Uncategorized

Gwenyth Paltrow’s Chicken Salad

Gwenyth Paltrow’s Chicken Salad

I don’t often look to Gwenyth Paltrow for recipe advice–or much, for that matter. But recently as I was looking for a good recipe for a substantial chicken salad that would be nice on hot summer evenings, I ran across this. It’s great because it has arugula…

Read More
Not My Bag

Not My Bag

I've always said in an alternate life I'd like to be a baker. And seeing that I'm only 30, I keep telling myself it's really not too late to make that happen in this life. So when I saw an ad for cooperative bakers at a pizza and sweet shop I'd heard of, I immediately signed up for the orientation. In their materials, they discuss how they train you as a baker for 4 months before the shop opens (and pay you a fair wage during this time). It seemed like a no-brainer: I'm currently freelancing and not making much money, and someone would pay me while they taught me how to make morning buns and thin pizzas? Sign me up. I received an email about the orientation, informing me it would be 3 hours and I was required to stay for the whole thing. Yikes. But hey, it was kismet. This was the answer to my "alternate life" dilemma. At the orientation, I learned all about collectives (as Arizmendi is a collective based on the Cheese Board in Berkeley) and communal decision making. I started to get a little nervous. I have a strong, domineering personality. But hey, I wanted to learn how to make kookie brittle and chocolate chunk cookies for the masses.

Read More
The Charms of Fair Food

The Charms of Fair Food

I never wanted to go in the first place. The dogs needed to be fed, it was getting late, and we'd had a long day canoeing on the river. I wanted to go home and grill burgers, make a big salad with the tomatoes and wax beans from the garden, and pour a glass of Pinot. Instead I was sneaking into the county fair through the back gates (not my idea), talking vodka and morning ice cream with an alcoholic contractor, sitting with horse owners by their stalls hearing all about steroids (for the horses) and Oxycontin and Valium (for them). I also learned about the best way to steal a bike, and how to avoid real estate taxes. I was anxious, a little judgemental, and couldn't wait to get out of there. And then we started walking down the aisles of fair food. It was a bit aimless at first, probably how some women walk through jewelry stores, staring at the diamonds they can't have. Ogling. That's how we were: paralyzed in admiration, as if we'd never known such a thing as fried clams, turkey legs, or waffle cone sundaes existed. No longer was I wondering if the corn was GMO (obviously) or cursing myself for leaving my purse in the car. Instead, I was making important decisions: kennel corn or blueberry pie a la mode? Corn dog or tri-tip sandwich?

Read More
Food Memories

Food Memories

I would be a horrible game show contestant. In fact, I'd last all of five minutes. It's not one of my strengths to come up with answers to anything quickly. I often know the answer but it takes me a second to conjure them up...Recently as I was sitting in a Food Writing class, the instructor asked us to write about our first food memory. Now I wasn't shocked that I couldn't think of anything right off the top of my head. But five minutes went by. Ten minutes. Still nothing. Not only could I not think of my earliest memory, I couldn't think of a single memory. So I kind of made one up for class, but couldn't stop thinking about food memories after class: my parents fed me. I was sure of that. So why couldn't I remember any landmark meals or dishes? Well ever since the Food Writing class, I've been thinking about these food memories a lot...and thank god, a few have surfaced. I thought I'd record them here so I can fetch them when memory should fail me further down the line, as it surely will: -Mom's custard. I believe it came from The Silver Palette cookbook. It was super simple: eggs, milk, and sugar. Mom used to make it late at night (for the next day, I guess) and often after she'd gotten out of the bath so there were wafts of Nivea lotion and sweet milk trickling out of the kitchen. I loved how the custard formed a skin on the top. It was my favorite part. The most basic, simple, satisfying dessert.

Read More
After a Week, Still Thinking About Food Inc.

After a Week, Still Thinking About Food Inc.

When I was eating my blueberries and kefir this morning, I noticed a label on the blueberry container: "Who Grew These Blueberries? Please visit www.oregonberry.com, click the lot code printed on the front of this label and find out information about the grower." Wow. Really? Well, I did just as the directions instructed and was led to the smiling face of Paul H. Coussen's Farm in Oregon. Now Paul grew up in Belgium, but came to Hillsboro Oregon when he was young and his grandparents started farming. You get the idea. I sat there and stared at Paul and the picture of his verdant country road the entire time I ate my breakfast. Pretty incredible. On a related note, yesterday I was interviewing the new proprietress of Her Majesty's Secret Beekeeper, Cameo Woods, for a project I'm working on. If you haven't yet heard of her shop: she just opened in the Mission and sells local, artisan honey, beekeeping supplies, and anything derived from the honey process (beeswax, candles etc.) Cameo was telling me that honey actually tastes drastically different depending on the neighborhood in which the bees live--and eat--(for example, Castro honey would taste far different than Glen Park honey). Really? Now living in the Bay Area, I have to remind myself that the rest of the country isn't necessarily as interested in the local, sustainable food movement. It's big here. I get daily tweets and emails about it. My weekend running partners talk about the best local tomatoes and who sells them. When I went to see Food Inc., I was sitting in the theater amongst aging hippies who were nodding and "here here-ing" and somehow wishing it could reach a different audience. We're already sold. I loved Food Inc., but I knew much of the information already. However, there's something about it that has stayed with me.

Read More
Ben and Jerry’s “Flipped-Out” Fails

Ben and Jerry’s “Flipped-Out” Fails

I can define certain moments of my life in Ben & Jerry's flavors. In junior high, there was Rainforest Crunch (you know you miss it). I had to beat my dad to it or hide it in deep, dark tunnels in the back of the fridge. There were my teenage years of Coconut Almond Fudge Chip (when they reissued it for all of two seconds awhile back, I stocked up expecting the worst). Then in college: Cherry Garcia. A pizza place a block from my dorm delivered it for free. I had them on speed-dial. So last week when I heard about Ben & Jerry's newest creation, Flipped Out, I had high hopes and began the supermarket search. Whole Foods--no. My corner liquor store--sorry. But tonight, at the old-fashioned market down the block, I spotted a freezer case full of Flipped- Out. My lucky day.

Read More
You Are What You Eat

You Are What You Eat

I remember a few years back observing my family eat at the Olema Inn in West Marin. I was so sick that weekend. I laid in bed sweating out a fever, having delusions that the stuffed squirrels on the mantle were dancing around my bedposts. So when my sisters begged me to just come downstairs and sit at the table even if I didn't feel like eating, I decided it was time to get a little fresh air (and escape those demonic squirrels). I stumbled downstairs, and sat in the sweet candlelit dining room admiring the menu and wishing that I could eat just a little something. These days it's common to ask if our meat is corn-fed, grass-fed, free-range etc. But at the Olema Inn, they went so far as to list whose field the cows had grazed on (The Turner's field down the road a bit). At the time I thought this was a little too precious: do we really need to know that many details? Seriously, does it matter whose grass the cows consumed on what day? But the Olema Inn was two steps ahead of me. They understood that what your food eats, where it's raised, and the conditions in which it's raised greatly affect the taste and quality.

Read More
Winging it With Gazpacho

Winging it With Gazpacho


It’s finally hot here. Like really, really ‘summer has certainly arrived’ hot. As I write, the dogs are sitting at my feet panting away, the fan is blocking out all street noise, and things are very, very still. No breeze. No squirrels darting across the…

Read More
Stiff Drinks, Smokey Beans, & Really Good Posture

Stiff Drinks, Smokey Beans, & Really Good Posture

Sunday was basically a wash. I had a great run along the Mill Valley bike path. The sun was out. I felt strong. Stopped by Peet's for a mid-morning latte on the way home, took a hot shower, watered the lawn and got ready to head over to the East Bay with my girls. Then... the plumbing disaster that ended up consuming the rest of the day. Suffice it to say there was lots of water, numerous soaking towels, a $1000 plumber (who happened to be an expert on black widows), and an afternoon down the drain--literally. So after napping a bit and ruminating about the Sunday I'd never get back, my curly-haired traveling companion and I hopped in the car and started driving with no clear sense of where we would go. Driving through Albany, it hit us: Fonda! Don't they have an all-day happy hour? Weren't they on the 100 Best List from the SF Chronicle? Yes and yes. Fonda is an interesting marriage of rustic and industrial. Dark woods, dewey yellow paint, dim lighting, and a hatched big-beam ceiling. All this joined with funky metal tables, an upstairs loft for diners wanting to be set back away from the bustle a bit, and large warp-around windows. It's almost two concepts, but it works. Everything but the booths. You sit down and immediately reminsice about last week's Iyengar class and how much your grandma told you not to slouch. Stiff, firm, and unforgiving.

Read More
Baking for Bocce

Baking for Bocce

Being relatively young and living in Marin often proves to be a bit tough...socially. Thank god for Friday night bocce league. Yes, there is certainly an older crowd, but there are also young couples and groups of coworkers, downing PBR, getting rowdy, and staying up past 9 p.m. Now let's clarify one thing: our team isn't any good. In fact, I believe we're at the bottom of the roster. So often, other things steal our attention: Cathy K's hot bean dip, cheap red wine, Michelle's awesome cheese plates, Cathy A.'s popcorn, Fred's banana muffins. More cheap wine. You get the picture. So this week, I decided to make some ultra thin oatmeal, coconut cookies to add to our spread. A little sugar and butter to help us hone in on that pellino. Maybe even take home a win. We'll see--they're good, but they're not magic. Now there are chewy cookie people and crispy cookie people. This is a super thin, super crispy cookie.

Read More
Remembering Mobile Austin…Fondly

Remembering Mobile Austin…Fondly

Ah...food out of Airstream trailers. What could be better than gathering around outside a parking lot with dozens of other Austin hipsters waiting for a savory crepe, a slow roasted green chile pork taco, or fried chocolate chip cookies? For my 30th birthday, I went to Austin to celebrate. In talking with my curly-haired travel companion recently as we reflected on the trip, neither of us really remember what we did. I vaguely remember the Texas History Museum, and learning more about settlers than I ever really wanted to. I remember seeing old friends and trying on expensive cowboy boots. I remember walking by the City Lake and seeking out those elusive South Congress Bridge bats. Other than that, we decided, we were basically camped out at various mobile food trailers around the city, thinking how much we wanted to bring a funky airstream back to SF and start 'er up.

Read More
Pizzaiolo

Pizzaiolo

Pizzaiolo 5008 Telegraph Avenue Oakland (Temescal Neighborhood) Well...I finally did it. I convinced the ladies to hop in the car and head over to Oakland to try this thin, wood fired pizza I've been hearing so much about. Now let me start by saying I'm a thin crust pizza aficionado. I worked next door to Upper Crust pizza in Boston for years and had a few too many slices for my own good. That being said, at Pizzaiolo, I thought the pizza itself was a bit overrated (and over-priced). But there are three noteworthy words I can cull from my experience that would bring me crawling right back: patio, burrata, and housemade sausage. Well, I guess that's four, but anyway... First, let me say that Pizzaiolo is damn crowded. Apparently, all of the time. And the waitstaff can be a bit self righteous about reservations. We simply called on our way over, were really nice about the fact that we realized we didn't have a chance of getting in, but...was there any chance? And voila, we had a table on the coveted, outdoor patio waiting for us as soon as we arrived. Minor magic if I do say so myself. The patio has a very Austin, TX feel for those of you who've experienced the edgy food scene there. It is all fenced in with metal siding and colorful green wood panels, there are paper lanterns hanging in a haphazard way, a sand bocce ball court where couples gathered while waiting for their pizzas, wooden benches to sit and have beers before your meal, and great live music. I felt like I was hanging out on a friend's back patio on a warm July evening--a bit of summer encapsulated.

Read More
Very First Post

Very First Post

Hi there! I’m so happy you’ve made your way to A Sweet Spoonful. My name is Megan Gordon, and I’m a San Francisco-based food writer. I work on this blog mostly at night or early in the mornings–recording the previous night’s kitchen fumblings or recent restaurant excursions. I…

Read More