Tomato Sale to End All Tomato Sales & More

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Grow your own tomatoes -- with the help of Love Apple Farm. (Photo courtesy of the farm)

Love Apple Farm’s Annual Tomato Seedling Sale

Yes, folks, this is the biggie — the tomato seedling sale that’s the largest in California, the one that attracts droves of home gardeners, including folks from Los Angeles, who have been known to drive up and back in one day just for it.

Why? Because Owner Cynthia Sandberg knows her tomatoes.

Sandberg runs the 20-acre Love Apple Farm in Santa Cruz, which supplies one — and only one — restaurant with an astounding variety of produce. That would be the Michelin-two-star Manresa in Los Gatos.

The seedling sale will kick off at 9 a.m. March 26 and run through June 26. An astounding 30,000 plants representing more than 100 varieties of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes will be sold, including Black Oxheart, Gary O’ Sena, Hippy Zebra and Mountain Pride. Seedling prices range from $3.50 to $5.50 each.

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Crunchy Wonderful Cereal Cookies

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Cereal in cookie form.

After getting a chance to make my own custom blend of cereal at Me & Goji, the New Hampshire artisanal cereal company, I enjoyed the crunchy, varied mix over creamy yogurt and just plain out of hand.

I also adored it in these cereal cookies.

I found this recipe for “Cornflake Cookies” on the wonderful blog, BakingBites, which is all about tantalizing baked goods recipes and the low-down on nifty baking gadgets.

According to Nicole Weston, creator of BakingBites, the use of cereal in cookies originated in the 1930s and skyrocketed in the 1970s.

These cookies have the melt-in-your-mouth quality of Mexican wedding cakes, but are far crisper.

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Fun Custom Cereal Giveaway

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"Food Gal's Favorite'' -- my custom blended cereal mix.

Except for some crunchy granola scattered over my bowl of yogurt, I’m not the world’s biggest cereal eater.

But Me & Goji just might make me one.

The New Hampshire custom, artisanal cereal company lets you design your own blend of cereal. We’re not talking Rice Krispies mixed with Special K and Cocoa Puffs. Instead, you can choose from more than 60 all-natural ingredients, including 5-grain muesli, “samurai wheat” bite-sized shredded wheat cubes, barley flakes, acai powder, goji berries, chia seeds, pine nuts, dried strawberries and sesame seeds.

You can name your cereal and upload a photo to decorate the resealable, recyclable, heavy-duty tube it comes in.

The company was started a couple years ago by two active, sporty guys — Alexander Renzi and Adam Sirois — who graduated from Northwestern University, where they played soccer together and longed for healthier food options to recharge with.

Recently, they offered me a chance to design my own cereal on the house.

Your cereal arrives in a resealable, recyclable capsule.

The name I gave my cereal.

I blended a mix of the “flax and flaked” (a blend of corn flakes, amaranth seeds, flax seeds, and sesame seeds) with granola, whole almonds, walnuts, sesame seeds and mulberries. And I named it, “Food Gal’s Favorite.” But of course!

I love this cereal. It is crunchy, nutty, full of varied textures and a far cry from the almost candy-like cereals on store shelves. It tastes fresh, healthful and delightful.

According to the nutritional info on the back of the tube, my cereal mix weighs in at 161 calories per half cup (a lot less than most granolas I eat), with 7.5g total fat, 75mg potassium, 4.8g protein, 3.5g sugar, and 9 percent of the daily requirement of iron.

My mix would have cost $13.90, plus $3.99 for shipping and 99 cents for the tube, which contains about 10 cups of cereal.

There’s also a handy “recipe ID” number printed on the back of the tube, so if I want to re-order the same blend, I just enter that number on the Web site and it’s automatically added to my cart for check-out.

Contest: I’m thrilled to be able to give one lucky Food Gal reader a chance to try their own custom cereal blend for free.

Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST March 26. Winner will be announced March 28.

How to win?

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Jack & Jason Went to the Kitchen to Make Pancakes

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Fluffy, hearty pancakes from Jack & Jason mixes.

I’m not sure the world needs another pancake/waffle mix. But San Francisco entrepreneurs Jack Harper and Jason Jervis are betting you’ll find theirs irresistible.

Their Jack & Jason’s Pancake & Waffle Mixes, which come in five flavors, are made with unenriched whole wheat flour, oatmeal and real fruit. Choose from: Original, Blueberry, Double Chocolate, Banana-Walnut and Pumpkin-Spice.

I had a chance to try the Banana-Walnut. You still have to add your own butter, egg and milk to the mix. A nice option is the directions included for making a low-cholesterol version with canola oil, egg whites and skim milk.

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All Spice Is All Charm

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Ahi tuna atop pickled watermelon at All Spice.

In a seemingly incongruous locale tucked back from busy El Camino Real in San Mateo sits a quaint 1906 Victorian house, where dynamic, modern Indian fare is now being created.

All Spice, which opened in November, is the latest venture by Chef Sachin Chopra, formerly of Sakoon in Mountain View, Mantra in Palo Alto, Amber India in San Jose, and Daniel in New York. It’s also the first time Chopra has partnered with his wife, Shoshana Wolff, in a restaurant venture.

Recently, I was invited to be a guest of the restaurant, which is a warren of small rooms that lend a feeling of warmth and intimacy.

Wolff greets you at the door with a cheery welcome. With a masters in Viticulture and Enology from the University of California at Davis, Wolff also is a wine-maker, growing her own grapes at her family’s vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Her Wolff & Father Wines, which she hopes to pour at the restaurant in the near future, will focus on Merlot and Zinfandel. At first thought, you might think those substantial reds jarring with Indian cuisine, but Wolff assures that they go exceedingly well with her husband’s style of cooking, which is boldly flavored but not at all searing in heat.

When I visited, the restaurant was still awaiting its wine and beer license, but offering a small, but well-crafted list of non-alcoholic beverages. I enjoyed a rosemary-infused pink grapefruit punch so much that I can’t wait to try making it at home.

Lentil-battered potato fritters show up as an amuse bouche.

After we were seated, our convivial server brought an amuse of lentil-battered potatoes with Indian-style aioli. The potato fritters were crisp on the outside, creamy within, and with bits of salty, porky bacon hidden inside.

Indian-style chicken wings with fall-off-the-bone tenderness.

My husband started with the star anise and fennel confit chicken wings ($9), a generous portion that is probably best shared. Fragrant with lemongrass and yuzu, as well as a red chili sauce, the wings weren’t crisp-fried like the Buffalo-version. Instead, the wings were braised until the meat was pull-away tender. It’s a messy dish, but one you’ll be happy to dig into.

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