For his birthday, this evening I made:
- filet mignon with port reduction
- garlic-orange rainbow chard
- israeli couscous with cinnamon & laurel leaf
There is a love-hate relationship with Andronico’s markets that I’m sure many of you in the SF bay area can relate to. They have beautiful meat. They have beautiful almost everything, and everything costs [...]

Should I ever succumb to death, this is where I wish to rest.
Most of you probably don’t know I’m in sales–a colleague of mine is prospecting Omnivore Books here in San Francisco–I had NEVER heard of the place and although they’re closed on Monday, I’m ready to grab my sleeping bag, call in sick tomorrow [...]

For some time, I’ve been considering a home produce delivery, as the Bay Area has a large selection of vendors for this purpose–from private farms to co-op vendors who source several farms and deliver, there’s a wealth of good, organic produce in these parts. I had put off starting the shipments because I was torn [...]

History has it that Pasta (in this case, Rigatoni) puttanesca had something to do with prostituites in Naples, but all I can tell you is it’s great in winter and terribly typically Mediterranean.
180g rigatoni (pasta for 2-3), dry
80g (several T) good quality tomato paste
1 yellow bell pepper
1/3 red bell pepper
2 T capers (packed in salt [...]

Very close to my place of work in downtown San Francisco is a popular gourmet take-out staged in a former cigar/tobacco stand, aptly named The Sentinel (you can read people’s thoughts on the place here). They serve a rotating, limited menu daily which is updated every morning on their website. Almost every day, they offer [...]

Roast Vegetable Ragout
2 large heirloom tomatoes, preferably green/purple variety or other rich color
2 large carrots, peeled & trimmed
1/2 medium onion
6+ garlic cloves, peeled & trimmed
1/2 red bell pepper
Cut all vegetables into chunks; carrots diagonally. Put into baking dish, toss with 1/4-1/3 C olive oil, pleanty of sea salt & cracked pepper. Cook for 45-90min until [...]

Lately I’ve been on a major health kick, trying hard to stabilize my blood sugar without any other aids. Food, you’ve probably heard, is a drug. I’ve been trying all sorts of strange things from San Francisco’s famous Rainbow Grocery Co-Op, including different types of grain and especially flours like chickpea flour, buckwheat flour, quinoa [...]

I’m single-handedly battling my own metabolic syndrome by getting off of corrective pills and embracing a healthier, vegetable rich, flour & sugar low diet. I’ve found an easy way to incorporate more vegetables is to start adapting raw recipes and ideas into my diet. It really is like power food, though sometimes hard to digest [...]

1 bunch wild arugula, washed and drained
3 small stalks Japanese kale
1/3 C blueberries
4 small-medium golden beets
2 T raw pumpkin seeds
1/3 lb Capricho di Cabra or other fresh goat cheese
1 small lemon
olive oil
salt & pepper
Clean and trim beets and place in foil, covering with olive oil, salt, pepper generously. Close foil up, place in oven at [...]

Carnaroli Rice (eyeball to cover sautee pan bottom for 2)
olive oil
1 shallot
4 C home made chicken stock
1/2 C dry white wine
10 good looking salt water shrimp, peeled and deveined
Heavy pinch Saffron
Salt & Pepper
Sautee the minced shallot and the rice in hot oil until the rice becomes golden, adding salt & pepper. Add 1/4-1/2 C white [...]