Category Archives: New Products

Cheers to the Portland Trail Blazers With Limited Edition Wines

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Some very cool labels on these two very cool wines by Adelsheim Vineyard.
Some very cool labels on these two very cool wines by Adelsheim Vineyard.

OK, Warriors fans, don’t hate me for writing about the Portland Trail Blazers.

After all, it’s really two special wines that I’m concentrating on here. And admittedly, I am partial to Oregon pinot noirs, which one of these is.

To celebrate the monumental 50th anniversary of the Portland basketball team, Adelsheim Vineyard, the first winery founded in the Chehalem Mountains in the Willamette Valley, has come out with two limited-edition commemorative wines: a pinot noir ($50) and a chardonnay ($50), both 2017 vintages.

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Sponsored Post: Cheesecake Pastries With Figs, Almonds and New Snofrisk Cheese

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Flaky, golden pastries with a center of cheesecake, figs and almonds -- to enjoy for breakfast, afternoon snack, or dessert.
Flaky, golden pastries with a center of cheesecake, figs and almonds — to enjoy for breakfast, afternoon snack, or dessert.

As much as I adore cheesecake, an entire slice is just too rich and too much of a gut-buster. At least, to indulge in with regularity.

But a cheesecake pastry? Now, that’s something I can get down with morning, noon or night.

With the same luscious creaminess, a cheesecake pastry satisfies beautifully but with just a fraction of the filling, guaranteeing no food-coma afterward.

So when I was asked by Snofrisk, a Norwegian cheese company, to create a recipe using its product, I knew cheesecake pastry was where it was at.

The Snofrisk three-pack are debuting at Bay Area Costco stores this month.
The Snofrisk three-pack are debuting at Bay Area Costco stores this month.

Snofrisk is made with 80 percent goat’s milk and 20 percent cream from cows — all from small herds on Norwegian farms.

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Win A Signed Copy of My New “East Bay Cooks” Cookbook

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Flourless chocolate cake from Old Towne Danville Bakery. (Photo by Eva Kolenko)
Flourless chocolate cake from Old Towne Danville Bakery. (Photo by Eva Kolenko)

Remember when you were a kid, and beamed with pride and happiness the first time you donned a snazzy new pair of red cowboy boots?

That’s how I feel about my newest cookbook, “East Bay Cooks: Signature Recipes from the Best Restaurants, Bars, and Bakeries” (Figure 1), which debuts this week. Thanks to a lot of hard work by a lot of people, it turned out more beautiful than I could have ever imagined. Just get a load of the images here from the book, all of them shot by the incredibly talented Bay Area photographer Eva Kolenko.

Chorizo sourdough toast from Sabio on Main in Pleasanton. (Photo by Eva Kolenko)
Chorizo sourdough toast from Sabio on Main in Pleasanton. (Photo by Eva Kolenko)

Whether you’re a Bay Area native or not, this book will have you enthralled with the East Bay, the most populous region in the Bay Area. It spotlights 41 restaurants and bakeries, some brand new, and others that have endured for decades — no easy feat in this challenging and competitive market.

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Theo Chocolate’s Big Daddy Is Big Yum

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Theo Chocolate's take on S'Mores.
Theo Chocolate’s take on S’Mores.

I admit this Food Gal is more of a B&B Gal or Resort Gal than a Camping Gal.

I’ve been camping once, and while it was a blast, I readily acknowledge I am not one for roughing it regularly. What can I say?

Thankfully, one of the best things about camping, well, doesn’t really require sleeping outdoors in a tiny tent. And that is S’Mores.

Theo Chocolate’s version may not be melty from a campfire, but it is every bit as blissful to eat.

The Seattle bean-to-bar chocolate company, the first organic and fair-trade chocolate factory in North America, has created the Big Daddy ($9.99), a three-piece collection of S’More confections that I recently had a chance to sample, along with some of its other new products.

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Summer Is Even Tastier With Basil and Clementine Olive Oils

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Toasted baguette topped with goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, basil, and a drizzle of Enzo Organic Basil Crush.
Toasted baguette topped with goat cheese, cherry tomatoes, basil, and a drizzle of Enzo Organic Basil Crush.

Summer’s tomatoes, green beans, squash, cucumbers and other bounty are so dazzlingly delicious at this time of year, they need little else to enjoy.

But one thing that will complement without overwhelming is a fine olive oil. Look no further than Enzo’s Organic Basil Crush and Organic Clemenine Crush.

The limited release olive oils are made by the Ricchiuti family, who have worked the land in California’s San Joaquin Valley for more than a century. Their olive oils, made with olives grown near Madera, have been a favorite of chefs such as Tyler Florence of San Francisco’s Wayfare Tavern, and Chef de Cuisine Ivan Marquez and Pastry Chef Jason Mattick of Los Angeles’ Broken Spanish. The olive oil line takes its name from the family’s great-grandfather.

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