Category Archives: Enticing Events

A Cheesy Food Gal Giveaway

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Blue cheese with fortified wine -- a match made in heaven. (Photo courtesy of Chronicle Books)

I just had to laugh the other morning when a local newscaster joked that if he won the Lotto, he’d be spending it all on good cheese.

Just goes to show how much we all love the stuff.

To help you get a better and easier handle on all the wonderful cheeses in the market these days, Chronicle Books has come out with a new iPhone app, “Cheese Plate.”

Win this cool new ap that teaches you all about cheese. It’s based on the book, “Cheese and Wine: A Guide to Selecting, Pairing and Enjoying” by noted Bay Area food writer, Janet Fletcher. Curated by Fletcher, the app includes information and photos on how to put together 25 cheese plates, each consisting of three complimentary cheeses (and alternatives if you can’t easily find your first choice).

You’ll learn how to pronounce cheese names, who makes the particular cheeses, and the best descriptors for each type.

The app is $4.99 at the iTunes store.

One lucky Food Gal reader, though, will win a free app, plus a copy of the book that it’s based on. But wait, there’s more. That winner also will receive another book by Fletcher, The Cheese Course” (Chronicle Books), which is full of information on artisanal cheeses plus wines to pair with them.

How’s that for a deal?

Contest: It’s open only to those in the continental United States. Entry deadline is midnight PST Jan. 15. Winner will be announced on Jan. 17.

How to enter?

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New Cooking Classes at Berkeley’s eVe Restaurant

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Prosciutto and melon soup at eVe restaurant. (Photo by Nick Vasilopoulus)

Who wouldn’t want to learn how to cook from a husband-wife chef team who have worked at the likes of Georges Blanc in France, and Charlie Trotter’s and Everest, both in Chicago?

You can, now that Chefs Christopher and Veronica Laramie of eVe in Berkeley have started offering once-a-month cooking classes at their intimate 28-seat restaurant. Likewise, their classes will be equally personalized in that each is limited to only 10 students.

Chef-Owners Christopher and Veronica Laramie of eVe. (Photo by Nick Vasilopoulus)

You have the choice of meeting at the restaurant at 11 a.m. or meeting the two chefs at 10 a.m. at the Berkeley Farmers Market to help choose produce for that day’s class. Then, you’ll roll up your sleeves to get cooking in this hands-on class that lasts until 2:30 p.m. After all the cooking is done, you’ll sit down with the Laramies to enjoy a cozy lunch featuring the dishes you and your classmates have made.

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My Fave Eats of 2010

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I’ve eaten a lot this year. Let’s just get that out of the way at the start.

So, you can imagine my dilemma in coming up with a list of a mere 10 dishes or items that were my ultimate favorites this year. I limited the list to meals I ate out at restaurants, rather than made at home.  They also had to be so great as to have me still longing for a taste even now.

Here, in no particular order, are my top eats of this year:

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Of Sake and Crab Cakes

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An array of sakes at Ozumo in Oakland. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

The Sake:

Now, this is one club I’d love to be a member of — Ozumo Restaurant in Oakland’s sake “300club.”

The restaurant invites patrons to purchase one of eight different 300ml bottles selected by Director of Sake Jessica Furui each time when visiting the restaurant. Ozumo will then record each purchase. When a customer has tried all eight club selections, they will receive a complimentary 720ml bottle of Ozumo’s “Seitoku” signature junmai ginjo sake.

Moreover, each time a customer orders a bottle of club sake, they will receive a small card containing information about the sake and brewery, plus a map of Japan showing where the brewery is located.

There is no cost to join the club, no food purchase is required and club selections will be changed every six months.

Kampai to that.

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