by Sam Tackeff | Feb 25, 2010 | Pantry Staples, Restaurants
I’ve been spending a little bit more time over at www.healthylunchidea.com in the past few weeks, because I’ve newly committed myself to the ultimate health accountability – blogging my every meal, and documenting my exercise as well. I’m beginning to suspect that this will be a crazy adventure, but so far I have been having fun with it. If you have any inclination of following the efforts of a looney woman, I encourage you to head over there or subscribe to my RSS!
The Second Lunch is going to still be devoted to the city, restaurants, travel, and where I will post most of my recipes.
Here are some shots from my other site, and some others from the city that I haven’t posted anywhere:
Today’s breakfast hack: Oatmeal in a Nutella Jar! (more photos of this delicious nutella oatmeal in a jar here)
Last night I attended a study group for my Integrative Nutrition program at Cafe du Soleil on Fillmore – for some reason I’ve never walked over that way, but it’s less than two miles from my house. I had a glass of mint tea with some steamed soy, and it seems like a nice place to meet a friend for a beer or a cup of coffee:
A Rocher from Tartine (meringue filled with cacao nibs) :
Veggie Delight sandwich from Dolores Park Cafe:
The San Francisco view from the top of Dolores Park:
Ritual Roasters:
and some coffee from Ritual:
Kermit Lynch, the wine aficionado came to visit us Omnivore Books:
This is about half of the corks from the free wine tasting! We had a lovely 2007 Meyer-FonneMuscat Katzenthal, and a bold Côtes du Rhône.
A Chicken and Chicken Pate Banh Mi from Bi-Rite:
Lisa Schwartz from Rainbeau Ridge Farm discussing her new book/cookbook about sustainable farming (over some snacks of some local bay area cheeses) :
As you can see I’ve been busy!
I’m also going to be posting some cookbook reviews over at the Good Taste Review, and I’ll keep you all posted.
More to come!!
by Sam Tackeff | Jan 31, 2010 | Challenge, Local stores
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
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by Sam Tackeff | Dec 29, 2009 | Baking, Local stores
Before I forget, I wanted to put up a few photos that I took at Omnivore Books over the past few weeks. Working in this little bookstore is so enjoyable on a day to day basis, but what really makes it exciting are all the great events that we have. We have such a great little community!
One of the best perks are the foods that our customers bring in for events to share with everyone. This braided spice bread called “Saffranbrod” was made by Robert, in honor of St. Lucia Day on December 13th. It was a dense yellow bread, filled with spices that let off incredible aromas. We topped it with lingonberry jam. And it was still warm. I ate three slices. The recipe was from our guest speaker Greg Patent’s cookbook ‘A Baker’s Odyssey‘ in honor of his arrival. The stars had aligned!
Greg Patent, who writes GREAT books about baking, including among others ‘A Baker’s Odyssey‘ and ‘Baking in America’ (which won a James Beard) couldn’t have been more enjoyable. He comes from a diverse food background: he was born in Shanghai, with one grandmother from Iraq cooking Middle Eastern foods, and the other grandmother from Russia. When he was 11 his parents moved back to the U.S., and along the way to these cookbooks he ended up getting a Ph.D in Zoology. What is it with scientists and food? There are so many crossovers!!! (Barbara Ghazarian, author of Simply Quince is a micro-biologist… and Harold McGee…)
Here’s a picture of Greg with Celia, our fearless leader at Omnivore, and Paula, lifting up the bottle of Muscat that was sent to us to enjoy. It was a Les Petits Grains Muscat de Saint Jean de Minervois, a beautiful sweet wine that I sincerely wish I had a case full of!!! (I’m thinking of all the possibilities… most of which involve me drinking it straight… but maybe a sabayon? Ice cream? Ooo….)
But wait! There was more! Seriously…. I could subsist completely on the food I eat at work…. One of our other customers Jessica has started a seriously tasty little pie business here in San Francisco called The Golden Crust, and brought us some wonderful lemon meringue to sample. So good!
I think I’m going to make this a regular feature.
Omnivore Books
3885 Cesar Chavez Street
San Francisco, CA 94131-2013
(415) 282-4712
Come visit us!
