ethnic Fusion cuisine – think (Japanese + American ) moffles (mochi waffles), or maybe (Chinese + Jewish) 5 spice tsimmes? Ok, I don’t know, I’m leaving the creativity up to the contestants… Actually, 5 spice tsimmes sounds pretty good….

Omnivore Books Food Competitions
To get the official updates follow on twitter @omnivorebooks or sign up for the newsletter on the website.

SF Underground Farmers’ Market

Yesterday was the Underground Farmers’ Market in San Francisco. My initial plan involved walking over to The Mission to get some exercise before gorging myself in the underground. Instead, I lazily took the MUNI to 18th street where on the way, I was “accidentally” seduced by a chalk board that boasted exciting flavors at Bi-rite Creamery. I couldn’t restrain myself. I ended up with a cone of earl gray, which I blissfully ate as I walked through the neighborhood. You know… to prime my stomach.

The SF Underground Farmers’ Market is an event that allows small time vendors to get their businesses off the ground and test the market with their wares. It’s been organized by Iso Rabins from Forage SF, who has done a brilliant job of putting together a great community of vendors and people looking to support the local food movement.

This location was in a moderately awesome space on Capp Street. (Up a mysteriously lit set of stairs, which evoked memories of basement raves at M.I.T. Yep. Nerd.) Despite arriving punctually at its 5pm opening, the place was already packed! I heard from Iso that he had a list of over 600 people signed up, and there were more registering at the door.

There was a plethora of options and the market was heavily skewed towards gently prepared foods: ranging from sauerkraut, kombucha, honey, chocolate, mushrooms, pies, lasagna, bread, and sandwiches. There was live music, families with small children, and plenty of happy, food lovin’ people to share the evening with. Fun!

My first big stop was to see Shakirah of Slow Jams (this lovely lady below, being interviewed on the camera). I heard tell that her Blood Orange and Meyer Lemon Marmalade was to die for, so I snatched one up before anyone else could get to them. I also managed to score the lone jar of her Milk Jam, which Jessica from the Golden Crust was using in some amazing cream puffs she was selling at the market.

Her jams are beautiful, as are the cute containers! Which is another trend I’d like to point out – the Underground Farmers’ Market was filled with simple, pleasantly aesthetic design. Not really a surprise, given that these entrepreneurial folks have a great sense of taste. Including the limited edition poster from local artist Philip Clark. (Really though. I considered buying one to spruce up the ol’ abode, but now, my apartment is only decorated in regret. Maybe next time Phil C.)

After making my initial rounds, I ended up purchasing a jar of raw local honey from Oakland, two Slow Jam jams, and a few bags of delicious Treat granola (which was stirred into my morning oatmeal with great success). While there, I ate a fair deal more than that, including my absolute favorite food of the evening: the corned beef sandwich from Pearl’s Kitchen, with lightly spread mustard on caraway bread. Pictured below is a woman holding said Manna from Heaven. Where my Jews at? Can’t these people open a deli in San Francisco? I’m pleading!

I could have eaten three of these.

Don’t miss out next time! SF Underground Farmers’ Market is gearing up to be a monthly event if Iso can swing it.

SF Underground Farmers’ Market
When: (Hopefully monthly)
Where: Secret-ish location, changes each time. (This last one was in the Mission at Capp and 17th)
How: It’s free! But sign up is required.
Sign up HERE to be on their mailing list.

Cheeseboard Pizza, Berkeley

I’ve only eaten about twenty pizzas at Cheeseboard this year. Yes, that’s right, I said twenty pizzas. And it’s a modest estimate. Now, if you’ve seen me recently, you will notice that I’m more than twenty pizzas thinner (a loose pizza to pound estimate) than last year, so it’s safe to say that this pizza has fit in perfectly fine with my healthy diet.

I’m a sucker for neighborhood food, and the pizza from Cheeseboard certainly qualifies. Cheeseboard is a co-op that has been going strong for decades. Most of my friends who grew up in Berkeley in the 80’s and 90’s have a parent or two who has been a part the collective. There is no boss, manager, or employees – it is worker owned. What does this mean practically?

Delicious pizza, of the freshest ingredients, served up by happy people who are integrally connected to the food. There is real stake in this product, and it shows.

Yes, I travel for my pizza. I love heading over the bridge to Berkeley – less than an hour from SF on public transit, including the short walk from BART. It’s peaceful, friendly, and let’s me get my hippy on.

The pizza at Cheeseboard is made fresh, from some of the highest quality ingredients. They are thin and crispy, and topped with the finest cheeses, including gruyere, goat cheese, feta, montalban, fresh mozzerella, to name a few. They are also topped with seasonal and local vegetables – and they are vegetarian, although even a devout carnivore would hardly notice the absence of meat.

This particular pizza was cremini mushroom, onion, mozzarella, and ricotta salata, topped with an arugula salad dressed in a lemony vinaigrette. Salad on a pizza? Light, refreshing, and balanced. Trust me, it’s wonderful.

Things to know about Cheeseboard:

There will be a line. It goes incredibly quickly, and it is worth it.

1. One pizza a day. No choices, you get what they have. (Part of the reason the line goes so quickly.)You can see what the pizza of the day is on their website, or by following (the unofficial, but totally reliable pizza of the day) on twitter. Or head in to be surprised. They have a few pizzas in heavier rotation, and particular favorites include:

** Roasted potatoes, onions, chile passilla, mozzarella and feta cheese, garlic olive oil, cilantro, key lime.

** Roasted cauliflower, caramelized onions, mozzarella and Montalban cheese, pistachios, garlic olive oil, fresh herbs

** Fresh corn and chile pasilla, onions, feta and mozzarella cheeses, garlic olive oil, cilantro and Mexican key lime.

There is also a salad of the day, and usually a fresh cookie, the best being the gingerbread cookie. They also offer a variety of tasty adult beverages, as well as kid friendly beverages, all of which of the all-natural and delicious variety.

This particular salad was mixed baby greens with blue cheese and walnuts, with a balsamic vinaigrette. One of my favorites. (I also have a particular fondness for coleslaw day.)

2. Cash only. The pizza is inexpensive – 20 dollars for a whole pizza, including tax and tip. You can also purchase by the slice ($2.50), or by half pizza, 3/4 pizza, etc. My advice for the best date? Take a 20 dollar bill, and you can get a half pizza ($10), a small salad ($3.50), a cookie ($2.00), maybe a drink, and a couple of dollars to tip the musicians.

Prepare in advance, or if need be, head down to the ATM – one a block away is Bank of America, but there is a Wells Fargo ATM a few blocks away in Andronico’s.

3. Live Music! The music is great, mostly jazz, and makes for a festive mood. Don’t forget to tip the musicians! They appreciate it! Yesterday was a smashing performance by The California Honeydrops – I polished off an extra slice of pizza just to hear some more of their music. (There were three more musicians jamming out of the photo…)

4. Don’t forget to head next door! Pick up some cheese to go! Next door at the Cheeseboard, you can immerse yourself in cheese heaven – and be sure to check out the discount cheese basket hanging from the counter (maybe I shouldn’t have shared that secret), and their selection of tasty breads and pastries. You can also purchase pizza from next door here to go, if the line at the pizza place looks impossible.

Berkeley Cheeseboard Pizza
(The Cheeseboard Collective)

Web: http://cheeseboardcollective.coop/
1512 Shattuck Ave. Berkeley.
Phone: 510-549-3055

Unofficial Twitter: http://twitter.com/cheeseboard

How to get there: A short walk from Downtown Berkeley Bart down Shattuck- (about 12 minutes) Just have someone point you towards the “Gourmet Ghetto”.

Winter Fancy Food Show 2010

This week, the food gods aligned yet again: Food Fete, the Winter Fancy Food Show 2010, and a last minute trip to the East Coast coincided all at once! It’s safe to say that I’m feeling stuffed and looking forward to a week of leafy greens and light broths to get back to feeling normal!

The week started off with Food Fete, a media event featuring new and delicious products to sample. Some of my favorites included the blue cheese stuffed figs from the California Fig Advisory Board, the frozen quinoa from Village Harvest and Sweetwater Spice Co.‘s fajita bath, an incredible meat marinade. But I will say that the hugest surprise were the various sausages and products from the Field Roast Grain Meat company, which, being a vegan meatless product made of grains (alas, not gluten free) were perhaps the tastiest meatless products I have ever eaten. I was honestly shocked!

After a lovely evening, I went home to prime my stomach for day two, a full day at the Winter Fancy Food Show. The Fancy Food Show is the ultimate food discovery event – over 1300 vendors show up to share their products. Even pacing myself, I’d say that I may have had about 75-100 samples over the course of the day, but these were some of my favorites:

Happy Goat – Goat Milk Caramels. A smash hit. These caramels are made in tiny batches in the Bay Area, out of goat milk, organic sugar, and vanilla. Pop one in your mouth and you experience what I like to refer to as “SQUEE!!!!” : becoming completely unable to focus on anything other than how wonderful these are. And if say, you happen to have a morning caffeine habit, these taste absolutely delicious when stirred into coffee.

Cowgirl, Bellwether Farms, and Cyprus Grove Cheeses: it’s safe to say that these bay area favorites are some of the best cheeses around. I was excited to try Cowgirl’s new Devil’s Gulch cheese, which is only available for the next few months (it’s in a test phase). Bellwether’s sheep milk ricotta is always delightful, and Cyprus Grove’s Humboldt Fog is one of my favorites.

Secret Stash Salt: Having good salt is an invaluable part of any kitchen. I’m a big fan of Maldon Sea Salt, various coarse sea salts, but was completely wowed by the incredible flavors of Secret Stash – particularly the lavender, and the truffle salts.

Sam Adams Utopias: I’ve been trying to get a taste of Utopias for years, and was overjoyed to get my sip after asking coyly if they were still sampling it (there were no bottles left when I got there) – but the kind rep pulled out an unopened one and poured it for me! This stuff is touted as the strongest beer (at 27% alcohol), but tastes more like a fine liquor than a beer. In the future, when I can throw around mass sums of cash without worry, I’ll keep this in stock in my liquor cabinet. Smooth, potent, and delicious.

Black Garlic (see photo at top) – Black garlic, a fermented garlic product which tastes sweet is delicious! The fermentation process adds extra health benefits, and mellows the garlic flavor, producing a sweet product, almost like dried fruit. I’m thinking spread on some warm toast, this would be delicious.

Fentiman’s ShandyFentiman’s brand of fermented natural sodas are truly spectacular. They have them at Il Cane Rosso in the Ferry Building in San Francisco, but come originally from the UK. I was psyched to finally try the Shandy – a beer and lemony soda mix which is refreshing and delicious.

Kodiak Cakes – After seeing Jenna from Eat, Live, Run feature these regularly on her blog, I was excited to try some of their pancakes. Normally I’m a “from scratch” type of gal, but this mix is going to become a regular staple in my household – and I’m looking forward to trying more of their products. As I’m also particularly interested in the business of entrepreneurial food companies,  Joel from Kodiak was really kind to  give me a copy of the ‘History of Kodiak Cakes’ which I’ve been making my way through.

Barney ButterI stir nut butter into my oatmeal, on toast, and even into savory soba noodle salad. Recently I switched from peanut butter to almond butter, which is slightly more nutritious and in my opinion more filling. Barney Butter is a brand of almond butter which I find particularly tasty, and was happy to see that they were at the show, and sporting a cute new look.

Stonehouse 27 Spice Co: While I’m most likely to make my own cooking sauces when creating Indian dishes, I was completely impressed by these flavorful sauces created by a sweetheart entrepreneur named Sharon Fernandes. The sauces are salt-free and bursting with flavor. I tried as many as I could, my favorite being the cashew cream. These are definitely going to be in my cabinet.

Nutmeric – Turmeric is a staple in my kitchen, and I was excited to see this nut butter product with turmeric at the show – nutmeric was developed by a chemistry professor, which touches at my heartstrings, and made me chuckle. There is a huge* crossover between science people and food people…(I heart all my former science profs!)

Other favorites included Kikkoman’s new yuzu ponzu sauce, yuzu being a delicate citrus, which they served with tempura shrimp and avocado. I’m looking forward to seeing this product on the market. Yuzu also showed up with Yuzusco – a liquid spice… And I also quite enjoyed my Hudson Valley Foie Gras, the savory macarons by Fabrique Delices, and some delicious Nueske’s bacon.

Finally, I was happy to see some hometown favorites from New England, including Stonewall Kitchen, Lollipop Tree, Stoneyfield Oikos yogurt to name a few.

Vegan Mocha Chip Muffins

I’m wary of vegan dessert recipes. “Vegan” and “Dessert” just don’t go together. Philosophically, it’s just so difficult to conquer – a good dessert is something filled with butter, sugar, and eggs, and who am I to compromise on that? And I’ve been burned so many times with really bad vegan desserts that make me cringe just thinking of them. It is with this brutal preface, that I’m so happy to say that I’ve seen the light. Now, some things you just can’t do vegan (such as shortbread) but the truth is, there are some brilliantly good vegan desserts, such as these Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins that you probably have to go and bake today.

I owe my philosophical conversion to my friend Beth, who is both vegan, and a particularly adept baker.  She routinely brings in to work the most delicious muffins and cookies, that are really just out of the world incredible. My particular favorites are the pumpkin chocolate chip walnut muffins, but after eating these mocha chocolate chip, not only did they best the pumpkin chocolate chip, but they have also taken a place in my all time favorite muffin category.

Most of Beth’s recipes come from Isa Chandra Moscowitz, who has a great blog called the Post Punk Kitchen and has some really awesome cookbooks that I would highly recommend to anybody who is vegan, or simply interested in adding some vegan cooking to their repertoire. Or anyone who likes super tasty food. This particular recipe came from ‘Vegan with a Vengeance’.

Vegan Mocha Chocolate Chip Muffins
makes 1 dozen muffins
from ‘Vegan With a Vengeance
by Isa Chandra Moscowitz

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons instant coffee powder*
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons soy yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. Lightly grease a 12 muffin tin, or line with muffin liners.

2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Mix in the instant coffee powder. In a separate bowl, whisk together the soy milk, oil, yogurt, and vanilla. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and whisk until moistened. Fold in the chocolate chips.

3. Fill the muffin cups three-quarters full. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife inserted into the center of one comes out clean.

Note: Regarding the instant coffee, if you don’t have any, you can just add more cocoa powder and make it “double chocolate”. The instant will give you a nice concentrated flavor, better than using espresso, and without being problematic with the liquid to dry ratios. Beth used those new Starbucks Via – one little package is equal to a teaspoon. I’ve also used them for baking with similar success.

More Books by Isa Chandra Moscowitz:

:: Veganomicon, the Ultimate Vegan Cookbook (buy on amazon)

:: Vegan with a Vengeance (buy on amazon)

:: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule (buy on amazon)

:: Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up For (buy on amazon)

and her newest

:: Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar: 100 Dairy-Free Recipes for Everyone’s Favorite Treats (buy on amazon)