That’s all this photo is; a drive by shooting.  Sorry to get your hopes up.

I did not get to eat here this trip. That would involve a lot more economizing on my part, like foregoing a limo and a fancy hotel. But like I always say in my travels, it’s ok to save something for a return visit. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to take a photo of it though since we had just finished a pleasant lunch at Bouchon and were making our way up and down “Keller Row” in Yountville. OK it’s called Washington Street, but whatever.

This street is lined with Keller restaurants. French Laundry, Bouchon, Bouchon Bakery and most recently Ad Hoc. Ironically, they are lined up in order of the fancy to the down home. We were told the reason Bouchon was opened was because Keller wanted a place to have a steak after work.  It’s also where “the leftover” ingredients are sent when they aren’t used up by French Laundry.  I’ll take leftovers any day. 

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If the words from farm to table mean anything to you, this would be the place that feels like it epitomizes that phrase. Set amidst an actual farm, the charm of this restaurant and inn is inspiring.  Though Farmhouse Inn is about 20 minutes from Healdsburg, where we were staying, it was well worth the drive. My friend, Danny, who grew up in Santa Rosa, recommended a handful of places to me, this being one at the top of his list. The other one was John Ash & Co. at Vintner’s Inn. I was told it was a great place for a dusk dinner setting on what they call the sun porch. Hmm next time.

All the people we met while in Sonom,  would ask us where we had eaten or where we were planning to eat during our visit. It was like a rite of passage to see whether we were worthy of food small talk. And every time we passed the test with flying colors and a bit of surprise, with locals and visitors alike. Talk about caché.  When we said we were headed to Cyrus and had been to Farmhouse Inn, we got small rounds of applause. One wine pourer at Rosenblum Cellars even told us we ‘weren’t messing around and went straight to the top’. 

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All day long, over ichat, I get links sent to me of funny or cool stuff on the internet. Lately, more and more are food related and I’m not referring to the yelp and chowhound and eaterLA links about new restaurants. Between the designer in me and the foodie, internet junkie, you can imagine the types of links I get.

I’m referring to artwork, comics, quicktime movies, flickr photo collections and just stuff that makes me chuckle, snort or giggle. Some of which I do all at the same time.

Enjoy this small collection now, until someone asks me to take it down.

We all know someone who has more photos of food then actual people. 

Yes, this is absolutely true. The word bacon is as versatile as the substance itself.  Wrap it around any word and watch it be devoured.

Be sure to scroll through all these vignettes on this site, the Morning News. 

Let’s just say growing up being offered red bean sweets, mooncakes, and spongy jelly roll cakes wasn’t exactly nurturing to having a proper sweet tooth. Chinese sweets are weird and rather despicable. The only thing I can remember enjoying were the whip cream and strawberry layered sponge cakes, and even those were only mildly sweet. My sweet tooth is slowly developing though and chocolate is very high on my list.  Lemon and fruit are up there too in desserts.  And anything with vanilla bean or caramel.

My buddy, Wan, is my go-to pastry expert. I am admittedly, just getting into making sweets and baking more these days. When I first met him at work a few years ago, he had a photo album of food dishes that he had made, both savory and sweet. I was so impressed and intrigued. We are talking pre-food blog days. Even pre- blog. And actual printed photos, not digital online photos. 

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About a year ago, I asked around for a good, foolproof scone recipe.  I was directed to a packaged mix-  one from Trader Joe’s and one from a brand called Sticky Fingers that I found at Costplus World Market. They were good but not amazing. The packaged ones had too much of a baking powder flavor for my taste. I even added some of my own fruits and savory ideas, but could still taste it.

Kate was brave enough to make these scones for her brunch from scratch. How impressive. I can’t wait to try this recipe myself. 

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Brunch is one of the best meals to serve to a partially vegetarian crowd with minimal modification on your part. Nothing ruins my perfect, silky pureed soup more than having to substitute chicken broth with veggie broth. And yes, this may surprise you, as my love for bacon and meat is so strong, but I do not discriminate against friends that choose not to embrace meat.  I just segregate them into brunch parties. Just kidding. I plan to come up with some more veggie friendly dinner party ideas like souffles and casseroles.

This recipe is part of Kate’s summer brunch menu. She is a vegetarian so this was served with her vegetarian brunch meal (except for the bacon). If you want more protein, try adding ham or Canadian bacon to the frittata in the sauté stage.

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If you are anything like me, you cringe at the sounds of those two words together that conjure up visions of places like Chili’s or TGIFridays with their large onion batter dipped, fried monstrosity of an appetizer, manipulated into looking like a flower. The only time one should be eating food like this is when their judgment is severely impaired (from alcohol). That kind of eating deserves a blog of it’s own.

Summer is the perfect time to get your hands on some zucchini blossoms aka fiori de zucca. These beautiful orange flowers actually grow off the top of the zucchini and have been popping up  a lot on restaurants menus, especially Italian places, in the past couple years.  Personally, I love, love, love them. Stuffed, battered and fried, one usually can’t go wrong. It’s like someone on Top Chef using bacon as an ingredient. Nothing shocking here.

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This watermelon salad is a twist on a classic Greek Salad. The added burst of sweetness from the watermelon is so refreshing on a hot day.  Coincidentally, this month’s issue of Saveur Magazine is dedicated to watermelon. There’s a bunch of recipe ideas like curry watermelon and pickled watermelon. I can’t wait to try those, but for now, I thought I would take baby steps and make a somewhat familiar salad with an exotic twist. 

Admittedly, I thought I had gotten a small, seedless watermelon at the farmer’s market last weekend. In my haste to leave the crowded market, I was just happy to get my heaviest item towards the end of my visit. As I cut it open, I was pleasantly surprised by the bright yellow fruit and the black seeds. This was a beautiful sight despite having to de-seed the sucker. I looked it up in the issue of Saveur, and found out it was a “baby yellow”.  I think I can remember that name.  Oh and it tastes the same.  

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My dining experience at Cyrus Restaurant in Healdsburg, CA was a unique and tantalizing awakening of what dining out should be. Whomever is the mastermind behind the “build your own” prix fixe menu is an absolute genius. I suppose that would be the chef / owner Douglas Keane. Not only is this restaurant pushing the normal conventions of flavor combinations, somewhat Asian infused, they continued in their stalwart efforts by perfecting the complete dining experience.

I have only tried a very small handful of fine restaurants in my life. I tend to save going to those for special occasions or while on vacation. Since this was a special occasion for my friend Bethany’s pre-wedding girl getaway weekend, we did “Sonoma’s Greatest Hits”, Farmhouse Inn and Cyrus. We did good. The last thing one needs on a special occasion is a snooty, pretentious server. We experienced neither. It was welcoming, informative, professional and friendly service at every place we visited, from the sommelier to the server.  I was very impressed.

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This summer, I was lucky enough to have met Kate Whittle-Utter, who has been helping me out with Wallflour while on her summer break from college.  We had been inspired by the more apparent trend of lavender in food these days and wanted to try our hand at it as well.  Up to now, the only time I had used anything with lavender was in hand soaps or on the occasional DIY facial mask.  The usages for lavender are endless for both the body and soul.  It is used as a soothing scent, a healing potion, treatment for skin irritations and just plain old relaxing.  There’s a great list of usages as well as how to make lavender oil on this Zephyr farm site.

A couple recipes we pulled were a lavender panna cotta (to be posted shortly) and a lavendar and honey fleur de sel caramel.  Lavender and honey and lavendar and cream are an amazing combination.  Apparently there are several kinds of lavender and the ingestible kind is Lavandula Angustifolia. I have had artisanal ice cream and pastry cream infused with these flavors and found the floral hints surprising and soothing.  There are also traces of lavender found in herbes de Provence, a great dried herb mix I fall back on a lot in the kitchen for Mediterranean dishes as well as for grilling meats and veggies.  A lavender creme brulee is next on my list.  

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Deviled eggs are either loved or abhorred.  Personally, I love them. Always have. But I have always liked egg salad sandwiches too.  And mayonnaise. These deviled quail eggs were an idea I came up with, inspired by the smoky bacon essence amuse bouche they serve at Hatfield’s in Los Angeles.

Since this was part of a tasting menu for the Upscale Patriotic foodie Fourth party I co-hosted, I wanted to still have some remnants of traditional picnic foods and casual BBQ’s on the menu.  The delicate and tiny quail eggs were made more delicate and rich by using homemade aioli instead of store bought mayo and a touch of Sriracha rooster spicy sauce, the green tipped bottle common at pho Vietnamese restaurants, for a kick of added heat.

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Once again- I have enlisted the help of a friend and bar enthusiast, Jonathan Miertschin. Please read on for his insightful, un-sugar coated impression of his experience at a relatively new drinking hole in Echo Park, Los Angeles, El Prado. The fact that he would order a michilada and collects art with any member of the feline family on it is enough to hear what this lad has to say.

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Part of the effort to turn Sunset and Echo Park into Abbot Kinney and Venice, El Prado is not what I call a local favorite. I don’t know if I went on some sort of theme night or what, but everyone there last Saturday was so 80’s retro’d out, it was kind of weird.  In one corner were a group of young hipsters that looked like a cross of Buddy Holly and Anthony Michael Hall from Weird Science.  They all seemed like they were cowering away from the crowds, as though they were trying to avoid having Robert Downey Jr. dump an Orange Julius on their heads.  

The bartender looked like Jennifer Grey, and she was pissed off as though her brother was skipping school and not getting caught/someone was putting her in a corner.  I ordered a michilada after she brought it, she yelled the price.  No big deal, it’s a noisy bar.  However as I was reaching for my wallet so I could pay, she yelled the price at me again, letting me know I wasn’t paying fast enough.  The drink itself was actually pretty good.  They make their michialada like a bloody Mary with beer instead of vodka.  I’m originally from Texas and down there (the only other place I’ve ever had a michilada) they made it with just beer, ice, salt, and lime, so this was an unexpected change, albeit a nice one.

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I have never had success making mayonnaise in a food processor or blender.  The velvety richness of homemade mayo is worth the added effort of whisking it by hand in a small bowl.  I used to make it with a fork, but the small whisk has worked wonders.  It is not about the speed of the mixing but the consistency of the mixing direction and the point at which ingredients are added to the bowl.

HOMEMADE AIOLI

takes about 15 minutes to make.

will keep for about 1 week, covered and refrigerated.

2 large egg yolks, reserve whites for other use

1 tbs Dijon mustard (not the full grain one)

2 tbs fresh lemon juice

1 clove fresh garlic pressed or to taste

1/4 tspn kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

3/4 cup vegetable oil or canola oil

1/8 cup olive oil

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A few weeks ago, I was flipping through one of my many food magazines and came across an ad for Domaine de Canton, a ginger liqueur, looking suspiciously of the same makers of St Germain, the elderflower blossom liqueur that I adore. This was my call to action to hunt it down and test it out. The packaging and website had the same flair and sleekness.  In comparing the two bottle and package designs side by side, I still think St Germain prevails in both design and flavor, but as always those two things are completely subjective.

I have never had a ginger liqueur, but I do recall giant ginger roots shoved in large glass canisters, hidden in a cupboard in my parents home.  These things always scared me when I would open the cupboard and reminded me of some weird mad scientist experiment.  Aside from this spooky childhood visual association, I decided to give Canton a whirl.  Needless to say, I am already in need of replenishing my stock of the frosted, bamboo inspired bottle.  

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Don’t overlook the recipes that are printed next to wine advertisements in Food & Wine magazine.  Sometimes these are the best recipes in the issue.  Simple, tasty and great for pairing.  This is what I call Baconoki which was adapted from a recipe from F&W.

Anything with the words “bacon wrapped” are an instant hit.  At the holidays, I make a bacon wrapped date or bacon wrapped scallops or shrimp.  I came across this recipe for bacon wrapped enoki mushrooms in Food & Wine and I do believe it is my new favorite bacon wrapped item, at least for summer climate it is. Some might think having a recipe for this is silly.  Well after the holidays, I had a few people ask me how to make the bacon wrapped dates so I figured I should have some notes on this one.

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