Don’t Just Drink Beer — Eat It, Too

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The predominant ingredient in these bars? Spent grain from brewing beer.

The predominant ingredient in these bars? Spent grain from brewing beer.

 

It’s a good bet that when you’re downing that frosty mug of beer, you’re not thinking about the spent grain that went into brewing it.

But there’s a lot of it. A whole lot.

Indeed, when beer is made, about 85 percent of its ingredients ends up as waste that is usually composted or sold off to feed livestock.

Now, Dan Kurzrock and Jordan Schwartz have come up with a novel — and delicious — way to reuse that discarded grain.

The hobbyist brewers created ReGrained, granola-like bars made from spent grain donated by three Bay Area craft breweries: Magnolia Brewing, 21st Amendment Brewery, and Triple Voodoo.

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Call for Entries for Sunnyvale Library’s “Cooking Up Stories” and So Much More

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SunnyvaleLibraryEBookPromo

Participate in “Cooking Up Stories”

The Sunnyvale Public Library invites foodie writers to take part in its “Cooking Up Stories,” an ebook about food and cooking.

The library is seeking your best short story or non-fiction piece to publish in this electronic compilation. If your submission is chosen for inclusion, it will be added to the library’s online collection, making it available to a wide audience. You still retain the copyright to your story, so you can reuse your submission elsewhere in the future, too.

Submissions will be taken starting April 1. For more information about the project, click here.

Smitten Ice Cream Coming to Santana Row

The upside to all that construction going on lately at the Park Valencia area of San Jose’s Santana Row?

A new and improved plaza that will include Smitten Ice Cream.

Mint chocolate ice cream being made at Smitten Ice Cream in Los Altos. (Photo by Carolyn Jung)

Mint chocolate ice cream being made at Smitten Ice Cream in Los Altos. (Photo by Carolyn Jung)

The 600-square-foot shop will open in July, serving Smitten’s patented made-to-order ice cream. You can watch for yourself as liquid nitrogen freezes the mixture in a flash at a super low temperature, resulting in smaller ice crystals and a supremely smooth ice cream.

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An Excuse to Play With Your Food

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That's a wrap.

That’s a wrap.

 

As a kid, I remember sitting hunched on the floor, playing pick-up sticks with my brothers.

I’d hold my breath as I gingerly tried to pull a stick out of the pile without toppling the whole shebang. All the while, my brothers would joke around, trying to make me laugh, so that my already trembling fingers would fumble the task at hand.

I’m not sure who won most of those matches. But I do know it definitely made me learn the art of focus and blocking out distractions.

In this day and age of all electronics all the time, does anyone even possess that old-school game any more?

Maybe not. I know I haven’t played it in eons. Still, this fun dish brought back those childhood memories.

“Asparagus Pastry Straws” is made for picking up with your fingers.

Long spears of spring asparagus lend themselves to that anyway. But add a twisty rope of puff pastry all around each spear and you know resistance is futile.

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Shake It On — And A Food Gal Giveaway

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Black Hawaiian Sea Salt from the San Francisco Salt Company.

Black Hawaiian Sea Salt from the San Francisco Salt Company.

 

Boxers or briefs?

Pie or cake?

Salty or sweet?

In answer to the last question, I decidedly favor sweet.

But that’s not to say I don’t appreciate salty, and in particular, how a pinch of salt evens out sweetness or rounds out the flavor of most anything.

The San Francisco Salt Company understands that. Its British founder Lee Williamson originally started the company to sell bath salts, because he was hooked on its therapeutic and relaxing effects from soaking in the tub after a long day of work.

It wasn’t long, though, before he turned his attention to culinary salts, too.

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Coi’s Second Act

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Ocean trout as imagined by the newly anointed chef of San Francisco's Coi.

Ocean trout as imagined by the newly anointed chef of San Francisco’s Coi.

Daniel Patterson is a hard act to follow.

The cerebral and celebrated chef created a very personal oasis of zen elegance in a neighborhood of strip clubs when he opened Coi in San Francisco.

Last year, he decided to step down as executive chef to devote more time to overseeing his growing roster of restaurants — Alta CA in San Francisco, Aster in San Francisco, Haven in Oakland, and Plum Bar in Oakland — as well as his new Locol fast-food concept in partnership with Roy Choi of Kogi BBQ Truck fame.

But he has found a most accomplished successor in Matthew Kirkley, who took over COI in January. The Baltimore-reared chef has worked at such renowned establishments as the Fat Duck in London, L20 in Chicago, Restaurant Joel Robuchon in Las Vegas, and Le Meurice in Paris.

His flawless technique and breathtaking food attest to the fact that Patterson has left Coi in extraordinary hands.

The restaurant offers three wine pairing options.

The restaurant offers three wine pairing options.

The intimate dining room.

The intimate dining room.

I had a chance to experience it when I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant earlier this month.

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