Can’t Beat Peanut Butter and Chocolate for the Long Holiday Weekend

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An ice cream sandwich that you don't need an ice cream machine to make.

An ice cream sandwich that you don’t need an ice cream machine to make.

 

As a native San Franciscan, I’m proud to say that my first encounter with an ice cream sandwich was with the It’s It, the iconic treat invented here way back in 1928.

In our freezer at home, my Dad would often stash a few of those big-fisted oatmeal cookie sandwiches filled with vanilla ice cream and dunked in chocolate. As a kid, I couldn’t even eat an entire one at one sitting.

I’ve been a sucker for ice cream sandwiches ever since.

So when a review copy of “Ice Cream Sandwiches” (Ten Speed Press) landed in my mailbox recently, I leafed through it with the utmost nostalgia. The book is by Donna Egan, founder of the Buttercup Cake Shop, London’s first cupcake bakery. After opening in 2006, the bakery added ice cream sandwiches to its repertoire five years later and has never looked back.

The book features 65 recipes for all manner of ice cream sandwiches. The “Peanut Butter Dream” caught my eye because, well, who doesn’t love chocolate and peanut butter together?

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Three Seasons Heads Into A New Decade

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Crab cake with sriracha mayo at Three Seasons.

Crab cake with sriracha mayo at Three Seasons.

You know a restaurant has got the pulse of Silicon Valley if Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan frequent the place.

Yes, you just might spy the hoodie-clad one at Three Seasons, the pan-Asian restaurant in downtown Palo Alto.

After 10 years in operation, Chef-Owner John Le has given the place a facelift with new furniture, lighting and patio seating.

As always, it remains a beautiful, expansive space with a soaring stained-glass dome in the center of the dining room. Sparkling chandeliers hang from the high ceiling and stone buddhas are arranged throughout the restaurant. Live music can be enjoyed on the patio regularly, too.

The domed ceiling.

The domed ceiling.

Statue

A mixologist was hired to reinvigorate the cocktail list, which such refreshing libations as the “Saigon Gintonic” ($12) with fresh grapefruit and juniper berries, which I enjoyed when I was invited recently as a guest of the restaurant.

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It Looks Like Beef — But It’s Better for You

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A hefty burger made with bison meat distributed by a San Francisco start-up.

A hefty burger made with bison meat distributed by a San Francisco start-up.

Wouldn’t you like to sink your teeth into that burger above?

You can — and do a body good, too.

That’s because it’s bison meat — which is lower in fat, lower in cholesterol and higher in good-for-you Omega 3’s than skinless chicken or grass-fed beef.

It’s also rich in iron, B12, zinc and niacin.

Recently, I had a chance to sample some ground bison meat from BisonBison Co., a new San Francisco start-up distributor that’s on a mission to introduce more folks to the merits of bison meat from American buffalo raised in South Dakota.

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Fruit to Take Along Anywhere

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(Front to back) Tangerine, cantaloupe and Asian pear -- freeze-dried.

(Front to back) Tangerine, cantaloupe and Asian pear — freeze-dried.

 

That’s exactly what Crispy Green is.

The New Jersey company takes fresh fruit and freeze dries them before packaging them in convenient pouches that you can throw in your purse or backpack or stash in a desk drawer or car glove box.

Crispy Green offers seven different fruits: apple, mango, Asian pears, banana, cantaloupe, pineapple and tangerine.

You have to love an ingredients label that includes only one thing. What’s in the freeze-dried Asian pears? Only Asian pears.

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Using the Whole Carrot

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A delightful tabbouleh made with the part of the carrot most of us just throw away.

A delightful tabbouleh made with the part of the carrot most of us just throw away.

When I buy a bunch of carrots at the farmers market and am asked if I want the long, frilly, green tops snapped off, I usually say “yes” without a second thought.

But not any more.

Thanks to food writer Tara Duggan, I’m going to hoard these from now on.

That’s because she’s taught me to use them in this wonderful version of tabbouleh that I’m now addicted to.

Her “Quinoa-Carrot Tabbouleh” is featured in her newest cookbook, “Root to Stalk Cooking” (Ten Speed Press), of which I recently received a review copy.

From now on, keep the green tops when you buy carrots.

From now on, keep the green tops when you buy carrots.

Duggan, a long-time staff writer for the San Francisco Chronicle’s Food section, has created a most noble book that implores us to stop throwing out perfectly good bits of fruits and veggies that we could be putting to delicious use instead.

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