Mary Ladd

Tomato Expert Amy Goldman is in town. Eat up!

Seems like almost every culinary event or upscale market is stocked with gorgeous and tasty heirloom tomatoes. With so many varieties to choose from, it can be delish fun but perhaps a bit overwhelming for consumers. No need to be shy; help is on the way. "Gifted grower" Amy Goldman is in the Bay Area this week to talk about her new tomato tome, The Heirloom Tomato: For Garden to Table. The book is full of recipes, pics, tips, and mouthwatering photos. Food lovers and gardeners alike will find something to love here. Goldman is an expert gardener with books on melons and squash.

Wednesday, September 10
Commonwealth Club Blue Room
Lunch Time (11:30 a.m.)

In conversation with Dave Stockdale, Executive Director of The Center for Urban Education for Sustainable Agriculture

Friday, September 12

Book Passage at the Ferry Building

6:00 p.m. signing

Saturday, September 13

COPIA

1:00 p.m. lunch

Menu includes:

Cherry Tomato and garlic bread soup

Grilled beef with stuffed tomatoes, roasted potatoes and garden green beans

Galette of white peaches and tomatoes

Sunday, September 14

Carmel Tomato Fest

1:00-5:00 p.m. 

18th Street Block Party this Saturday afternoon

Happy Birthday, Bi-Rite & Delfina! I did prep work today for the upcoming 18th Street Block Party, happening in SF on Saturday. Jennifer Biesty was the boss, and we worked at Charles Phan's new gorgeous and huge commissary kitchen. 18th Street Block Party food includes pig, chicken, corn, beans, hot dogs, paella, sandwiches, smoothies, watermelon agua fresca, lemonade & more. There will also be booze, music, and wonderful weather. The wine and beer garden make my mouth water already.

To purchase advance meal tickets, call Christie Ward at 415-971-7291 or email PARTYBLOCK18@gmail.com.

I wish I could work on this bash, particularly to get the chance to work on a roasted pig. But. We are leaving early tomorrow for a wedding in Sebastopol.

Slow Food Nation Taste Pavilions

Slow Food celebrates "food that is good, clean and fair." These honey samples looked and tasted good. Other foods on offer at Fort Mason today at times took as long as forty five minutes to get. Thankfully, the Native Foods tent had a shorter line, and we gladly tried all three items on offer: bison chili (rich, thick, meaty, clean tasting), hominy, and wild rice cakes with a spicy kick. While I was happy to try something that reminds me of my Dad's Kwakiutl Native American heritage, I also found myself hoping that the cooks there would have a steady stream of customers all day. I had time to mull it over as we sat on hay outside, people watching, eating, drinking and talking.

It's great to have face time with the makers of these foods and drinks, sure. But it would've been a more satisfying event if the lines were not so long and slow.

Chocolate Salon at Fort Mason this Sunday

Yum! The second annual San Francisco Chocolate Salon is here on Sunday. Tickets are $20 and include lots of chocolate and espresso samples. It's enjoyable and worth the trip for any chocolate fiend.

Taste of the Nation next Sunday

Taste of the Nation

Experience the Premier Culinary Event

Taste of the Nation San Francisco
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Acme Chophouse
24 Willie Mays Plaza
San Francisco, CA 94107

Buy your ticket to the hottest food and wine event of 2008 and help fight hunger at the same time.

Share Our Strength remains one of my favorite charities because they have great food events and are fiscally responsible. I am volunteering the day of the event, and have been on the event committee in past years. Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation^® presented by American Express is the nation's largest and finest culinary benefit, featuring top chefs and mixologists -- all of whom will come together this spring to donate their time, talent and passion to end childhood hunger in America. Get your tickets here.

Iron Chef Michael Symon will be joined by three competitors from Food Network’s “The Next Iron Chef”, including Gavin Kaysen (NYC's Café Boulud), as well as San Francisco’s own Chris Cosentino (Incanto/Boccalone) and Traci Des Jardins (Jardinière/Acme Chophouse/ Mijita). Finishing with the dessert course again this year is Elizabeth Falkner of Citizen Cake fame and soon-to-open Orson.

Min Jin Lee appears in San Francisco

Naomi Epel Invites You To
 An Asian Fusion Feast
with Author Min Jin Lee

 Wednesday, April 30, 2008, 6:30 pm
Ponzu Restaurant, 401 Taylor Street, San Francisco

Order Tickets Now!

Join us for an Asian fusion feast honoring Min Jin Lee, author of Free Food For Millionaires. With a sharp eye and articulate voice, Min Jin Lee deftly introduces a memorable cast of characters that are as colorful as they are troubled and as complex as they are familiar. “After 20 years as a literary escort, I find Min Jin Lee to be one of the novelists I most admire.” Naomi Epel, author of The Observation Deck and Writers Dreaming.

"I read a terrific debut novel this week. It’s always heartening to find a good new writer, but what’s especially delightful about Min Jin Lee and her new novel, called Free Food For Millionaires, is that she’s taken up the expansive form of the nineteenth century novel and its concerns about money, marriage, and duty, to create a kind of Korean-American riff on all those sagas, Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Middlemarch, where the principled heroine sometimes behaves like a downright fool.” – Maureen Corrigan, NPR FRESH AIR

“Top 10 Books of 2007” - USA TODAY
“Year’s Best Books” - NPR’s FRESH AIR
“Favorite Fiction of 2007” - CHICAGO TRIBUNE
“Favorite Books of the Year” - CHICAGO SUN TIMES
“Notable Books of 2007” - SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
“Best Novels of the Year” and “The Times Christmas Choice” - THE TIMES (London)

When:
6:30 pm on Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Where:
Ponzu Restaurant
401 Taylor Street
San Francisco, CA 94102

Cost:
$95 per person or $175 per couple
AIWF & Asia Society members receive a discounted rate of $90 per person or $170 per couple
(includes tax, tip & an autographed copy of Free Food For Millionaires)

Sign up online here,
or call Book Passage at 415-927-0960, x1.

Ponzu Restaurant:
(415) 775-7979
www.ponzurestaurant.com

Hot Stuff Chocolate Happenings

More chocolate fun!

Chocolate Documentary Screening

My Dad rolled his eyes when I said I was going to see a "chocumentary" next month. His loss! There are two screenings to choose from, and the film runs almost half an hour. Check out the website, which is colorful and appealing.

IN SEARCH OF THE HEART OF CHOCOLATE- a filmmaker, a
chocolate shop, assorted chocoholics, and lots and
lots of chocolate

FEBRUARY 12th, DELANCEY STREET 6:30 & 7:30 PM
600 Embarcadero Street San Francisco, CA 94107

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Bay Area filmmaker
Sarah Feinbloom is screening her new chocumentary
featuring the Bay Area’s own Jack  Epstein of Chocolate
Covered in Noe Valley, and his customers, Richard
Anderson, Suzanne McKee, and many others at the
Delancey Street Screening Room, in San Francisco on
February 12th, 2008. Featuring chocolate from Charles
Chocolates and Noe Valley Bakery, art by Liz Mamorsky,
sound by Robert Berke Sound and animation by Kaitlin
Chong,  and editing by Anne Flatté, this melt in your
mouth experience celebrates the Bay Area’s finest. A
perfect evening for anyone who loves chocolate and
film, followed by a delicious chocolate reception by
Joshua Charles Catering.

6:30 PM & 7:30 PM SCREENINGS, followed by a chocolate
reception. Please reserve seats by emailing
info@chocumentary.com
Tickets are $10, and DVD’s will be available for
purchase

In Search of The Heart of Chocolate is a delicious
romp through the rich and creamy, melt in your mouth,
passionate world of chocolate. Follow filmmaker  Sarah
Feinbloom as she searches for the origins of her
chocolate obsession, interviewing chocolate
enthusiasts along the way, delving into chocolate
cake, art, fantasy, chocolate croissants,
spirituality, sex, love and hot fudge, and journeying
into the past to uncover chocolate’s special place in
our hearts.

Sarah Feinbloom is an award-winning Bay Area filmmaker
whose work includes documentaries, dramatic narrative,
and fundraising videos. Her film on the religious
lives of teenagers, What Do You Believe? was featured
on the cover of the San Francisco Chronicle Date Book,
and screened at the Mill Valley Film Festival, on PBS,
and at festivals nationally and internationally.
Recently she completed a documentary on child
trafficking in Thailand called Daughters and Sons that
was featured on NPR and won the Best Short Film on
Child Advocacy at the Artivist Film Festival. Sarah
thoroughly enjoyed making her latest  film, a
chocumentary-In Search of The Heart of Chocolate,
which involved lots of taste-testing and sampling.

www.chocumentary.com

Lunch with Ellie Krieger

Tomorrow I'm attending a Luscious Lunch with the Food Network's Ellie Krieger, at Garibaldi's Restaurant in San Francisco. Her new cookbook is called Foods You Crave, and the menu will be from recipes in the book. I have to give Barbara Lane of the JCCSF a shout out for inviting me. Barbara is the JCCSF's Director of Lectures & Literature, and will be "in conversation" with Krieger.

Join us by calling 415.292.1233. Cheers.

Where I'll Be: Dinner with Bourdain & co.

 An SOLD OUT Evening with Anthony Bourdain- World Famous Chef and Author to benefit AIWF- Norcal Scholarship

Saturday, November 17, 2007 - AIWF NorCal (CA)
Time:	06:00 pm
Member Price:	$150.00
Guest Price:	$150.00
Venue:	E&O Trading Company
Email:	www.greenapplebooks.com

      

AIWF – NORCAL AFFILIATED EVENT

      

Saturday November, 17th

      

Green Apple Books and Naomi Epel

      

Present

      

 

      

An Evening with

      

Anthony Bourdain

      

celebrating his new book

      

“No Reservations”

      

 to benefit

      

The American Institute of Wine and Food Scholarship Fund

      

 

      

   Dinner prepared by celebrated chefs:

      

 

      

Chris Cosentino of Incanto Restaurant

      

        Alex Ong of Betelnut Restaurant

      

        Tim Luym of Poleng Lounge

      

        Sharon Nahm of E&O Trading Company

      

        Dessert Chef to be determined

      

 

      

including

      

Hangar One Vodka and St George Whiskey

      

and fabulous wines

      

 

      

Place:  E&O Trading Company conveniently located next to the Sutter Stockton Garage.

      

           314 Sutter Street

      

           San Francisco, CA 94131

      

 

      

Time:   7 - 10 pm

      

 

      

Cost SOLD OUT: 

      

$150 including food, drink, tip, tax & an autographed copy of No Reservations

      

$200 includes the above plus a 6 pm VIP reception w Tony & the chefs (limited to 50 people)

      

 

      

SOLD OUT

Tickets will go quickly for this stellar event for a worthwhile cause - a portion of the proceeds will benefit The American Institute of Wine and Food Scholarship Fund

SF's Top Women Chefs cook up a storm for James Beard Foundation events

Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” -James Beard

We would like to invite you to save a space on your calendar for the gastronomic event of the season on September 28^th featuring “Women Chefs of San Francisco Celebrating 20 Years of James Beard.”

The culinary extravaganza is crowned by a gala dinner featuring Beard Award winners including special guest chef extraordinaire Gale Gand, Executive Pastry Chef of Tru in Chicago; Traci des Jardins of Jardiniere, the 2007 California winner; and Nancy Oakes of Boulevard. Fellow Award winners author-chef Joanne Weir and Cindy Pawlcyn of Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen will also headline the benefit on Friday, September 28^th at St. Regis San Francisco.

The evening will be presided over by Joey Altman, local food luminary and host of KRON's Bay Cafe. Highlights will include special guest Susan Ungaro, the president of the James Beard Foundation toasting the chefs and dinner guests during a dessert reception featuring mouth-watering confections, wine pairings by women winemakers, and followed by a silent auction benefiting the James Beard Foundation.

The celebration will continue on Saturday, September 29^th with an in-store Williams Sonoma Festival Day saluting founder Chuck Williams, at the Union Square flagship store. The Festival will include cooking demonstrations, cookbook signings, artisanal tastings and children’s activities.

In addition to benefiting the James Beard Foundation, a portion of the proceeds from the dinner will also be donated to the San Francisco Food Bank.

St. Regis Hotel, On the Terrace
125 Third Street, San Francisco

Reception at 6:30pm
Dinner at 7:30pm
Dessert Buffet at 9:30pm
Silent auction at 10:00pm

Tickets: $250

Phone: Andrew Freeman & Co. 415-781-5701
Email: tasteamerica@andrewfreemanandco.com
Online: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/19128

We hope to see you there!

Andrew Freeman and Kimberly Charles

Event Co-Chairs

Event Committee

Carolynn Atherton
Laiko Bahrs
Celia Barbaccia
Vanessa Bortnick
Kelly Chamberlin
Sara Deseran
Kayu Lam
Susie McCormick
Kait Muhlfelder
Joel Riddell
Rick Riess
Jared Rivera
Scott Rodrick
Leslie Sbrocco
Julie Tucker
Nancy Uber
Amelia Weir
 

For more details on “The James Beard Foundation’s Taste America™” please visit http://www.jbftasteamerica.com