A Cookie Epiphany

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My new -- and old -- favorite oatmeal cookies.

I love my Auntie Stella for many reasons.

For her love of life and contagious laughter.

For the way she can dissect the games of Nadal and Federer with gusto.

For her uncanny ability to spot and pick out every speck of dreaded green onion or cilantro in any dish she eats.

And for her cherished Christmas presents to me when I was a child.

You see, my Auntie Stella used to work for the company that distributed Snoopy and all the other Peanuts characters collectibles.

Every Christmas, I’d find under the tree, something bearing Snoopy’s likeness — sleep shirts, a coin bank, ornaments or a big plush dog, which I carried everywhere for the longest time.

Along with the Snoopy presents, there was also another regular treat from her under the tree.

It was a festive-wrapped cardboard box, which my aunt would dole out to each of her relatives. Inside were freshly baked Danish cookies from a local bakery that were lined up in rows like tiles. There were probably about five different kinds of cookies inside. But there was one that my oldest brother, Alan, and I always reached for first. They were rectangular ones with rounded edges, and a crisp, nubby texture.

I wasn’t even sure what was in them. I just ate them happily, adoring the way they crumbled in my mouth.

When my aunt retired from her company, which had a partnership with the bakery, the cookie box at Christmas time went by the wayside.

I never experienced those particular cookies again.

Until now.

When I baked a batch of oatmeal cookies using a recipe from “The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion” (Countryman Press).

There are many variations of oatmeal cookies in this wonderful cookbook. In the past, I’d often used the one for “The Essential Chewy Oatmeal Cookie.” But this time for a change, I decided to see how “The Essential Crunchy Oatmeal Cookie” recipe compared.

Dried white mulberries.

For even more variation, instead of raisins, I substituted dried white mulberries, which I had toted home from Australia. But you also can find them at specialty stores in the Bay Area, including the Spanish Table in Berkeley.  The tiny, dried berries have a wonderful, sweet, date-like flavor.

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A Welcome (and Delicious) Red Wine Stain

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Red wine stains usually send shivers of horror through hosts and hostesses.

Visions of our best white tablecloths or favorite eggshell-hued couch being ruined for life tend to torment us.

But here’s one case where the staining power of your favorite red varietal is welcomed, indeed.

Take a close look at that plate of pasta above. No, it’s not whole-wheat pasta. In fact, those noodles started out as regular beige-colored strands. Take another look. Go on. You might even notice a bit of burgundy-purple tint to the noodles. It’s not your eyes playing funny tricks on you. And it’s not my meager Photoshop abilities at work, either.

Nope. It’s the magic of Zinfandel wine. An entire 750-ml bottle to be exact.

“Zinfandel Spaghettini with Spicy Rapini” is a genius dish from the new cookbook, “Michael Chiarello’s Bottega” (Chronicle Books). The book, of which I recently received a review copy, is filled with more than 100 recipes for Southern Italian specialties by Chiarello, chef-owner of the wildly popular Bottega restaurant in Yountville.

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Glam Truffle Popcorn and the Winner of the Food Gal $100 Giveaway

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Ahhhhh. I love the smell of black truffle popcorn in the afternoon.

It smells like pure decadence.

You have to admit there is something a little naughty about dressing up lowbrow popcorn with truffle oil, of all things.

Oh, I know, some of you are so over truffle oil. And the purists out there scoff that many of the ones on the market have no actual truffle in them.

But there’s no denying the haunting quality of the heady aroma of the pricey tuber.

Now, you can enjoy the uptown combo of popcorn and black truffle oil in a convenient kit by San Francisco’s 479° Popcorn.

The “Pop It Yourself Kit” ($45) comes complete with a 32-ounce jar of heirloom popcorn: Shaman Blue, Yellow Topaz, Dakota Black and White Diamond; a 16.5-ounce canister of La Tourangelle Black Truffle Oil (grapeseed oil infused with “black truffle aroma”); 2 packets of Gourmet Black Truffle Sea Salt (made with Mediterranean sea salt and shaved italian black truffles); 10 paper popcorn cones; and instructions.

The "Pop It Yourself Kit.''

The company, named for the precise popping temperature best for popcorn, was founded by husband-and-wife, Andy and Jean Arnold. All of their popcorn products are certified organic and purchased from small suppliers.

After I received a sample kit, my hubby has been begging me to make the popcorn every weekend. Dare I confess that sometimes we even enjoy a huge bowl as our lunch?

The quality of the kernels is unparalleled. There’s a real freshness to them that you don’t find in supermarket ones.

Pop some up, then drizzle on some truffle oil and sprinkle on some truffle salt. I defy anyone who makes a batch not to devour it. Once you get a whiff of the truffle oil hitting the hot, fresh popcorn, you just surrender to it.

Contest Winner(s): Now, for something else a little decadent — a $100 CSN gift card giveaway, good at any CSN online store.

As you recall in this latest Food Gal contest, I asked you to tell me about the best food-related gift you’ve ever received. Your answers touched my heart, made me laugh out loud, and were just priceless to read.

It was hard to pick just one winner. So, I didn’t. Besides the grand prize winner who will receive the $100 gift card, I’m adding second- and third-place winners, who will each receive a culinary-related book from my vast collection.

Thank you all for participating. Without further adieu, here are the winners:

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Take Five with Chef Duskie Estes, On Competing On “The Next Iron Chef” Despite Never Watching the Food Network

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Tune in to watch Duskie Estes of Bovolo and Zazu restaurants in Sonoma County. (Photo courtesy of the Food Network)

When the third season of “The Next Iron Chef” premieres on Sunday, Oct. 3 at 9 p.m., 10 chefs will compete to win a chance to stand alongside Michael Symon and Jose Garces as the newest Iron Chefs on that smoke-billowing platform.

Among them will be Duskie Estes of Zazu Restaurant + Farm in Santa Rosa, the only Northern California chef in the competition, who is gunning to follow in Cat Cora’s footsteps to become the second female “Iron Chef.”

I had a chance this week to chat by phone with Estes, a former vegetarian who went over to the pork side, who feared she nearly blew the interview when she was first asked to do the show.

A believer in “snout to tail” cooking, the 42-year-old Estes, who grew up in San Francisco, is also chef-owner with her husband of Bovolo in Healdsburg and the Black Pig Meat Co., purveyor of salumi and bacon in Sonoma County. Estes has worked at such top restaurants as Al Forno in Rhode Island, Bay Wolf in Oakland, and Dahlia Lounge in Seattle. She and her husband, John Stewart, who studied salumi making with Mario Batali, met while working together at Etta’s Seafood and Palace Kitchen, both of which are Chef Tom Douglas’ restaurants in Seattle.

Cheer on Estes as she goes up against: Marco Canora (chef and owner of Hearth, Terrior, and Terroir TriBeca, in New York), Bryan Caswell (chef and owner of Reef, Stella Sola, and Little Bigs, in Houston), Maneet Chauhan (chef at Vermilion in Chicago and New York), Mary Dumont (executive chef at Harvest in Cambridge), , Marc Forgione (chef and owner of Marc Forgione in New York), Andrew Kirschner (executive chef of Wilshire in Santa Monica), Mario Pagin (chef and owner of Lemongrass in Puerto Rico), Celina Tio (chef and owner of Julian in Kansas City, MO), and Ming Tsai (chef and wwner of Blue Ginger in Wellesley, Mass.).

Q: You had an Easy-Bake oven when you were growing up. I’m so jealous, as my Mom never let me have one because she thought I’d burn down the house with it. Was this the start of your love for cooking?

A: I was 5 when I got mine. I have a photo of me baking a birthday cake for my grandfather with it. I was very proud of it.

I got one for my older daughter when she was 5. They have so many added safety features on it now. You can’t get in there and get the stuff. It’s less fun now. It was better when it was dangerous. (laughs) So, I let my older daughter, who’s 9 now, just use the real oven instead.

Q: Is Duskie a nickname or your given name?

A: It’s my given name. It’s a testament to my California hippie parents.

Q: Since you grew up in San Francisco, you must have had a pretty foodie household?

A: My father was a scientist, and scientists are all closet chefs. After my parents divorced, my Dad would take me out once a week to a restaurant in San Francisco. So, from the time I was 10, I had a great exposure to what great chefs like Alice Waters and Jeremiah Tower were doing.

I’m also the youngest in the family. Growing up, I was the one who cooked for the whole family. I loved it.

Q: You graduated from Brown University. How did you go from that to cooking professionally?

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Five Fabulous Foodie Events

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Oyster shooters at Chaya in San Francisco. (Photo courtesy of Chaya)

In San Francisco:

Chaya Brasserie San Francisco celebrates its 10th anniversary with a “10-10-10”  promotion that runs Oct. 1-10.

Now’s the time to kick back with Japanese-French creations as you take a load off at this beautiful restaurant with its Bay Bridge views.  Each day, enjoy a different price cut on some of the restaurant’s most popular items in the bar and lounge. For instance, on Day 1 (Oct. 1), enjoy a $14 regularly priced Red Dragon Roll for only $10. On Day 2, sip a Takara Nigori Unfiltered sake for $9 (regularly $15). Day 10 will feature oysters for $1 each (regularly $3 each).

A special $20.10 three-course lunch also will be offered during the promotion. Options will include the likes of herbed Monterey calamari salad; King salmon with grilled fennel, white corn, and Swiss chard; and blueberry custard torte.

The restaurant also will be launching a new menu, which will include new items such as a selection of crudo; a starter of sauteed foie gras with pear compote ($18); and entrees such as an artichoke and pearl barley ragout with spinach, edamame, tomato, wild mushrooms and Parmigiano-Reggiano ($20).

Tonight, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., SF Weekly hosts its third annual DISH event on the fourth floor of the San Francisco Metreon.

Sample gourmet eats from more than 30 of the city’s celebrated eateries, including the Hard Knox Cafe, New Delhi and Pica Pica Maize Kitchen.

Proceeds will benefit StreetSmart4Kids, a non-profit that works in partnership with San Francisco restaurants to help homeless children.

Tickets are $50 at the door.

The event tonight kicks off a six-week “Dine Out & Donate” program, Oct. 1 through Nov. 15, with more than 50 San Francisco restaurants participating. When dining  at one of those restaurants during that time, you’ll be asked to leave $3 or more per table in a StreetSmart4Kids envelope.  The funds will go to local youth programs supported by StreetSmart4Kids. Among the restaurants participating are Acquerello, Fleur de Lys, Betelnut, and Piperade.

Oct. 9, noon to 4 p.m., San Francisco magazine hosts its annual FallFest, a celebration of the best in Bay Area food and wine at Justin Herman Plaza.

The theme is “Eat Local,” with participants asked to use ingredients grown or produced within three hours of their final destination. The plaza will be transformed into an open-air marketplace with chef demos and panel discussions.

Tickets are $95 in advance or $110 a the door. Food Gal readers, though, get a special $15 savings on advance tickets. Pay only $80 when using the discount code: FOODGAL.

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