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Monthly Archives: August 2015

Join the Food Gal and Chef Patrick Kelly of Lure + Till For A Cooking Demo at Macy’s

Posted on August 7, 2015 by foodgal Leave a comment

Join yours truly when I host Chef Patrick Kelly for a cooking demo at Macy’s Valley Fair in Santa Clara, 6 p.m. Aug. 13.

Kelly is the executive chef of the stylish Lure + Till at the Epiphany Hotel in downtown Palo Alto. He also has serious cooking chops, having worked previously at the much lauded Spiaggia in Chicago, as well as Redd in Yountville, Angele in Napa, La Folie in San Francisco, and Gitane in San Francisco.

Culinary talent runs in the family, too, as Kelly is married to Chef Bridget Batson, former chef of Gitane and Hawthorne Lane in San Francisco, and now resident chef of the gourmet meal delivery start-up, Munchery.

New Matcha Energy Drinks (And Winner of Last Week’s Contest)

Posted on August 5, 2015 by foodgal 3 comments

Matcha and juice combine for this new beverage.

The color may be ho-hum, muddy green in the glass, but the taste sure makes it a beauty.

Leave it to TeaPigs to come up with refreshing matcha energy drinks to take along anywhere.

If green tea is full of antioxidants, then matcha is even more so. That’s because you’re not just drinking liquid that the tea leaves have steeped in. Instead, you’re ingesting entire leaves, which have been ground to a very fine powder to make the fabled ingredient traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies.

Easy to take along wherever you go. But they are best tasting when chilled.

I had a chance to sample the new TeaPigs Matcha Super Power Green Tea Drinks made with tea grown in Nishio, Japan, blended with water, juice concentrate and citric acid.

They come in three flavors: Grapefruit, Elderflower, and Apple. All are intended to be enjoyed chilled.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies With — Wait For It — Chicharrones

Posted on August 3, 2015 by foodgal 4 comments

Chocolate chunk cookies — hiding a wealth of chicharrones.

Chocolate chunk cookies studded with bacon? Yawn. Been there. Ate that.

But have your teeth ever sunk into “Dark Chocolate Chicharron Cookies”?

Nope, didn’t think so.

I know mine sure hadn’t until I spied the recipe for them in the new cookbook, “Eat Mexico: Recipes From Mexico City’s Streets, Markets & Fondas” (Kyle Books), of which I received a review copy.

The cookbook is by Lesley Tellez, a New York City culinary guide and creator of the blog, The Mija Chronicles, who immersed herself in Mexican cooking when she lived in Mexico City for four years. The beautiful photos are by my former San Jose Mercury News colleague, Penny De Los Santos.

The book includes recipes for favorite Mexican street food such as “Roasted Poblano Pepper Tamales,” “Thickened Mexican Hot Chocolate,” and “Shrimp and Octopus Cocktail.” But where I think the book really shines is in the last chapter, “At Home,” in which Tellez incorporates Mexican flair into unexpected dishes such as “Oatmeal with Charred Poblano Peppers and Cheese” and “Stuffed Cactus Paddles,” which are reminiscent of loaded potato skins.

That last chapter is also where you’ll find this cookie recipe.