Home-Grown Sorbets

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French Press sorbet made with agave nectar and no dairy products.

With searing temperatures of late, why not reach for some new sorbets to beat the heat?

Especially when they’re made right here in the Bay Area in small batches with locally sourced ingredients and without any dairy.

Garden Creamery, which is made in Marin County, is the brainchild of Bay Area residents, Erin Lang and Natalie Parker. Recently, they reformulated the sorbets to make them even smoother in texture. Additionally, they added two new flavors: French Press Coffee and Thai Iced Tea.

All the sorbets are made with coconut puree to add body and sweetened with organic agave syrup.

Recently, I had a chance to try the new flavors.

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Mighty Tea and a Mighty Food Gal Giveaway

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Mighty Leaf Iced Tea blends. (Photo courtesy of Mighty Leaf)Iced Tea pitcher to make quenching your thirst a breeze. (Photo courtesy of Mighty Leaf)

Might you be getting just a bit parched on these toasty summer days?

Then, you might very well enjoy a glass of quenching iced tea, wouldn’t you?

Mighty Tea makes it a snap with its hand-blended, whole-leaf tea leaves in eco-friendly pouches.

Enjoy a sip of Sunburst Green Iced Tea (with low caffeine and the burst of orange flavor), Ginger Peach Iced Tea (made with black tea), Calypso Mango Iced Tea (with tropical fruit flavors and South Indian black tea), and Organic Black Iced Tea.

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win samples of each of those iced tea flavors plus a 50-ounce Bodum Iced Tea Pitcher with a removable infuser to hold tea pouches or tea leaves.

Contest is open only to those in the continental United States. Entries will be accepted through midnight PST July 2. Winner will be announced July 4. How’s that for a Fourth of July bonanza?

How to win?

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Rose Pistola Still Blooming After All These Years

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Asparagus and lamb pizza at Rose Pistola.

There’s no denying that North Beach has to be one of San Francisco’s most touristy neighborhoods.

But it’s also full of enough charm, vivacity and quality Italian food to continue draw locals, as well.

That’s one reason why after 15 years Rose Pistola, a short hop from the Hilton San Francisco Fisherman’s Wharf, is still going strong.

The Ligurian-inspired restaurant recently got a face-lift with a new, softer color scheme in grey, burgundy and brown. The tile floors have been restored and the rich mahogany gleams.

Last month, I was invited in as a guest of the restaurant to try the updated menu by new Executive Chef Mark Gordon.

All around me, tables were full of locals, as well as out-of-towners carbo-loading for the next day’s spirited Bay to Breakers race through the streets of San Francisco.

We started with stuffed calamari ($13), tender soft tubular bodies stuffed with seafood mousse, then grilled until smoky.

Tender, charred stuffed calamari.

Grilled, crusty bread spread fava bean puree and lusty olive-oil preserved tuna.

Next, the simple yet sublime bruschette of chunky, mashed favas and tuna conserva ($12). With a glass of racy, white wine, you could make a light dinner of these alone. The creamy, sweet favas were a wonderful match to the the rich, silky tuna preserved in olive oil. It’d be a great nosh to make at home, too.

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“Top Chef” Tour Rolls into San Jose

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"Top Chef'' favorite, Fabio Viviani, cooks in front of a crowd in San Jose on Tuesday.

It’s not every day that I get kissed on the hand by “Top Chef”’s resident Italian charmer, Chef Fabio Viviani — while simultaneously getting kissed on the cheek by fellow hunky “Top Chef” alum, Ryan Scott.

Yes, Tuesday was that kind of heart-fluttering day.

It was all in a scorching afternoon’s work when the Bravo TV “Top Chef Tour,” which has been winding its way across the country, rolled into San Jose for two days of madcap fun inside a tent set up behind the AT&T store on Stevens Creek Blvd. Although this is the fourth year that contestants have gone on the road like this, it was the first time that the tour stopped in San Jose.

Another "Top Chef'' alumn, Ryan Scott, prepares to battle against Viviani.

Yours truly was asked to judge one of the “Quick-Fire”-style battles between Viviani, who owns two restaurants in the Los Angeles-area, Firenze Osteria and Cafe Firenze, and San Francisco’s Scott, who used his “Top Chef” earnings to start a catering company, Ryan Scott 2 Go, and a mobile sandwich truck, 3 Sum Eats. Look for him to open his newest venture in a month — Brunch Drunk Love (how cute is that?), a brunch-only restaurant that will be open only on weekends at the Bruno’s site in the Mission District.

Those signs of affection from Viviani and Scott were humorous attempts to butter up the judge. But being the professional that I am — ahem — I did not let any of that sway me.

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My Dinner with Jacques

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The one and only Jacques Pepin -- in town for dinner at Saison in San Francisco.

Monday night at Saison restaurant in San Francisco, I had dinner with Jacques Pepin.

OK, that would be me and 17 other people.

Still, it’s always an honor to be in the presence of such a formidable culinary figure, whose talent remains genuine and relevant even more so in this age of instant celebritism.

The occasion? A celebration of the French Culinary Institute’s new International Culinary Center of California in Campbell.

The New York-based culinary school has graduated the likes of Bobby Flay, Dan Barber, David Chang and Wylie Dufresne. It has been eager to establish a West Coast presence for a decade, and jumped at the chance when the former, five-year-old Professional Culinary Institute went up for sale this year, according to Brooke Schwartz, president of the new Campbell school.

Pepin, dean of special programs for the French Culinary Institute, was in town for the dinner soiree, along with other colleagues, including Dorothy Cann Hamilton, the founder of the institute.

A dozen food writers from around the Bay Area were invited, along with newest FCI deans, Chef David Kinch of Manresa restaurant in Los Gatos and Emily Luchetti, executive pastry chef of Waterbar and Farallon, both in San Francisco.

The Campbell school, which used to draw mainly from the local area, is now attracting students nationwide, Schwartz says. The school offers three core programs: Classic Culinary Arts, Classic Pastry Arts, and Intensive Sommelier Training (the first program in the world to be approved by the Court of Master Sommeliers). With Kinch’s involvement, culinary students will get a chance to visit Love Apple Farm in Santa Cruz, which grows exclusively for Manresa. And with Luchetti’s involvement, pastry students will get a chance to visit her restaurants for dessert tastings and kitchen tours. Additionally, the school offers a range of culinary, baking and wine classes for homecooks.

Saison Chef Joshua Skenes conferring with his cooks before the start of the dinner.Only the brave -- like this cook -- could take being by the roaring hearth on an unseasonably hot San Francisco day.

Saison’s Executive Chef Josh Skenes, an FCI grad, created the dinner. Saison’s Sommelier Mark Bright joked that the wine pairings were all French purely by accident, even if that seemed entirely appropriate to the occasion.

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