cookiesinheaven

Labels: Books, Cookbooks, Montecito, sale, Trader Joe's

Mike Langner, manager of business interests for Fabio Viviani and Jacopo Falleni, announced this week that Barsac Brasserie, a fixture in south San Fernando Valley for the past 21 years, will be under new ownership and new management. With the collaboration of three restaurant and bar experts: Chef Fabio Viviani, Top Chef Season 5 breakout star and Fan Favorite, Jacopo Falleni, award-winning mixologist, and Lisa Long, long-standing owner/manager of Barsac for 21 years. Grand Opening for Firenze Osteria is Saturday October 24th with complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres from 4:30 PM to 7:30 PM. The public is invited to attend. - PR Newswire

Labels: Fabio, Fabio Viviani, Los Angeles, NoHo, Restaurant

Labels: Cookbooks, Oregon, Recipes, San Diego, San Francisco

California's once-acclaimed mutual aid system among local fire departments, key to fighting the state's increasing number of massive brush fires, is being undercut by tight budgets, fire officials warned a legislative hearing Wednesday. - Latte Times

Labels: budget, California, firefighters, Fires

Labels: burgers, bus, Hotels, mobile food, twitter, vendors

Federal agencies that supply food for 31 million schoolchildren fail to ensure that tainted products are pulled quickly from cafeterias, a federal audit obtained by USA TODAY finds.

The delays raise the risk of children being sickened by contaminated food, according to the audit by Congress' Government Accountability Office.

In recent recalls, including one this year in which salmonella-infected peanut butter sickened almost 700 people, the government failed to disseminate "timely and complete notification about suspect food products provided to schools through the federal commodities program," the audit says. - USAToday

Labels: audit, FDA, Food, food safety, GAO, salmonella

1st Thursday reception for one of Edible Santa Barbara's photographers, Fran Collin.

Great cooking begins with great cookbooks. During the month of October come see our collection of local cookbook authors on display in the store. Contact the store for specific author events and signings.

Chef John Downey will create a four-course tasting menu to showcase the vary finest produce from Santa Barbara's renowned Farmer's Market paired with regional meats and seafood. - $50/person

Celebrating Fall Harvest and Olio e Limone's 10th Anniversary all month with a nightly Festa della Vendemmia (Fall Harvest Festival), a sumptuous six-course menu available with Santa Barbara County wine pairing. - $60/person

They will celebrate the annual grape harvest in full swing on the day of the Beaver Moon, the first full moon of October. Free admission, 3 live bands including Spencer the Gardner, new wine releases, gourmet foods and hokey activities all in a laid-back environment. Wines are available for purchase by the glass or in sample flights. Watch winemaking in progress and they will create our rose and crush whatever grapes are around that day.

Experience authentic, local food & wine, Santa Barbara style each Tuesday evening in October. Your culinary adventure begins with a Chef’s Reception on the Perch atop the Canary Hotel with hors d’oeuvres and a taste of local wines. Then, guests stroll thru downtown Santa Barbara to one of four top local restaurants for a four-course wine dinner. Meet the Chef and a local winemaker at each restaurant as they discuss the fantastic foods and wines of the American Riviera.

Labels: Food, local, Santa Barbara

on State Street. Storefront is now empty.

Labels: Big Dogs, Santa Barbara, State Street

Paul Bertolli's credentials as a chef are impressive, including 10 years at the helm of Chez Panisse and a turn as private chef for Sir Harold Acton in his Florentine Villa la Pietra, where he served such guests as Princess Margaret and Rex Harrison.

...Now, he's aiming at the home table, with a line of fresh, ready-to-heat-dishes now available at Costco warehouse stores.

The four dishes - organic polenta, penne Bolognese, beef braised in Zinfandel with vegetables, and organic turkey meat loaf - are unfrozen and organic with no preservatives or hormone additives. The meals serve five, and none sells for more than $14. - SFGate

Labels: Alice Waters, Chez Panisse, Costco, Paul Bertolli

by helping clean up Haskell's Beach out in Goleta.

It's a beautiful little piece of beach/land with a storied history.
Hauled old, rusty lobster traps, shoes, wheels, and what I think is a propeller off of the coastline.

Plastic, glass bottles, corks, used oil: Restaurants increasingly are finding ways to repurpose these in everything from countertops to hand soap. A look at some inspiration:

Dali Wine Bar & Cellar, Dallas: Corks are donated to school art programs or sent to a cork-recycling company. Used corks also are embedded into the bar’s resin counter.

Pizzeria Mozza and Osteria Mozza, Los Angeles: When the two concepts’ used vegetable oil is converted into biodiesel, the remaining glycerin, a byproduct of the conversion process, is made into hand soap that’s used in the restaurants.

...Johnson & Wales University, Charlotte, N.C.: A few years ago, Chef-instructor Paul Malcolm started collecting vegetable scraps in a bucket for use in his home compost pile. Students and faculty members now compost 60 tons of food waste per year at the school. - Restaurants and Institutions

Labels: corks, Environment, recycling, Restaurant, restaurants

Labels: Agriculture, farmers, farming, local, USDA, YouTube

Firefighters can handle the heat both on the job and in the kitchen. Now you can serve up some of the same crowd-pleasing recipes that have quelled firefighters' appetites for generations. By purchasing the new Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund California Firehouse Cookbook, you'll get dozens of firehouse favorites - while also benefiting these local heroes and their families.

Created by the Fund and Jim Beam(R) - the world's No. 1-selling Bourbon - the cookbook is available for purchase now at participating retail locations across California. Jim Beam(R) will donate $9.99 from the sale of each cookbook to the Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund. Jim Beam(R) will make a minimum donation of $25,000.

Firehouse Cookbook recipes range from "Geezer Salad" and "Jim Beam and Cola Barbequed Pork Ribs" to "Spicy Firehouse Chili" and "Fast Truck Chicken," served with a side of stories about the dishes. Renowned chef Wolfgang Puck also shows his support by sharing his barbecued pork ribs with spicy-sweet rub. Sherry Yard, Puck's executive pastry chef and a member of a firefighting family, contributed several recipes including one for warm chocolate truffle cakes.

...The Fund provides equipment to underfunded fire stations, as well as scholarships and medical services to families of active, retired and deceased firefighters. The organization was established in memory of Chief Terry Farrell, who perished in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center along with 342 of his firefighter brethren. - PRNewswire/Reuters and FDNN

Labels: Cookbooks, fire, firefighters, fundraising

Labels: Lawsuit, Organic, Whole Foods

Stanford Hospital & Clinics is launching a new daily menu for inpatients featuring organic, locally grown, sustainable ingredients. Chef Jesse Cool's creative approach to developing a new menu option reflects a basic principle - simple is best. - Stanford's "Farm Fresh" program

While the country roils in debate over health care reform, Stanford Hospital and Clinics is reforming the in-patient experience one meal at a time through its new Farm Fresh project. Launched in a pilot phase last month, the program brings organic, locally grown and sustainable food to a setting better known for serving up Salisbury steak and Jell-O.

It's available to any patient whose doctor approves it, and does not cost a penny more than traditional fare. Other area hospitals have experimented with varied food options - Kaiser Permanente offers Northern California patients local, sustainably grown fruit, hormone-free milk and zero trans fat menus.

But Stanford Hospital administrators believe Farm Fresh is the first program of its kind, with a larger selection of organic, locally produced food for all meals and a focus on nutrition education designed to be used beyond the bedside. - SFGate

Labels: farmers, Farms, Food, hospitals, Organic

This September 20-26, thousands of restaurants across the country will help Share Our Strength raise money to fight childhood hunger by participating in Share Our Strength’s Great American Dine Out®. And they need your help.

Please DINE OUT in participating restaurants with your family, friends and colleagues from Sunday, September 20 to Saturday, September 26. Find restaurants near you—you can help hungry kids and have fun at the same time. - Share Our Strength

Labels: Great American Dine Out, Santa Barbara, Share Our Strength

Fat Duck food poisoning caused by shellfish contaminated with sewage, report suggests. Official report shows that illness that hit 500 diners at Heston Blumenthal's restaurant was probably caused by norovirus from shellfish. - The Guardian

Labels: England, Food, food poisoning, food safety, Seafood

The Web site was launched by the Heath & Human Services and Agriculture department’s Food Safety Working Group and is part the administration’s emphasis on prevention in public health, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in announcing the service.

People can go to the Web site and sign up to receive email and RSS alerts on recalled or potentially unsafe food, ask questions of scientific experts across government and listen to podcasts or view videos on food safety. - Government Health IT

Labels: Agriculture, FDA, food safety, HHS, Recalls

Labels: Sesame Street, YouTube

Labels: Birthdays, bloggers

• 1157 – King Richard I of England (d. 1199)
• 1841 – Antonín Dvořák, Czech composer (d. 1904)
• 1897 – Jimmie Rodgers, American singer and composer (d. 1933)
• 1910 – Jean-Louis Barrault, French actor and director (d. 1994)
• 1914 – Sir Denys Lasdun, English architect (d. 2001)
• 1922 – Sid Caesar, American comedian
• 1922 – Lyndon LaRouche, American politician (OK...maybe not glad to share w/ him...)
• 1924 – Grace Metalious, American novelist (d. 1964)
• 1925 – Peter Sellers, English actor (d. 1980)
• 1932 – Patsy Cline, American singer (d. 1963)
• 1937 – Sam Nunn, American politician
• 1941 – Bernie Sanders, American politician
• 1946 – L.C. Greenwood, American football player
• 1947 – Ann Beattie, American writer
• 1947 – Benjamin Orr, American bassist and singer (The Cars) (d. 2000)
• 1954 – Mark Foley, American politician (OK...maybe not w/him either...)
• 1955 – Terry Tempest Williams, American author and environmentalist
• 1957 – Heather Thomas, American actress
• 1960 – Aimee Mann, American musician
• 1960 – Stefano Casiraghi, Italian businessman; husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco (d. 1990)
• 1962 – Sergio Casal, Spanish tennis player
• 1970 – Neko Case, American musician
• 1971 – Brooke Burke, American model
• 1971 – David Arquette, American actor

• 70 – Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem.
• 1504 – Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence.
• 1565 – Pedro Menéndez de Avilés settles St. Augustine, Florida.
• 1892 - "Pledge of Allegiance" was published in the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion
• 1900 – Galveston Hurricane of 1900: a powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.
• 1921 – 16-year-old Margaret Gorman wins the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America.
• 1923 – Honda Point Disaster: nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost.
• 1926 – Germany is admitted to the League of Nations.
• 1930 – 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape.
• 1934 – Off the New Jersey coast, a fire aboard the passenger liner SS Morro Castle kills 135 people.
• 1935 – US Senator from Louisiana, Huey Long, nicknamed "Kingfish", is fatally shot in the Louisiana capitol building.
• 1943 – World War II: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the Allied armistice with Italy.
• 1951 – Treaty of San Francisco: In San Francisco, California, 48 nations sign a peace treaty with Japan in formal recognition of the end of the Pacific War.
• 1966 – The first Star Trek series premieres on NBC.
• 1968 – The Beatles perform their last live TV performance on the David Frost show. They perform their new hit Hey Jude.
• 1970 – Hijacking (and subsequent destruction) of three airliners to Jordan by Palestinians; the events to follow would later become known as Black September
• 1971 – In Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.
• 1974 – Watergate Scandal: US President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.
• 1991 – Republic of Macedonia becomes independent.
• 1998 – Mark McGwire hits his 62nd home run of the season off of Steve Trachsel (Chicago Cubs), breaking Roger Maris' long standing record of 61.

Labels: Birthdays, History

Labels: Animals, Birthdays, Chinese, horoscope, tiger

still proudly made in the USA. NPR has a great story about the factory in Ohio.

The KitchenAid stand mixer is the tool of the trade of cooking, especially baking. At $200 and up, it's an investment in both money and counter space — and it's still being made in the U.S.

The mixers have been made in Greenville, Ohio, since 1941. At the KitchenAid Experience Center, the company's retail store in the town, every model of mixer and blender in every color can be seen.

People come to the store for cooking demonstrations; sometimes they arrive as if on a pilgrimage, walking through the front door in amazement. Downstairs there is a mixer museum, featuring, especially now that there's a movie about her, a cobalt blue K5A model that was owned, used and signed by Julia Child.

"Bon appetit," she inscribed on the bowl.

Listen to the story..HERE.

I absolutely love mine. Once you have a Kitchen Aid...you'll never have those weight lifter forearms from stirring again. It truly is a kitchen aide.

Labels: america, Julia Child, Kitchen, Kitchen Aid, mixers, Ohio

Fire Departments.

• Cafe Buenos Aires
• Chef Karim's Moroccan Restaurant
• Seagrass Restaurant
• Tupelo Junction
• Root 246 (Solvang)
• Hitching Post II (Buellton)
  

Labels: Open Table, Restaurant, Santa Barbara

The Bay Area’s well-known, much-loved Soul Food Farm was devastated by a fire...

...It would be a terrible shame if the future of Soul Food Farm went up in smoke along with the beautiful grassy pastures in which these birds have pecked and foraged for worms for several years. I say this not only as Alexis’s and Eric’s friend and supporter of several years, but because they are a truly vital part of the still-nascent food chain for local, sustainably raised meat in the Bay Area. Even here, where people get up at dawn for the chance to pay $6 per pound for pastured chicken at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market before Marin Sun Farms sells out of them, getting a pastured chicken to your plate is a tricky business.

...To help get Soul Food Farm access to cash, whether for rebuilding the chicken houses and ordering enough replacement birds to meet their obligations to their existing customers or frankly whatever, with her reluctant permission I’ve set up a PayPal donation account in Alexis’s name, under the new email account firefund@soulfoodfarm.com. Please consider donating whatever you can spare via the PayPal button. You can also go to Paypal.com and send a donation directly via the preceding email address. [Update: Don't be alarmed if PayPal says the account is not yet verified; I need to get Alexis to fill in some details. Also, please note that those who dislike PayPal can also mail a check made out to Soul Food Farm to 6046 Pleasants Valley Rd., Vacaville, CA 95688.]

Labels: Bay Area, chicken, Donating, farming, Farms, Fires

Labels: advertising, blogs, Food, packaging

Celebrate it anyway you want!

Labels: dolphins, Movie