2004 Food Trends

New Year's Eve seems like the right time for a wrap up of the year in food. This past year saw lots of bad food news. There were mad cow scares, Martha Stewart eating prison food , fast food health scandals (including the death of McDonald's CEO ) the death of Julia Child and all around low-carb craziness . On the upside the restaurant scene in San Francisco seems to be coming back to life with the opening of some new high profile restaurants, such as Michael Mina. The other trend seemed to be towards lounge/nightclub restaurants like Lime , Frisson and Levende to name just a few. The trend towards "small-plates" has generally meant more creative menus and more choices at the dinner table. The interest in local produce, farmers markets and organic food continued to grow this year. There was a huge resurgence in artisan chocolate, including those with untraditional flavorings such as curry or ginger and ultra traditional flavorings such as chili . So w......

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Sideways:Film

On Christmas day I went to see the Golden Globe nominated film Sideways . I'm not a movie critic so forgive me, but it was perhaps the first wine movie I've ever seen so I think it's worth blogging about. The movie is ostensibly the story of two friends (played by Paul Giamatti and Thomas Hayden Church) who are off on a wine country getaway before one of them gets married. But getaway is the last thing they do. The buddies confront each other, their past and their failures--often in the company of two strong women (played by Virginia Madsen and Sandra Oh). The writer-director team of Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne also worked on Citizen Ruth, About Schmidt and Election so it should come as no surprise at how well they manage to balance slapstick humor, dark comedy, and drama. Everyone has known someone like the happy-go-lucky "Jack" who manages to end up always smelling like a rose despite his at times despicable behavior. We also identify with Miles who after......

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Orange Spice Walnut Pancakes:Recipe

While after Christmas sales may beckon others, I am avoiding the lousy weather, venturing out no farther than the kitchen. What I've learned in my kitchen is that necessity truly is the mother of invention. So perhaps is laziness. Using what you have on hand to cook forces you to be more creative and inventive. Rather than going through the motions and relying on tried-and-true recipes, you move out of your comfort zone and take risks. When I got home from vacation I tried to restock the fridge and pantry but forgot to buy milk. Amazing how many recipes use milk, even making pancakes from a mix requires milk. This is what I mean about laziness. Sure I could have gone to the store this morning, but it's been raining nonstop... What I did have on hand was orange juice. After searching but not quite finding a milk-free pancake recipe that met my liking I developed this recipe which turned out amazingly well. These pancakes are especially good topped with Lyle's Golden Syr......

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Merry Christmas

Today is December 25th, Christmas day, a day Jews celebrate by going out to eat Chinese food and by going to see movies. After all, what else is there to do? Christmas dominates our culture and on this day most everything is closed and most everyone is celebrating with their families. While I was in Mexico the celebrations for the Virgin of Guadalupe overshadowed preparations for Christmas for most of our stay. But as our trip was drawing to a close, the Mexican colors of red, white and green seemed to be everywhere. Even in doughnuts. I will be heading out soon for Chinese food and plan to see the movie Sideways . Since this movie is being described as a "wine movie", I''ll probably post about it soon. In the meantime, for those of you celebrating Christmas, I wish you a very joyous one....

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