You may have eaten at Slanted Door or even at Out The Door either at the Ferry Building or at San Francisco Centre, but you're going to want to try OTD Bush in the Fillmore. In addition to many of the dishes that Chef Charles Phan is famous for such as Vietnamese Spring Rolls and the Jicama and Grapefruit Salad or the Chicken Claypot, OTD Bush offers something else entirely. Breakfast!

I love breakfast but let's face it, going out for breakfast in this town usually means American fare, dim sum or maybe Mexican food. Now there is something new, Vietnamese food. At a press preview I got tastes of a lot of deliciousness. Hats off to Pastry Chef Chucky Dugo for a whole bunch of sweet and savory treats to dig into. I was crazy about the crunchy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside Beignets, Crepes with apples, Warm Banana Sticky Rice with toasted coconut and sweet and savory style pate choux pastries. The little puff pastries were still slightly eggy on the inside, just the way I like them.

For breakfast traditionalists, there are several different egg dishes, including a Fried Egg with p�t� and baguette. The Coconut Pull Bread was a big hit with almost everyone but I found the filling a bit cloying. For a pre-opening event the food was amazingly good. I do hope guests warm up to the comforting Chicken Porridge flavored with rau ram, crispy shallots and black pepper. It's just the thing when you are feeling a bit under the weather. Prices on the breakfast menu range from $3 for steamed buns stuffed with gingery chicken, mushrooms or pork to $13 for the Poached Sun Hill Farms Eggs with braised Niman Ranch brisket and crispy potatoes. Most dishes are under $10.

Like the other locations OTD is modern and clean. This location features cool blue green tile, warm wood, marble counters and an open kitchen that runs practically the whole length of the long and narrow space. Lunch and dinner menus look promising as well. I just hope my dyslexic brain can be convinced that the servers t-shirts don't actually proclaim them as sufferers of OCD.

OTD Bush
2232 Bush St @ Fillmore
San Francisco
415.923.9575

Last week I was one of the judges at the National Beef Cook-Off. It's one of the top culinary contests in the United States, held once every two years with $70,000 in prize money. It was interesting to see what contestants included in their recipes. Trendy ingredients and "superfoods" like walnuts and pomegranates made it into multiple recipes. There were familiar flavors like balsamic vinegar, chipotle and blue cheese, and more exotic ingredients like pistachios and quinoa.

I tasted 15 dishes culled from about 2,000 entries. In each category there was a clear winner and a very delicious dish that anyone could make at home. Should you be interested in entering a cooking competition, the most common mistakes that contestants made were:

* Under seasoning the food, some dishes really needed salt

* Not paying attention to texture, some dishes were very mushy

* Not having a satisfying balance of flavors--too rich or too little acid

* Not cooking the beef for the right amount of time

* Using too many ingredients in one dish creating muddled flavors


In the end, simplicity won with a dish in the Live Well with Fast & Convenient Grilled Beef category. Sonoma Steaks with Vegetable Bocconcini combines Summer vegetables--zucchini, bell peppers and grape tomatoes with grilled steak and mozzarella. It would be great for a pot luck or barbecue dinner. It has very few ingredients but uses some innovative techniques including doctoring the herb marinade from the bocconcini mozzarella balls and microwaving the mozzarella balls to take the chill off and soften them just slightly.

Most of my favorite dishes came from the teen category. I enjoyed the Rustic Beef Caldo which I will cook longer than the recipe indicates, and the Southeast Asian Steak Salad. I also want to try the Sicilian Beef Short Ribs but I would replace the grape juice with a dry red wine.

I was honored to be included with the other judges, Betsy Wray, editor in chief (pictured), Cooking Pleasures magazine; Michael Bauer of the San Francisco Chronicle, Jackie Plant, food and nutrition director, Woman's Day magazine; and Niesha Lofing, food and family writer, The Sacramento Bee. Past judges of the contest include Julia Child and James Beard.

To learn more about how long to marinate beef and the best cooking methods for each cut, visit Beef It's What's for DInner

More:
Michael Bauer's blog post

"Beef ambassador's" videos

There's no getting around it. If you want to eat cheap and healthy food, peanut butter is a natural choice. I know some people can't stand the stuff, but I rather like it. What I don't really like are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This year during the Hunger Challenge I didn't buy any jam, but I did splurge on some bananas at about 30� a piece. Because they are large, I only needed a half a banana to make this sandwich. I like it open face, but you could easily slap another piece of bread on it.

The good thing about eating something like this is that it's tasty, filling and nutritious, but also well under budget, allowing more money for other meals. But this like almost all my meals is starchy and while it might satiate my hunger it doesn't give me as much energy as I would like. Living on a limited budget is all about making choices. It's not terrible, but left to my own devices I might choose this sandwich no more than once a year.

Last year I took the Hunger Challenge a week before the official dates. This year I shopped for the Challenge, cooked for the Challenge but my schedule made participating for one full week really hard. Because my career involves food--especially developing recipes and writing about food, there were just too many events that got in the way. Within the space of two short weeks in addition to my regular workload, I had dinner with several clients and colleagues, I worked on seven recipes for two corporate clients, got ready for a food blog conference, made two guest appearances at writing classes, celebrated the Jewish New Year, and judged a national cook-off (more about that later). I'm not trying to make excuses, but I do realize that if I was on limited budget I would not have been able to do all those work related but fun food oriented things.

Don't get me wrong, I ate plenty of Hunger Challenge meals these past two weeks, I just wasn't able to give the Challenge my full attention. But I do hope my experiences and posts helped to raise awareness. Thanks for sticking it out with me during a couple of tough weeks.

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich
1 serving, about 34�

Ingredients

1 slice whole wheat bread, 19�
1 Tablespoon peanut butter, 10�
1/2 banana, 15�

Instructions

Spread bread with peanut butter, top with thinly sliced banana.

As I mentioned in my first Hunger Challenge post this past Sunday, carrots are a bargain. They are nutrient dense, much cheaper than salad greens and can be served so many different ways. Last year I missed eating salad during the Challenge. This year I was determined to try to come up with some kind of a budget-friendly salad and carrots came to the rescue. All my recipes last year were for one pot style meals. They are easy on the wallet but don't allow for much variety on the plate.

Remember those carrot and raisin salads you ate as a child? I really didn't want to make one of those. This has more of a tangy profile than a sweet one. It's inspired by a Moroccan version that I found in Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. I'm particularly pleased with how this recipe turned out. It goes well with sandwiches and as a side dish but can also be served as a snack. I can actually imagine making this beyond the Challenge.

Food isn't just a source of nourishment. Food provides comfort, adventure, and a means for sharing experiences. Day after day the Challenge reminds me not so much of being hungry, but of feeling deprived. I miss chocolate and tea and dessert and fresh fruit and salad and the sharing of a really good time around the dinner table.

Carrot Salad
Make 6 servings about 43� per serving

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds carrots $1.47
Juice of 1 lemon 69�
2 Tablespoons olive oil 36�
1 garlic clove, minced 6�
Salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin or to taste

Instructions
Combine the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and cumin in a serving bowl. Slice the carrots into 1/8th inch thick disks. Toss the carrots with the dressing, season aggressively with salt and taste.

When I saw the Lentil & Potato Curry recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook I thought it would be a budget friendly recipe. I can't seem to shake the idea that potatoes are inexpensive. The truth is, they are not. Organic potatoes, the only ones I could find at Whole Foods, were $1.49 a pound. One large potato? About a pound. But potatoes are high in Vitamin C and B6 and leaving the skin on provides good fiber so they are a good pick when it comes to nutrition.

I don't know about you, but I can barely cook anything without onions and garlic. I couldn't help but notice Bittman's recipe was missing those two crucial ingredients so I added them. I was able to get away with buying a very small portion of lentils in the bulk section. Sometimes buying a larger package is more economical but in this case it wouldn't have saved me any money. Can half a cup of lentils and one potato serve two people? In this recipe it can.

Lentil and Potato Curry is a bit like stone soup, the more stuff you add to it, the better it's likely to be. I'd love to serve it topped with a dollop of yogurt, a bit of chutney, a sprinkling of chopped cilantro, some rice and a fresh green vegetable like spinach, but staying on a strict budget means making sacrifices.

Lentil & Potato Curry
makes 2 servings about $1.38 per serving

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil 5�
1/2 onion, chopped 75�
2 garlic cloves, mashed 10�
1/2 cup brown lentils 36�
2 cups water, or more as needed
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder (I considered this pantry supplies)
1 large potato, cut into chunks $1.49

Instructions

In a large saucepan heat the oil over medium heat. Cook the onions for 8 minutes or until soft and golden. Add the garlic and curry and saute for another minute. Add the lentils and water. Simmer partially covered for 15 minutes. Add the potato and cover pan. Gently simmer for 15 minutes or until lentils and potatoes are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. Optional: top with yogurt and cilantro.

Eating on a budget is possible, but it's not exactly exciting. To be honest, despite my success with recipes I developed last year during the Hunger Challenge I didn't make any of them again after the Challenge was over. They were too plain, sad reminders of a week of limitations. My desire this year is to coax maximum flavor out of inexpensive dishes and not rely on my old standbys, bacon and parmesan cheese. The Challenge seems to be turning me into a vegan.

One recipe I've been trying to rethink is pesto. In this version I replaced basil with parsley, took out the cheese and olive oil, used pumpkin seeds in place of pine nuts and used a bit of bread to give the sauce some texture. I credit cookbook author Sally Schneider with that idea. She uses a mixture of bread and water to create creamy texture that tricks you into thinking you are eating something made with oil or fat. The nice thing about this sauce is that in addition to using it on pasta, you could also serve it with chicken, vegetables or even fish, assuming you caught some that is.

The pesto was pretty good on angel hair pasta with a sprinkling of toasted bread crumbs on top, an Italian "cucina povera" technique. It acts as a stand in for parmesan cheese because it is crunchy and a little salty. I will admit, without the parmesan this sauce does need more salt than conventional pesto. Since pasta can be found for 99� a package or about 25� a serving I leave it up to you to decide if you want to add a drizzle of olive oil..

Parsley Pesto
About 1 cup, 6 servings about 34� per serving

Ingredients

1 bunch parsley $1.49
1 garlic clove, smashed 5�
1/2 slice soft bread, wheat or white 10�
2 Tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds, shelled 40�
1/2 - 2/3 cup water or more as needed
Salt to taste

Instructions

In a dry (no oil) non-stick pan over medium heat toast the pumpkin seeds for about 2 minutes or until they begin to lighten in color and get crispy. Roughly chop the parsley and stems, trimming the very end of the stems off. Put the water in the blender first, then add the parsley, garlic, pumpkin seeds and the bread. Whirl until pureed, adding more water if necessary. Season to taste with salt. Serve over pasta, chicken, bread, etc.

Just yesterday the San Francisco Chronicle reported that unemployment has reached 12.2% in California, that's the highest it's been since 1976. That means more and more people are struggling to make ends meet. More and more people are facing hunger.

I'm lucky, I've never faced hunger. I've never used food stamps or gotten food from a food bank, but for the second year in a row, I'll be participating in the Hunger Challenge sponsored by the San Francisco Food Bank. It's an opportunity to try to gain a better understanding of the challenges that come with trying to eat 3 meals a day for only $4, the typical food budget of a food stamp recipient.

I've already gone shopping twice at Whole Foods, once for my own cooking and a second time with Sue Kwon of KPIX to help her as she takes on the challenge. This week I'll be sharing my experiences, tips and recipes. To kick things off, here are some of suggestions for how to save on groceries at Whole Foods:

+ Buy bulk, that way you can get as little as you need for recipes using ingredients such as nuts, legumes or grains.

+ Frozen vegetables are often a better value than fresh, especially when it comes to green peas, spinach and broccoli.

+ Use flavor boosters to help make bland foods taste better--try a little garlic, lemon zest or chili flakes.

+ It's perfectly ok to buy one stick of butter, even if you have to open a package to get it.

+ Look to the Whole Foods 365 brand for tremendous values. Best bets include peanut butter, pasta, and oatmeal.

+ Protein is expensive, but eggs are still a good bargain and can be purchased for under $3 a dozen.

+ Lentils are another cheap source of protein and cook quicker than other types of beans. Dry beans are always cheaper than canned beans.

+ One of the best bargains in the produce section is carrots at 99 cents per pound. Eat them raw in salad, cooked as a side dish, or add them to soups and stews.

Here is a great list of 50 Items Under $1.50 at Whole Foods compiled by Stephanie at Noshotopia. Not all the prices are still the same, but they are pretty close.

Carol Blymire brings a new level of commitment to food blogging. You think cooking through Mastering the Art of French Cooking was impressive? That's nothing. Carol cooked her way through the French Laundry cookbook and documented it on her blog, French Laundry at Home, and is now cooking her way through Alinea at her follow-up blog, Alinea at Home.

Carol shares her adventures and her food and reading how friends and neighbors react to her creations makes me feel like I'm right there with them. There's a good chance I may never cook from either of those books, but I am a vicarious observer and long-distance appreciator of every dish and every post.

"I cook because I'm adopted. Stay with me; I know it might sound weird, but trust me, it's true.

Study after study shows that when babies who were adopted reach adolescence and adulthood, they have greater difficulty connecting with others on an intimate, trusting level.

When I was born in the late 1960s, newborns were placed into foster care or in an orphanage for a few months before being placed with their family. That means newborns who were put up for adoption at that time were separated from the only human being they've ever known moments after being born, then again, months later, from their foster mother or caregiver at the orphanage. So, while most babies spend their first three months developing their sense of trust by merely being able to stare into the same parents' eyes from the moment they were born, people like me have stared into many eyes, heard many voices, and had some fractures in learning how to build trust and intimacy. It can be done -- and my relationship with my family is incredibly loving and close -- but, we have to work harder at it.

The one constant in all that change among all those different people who loved me before my parents got the chance to, is nourishment. No matter who cared for me, no matter whose eyes I stared into, those people fed me. And, I don't think it's merely a coincidence that when I was three months old, my parents brought me into their home for the first time on the night before Thanksgiving, so that my first meal with my new family took place on a day when food is celebrated and honored the most.

It took some time and perspective to understand it, but I now know and cherish that, for me, food is the singularly constant language of love and caring I know. It's why I sometimes get teary at restaurants -- when chefs and cooks share their craft, their passion, their hands, and their work with me, it speaks to me in a way that it might not with others. Especially having recently been diagnosed with celiac and not being able to eat gluten -- having someone cook something for me that won't make me sick has taken my gratefulness for nourishment to a level that is nearly indescribable.

But the question was not "why do you eat" or "why do you write about food," it's "why do you cook?" I cook because, for me, it's the most honest way for me to show my love. I don't throw big dinner parties and invite people I barely know; in fact, I'm actually pretty selective about who sits at my table, and why. Whether it's new friends I want to get to know better, old friends I've known my whole life, or having my family come for a Sunday dinner, the best and most trusting, honest way I show my love and affection is to have you eat something I've made. It might be something it took me all day to make, or it might be something I threw together at the last minute -- the how is not important, but the why is. The people with whom I share the food I make should be able to hear, feel, smell, touch, and taste my care, my respect, and my love of not just the food, but of them. That's why I cook -- not just because I know how to, but because I love to feed the people I love having in my life."

The Visual Food Lover's Guide is a terrific resource that I can't stop leafing through. In fact, it has taken up residence next to my bed along with a few other treasured tomes. It has the basic information on how to buy, prepare, cook, serve and store over 1,000 types of food. It also gives you the rundown on nutritional information. It's nowhere near as personal or opinionated as Jane Grigon's Vegetable Book, but with hundreds of entries it is much more comprehensive.

I really like that there's a color illustration of each item and some photos for techniques like how to make bread or pry open oyster shells. The entry for anise has an illustration of the flowering plant, star anise seeds and pods. That level of detail is what makes it so worthwhile. They've also done a great job making sure that produce and seafood from different geographic locations are included. My only complaint is that the mushroom section is a bit thin. I would have loved to have seen mushrooms such as hedgehog, lobster and lion's mane included.

The book is in a very convenient small paperback format. I do wish there was an iPhone app so I could it take it with me everywhere! There are still plenty of ingredients that I have yet to explore, and this reference book is a great way to familiarize myself with them before I buy or cook. In fact, I think I could use a copy in my car for my excursions to ethnic markets.

Another must have book for the curious and creative cook is The Flavor Bible. A big congratulations to Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg on the one year anniversary of this landmark book. It has thousands of combinations of ingredients that are tried and true. It actually pairs well with the Visual Food Lover's Guide. It has gotten me out of a rut many times and opened my eyes to some new ways of thinking about ingredients. Like The Visual Food Lover's Guide, it belongs on the shelf of anyone looking to learn more about ingredients and create their own recipes.

I love kebabs! I don't know why eating food on a stick is so much fun, but it is. The best kebabs I ever had were in Istanbul, the meat sizzled on the outside but was juicy on the inside. Luckily kebabs are easy to make at home even for those like me, without an outdoor grill.

I'm amazed at how versatile kebabs are and how they always manage to stretch whatever I'm cooking. It must have something to do with surface area and spacial relations. When food is served on a stick, it just seems like there is more of it. Two slices of eggplant, two small zucchini and just under two Italian sausages somehow made a huge dinner for two. It also gave me the feeling of Summer, even though it was cooked and eaten indoors.

When it comes to kebabs, skip the bamboo. The best kind of skewers are metal--I have two sets, flat metal which are particularly good for meat and vegetables and double pronged which are perfect for seafood. With either one you choose, the food won't slip and slide. In my experience food also cooks faster and more evenly on metal skewers than on bamboo. Buy 'em once, use them forever.

The secret to this recipe is the marinade. Most recipes call for putting a sauce on the vegetables after they cook, but this marinade has nothing in it that will burn and the eggplant in particular soaks up lots of flavor. The smoked paprika adds great smoky flavor and color. I also find that the sausage is salty enough that you don't need to add any additional salt. I used spicy sausages, but I think you could use sweet ones if you prefer. Don't be tempted to cut the sausage and vegetables into larger chunks, keeping the vegetables and sausage slices small allows them to cook quickly and evenly.

Sausage & Vegetable Kebabs

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients

3/4 lb mixed eggplant and summer squash
3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 teaspoon smoked paprika--hot or sweet
2 Italian sausages, about 1/2 pound
Fresh basil or sage leaves, optional

Instructions

Slice the eggplant and squash into small cubes, about 1/2 inch. Make the marinade by combining the lemon juice, olive oil, galic and smoked paprika. Place the marinade and vegetables into a zip top bag and let marinate for up to 3 hours. Most of the marinade will be absorbed by the vegetables.

Preheat broiler then slice the sausage into about 12 - 15 slices. Slide the cubes of squash, eggplant and sausage onto skewers, preferably metal, with sage or basil leaves on top of each piece of sausage. All the meat and vegetables should be touching with no spaces in between.

Place skewers on a foil lined broiler pan and broil about 7 minutes on each side or until meat and vegetables are cooked through. Serve with couscous.

Enjoy!

I just spent the past weekend in Portland, Oregon. Officially I was there to attend a wedding but my not-so-secret mission was to check out the food. I had the best French toast of my life, some very tasty pastrami, scintillating creole Cuban food and outstanding local lobster mushrooms and potato gnocchi that I can't get out of my mind. Portland is also known for artisanal brewed beer, and I am particularly fond of Willamette Valley wines, especially Pinot Noir.

If you'd like to get closer to the great food, wine and drink of Oregon, there's a contest you should enter. Between now and September 18th, 2009 you can win one of seven all-expense paid "cuisinterships" to Oregon. That's roundtrip airfare, six nights lodging and $1000 cash, for a five-day, six-night apprenticeship as an Oregon chef, cheesemaker/chocolatier, craft brewer, distiller, rancher, fisherman or winemaker.

Learn a bit about what makes Oregon such a fascinating culinary destination on the Oregon Bounty web site, then choose the category or categories you are most interested in, and enter to win. Upload a video of up to 2 minutes on why you deserve to win (even a cell phone video is fine), submit a 140 character Twitter-style statement to bolster your case and finally your name and contact info and then it's up to me! Ok, only if you choose Fisherman, but still, when the say "tell it to the judge", that would be me. Right now there are hardly any entries posted online so I'd say your chances are pretty good at winning. This is an amazing opportunity. Here's wishing you the best of luck!

I use a digital kitchen scale practically every day. If you're serious about baking or developing recipes, it's a necessity. You may notice some of the more professional baking cookbooks show the weights of ingredients. It's a much more accurate way to measure than by using cups and spoons. When I develop a recipe using an ingredient like fish or chicken, I specify the weight because it makes a big difference in cooking time and also in terms of servings. For example, a salmon steak could be as small as 6 ounces or over a pound.

Kitchen scales can get pretty expensive but the most recent one I tried, the EatSmart Precision Pro Digital Kitchen Scale is not expensive at all and has a lot going for it. If you are looking for a basic digital scale I would definitely recommend it. I spent about $50 for my Salter Aquatronic scale when my earlier scale, a Tanita died. It's a little more accurate for very small measurements (under one ounce) and it has a larger bed, but other than that, it really doesn't have any other advantages over this less expensive compact model. Since I'm generally using the tare function to "zero out" the bowl or plate anyway, the size isn't a big problem for me. I think the small size has a lot to do with the fact that it is marketed as a way to count calories.

Pros:

+ Very inexpensive, $25 (and qualifies for free shipping)

+ Small and compact

+ Plastic and well sealed, easy to clean

+ Easily switches from ounces to grams

+ Measures down to half and ounce

+ Auto shut off after just a couple of minutes

+ Uses 2 AAA batteries

+ Large display

+ Easy to clean

Cons:

- Small bed means larger items won't fit unless placed in a bowl (which you must tare or "zero out")

- When weighing larger quantities reading the display can be a challenge

- Weight limit is 11 pounds

- Scale died after 3 years

Eric Gower's food excites me. His approach to cooking is creative and fresh. Like me, he loves to play with ingredients and find new and different ways to use them. Having lived in Japan, he often combines Western style techniques with Asian ingredients but also uses what's local. His passion for sharing techniques and great ingredients is infectious. He is the author of one of the most innovative cookbooks I own, The Breakaway Cook and he blogs at The Breakaway Cook. Tune in to the Mehta vs. Morimoto episode of Iron Chef America to see Eric as a judge.

I probably eat out, on average, one meal a week. That means I'm cooking roughly 20 times per week, since I cook three meals a day most days. Why do I cook so much?

Cooking for me is this ongoing practice of tweaks. Over the years I've tweaked my food to suit my own palate without a lot of regard for much, except what tastes great *to me.* Cooking, I think, is pure grit: if you do something three times a day, and keep at it, you're bound to get better at it.

If you try to cook competitively like the chefs on tv, you're bound to give up. Unless you have an army of 20-year-olds at your disposal to do all the work it requires, you'll never do it like they do (we'll leave aside for a moment the question of why you'd even want to). It's much better to cook simply, for yourself. Get good at feeding yourself first, and you'll naturally get good at feeding others. Sort of like the flight attendant's instructions to put the oxygen mask on first, before attending your children!

But WHY do I cook? There's a special satisfaction in creating great meals, day after day. Cooking is like coming home, to a place that is safe. When you cook often, you have the power to create a kind of home for yourself, a state of being. It's a place in which you can trust yourself. It's the opposite of a waste of time; it's the ultimate way to spend time."

At General Mills they do all their own photography on site for packaging, editorial, everything. They have a labyrinth of prop rooms, a photo lab, multiple kitchens and areas set up for photography and post production.


Walking into the photo area was a hallway with photos taken by various photographers using General Mills products, just for the fun of it. I kept thinking, the photos would make great cards. Actually General Mills thought so too and gave us each a box of cards made from these fabulous photos. Here were my favorites, can you identify the General Mills product in each one? Sorry these are photos of photos, so please excuse the poor quality.



I could have spent hours in the prop room or rather, rooms. Imagine every single color, size and shape pan, plate, placemat and everything in between. In a word, staggering.

A huge thanks to the photographers and food stylists who set up a shoot, walking us through all the steps, the lighting, the props and the styling. I picked up lots of great tips and will treasure the little tutorial they prepared. It answered many of the nagging questions I have had about aperture settings, lighting tricks, photo angles and more. Here are just a few of my favorite photo styling tips:

+ Wrap foil on the bottom of your pan to form the shape, then place it inside the pan so you don't get creases and wrinkles in the corners. This works great for things like brownies that you want to smoothly lift out of the pan without sticking.

+ Remove slices surrounding the slice you want to photograph, so it stays attractive.

+ Use a ruler and pins or toothpicks to mark where you are going to cut slices of brownies, cake, pie, etc.

+ Sometimes tearing into homestyle foods like muffins looks better than slicing them


Aside from the hospitality of our hosts, the best thing about my trip was this--hanging out with Anna from Cookie Madness and Nicole from Baking Bites. They are smart, funny, creative and amazingly talented bakers and bloggers. We had such a good time together. In case you didn't know, Anna is a past Pillsbury Bake-off winner. How cool was it to walk around and have various employees recognize her as a celebrity? I loved it!

Last week General Mills invited around 50 bloggers to come visit their corporate headquarters. I was a little wary. After all, I'm not a big consumer of packaged foods, but the lure of seeing the test kitchens and photo studio proved incentive enough, and I was in!

The evening I arrived there was a welcome reception and dinner at the Mill City Museum. The museum has terrific interactive exhibits about the mill, and there was also lots of early advertising and packaging from Pillsbury and Gold Medal brands. I particularly liked seeing the ruins of the old factory and dramatic views from the observation deck, that really give you a feel for the history of the city and how important milling was.

The next day bright and early,we headed to the test kitchens. They have 16 stations and test and develop 2000 recipes a year! Not all the test kitchen staff was present, but I was told they have about 15 employees. It was a dream kitchen, light and airy with huge glass windows looking out on the manicured landscaping. I can't imagine a nicer space to work on recipes. If I worked at General Mills, those kitchens would spoil me so I'd never want to cook at home, ever again.

In terms of the products, I can't say I fell head-over-heels in love with anything. I just don't eat much cold cereal or snack food, (products which Michael Pollan likes to call "food like substances" due to how processed they are). My favorite product was probably the Progresso Creamy Tomato Basil soup. It had very few ingredients, a fresh basil and tomato flavor and pleasing texture.

Though I buy imported Italian tomatoes for sauce, I also buy Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes because they are very consistent and add a terrific smoky flavor to soups, stews and sauces. I learned that Muir Glen is planting some heirloom varieties of tomatoes and handpicking them for limited edition cans. I can't wait to try them when they become later this year. If you're interested in heirloom canned tomatoes too, join the "Tomato Connoisseurs Club."

Overall I was impressed with how General Mills is clearly responding to consumers demand for products that are organic, gluten-free, and with no artificial flavors and colors. I told them I wasn't even interested in trying anything made with sucralose, to me it leaves a nasty aftertaste. And while it was too sweet for me, the Cascadian Farm organic dark chocolate granola was an interesting product introduction. I suggested they consider cocoa nibs instead of dark chocolate, you never know, it could happen...

Next up--a visit to the photo lab...

Summer is almost over, but it's not too late to plan one more backyard barbecue. This past weekend I had some friends over for a potluck at my folks place, and the main attraction was the beef. My father recently purchased a smoker in anticipation of trying some Snake River Farms beef I had been given as a sample. I first had Snake Rive Farms beef at The French Laundry and more recently tried their burgers, both were fantastic. Wagyu beef has a higher percentage of unsaturated fat, more than any other breed and American Snake River Farms beef is free of both added hormones and antibiotic residues. It's extremely tender and flavorful.

Brisket is an economical cut of beef and I was curious to see if American raised Kobe beef would be superior to conventional beef or grassfed in terms of flavor as well. Oh my. Was it ever. I don't eat beef all that often, but this is really the most rich and luxurious beef you can buy. It's a great way to indulge and tastier than steak, in my opinion. A whole brisket, when available, is about 14 pounds of meat, but needs to be trimmed of fat. You can cut it into three large pieces, each of which will serve about 6 people, maybe a few more.

My father is not big on recipes, but I did get the details on how he prepared the brisket. Here are the basic steps and measurements:

1. Dry rub and marinate
After trimming the meat of most of the fat, rub the meat with a spice rub. You can make it or use a commercial product that contains salt, sugar and spices. Wrap in plastic and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

2. Smoke
Rinse off the rub to make sure the meat will not be too salty. Brush with barbecue sauce and smoke in a smoker for 2 hours at 250 degrees. Note: If you don't have a smoker you could skip this step and just add 2 hours to the baking time.

3. Bake low and slow
Caramelize an onion until golden. Slice a raw onion and create a bed for the meat in a deep disposable style foil baking pan. Layer the meat on top of the raw onion and add about 1 cup water and 1/2 cup of barbecue sauce, place the caramelized onions on top of the meat. Seal the pan with foil and bake at 250 degrees for 4 1/2 - 5 1/2 hours or until meltingly tender.

4. Chill and slice
The meat will be very soft and impossible to slice. Chill it and defat the sauce. Slice and reheat gently in a warm oven. Serve with the sauce--reduced and defatted.

My favorite way to throw a party is potluck. Everyone participates and it showcases the talents and backgrounds of each person in a fun way. Those who don't cook can bring beer or wine. It's not too late! I hope you'll throw a barbecue before Summer is nothing but a memory...