Tasty Bites

Happy Friday! Here are some links to posts and a sneak peek at next week. Have you been reading my posts over at GlamDish ? You really should. I'm posting four days a week and in addition to recipes and hot tips, there are also contests! Visit today for a chance to win a special Haagen-Dazs delivery. Next week, you might win a copy of The Shameless Carnivore . I am now on Twitter . Feel free to follow me . On Wednesday over at Bay Area Bites I reviewed two new books, The New Steak and Recipe of the Week: Burgers . Which is my favorite? Suffice it to say my other half has already bookmarked Lamb Burgers with Hoisin and Scallions, Caramelized Onion and Chickpea Burgers and Dijon Tuna Burgers. Next week I will share the dish I am obsessed with at the moment and two favorite places to order it. I'll also tell you about a couple of local spots that serve fabulous and well-priced small plates, until 1 am! Thanks again to all my readers for your patience as I get back up to speed....

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Williams-Sonoma Tools & Techniques

The sense of joy and satisfaction that I get from cooking something wonderful and sharing it or eating it is almost indescribable. Not only do I feel pride, but it inspires me to take on more and more recipes and techniques. I learned to cook from watching my parents, reading cookbooks and watching television cooking shows. But it took years and years and there is still more for me to learn. Over the years I have upgraded and accumulated various tools. Whether it's the pleasure of using a favorite chef's knife, or finding the ultimate digital remote probe thermometer I think if you enjoy cooking, you can't help but be a bit of a kitchen gadget geek. When I was first learning to cook I loved the Jacques Pepin La Technique book. There were plenty of techniques I wouldn't try for years and even more I still haven't tackled, but in that book with all of those photos I gained immeasurable confidence. Truth be told, most of those very French techniques are not one...

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Wasabi Deviled Eggs: Recipe & Eggceptional Links

I love eggs. I love them scrambled, fried, poached, coddled, soft boiled and hard boiled. Though I admit a slight prejudice against egg salad due to an unfortunate traumatic childhood incident. Word to the wise, don't ever serve a 5-year old an egg salad sandwich laced with black olives. Since the day after Easter you are bound to have plenty of eggs in the house, especially hard boiled ones, here is a link to a recipe I posted some time ago; it's for something I call Onion Smothered Eggs . In it, hard boiled eggs and rings of sauteed onions luxuriate in a Bechamel sauce laced with parmesan on a bed of toast. It's my version of Oeufs a la Tripe (don't worry, even the original has no tripe in it!) And here is a recipe that didn't quite make it into my upcoming book, so I'm very happy to share it with you now. It's my new favorite deviled egg recipe. I hope you like it as much as I do! Wasabi Deviled Eggs Makes 12 deviled eggs Ingredients 6 hard bo...

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Irving Street Eats--UCSF Med Center Dining Guide

This time last week I was spending pretty much all of my time over at UCSF Medical Center waiting, waiting, waiting. It's amazing how exhausting it can be just waiting. Being under stress is disorienting as well. We all seemed to lose track of time and the normal rhythms of life. I took on the daily responsibility of leading the troops out of the hospital and for walks down bustling Irving street for fresh air and well, lunch. This is no reflection on the hospital cafeteria which my uncle was quite fond of, I just felt a little change of scenery was in order. While we never seemed to feel hungry, it was amazing how much food we managed to eat nonetheless! Irving street in the Inner Sunset is packed with a ridiculous number of inexpensive restaurants. Here are three of my favorite places and dishes: 1. Original Dry Fried Chicken Wings at San Tung I reviewed this Korean influenced Chinese restaurant some time ago. The dumplings are great comfort food and the wet black bean sau...

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Looking Up

I'm not really back to blogging quite yet, but I wanted to take this opportunity to say how much it has meant to me to know that you are thinking of me and my family. Thanks to everyone who posted a comment, sent me an email or called. The last few days have been tough but I think the worst may be over. Spending day after day in the hospital lobby and waiting rooms, it's been a comfort reading all your kind words of support. If you have any favorite restaurants around UCSF Medical Center on Parnassus, feel free to share your recommendations. So far I've eaten at San Tung , at Sandy's for pho, and am hoping to try a Persian restaurant called Lavash next....

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Do me a favor?

You might have noticed I have not been posting very frequently here. In part it is because I am very busy with work. But I am also going through some very challenging times. And I could use your help. I don't have ads on my blog and I don't blog here for dollars. I do it because I love doing it and I don't want that to ever change. I want you to enjoy coming here, to learn something, to be entertained. I don't want you to be distracted by ads or think you owe me something. You don't. Perhaps I'm an idiot, but it's just my little corner of the internet and I want to make it a nice and welcoming place. I wouldn't put ads in my home, and this is my home online. But this week I'd like to ask you to do me a favor and not one penny is required. If you are reading this post, could you think a positive thought for me and for my family? It doesn't have to be a prayer or anything more than "I wish her well" but it would mean a lot to me right now...

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Wednesday Linkage

* Over at Epicurious you'll find links to my posts about culinary conquests , my favorite foodie newsletters and specialized recipe search engines . * If you enjoyed my Fennel Shrimp recipe , you might want to check out the Tasty Pernod Recipes post on Glam Dish. * Also on Glam Dish is my interview with Hari Nayak , chef and author of Modern Indian Cooking . Hari provided some great ideas for using this season's citrus fruit in new ways. * Curious about absinthe? I was, and Steve Hoffman the beverage manager at the St Regis filled me in and answered all my pesky questions in this all about absinthe post. He also provided an absinthe cocktail recipe you might want to try. * Over at KQED is my review of Bake Until Bubbly and reprint of a classic macaroni and cheese recipe. Gotta love that title! * Last but not least, I was interviewed on a new blog, called "I'm Going to Be..." It was fun and I got to reveal a little known fact or two. Don't miss the other ...

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World in a Teacup Symposium & Tasting

At the fascinating and caffeinated World in a Teacup program this weekend I heard professors and tea buyers speak about tea, saw a special tea exhibition at the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology on the UC Berkeley campus and tasted a number of different very high quality teas. Though the program is now over, admission to the museum is free, so if you are in the area, stop by and see the set of display cases with tea accoutrement. It will be on display until next year. Some of the teas I tried and enjoyed the most were: Purple Oolong from Art of Tea Complex and robust brew with spicy notes Tribute Pu-erh from L'Amyx Dark and bold this is a tea that would pair well with food, it's often served with dim sum Assam Extra Fancy from Peet's Coffee & Tea Smooth with malty and toasty flavors Here are some interesting facts you might not know about tea: The oldest living tea tree is 2700 years old The Japanese tea ceremony dates back to the 16th centu...

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