Totes for Tots

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Perfect for toting lunch to school.

This lunch bag is not only cute, but made of certified organic cotton that’s easily washable. It also was designed by a self-professed “industrial designer and Silicon Valley dropout.”

Susanne Maddux of San Francisco was the first woman on Apple computer’s elite international design team. She later started her own design consultancy business, where she helped design products for such companies as Sony, Nike, and Kuhn Rikon.

About two years ago, after losing her father and step-father to cancer, and giving birth to her second child prematurely, Maddux’s focus shifted, after she painfully realized how fragile life could be. She rededicated herself to designing things that would be socially and ecologically responsible. The result was her company, Hero Bags, which manufactures totes in the United States using sustainable materials.

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Meet Moroccan Cooking Expert Kitty Morse

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Kitty Morse, the woman who taught me how to make preserved lemons

Want to learn how to make the perfect tagine? Then, stop in at a Bay Area Le Creuset store on Sept. 20 and 21, when veteran cookbook author and Moroccan cuisine expert, Kitty Morse, visits to do a book-signing and cooking demo.

The events are free, too.

I always will be indebted to Morse because she turned me on to making my own preserved lemons. I almost always have some in the fridge now, made with Meyer lemons that have been partially cut, stuffed with Kosher salt, then packed tightly into a sterilized glass jar. After the jar sits on the counter for a couple of days, the lemons will exude their juices and combine with the salt to create a thick preserving brine.

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The Dawn of Celebrity Chefs

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(left to right) Clark Wolf, Jonathan Gold, Zoi Antonitsis, Joey Altman, and Scott Hocker

Restaurant consultant Clark Wolf remembers the pivotal moment when chefs were first transformed into celebrities in the San Francisco Bay Area. It was in the 1980s, when the visage of larger-than-life Chef Jeremiah Tower, of fabled Stars restaurant, graced a billboard advertisement for Dewar’s Scotch.

“That’s what started it in the Bay Area,” Wolf recalled. “Everyone thought, ‘How will Tower ever be taken seriously again?’ ”

He was. And the fame he garnered became the touchstone for stardom that legions of chefs after him coveted mercilessly. Nowadays, chefs are the new rock stars, the new reality TV idols, the ones groupies snap photos of, and seek autographs from. What has this era of celebrity chefs really resulted in? That was the intriguing topic earlier this week at a San Francisco Professional Food Society panel discussion at the new Miss Pearl’s Jam House in Oakland.

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My Mom’s One And Only Tomato Beef Chow Mein

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My favorite tomato beef chow mein. Recipe follows at the end.

Fresh tomatoes. Seared slices of flank steak. Pan-crisped Chinese egg noodles.

Three simple ingredients that together have the most profound of meanings for me.

They make up my favorite tomato beef chow mein dish that my late-mother used to make for family lunches and dinners. Of all the home-style Cantonese dishes she cooked, it’s the one that most reminds me of her, it’s the one that most epitomizes her.  It’s a strong dish that can stand on its own, yet it’s unfussy, it’s comforting, and it’s full of sweet soulfulness.

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Take Five With Joey Altman, On Life After TV’s “Bay Cafe”

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Joey Altman's first cookbook

For the past nine years, Joey Altman has been a familiar face on TV as the host of KRON’s “Bay Cafe,” where he’s welcomed us into his home and into the kitchens of some of the region’s best restaurants.

Nine months ago, the award-winning show sadly went off the air, the victim of the dismal economy and the unfortunate lack of a major sponsor, Altman says.

Altman fans shouldn’t despair. The 44-year-old, long-time Bay Area chef has been busy for the past year, working as a consulting chef for the new incarnation of Miss Pearl’s Jam House in Oakland, which just opened in late August. Altman was the opening chef for the original Miss Pearl’s Jam House in San Francisco in 1989.

His first cookbook also was published this year: “Without Reservations” (John Wiley & Sons), which is filled with tips and recipes for cooking boldly flavored dishes at home.

I caught up with him recently to talk about life after TV, his disdain for TV dinners, and his favorite TV and music idols.

Q: I remember when “Bay Cafe” first aired. Would it be fair to say that you weren’t nearly as ease on TV as you are now?

A: I was horrid the first 200 shows. They’re unwatchable for me. I was just ‘on’ as opposed to ‘being.’ I’ll go on a show now, and I’ll see other people practice bullet points in front of a mirror. I can’t imagine doing that today. I don’t think about it anymore. I just ‘do.’

Q: Was it sad for you when “Bay Cafe” ended?

A: I was very sad. All of my life has been a series of 90-degree turns. It requires one door to close for another to open. I’m confident I’ll find something. I won’t sit at home and pick lint out of my belly button.

I love the diversity of my career. I’d like to do another cookbook, more consulting on restaurants, and to play with my band (the Back Burner Blues Band, made up of fellow Bay Area chefs), and to a business project that would give me some sort of equity.

Q: Would you like to open another restaurant of your own?

A: God forbid. Not with three young children at home. Knowing what it takes to really make a restaurant work, I don’t want to sacrifice that much in my life right now. As it is, I’m doing 16-hour days at Miss Pearl’s. I’ll be there a couple more months.

Caribbean grilled lamb skewers with long beans. Recipe follows at the end. (Photo by Frankie Frankeny)

Q: Is the new Miss Pearl’s similar to the original one?

A: The sensibilities of both are the same, but it’s really the evolution of the original as if it had continued to grow. The signature dishes are there and the funky drinks. We’re also embracing things that have come on the scene since then — sustainable and local. The cooking there isn’t trendy; there’s not a lot of sous vide or foams happening there. It’s just more sophisticated because the environment is more so than it was before. There are elements of whimsy there. It’s bold flavors that are really dynamic and evocative of island cooking with lots of chilies, ginger, and lime juice.

Q: If you could trade places with anyone on TV, who would it be?

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