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I've worked a bunch of food festivals in my life. Let me tell you, they are hard work.  You have to prep and serve food in a 10' tent while everyone is inches away.  It's always in the summer when it's hot. You're sweating and your customers are right there.  And the reason you're there is because you want them to love your food and come buy it someday. So you have to have your happy "sell, sell, sell" face on! So here we are at the Mill Valley Food & Wine Festival. Tyler Florence is a new resident in Mill Valley with a gorgeous flagship store, so of course he is here.   There is a huge line to his booth. The woman in front of me tells me that he is unorganized. It's taking too long.  I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt, because I know how hard it is to run a kitchen from a tent. We finally get to the front and are served a yummy grilled sandwich with brie, fresh strawberries, a spr...

A few years ago Don and I went to a really fun wine tasting party at a friends house in Tiburon. The husband (whose name I cannot recall at the moment) was in the investment banking business. He took the ferry from Tiburon into San Francisco for work. He often found himself waiting for the ferry in the evening so he would hang out at the Wine Bar in the Ferry Building.  I think he did this quite a bit, because he became friends with the owner and the bartenders. So much so, that he decided to host a wine tasting party at his house one evening. He hired his favorite bartender to coordinate the evening with wine and food pairings. Everything was really yummy because "the husband" hand picked everything to be served. He and his wife Gabriella are Spanish, so the theme was spanish wines and appetizers. It was here that Don and I tasted olive and fig tapenade for the first time. Yum-my. Sweet figs and salty olives combined together. Sounds kinda weird. But tastes really good.  So ...

Yesterday we lost two icons from my youth. The first was Farrah Fawcett.  One of Charlie's Angels. We were in awe of her as kids. She was beautiful, famous and married to Lee Major's, the Six Million Dollar Man. They were about as cool as it gets. And her hair.  Wow, we all wanted that hair. At the time she seemed like the all American girl success story.  Girl from Texas makes it big in Hollywood. Then later in the day we got word that Michael Jackson had died. What!!?! Our office went nuts. A bunch of us are about the same age - in our 40's. We grew up with Michael.  We lived through every phase. Suddenly I felt very old, when I learned he died of cardiac arrest. I remember when the Thriller album was released. There was nothing like it. And the video was the first of its kind. They played Michael's songs on the radio on the way home.  I had tears in my eyes when they played the early songs, "ABC" and "I'll be there". I remember dancing to ...

Every month our office celebrates birthday's by hosting a pizza, salad and cupcake lunch. Everyone looks forward to it. We all stand around eating too much pizza and salad, and then we mosey over to the counter where the cupcakes are.  At first everyone stands there staring at them. They are so beautiful, lined up so perfectly in the box. Almost too pretty to eat. Then you have to decide which one you're going to choose. Are you in the mood for chocolate, vanilla, coconut or something fruity? The cupcakes are always moist and yummy with the best frosting you've ever tasted. You finally decide.....and then you take a little bite of heaven. aaaah.  Kara's Cupcakes pictured Sweet vanilla - vanilla cupcake with sweet madagascar bourbon vanilla frosting Chocolate Velvet - chocolate cupcake with a velvety bittersweet chocolate buttercream Java - chocolate cupcake with a rich espresso buttercream Banana - banana cupcake with silky soft cream cheese frosting Sweet Chocolate - c...

Don and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary last night. I know what you're thinking. 18? I must have been married in high school, right? Because I look so young!  Ha, Ha. We both thought it would be nice to stay home since we had such a crazy busy weekend.  We could grill some steaks and drink some wine from the wine cellar. (aka, hall closet) We started with a glass of 2004 St. Francis, Behler Reserve Chardonnay, Sonoma County . It was quite tasty. A little oakey. My mom would really like it. The wine is named in honor of the Behler family who originally cultivated the vineyards in the 1900's.  With dinner we had the 2001 Chimney Rock, Cabernet Sauvignon, Stags Leap District, Napa Valley . Oh. My. Gosh. Was it good. Smooooooth and delicious. It's too bad it's all gone. We used to be members of the St. Francis and Chimney Rock wine clubs. So we have a few bottles in the cellar. Part of being a member is free wine tasting for you and a few friends. So whenever we h...

My new favorite blog is  Smitten Kitchen. The woman that writes the blog lives in NYC, she cooks in a teeny tiny kitchen, has a great writing style, and loves cooking and baking yummy stuff. And she has the coolest food photography I've seen from a non-professional. I want to make everything she talks about. If she can do all this in her teeny kitchen. Then I can do it in mine. I just lost my excuse. She is a top food blogger.  She doesn't need any press. But how else do you find out about this stuff? There is so much on the WWW that I need people guiding me or I would just read the same thing over and over. She has received awards and accolades for her blog. And rightly so.  It's cool. If you're into food you have to give it a look-see.  Check out her marshmallow recipe. Then tell me it doesn't make you want to make home-made marshmallows. Or check out these yummy, super easy cheese straws .  I think they are a must have at our next cocktail party. And then there ...

Someone in our office brought in a bunch of junk food. Oatmeal Creme Pies Marshmallow Pies Twinkies Oreo's Hostess Strawberry cupcakes Oreo Cakesters When there is food in the kitchen you have to move fast or you'll miss out. And believe me, word spread fast. I never buy this stuff because it's too fattening and I'll eat it. But when it's free in the kitchen I can't resist. I was able to nab a small bag of Oreo Cakesters before everything was gone. My plan was to eat one cookie and save the other.  Yeah, right. They were both gone in less than 30 seconds - they were really yummy. They taste like an Oreo. But the cookie part is cake-like and soft. Really good with a cup of joe. 2 cakes = 250 calories 12 g fat 2 g protein (yeah!)

I'm laughing out loud as I write this.  Elli and I are watching our favorite summer show which is "So you think you can dance."  We are watching Phillip and his partner Jeanine do the tango. Elli says, "wow, she can even do the booby wiggles." huh? Then she says, "Mommy, can you do the booby wiggles?" She's looking at me like I'm a dinosaur. Me? Of course I can shimmy and do the booby wiggles.  It's not quite as sexy as these youngsters on tv. But, heck yeah, I can do it!  So I jump up and demonstrate my shimmy shimmy. Elli then rolls over laughing, hysterically. Her comment to me is "You're funny, mom." So being the mature self I am I say "Let me see you do it." All I get is a "Mommmmmm. It's not appropriate!"  Geez.     I searched like crazy to find an "appropriate" photo to go with this topic.  As you can see I could not find one .  

Yeah, schools out!!  Yippee - all summer to play with your friends, swim, relax, ride bikes all over the place and run off and play kick the can. Screeeechhh! Uh, what year is this?  This is not how they do it in the year 2009. Summer ain't what it used to be for kiddos today. They go from one camp to the next. Especially if they have working parents - like me. Camp is "daycare" for kids.  They are there all day - just like school. Their whole summer is scheduled and planned. So my job is to find the coolest places for her to hang (that we can afford!) Lucky for us, we have some super cool camp options.  The main camp Elli will be attending is called Steve and Kate's . The camp is unstructured.  Kids get to choose what activities they want to do.  They get the best counselors (cuz it's a cool summer gig) and they have THE BEST FOOD. We're not talking hot dogs and PB&J. We're talking gourmet cuisine. This year, the menu was put toget...

On Friday night Don and I got to enjoy dinner alone (Elli went to dinner and a movie with a friend.) So we went to a nice Italian place down the hill from our house called Piatti . It's a nice restaurant, a little pricey. We don't normally go there with Elli. We didn't have a reservation so we didn't get the best seat in the house. They put us at a two top table right next to a huge table set up for 9 people. The group turned out to be 4 adults and 5 rowdy kids.  Greeeeeaaaat.  Just what we want on our night out without kids. We're seated next to 5 young kids that were running in and out the entire time. Our server was so distracted we had to repeat our order to her. I have no problem with kids eating out - but they have to be behaved. No running around. In fact I don't like them to get up at all. It's annoying to me - and everyone around us. My mother would have killed us kids if we behaved this way.  I'm pretty sure it would have been a long time befor...

The other day I was talking to one of the mom's at Elli's school. She asked what we were doing that evening, I told her we were going out for Chinese at Harmony . She asked if it was good and I enthusiastically said, "Yes! I love their signature beef dish, their calamari, green beans, and dumplings especially."  She replied, "Oh, I thought it was a dim sum place. I'm not a huge fan of dim sum so we've never been." I then told her they have a regular menu, plus a separate dim sum menu. Then it got me thinking .... I don't think of them as a dim sum place at all.  I think of them as a Chinese Restaurant that also has a dim sum menu.  Mainly because they give you the regular menu first then say "We also have dim sum. Here's the menu."  It's an "also have..." type thing to me. I can see why she's confused, but they are so much more than dim sum. I wonder if other people think the same thing? The restaurant is r...

Last Sunday was one of those gorgeous clear days where you can see for miles and miles. For any of you that have been to San Francisco you know it's not always like this.  You can run into fog or rain in the most random places.  It could be hot and sunny at home, you drive 5 minutes and it's 15 degrees colder and foggy. So we took advantage of the day and hiked up to the West Point Inn for a picnic.   Elli donned her best hiking sun dress. Why not! Right?  We had yummy wrap sandwiches made from everything I could find in the fridge, some fresh strawberries, cashews and of course Cheetos, because we were hiking with a 7-year old after all. Don recorded our steps with a pedometer.  We walked a little over 4 miles. And burned 400 plus calories.  (So we probably burned off 2 Cheetos.) We're pretty sure Sam ran twice that. He turns into "ADVENTURE DOG" when he gets on the trail.  Not sure what he thinks he's going to find. But he sure has ...

I first heard about her on a local radio station (KFOG) here in San Francisco. I was immediately intrigued. She sounds much older than 19. Her voice and sound is cool and sophisticated. Part jazzy, part pop. It's hard to believe she's only 19 years old.  Amazing. Click on the link above to listen. hint .....It's great music to listen to while enjoying a cocktail on this very fine Saturday.

Another story about El Dorado Kitchen....... The minute the waiter told us the pastry chef had been at the French Laundry for nine years we couldn't wait to get our hands on the menu. We've always wanted to go to the FL. Here was our chance to sneak in the back door. How on earth would we decide what to order? By ordering three desserts, of course. That way we all get to sample a little of each. Warm Cake with Cherry - butter cake with fresh cherry, served with vanilla ice cream (I don't have their description of this one.) Chocolate Smore's Tart - graham cracker crust, Guittard chocolate ganache, fluffy Italian Meringue, vanilla ice cream. Profiterole's - strawberry, vanilla, caramel ice cream, chocolate sauce, vanilla anglaise OMG. The desserts were so yummy at first we were speechless.  Just a lot of "OOOOOH", "MMMMM" and staring off in space. We could hardly contain our enthusiasm. In fact, we couldn't. We were making ...

We recently went to El Dorado Kitchen in Sonoma for the first time.  Wow. What a beautiful, contemporary space on the inside with a lovely patio outside. The food was made with the freshest ingredients and presented so beautifully. The cocktails superb. And dessert absolutely divine. This will be my first of a few entries. I'm going to start with cocktails. (Miss Elli is drinking hazelnut chocolate milk.) Don and Steven ordered the Peach Jalapeno Martini. Kerry had a Mojito and I had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. The boys haven't stopped talking about their martini's. They really wanted to know how to make the drink at home. So on our way out I asked the bartender for the recipe. He was happy to share it with us. (I've learned it's just better to ask than to torture oneself trying to figure it out.) The ingredients are not that unusual, but they had to go to three stores to get everything. (I'll have to speak to my friends at BevMo about t...

We recently went to Kokkari in San Francisco. They are one of the top 100 restaurants in San Francisco, and I'm pretty sure they are the only Greek restaurant on the list. We had a party of 7.  We got to the restaurant a little early so we could have a drink at the bar before dinner. We're enjoying our cocktails, chit chatting away.  A friendly waiter comes by with a yummy pizza appetizer for us to try.  Thank you!  Then the hostess comes over with a friendly, yet concerned look. Your table will be ready in one minute twenty seconds. Ok. Whatever. Then she's back again. Your table will be ready in one minute. Now she has our attention.  Are we late for something? Do you see us anxious to sit down? What's up? So they lead us to our table, where the manager says "See!  I told you it would be a minute twenty!" Uh huh. Great. Thanks. We all sit down and they ask if we would like appetizers.  "Yes!" we say. They recommend the "blah, blah, blah"...

Steven and Kerry, our friends from Connecticut, introduced us to one of their favorite Belgium chocolates.  The brand is NewTree. The flavor they brought us is called Piment ALPHA.  The box says: Chocolat Noir Au Piment, which means Dark Chocolate with Chili Pepper. Ooh la la! Dark chocolate with a kick! Originally I was just going to tell you about this amazing yummy chocolate. As I sit down and write this I read what is on the back of the box.  It says: "ALPHA contains 50% of the recommended daily intake of Omega 3, a natural fatty acid known for it's beneficial effects on the heart, mind, and overall mood .  OMG. Chocolate that will improve my mood. Even if it's only half of the recommended daily intake - I'll take it!  I will whistle while I work! With a clear mind and a happy heart. I love happy, unexpected surprises like this.  When you first break open the chocolate you see a rich dark chocolate mixed with something. At first glance it looks like it has crunch i...

I don't know why, but I have trouble making biscuits.  They always come out too heavy.  I know you're not supposed to overmix the dough. The baking powder has to be relatively fresh. The butter should be cold. And the best biscuits are made with buttermilk. So if I know all this, why do I have trouble? Beats me! On Sunday morning I wanted a biscuit. A real, southern biscuit. That I would happily eat with a fried egg. I decided to try a biscuit recipe that is in Elli's cookbook "Kids Baking" by Williams-Sonoma.  I figured if they have a biscuit recipe for kids - surely I could bake them correctly. And guess what? SUCCESS!!!!!!! They were flakey, buttery - oh, so delicious.  Ahhh.  I can cross that one off my list and move on to something else. Here's the super simple recipe: Buttermilk Biscuits  makes 6 large biscuits Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Mix: 2 cups all-purpose flour 3 T sugar 1 T baking powder 3/4 t. salt Cut in 6 T very cold butter until the mixt...

My friend Kerry spotted these in a shop window in Sonoma last weekend. They are insulated lunch bags. And they're only 20 bucks. Almost makes me want to pack a lunch and bring it it work everyday. Their slogan is:  Eat well. Be green. Take lunch.  They have a bunch of different styles.  This style is called Christy.  You can order one here . So as you're browsing the internet this weekend you can order one.  Or two.  I think they would make cool gifts. Have a good one! PS.  I do eat lunch at my desk everyday. But I don't physically carry my lunch each day - which is why I don't need a "super cute lunch tote".  I stop at Safeway on Monday morning, buy five "eating right" frozen dinners, then put them in the office freezer so I have five yummy lunches for the week. 

The past three weeks have been nuts. We've had two different sets of house guests, Elli had 2 major dance recitals, I've been INSANELY busy working on BevMo stuff and ...... I don't know what else.  But I'm exhausted!! My parents came from Phoenix first, then our best friends from Connecticut. They just left on Tuesday.  We had a really nice time.  It was just like old times.  We went to Kokkari for dinner Friday night then had an awesome afternoon in Sonoma on Sunday.  I'll tell you about both, but not right now.  I'm too tired. Yesterday morning I decided to fix Elli's hair in a cute ponytail.  While brushing her hair she informed me that I've been saying some bad words in the morning at "the ditch." Uh oh.  (The ditch is a place on our way to school where we risk our lives every morning trying to turn left in front on on-coming traffic.)  "Really", I said.  "Yes, mommy. You do it a lot." Uh oh.  "What do I say?"...