Monthly Archives: May 2012

New Tazo Ice Tea Bags & A Food Gal Giveaway

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Your chance to win this pretty pitcher, plus the iced tea that goes along with it.

With summer just around the corner, it’s time to kick back with a refreshing pitcher of iced tea.

Tazo makes that even easier now with its new line of Iced Tea Filterbags.

These aren’t mere bags, but large sachets of tea leaves, to better brew a large pitcher without diluting its flavor.

Recently, I had a chance to try samples of the three new flavors: Iced Black Tea (a strong pick-me-up), Iced Green Tea (with the lilt of spearmint, lemongrass and lemon verbena), and Iced Passion Tea (with notes of hibiscus, mango and passion fruit).

The generously sized sachet is easy to use. Just drop one in hot water and let steep for about five minutes. I sipped the iced black tea on a weekday afternoon when I needed that extra hit of caffeine. Even over ice, the flavor wasn’t watered down whatsoever.

A box of six tea sachets is $4.95. Find them at Starbucks stores or other grocery stores. The Portland, Ore. company is a division of Starbucks.

The iced tea satchels come in three varieties.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win a sample box of each of the three new Tazo Iced Tea Filterbags. You’ll also get a pretty glass pitcher (pictured above) to serve it in once your tea has cooled down enough to transfer it to that vessel.

Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST June 2. Winner will be announced June 4.

How to win?

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Scenes From My Latest Macy’s Event

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Monika Batista and Chef Earl Shaddix get cooking in the Macy's Cellar. (

If you missed the Food Gal’s most recent appearance at Macy’s Union Square in San Francisco last Saturday with Brazilian food entrepreneur Monika Batista, you missed a delightful, delectable time.

But don’t despair.

Thanks to to Macy’s regulars, Barry and Evan Jan, here are photos they took that captured the afternoon’s cooking demo, as Batista showed how to make the Brazilian cheesy snack bread known as pao de quejo.

Gluten-free, they are made from yuca root flour.

Sample plates. (Photo by Barry and Eva Jan)

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Memories of Childhood Chinese Chicken

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There's tofu in this. Can you believe it?

I remember the times of peeking into the refrigerator at home to find a big jellyroll pan laid out from one end to the other with marinating chicken.

And feeling the excitement of the dinner to come that night.

I remember how those plump drumsticks were arranged in two neat rows down the length of the pan.

I remember their terracotta color.

And the aroma of savoriness and something a little mysterious in the mix.

I remember waiting for my Mom to roast them in a hot oven until their color deepened and their skin crisped.

I’d pick up a drumstick with my fingers, the reddish sauce staining them deliciously as I took a big bite of joy.

As a kid, I never really knew what made this chicken so distinctive. All I knew was that it was something that came from a screw-top jar from Chinatown. And that my Mom referred to this dish as “fu-yee chicken.”

Thanks to my friend and most talented cookbook writer, Andrea Nguyen, I now know exactly what goes into the marinade that gives it such color and taste.

It’s tofu. Yes, cubes of soybean curd, but ones that have been allowed to age and ferment in a brine of red yeast rice or red wine, rice wine and water. It turns the tofu red and creamy with a flavor that’s salty, a little sweet, really savory, sort of musky and a tad funky.

Not that funky is a bad thing. After all, it’s what makes anchovies and runny cheeses so wonderful.

Like them, red fermented tofu may be a taste sensation that has to grow on you. It might seem strong and strange the first time, but the more you eat of it, the more you want.

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Dinners For Free at a Campbell Cooking School — But You Have to Know Someone

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A generous-sized asparagus salad, cooked by students at the International Culinary Center in Campbell.

On the second floor of the International Culinary Center in Campbell sits the Monte Bello room.

The 24-seat, makeshift dining room serves lunch daily and dinner on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

For free.

The catch is that you have to know someone affiliated with the school in order to get invited to enjoy the multi-course meals that are prepared by the culinary students.

Fortunately, Bruce McCann, president of the culinary school, provided just that opportunity last week for my husband and I to experience dinner there.

The culinary school doesn’t have a license to operate a full-blown restaurant on the premises. But administrators wanted to give students the experience of cooking for real diners. So, they came up with this concept, in which invited guests can partake of a meal for free. At the end of the meal, you’re asked to fill out a detailed questionnaire that ranks the taste, presentation, flavors and cooking of each dish so that the students can get feedback from the experience. Though it’s not required, you also can make a donation of any amount that will be donated to the student scholarship fund. Tips also are appreciated, as your waiter is not a student but an actual professional server.

Your meal is technically for free, but you can enjoy wine or beer for a charge.

The comment card you fill out to give feedback on the meal.

For dinner, seating begins at 8 p.m., as the students arrive at 6 p.m. to begin prepping for that evening’s menu.

When you are seated, you’ll get a pencil and questionnaire, as well as a printed menu. There’s always a choice of entrees,  at least one of which is vegetarian. Depending upon how many students are working that night, you might also get a choice of appetizers and desserts.

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BBQ Oyster Time, Golden Gate Anniversary Eats & More

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Oysters fresh off the grill at Fish Story. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Fish Story’s Barbecued Oysters

Fish Story in Napa has introduced a fun new “Happy Hour” on Friday and Saturday afternoons, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m,  that’s all about the barbecue.

Just in time for these warmer days ahead, the restaurant is grilling Rock Cod soft tacos ($4) and Drake’s Bay oysters with chili butter ($2) and your choice of three relishes.

Enjoy those noshes with $2.50 draft beer and $5 artisan tap wines.

The GG75 cocktail, named after the iconic bridge. (Photo courtesy of Jardiniere)

Sweets and Libations to Celebrate the Golden Gate Bridge

Restaurants are already getting in on the celebrating for the 75th anniversary of San Francisco’s landmark Golden Gate Bridge on May 27.

Head to Jardiniere restaurant in San Francisco on May 23 when cocktail writer Camper English will be behind the bar, pouring the GG75, a riff on the French 75. It’s a mix of California sparkling wine, Campari, simple syrup, orange bitters and blood orange juice to give the cocktail a hue similar to that of the iconic bridge.

The cocktail is $10. Sales will benefit Hands on the Bay Area, a non-profit that encourages San Franciscans to volunteer, learn and lead their communities.

If you plan to take in the May 27 fireworks show in San Francisco, Greens Restaurant, with its bird’s-eye-view of the festivities, is the perfect place to do so.

The vegetarian restaurant will offer two dinner seatings that night. The first, 5:30 p.m.-6:45 p.m., features an a la carte menu, but no viewing of the fireworks from the restaurant dining room. It’s designed more for folks who want to eat before they walk down to the Marina for an outside view.

The second seating, 7:30 p.m.-9 p.m., will serve up a four-course $75 prix fixe, plus viewing of the fireworks. Reservations for this seating must be made by calling the restaurant directly at (415) 771-6222.

A Golden Gate Bridge cookie. (Photo courtesy of Greens)

For a sweet taste of the event, Greens also has designed a Golden Gate Bridge short bread cookie with royal icing. The cookies are available for $3.75 at the “Greens To Go” counter at the restaurant.

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