Cookies, Beers, Wines & Winner of the $100 CSN Certificate

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The Cookies:

If you flew on an airplane during the 1980s, chances are you might remember these crisp, little Biscoff cookies that many airlines served back then.

Now, you can enjoy them with both feet planted on the ground, when Biscoff Coffee Corner and Biscoff Coffee Carts open for business at Pier 39 in San Francisco on June 30.

Europeans have long enjoyed these cookies that taste like a cross between a gingersnap and a graham cracker. Last year, Lotus Bakeries North America in San Francisco started baking them for airlines, retail stores and online orders. Now, it has partnered with the Simco Restaurant Group to open the first North American store to sell the cookies, whose name a derivative of “bis”cuit and “coff”ee.

Indeed, that’s how the cookies are intended to be enjoyed — with a cup of joe. So when you purchase any coffee at the cafe or cart, you’ll get a free cookie.

Take a taste on July 8, when Biscoff Coffee Corner will host a grand opening, featuring a cookie juggler and an official cookie-breaking ceremony. Proceeds from all cookie sales that day will benefit the Marine Mammal Center, which helps maintain the healthy sea lion population at Pier 39. Starting July 9, 1 percent of each day’s cookie sales will be donated to the center.

The First Anniversary:

San Francisco’s Thursday Ferry Plaza Farmers Market celebrates just that on July 1 with pinatas, party hats and prizes, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Drop your card into a 5-gallon salad spinner to win a chance at one of 50 prizes, which include tote bags, T-shirts, roasted almonds from Lagier Ranches, and coffee beans from Blue Bottle.

The first 111 people to visit the farmers market information booth that day get a $1 gift coin that can be used towards your next market purchase.

The Brewski:

As the Fourth of July approaches, there’s nowhere better to get into the festive, patriotic spirit than at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company in Princeton-by-the-Sea.

Throughout July, the brew pub and restaurant celebrates its 10th anniversary with a series of special events.  In particular, July 2-4, the brewing company will feature live music in the evening and a giveaway.

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The Real McCoy

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Yes, this bumpy little root that’s no bigger than my thumb is the real-deal wasabi.

If all that you’re used to is the common toothpaste-like blob of horseradish, mustard and green food coloring found on sushi plates almost everywhere, then you deserve to treat yourself to the real thing.

I picked up this little guy at Nijiya market in Mountain View, where the fresh, very perishable, and very pricey and very difficult-to-grow root can be found regularly in the refrigerator case next to the packages of neatly sliced raw fish.

It’s imported from Japan and sells for $55.99 a pound. Fortunately, this tiny specimen, weighing in at all of .055 of a pound, set me back only $3.08.

With real wasabi, you still get nasal-tingling burn, but not nearly as explosive as that from the imitation paste. In fact, I have no problems eating a little of the grated wasabi root straight. But I’d be hard pressed to do that with the out-of-the-tube stuff without tearing up. With real wasabi, there is more nuance — an almost floral quality and subtle sweetness. It explodes on your palate, but the heat dissipates quickly, unlike the fake stuff.

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Time for Cake, Cheese & Sorbet

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The cakes:

As in cupcakes, whoopie cakes and other classic cakes you’ll find at the new SusieCakes bakery, which has opened its first San Francisco location in the Marina district, a short hop from the Hilton at Fisherman’s Wharf.

This marks the second branch of the Los Angeles bakery, which has opened up North. The first one debuted in January in Greenbrae in Marin County.

The new Marina bakery will celebrate its grand opening on June 26, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., with an old-fashioned sock hop, featuring ’50s tunes, kids activities, a costume contest, tasty treats, and prizes, including a raffle for a one-year membership in the SusieCakes “Cake of the Month” club.

The cheese:

Have you spotted these adorable truncated 1966 VW buses done up to resemble baby loaves of Tillamook cheddar?

My hubby actually saw one recently and had to do a double-take. See for yourself as Tillamook’s “Love Tour” continues through June 25 in the Bay Area.

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Penance for a Food Product Snub

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Forgive me, kefir, for I have sinned.

For years, I never tried you, never cared to, never even thought about it.

What can I say? There was just something about your name that turned me off.

I love your distant cousin, yogurt, whose name I’ve grown accustomed to saying effortlessly and joyously.

But you, kefir, every time I heard your name, I just turned the other way.

The tragedy.

I hope you can find it in your cultured, fermented heart to forgive me now, because thanks to the good folks at Lifeway, who cajoled and persisted with samples, I finally tried you.

And now — dare I say it — I ADORE you.

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Kitchenette — Sammies in an Unlikely Locale

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Forget your cute little cafes with the chic, outdoor tables to take a load off at lunchtime.

Some of the best al fresco dining in San Francisco can be had at an actual concrete loading dock, where you might find yourself digging into your gourmet sammy as an exhaust-spewing UPS or Fed-Ex truck pulls up right beside you.

Of course, I can only be talking about the offbeat and charming, Kitchenette in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood, a short drive from the W Hotel.

You gotta love its slogan: “Spontaneous organic covert nourishment.”

That about sums up this cash-only, tucked away spot that’s only open 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. weekdays.

It was opened last year by a group of chefs that have worked at some of the Bay Area’s top establishments, including Chez Panisse, Ad Hoc, Incanto,  and Betelnut. With that kind of pedigree, you know you’re not getting some slapped together cold cuts.

Nope, the limited menu changes daily and features primo artisan, organic ingredients.

The  menu is posted daily on Kitchenette’s Web site, and usually includes a choice of two or three different sandwiches such as a fig wood-smoked pastrami one or fried eggplant on anchovy-garlic bread; possibly a salad; house-baked cookies; and a creative, house-made beverage such as lemon verbena-chrysanthemum Arnold Palmer.

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