Root Beer — It’s Not Just For Drinking

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The secret ingredient in this luscious cake? Root beer.

One of my fondest memories as a teenager is the jolting brain freeze I’d get slurping an A&W root beer float after spending the afternoon playing tennis with my older brothers.

The frosty mug of root beer and soft-serve vanilla ice cream went down sweet, slightly bitter, and creamy. I was usually so thirsty that I couldn’t help but take that first gulp big and fast. The coldness would race up my nose to the middle of my eyes, forcing them shut with part pleasure and part pain. For a kid, it was the ultimate reward after all that running around after a fuzzy, bouncing ball.

Nowadays, I can’t remember the last time I picked up a tennis racket. And I long gave up root beer floats in an ode to try to be more health conscious.

But when I saw the photo of Root Beer Bundt Cake in the new “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking” cookbook (Stewart, Tabori & Chang) by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, I knew I had to make it. There’s root beer in both the chocolate cake and the chocolate frosting.

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A Non-Alcoholic Alternative Made With Delicious Wine Grapes

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A quenching, non-tipsy beverage. (Photo courtesy of Napa VinJus)

You may already know Food & Vine Inc.’s Salute Sante! of the Napa Valley for its organic, high smoke-point grapeseed oil.

Now, get to know its divine new beverage, Napa VinJus, made from early-picked varietal grapes with low-sugar levels and high acid. The result is a non-boozy, golden-hued drink that is quite tangy, crisp, and with notes of green apple and honeysuckle.

I’m not a fan of sugary sodas, so I really fell for VinJus’ perky, puckery flavor. Indeed, it has about half the sugar of regular grape juice. Enjoy it in place of soda, or as an alternative to a cocktail.

A 750ml bottle sells for $14.50 at www.napavinjus.com/. You’ll also find it at Julia’s Kitchen at Copia in Napa, Go Fish Restaurant in St. Helena, Zuzu Tapas Bar in Napa, and the Culinary Institute of America’s Greystone Campus in St. Helena.


New Dessert Shop, New Kids’ Menu, New Wine

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Frozen yogurt with Valhrona chocolate rice pearls and sunflower seeds. (Photo courtesy of Chill).

There’s a chill in the air in San Francisco — in more ways than one.

Chill is a new dessert cafe, 125 Kearny St. in downtown San Francisco across the street from the Crocker Galleria. Owner Trang Nguyen, who sports an MBA and work experience at Kraft Foods and Revlon, serves up unique sweets with global influences.

Low-fat, all-natural frozen yogurt comes in flavors such as original tart, black sesame, and rooibos red tea. There’s also vanilla frozen custard to give you goose bumps. Choose from toppings such as chocolate agave, black sugar, and dulce de leche.

Crispy crepe cone with frozen custard and strawberries. (Photo courtesy of Chill)

Or enjoy those offerings in concoctions such as Black Sesame Fig ($5.25), a mix of fig puree, grape syrup, organic condensed milk, and black sesame fro-yo, all on a bed of shave ice. Or have it all stuffed in a crispy crepe cone. How about Banana Walnuts ($5.75), a crepe cone filled with banana chips, walnuts, dulce de leche syrup, and frozen yogurt?

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For Pumpkin-Pie Haters

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Cheesecake you can't resist.

Let me just say right off: I am not fond of pumpkin pie.

I know this makes no sense, but I thoroughly love pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin ice cream, and pumpkin cheesecake. Just not pie.

Don’t get me wrong, I love pie in general. But there’s just something that turns me off about pumpkin pie. Too much of a one-dimensional flabby texture? Perhaps. All I know is that if pumpkin pie is the only option for dessert, I’d rather go without. And for a dessert lover like me, that’s saying a lot.

Yet I love the drama and festiveness of a big, beautiful dessert decked out in the color of fall. So that’s why I was thrilled to find this extraordinary cheesecake recipe by renowned New York Pastry Chef Pichet Ong, a University of California at Berkeley grad, who has worked at Chez Panisse in Berkeley and La Folie in San Francisco, as well as Jean Georges, and Spice Market, both New York restaurants owned by celebrated Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Ong now is chef and owner of P*ONG, a cutting-edge dessert spot in New York City, where his creations fuse both the sweet and the savory.

Kabocha squash or Japanese pumpkin

His recipe for Kabocha Squash Cheesecake with Walnut Crust comes from his cookbook, “The Sweet Spot” (William Morrow). No pumpkin here; only kabocha squash. Also known as Japanese pumpkin, it’s probably most familiar to you as a component in assorted Japanese tempura. I don’t know about you, but the orange curve of golden-battered squash in the mound of fried veggies and shrimp is the tempura piece I covet most.

I love its natural honeyed, nutty sweetness, and its fluffy, starchy texture that’s like roasted chestnuts or a roasted russet potato.

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Calling All Chocoholics Who Love to Cook

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Create a cutting-edge, imaginative recipe using fine artisan chocolate and diverse ingredients in the second annual “Chocolate Adventure Contest,” and you could end up thousands of dollars richer.

That got your attention?

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker of Berkeley and TuttiFoodie.com know how to put a contest together. And yes, this one does stipulate you use Scharffen Berger chocolate in any one of three categories: sweet, savory, and beverage. One grand prize winner in each of those categories pockets a cool $5,000.

Contestants also are required to use at least one “adventure ingredient” from the following list: popping candy (unflavored or flavored), wattleseed, palm sugar, basil, mustard seeds, coriander, black sesame seeds, black or pink peppercorns, chili pepper (fresh or whole dried), coconut milk, kaffir lime leaf, matcha tea, mango, plantain, jicama, tapioca pearls (any size), tamarind (or tamarind paste), and/or cacao nibs.

It’s that simple, so get cracking. You have through Jan. 4, 2009 to enter online at www.chocolateadventurecontest.com.

“When we started Scharffen Berger, we were the first ones in the United States to focus on bringing out the intrinsic flavors of cacao in our chocolate, and the first to highlight the importance of cacao by featuring its percentage on our label,” says company Co-Founder John Scharffenberger.  “Our goal was to enhance the way Americans thought about chocolate.  We’re looking for that same forward-looking spirit in this recipe contest.”

Entries will be scrutinized by a panel of chocolate experts, including cookbook authors Alice Medrich and Elizabeth Falkner, John Scharffenberger, and TuttiFoodie.com’s Lisa Schiffman. Recipes will be judged on originality, creativity, taste, and ease of preparation.

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