Scenes From Chefs’ Holidays 2016 At The Ahwahnee

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The Ahwahnee looking as it should in winter.

The Ahwahnee looking as it should in winter.

 

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, CA — Last week, I had the great pleasure of returning for the fourth year in a row to help host the incomparable 31st Annual Chefs’ Holidays event at The Ahwahnee in Yosemite.

Besides the stellar chefs, the welcoming staff, and the outstanding food, there was one other unforgettable highlight: snow.

Yes, after four years of drought, and a January a year ago where it was so dry and warm that I hiked in a T-shirt, it was a joy to see Yosemite dusted in powdery, fluffy white, looking every bit its picture-postcard self.

(L to R): Sous Chef Daniel Gomez Sanchez of La Toque, Executive Chef Ken Frank of La Toque, Sarah and Evan Rich of Rich Table, and David Bazirgan of Dirty Habit.

(L to R): Sous Chef Daniel Gomez Sanchez of La Toque, Executive Chef Ken Frank of La Toque, Sarah and Evan Rich of Rich Table, and David Bazirgan of Dirty Habit.

Chefs’ Holidays takes place every January through early February. It is comprised of eight sessions, with each one spotlighting three renowned chefs, each of whom does a cooking demo. There is a wine reception to meet all the chefs. Each session ends with a gala dinner prepared by the headliner chef or all three participating chefs.

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Join The Food Gal and Bushido Izakaya For A Macy’s Cooking Demo

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MacysBushido

At Bushido Izakaya in downtown Mountain View, you’ll find clever cocktails and creative Japanese small plates. Plus something more.

An adherence to sustainable seafood.

That’s more rare than you think when it comes to the offerings at most Japanese restaurants. But Chef Isamu Kanai has made it his mission to do right by the world’s oceans.

Come see the inventive sushi he dreams up, when he joins me for a cooking demo at 2 p.m., Jan. 30 at Macy’s Valley Fair in Santa Clara.

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Heidi Swanson’s Exceptional Miso Tofu

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Tofu -- as pretty and tasty as it gets.

Tofu — as pretty and tasty as it gets.

 

Long before most of us started blogging about food, Heidi Swanson led the way with her 101 Cookbooks site.

The San Francisco photographer and writer still remains the one to watch, always imparting class and authenticity to whatever she does.

She does so again with her newest cookbook, “Near & Far: Recipes Inspired by Home and Travel” (Ten Speed Press), of which I received a review copy.

With her trademark expressive photography and no-nonsense way, she takes you by the hand on a journey to discover delicious dishes inspired by her global travels and by her life in the Bay Area.

NearandFar

The 120 recipes are vegetarian and offer up divine twists that cast the familiar into unfamiliar, thought-provoking territory for things like “Nori Granola” (yes, a savory take), “Quick-Pickled Rose Petals” (to add to a shrub or dollop on flatbread), and “Wine-Washed Arugula” (a fresh salad made with a splash of dry white wine and croutons from day-old croissants).

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A Leisurely Lunch at Barndiva

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Yellowfin tuna at Barndiva.

Yellowfin tuna at Barndiva.

 

On a recent rainy Friday afternoon, my husband and I ducked into the pretty trellised courtyard and right through the inviting doors of Barndiva in Healdsburg.

Apparently, we weren’t the only ones lured inside by the laid-back, rustic warmth of its barn-like setting, as the cozy dining room soon filled up with locals greeting each other with hugs and kicking back with glasses of wine.

It’s easy to see why this is a spot that attracts folks again and again.

It has a free spiritedness about it with eclectic artwork on the walls, including a wall of vintage wooden shoe forms at the entrance. In fact, the secondary dining room is an actual art gallery by day, and an event space by night.

The bar area.

The bar area.

I hadn’t dined at Barndiva since shortly after it opened in 2004, so I was happy to go again in December after being invited in as a guest of the restaurant.

About six years ago, Chef Ryan Fancher came on board after cooking alongside Richard Reddington at Auberge du Soleil, and Thomas Keller at both the French Laundry in Yountville and Per Se in New York.

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A Visit to Healdsburg Shed

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You can find house-milled flour at the Healdsburg Shed -- and a whole lot more.

You can find house-milled flour at the Healdsburg Shed — and a whole lot more.

 

Imagine the San Francisco Ferry Building Marketplace — only miniaturized, condensed, moved to Wine Country, and all owned and operated under one umbrella by one couple.

That’s what Healdsburg Shed is like.

It’s also the winner of the 2014 James Beard Award for “Best Restaurant Design.” So, you know it’s a beautiful place to behold.

It’s also so much more than just a restaurant. The soaring, 10,000-square foot space is also a retail cookware store, a fresh produce stand, a gourmet foods purveyor, a mill (yes, they grind their own fresh flour there), a kombucha bar, and a community gathering space for concerts, movies, visiting chef dinners, and cooking demonstrations.

As owner Cindy Daniel describes her nearly three-year-old endeavor, “It’s all to celebrate good farming, good cooking, and good eating.”

The award-winning design.

The award-winning design.

Everything under one roof.

Everything under one roof.

Daniel, who has an air of Alice Waters about her, and her husband, Doug Lipton, an environmental scientist, left San Francisco 20 years ago to start a 15-acre farm in Healdsburg, about five miles from the Shed.

Daniel had a yoga studio and a retail store in San Francisco; Lipton once ran a food co-op in Boulder, CO in the 1970s. But this is their first restaurant.

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