Category Archives: New Products

Discover The Unsweetened Tooth

Would you believe these decadent peanut butter mousse brownies have no sugar added to them?
Would you believe these decadent peanut butter mousse brownies have no sugar added to them?

Those peanut butter mousse brownies above are everything you expect — decadently rich, deeply fudgy, and loaded with irresistible sweet-salty, smooth peanut-butter goodness.

But they also lack something surprising — added sugar.

They are the creation of a unique Seattle bakery, The Unsweetened Tooth. As the name implies, this bake-to-order shop makes treats with no added sugar. Yet, they taste every bit as satisfying as their conventional counterparts — and minus the unpleasant aftertaste of so many sugar substitutes such as Stevia.

The bakery was started by Jude Sharp, who worked as an engineer in the tech industry in Silicon Valley with her fellow engineer husband, for years. But a health scare put her on a different path. After learning that she might become diabetic and lose her sight if she didn’t drastically change her dietary habits, she decided to give up sugar, and lost 100 pounds in the process.

Using her engineering know-how and love for tinkering, she built a commercial kitchen, and started coming up with no-sugar recipes after the couple moved to Washington state. In 2016, she launched The Unsweetened Tooth there.

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Take A Taste of Mariam’s Garlic Dip

Spicy, garlicky and rich tasting, Mariam's Garlic Goodness Chili Pepper dip is irresistible.
Spicy, garlicky and rich tasting, Mariam’s Garlic Goodness Chili Pepper dip is irresistible.

How many times have you smacked your lips over a sauce or condiment at a restaurant, and thought, “This is incredible! They should bottle it and sell it.”

Mariam Elghani did just that with the luscious Lebanese garlic dip her family created at their Falafel Bite Mediterranean Grill in Sunnyvale.

Mariam’s Garlic Goodness is now available in grocery stores across California, including Andronico’s, Berkeley Bowl, Woodlands Market, Gus’s Community Market, and Rainbow Grocery. The 8-ounce tubs are about $5.99 each.

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Shaved Asparagus Salad with Asparagus Buttermilk Dressing and Pickled Asparagus Tips

Asparagus shines three ways in this composed salad.
Asparagus shines three ways in this composed salad.

With his trademark crisp white shirt, Christmas-red bow tie, and denim overalls that he’s never without (not even at the black-tie Jame Beard Awards), Farmer Lee Jones is a larger-than-life character.

But he is no caricature.

He is the real deal.

When his family nearly lost its soy bean and corn farm in Ohio during the 1980’s economic downturn, he managed to save it by taking a gamble to transform it.

Instead of growing feed crops like soybeans and corn, he downsized to nurture obscure specialty herbs, fruits and vegetables after a chance meeting with a chef looking for someone to grow squash blossoms.

Today, the small, sustainable Chef’s Garden is revered by chefs nationwide, including Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, and Jose Andres. It’s this farm that we have to thank for the whole microgreens movement. During the pandemic, the farm adapted to changing times once again, offering delivery of its produce to consumers so that Jones wouldn’t have to lay off any employees, despite its main customer base, restaurants, ordering far less because of curtailed operations.

Jones’ story is captured in “The Chef’s Garden: A Modern Guide to Common and Unusual Vegetables–with Recipes” (Avery), of which I received a review copy. Written by Jones with Kristin Donnelly, former food editor at Food & Wine magazine, this lavishly photographed 240-page book is not only packed with recipes, but detailed information about selecting, storing, cleaning and using a wealth of produce. The book hones in on both the familiar and the esoteric, from ramps, hearts of palm, and bamboo shoots to amaranth, arrowhead root, and crystal lettuces.

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Three Great Things to Do in May

Chef Ravi Kapur of Liholiho Yacht Club designed the new pool-side menu at the Rosewood Sand Hill. (Photo courtesy of the hotel.)
Chef Ravi Kapur of Liholiho Yacht Club designed the new pool-side menu at the Rosewood Sand Hill. (Photo courtesy of the hotel.)

Check Into the Rosewood Sand Hill for Liholiho Yacht Club Noshes

Now, here’s a great excuse for a staycation on the Peninsula if there ever was one.

The Rosewood Sand Hill has partnered with Chef Ravi Kapur of San Francisco’s Liholiho Yacht Club on a new poolside menu that’s available now through the end of summer.

Imagine nibbling on furikake-dusted Kennebec potato chips to dunk into caramelized onion dip; a tuna poke bowl with with avocado, radish, spicy aioli and radish sprouts; a yacht burger crowned with pineapple, bacon and kimchi; and a fried chicken sandwich garnished with cabbage slaw, pickled jalapeno and avocado ranch.

It’s the perfect excuse to relax at the newly redone pool area with flowers galore, plus a beachy-style bar.

The posh pool area at the Rosewood Sand Hill. (Photo courtesy of the hotel.)
The posh pool area at the Rosewood Sand Hill. (Photo courtesy of the hotel.)

And it saves you a trip to San Francisco to enjoy Kapur’s Hawaiian-influenced food, especially with Liholiho temporarily operating out of a Mission District space for takeout and delivery only.

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Blow Off Some Steam With Extra-Anchovy Pasta With Kale

A pasta dish that crushes it.
A pasta dish that crushes it.

This past year has been nothing short of cataclysmic. So, you’d be forgiven if there have been moments when all you wanted to do was cry, curse, curl up in a ball or crush something into smithereens.

At a time when we could all welcome some relief comes the new cookbook, “Steamed: A Catharsis Cookbook for Getting Dinner and Your Feelings On the Table’ (Running Press), of which I received a review copy. It encourages you to pound, pulverize, and rip apart your pent-up pandemic aggression — in a tongue-and-cheek way, of course — while cooking up some tasty dishes along the way.

This wonderfully irreverent cookbook was written by Rachel Levin, a freelance food writer who was Eater’s first restaurant critic; and Tara Duggan, a veteran food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, who now covers climate and environmental issues.

This recipe lets you blow off some steam by smashing croutons to smithereens.
This recipe lets you blow off some steam by smashing croutons to smithereens.

With humorous illustrations by Los Angeles designer Stephanie DeAngelis, the book includes 50 recipes sure to brighten any mood. Get your frustration out with “Whacked Lemongrass Chicken Coconut Curry,” “Pummeled Pork Tonkatsu,” “Cry-It-Out Alsatian Tart,” and “DIY Cannabutter” (which is exactly what you think it is).

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