The Best Kind of Picnic

Posted on by Leave a comment
This bright and sunny cake is unusual in that it's actually made with saltine crackers.
This bright and sunny cake is unusual in that it’s actually made with saltine crackers.

Charcuterie and wine may be the usual mainstays of picnics.

But a picnic all about cake and nothing but cake?

Now, that’s the stuff of dreams — and surely worth the sugar high and food coma to follow.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock or eschewing all carbs (say what?), then you know all about the phenomenon known as Cake Picnic.

It is the fantastical creation of the Bay Area’s Elisa Sunga, who dove head-first into baking during the pandemic and chronicled her exploits along the way online.

As a devoted gathering of followers ensued, she got the idea in April 2004 to invite those willing to a cake picnic in San Francisco. All they had to do is show up at the park with a whole cake to share.

Read more

Yutori Brings A Certain Specific and Beloved Taste of Japan

Posted on by Leave a comment
Aburi don bento from Yutori in Palo Alto.
Aburi don bento from Yutori in Palo Alto.

If you’ve ever traveled to Japan, then you know full well the much-deserved affection for konbini culture.

Be it 7-Eleven, FamilyMart or Lawson, Japanese convenience stores seem stocked with most anything and everything needed in life, including an astonishing array of snacks and prepared foods that are not only fresh and delicious, but jaw-droppingly cheap. Talk to anyone who’s ever shopped at them and you’ll get an earful of wistful longing for those cushiony egg salad sandos, seaweed-wrapped rice balls, wasabi potato chips, assorted bentos, and so much more.

Yutori, which opened in Palo Alto this spring, brings a modern taste of that to the Bay Area.

Named for the Japanese word for “spaciousness” or “room to breathe,” this 5,000-square-foot space comprises a coffee bar, small marketplace selling Japanese home goods, and a takeout deli. Before the year ends, it will also add a sit-down restaurant.

Located on El Camino Real.
Located on El Camino Real.

I paid a visit a few days ago, specifically to check out the konbini-like offerings in the refrigerator cases. The array of bentos, onigiri, and sandos will definitely remind you of Japan.

Read more

All Hail, Kale

Posted on by Leave a comment
Roasted oyster mushrooms become almost like crispy croutons on this flavorful kale salad.
Roasted oyster mushrooms become almost like crispy croutons on this flavorful kale salad.

If lettuce, and specifically iceberg, still leave you skittish, then turn instead to our hardy and hearty friend, kale.

Even if you think you’ve grown bored of this vivid dark green, leafy brassica, there’s no denying its versatility, not to mention its powerhouse of nutrition and antioxidants.

So, if it’s been a while, now is the perfect time to get reacquainted with it in this flavorful “Kale and Shoyu Mushroom Salad.”

This quick recipe is from “Aloha Veggies” (Ten Speed Press), of which I received a review copy.

It was written by Hawaii-born recipe developer and photographer, Alana Kysar, who makes her home on Maui.

Read more

Kind of, Sort of, Biscotti

Posted on by 2 comments
Cantuccioni are like biscotti, but baked only once.
Cantuccioni are like biscotti, but baked only once.

There is a time and place for cookies that are fancy, full of swoops and swirls, formed into twists or cutouts, and adorned with sprinkles, frostings, glazes, and everything that’s bling.

Other times, you crave a cookie that’s more wholesome, homespun, and has the confidence to just speak for itself.

“Cantuccioni” are that type of cookie. Hailing from Tuscany, they are like biscotti — but baked only once, not twice — so they are much more tender.

The recipe is from “Italian Cookies” (Gibbs Smith), of which I received a review copy

It was written by Domenica Marchetti, a veteran cookbook writer on all things Italian, who is also a food writer and former newspaper reporter with a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. She splits her time between Abruzzo, Italy, from where her family hails, and Virginia.

Read more

Great Finds, Part II: The Dumpling Class

Posted on by Leave a comment
Pork-Wagyu beef dumplings, cooked and ready to eat, that my friend Charlen and I made in Eddie Lo's class.
Pork-Wagyu beef dumplings, cooked and ready to eat, that my friend Charlen and I made in Eddie Lo’s class.

For a dozen years, Eddie Lo was on the tech fast track in Silicon Valley.

After graduating with a bachelor’s in industrial engineering degree from the University of California at Berkeley, followed by a master’s in operations research and information engineering from Cornell University, he worked at such heavy weights as Cisco, YouTube, Google and Coinbase.

Then, he made a major pivot.

He traded project management of cryptocurrency and data for pleating Chinese dumplings instead.

Lo launched “Eating with Edmund,” hands-on dumpling classes at his San Francisco home, four and a half years ago. Since then, he’s taught more than 5,000 people.

His 3-hour classes, limited to a maximum of eight people at a time, consistently sell out, too. They are priced at $129 per person.

Eddie Lo in his home kitchen.
Eddie Lo in his home kitchen.

“Tech was a lot of yelling and a lot of stress,” he says. “It wasn’t my happy place. The happiest I am is when I’m cooking.”

Read more
« Older Entries