Sunday, November 01, 2009 

Chaucer's Books is celebrating 35 years

of serving the Santa Barbara community. They are sharing their celebration with a 20% off this weekend. (Ends today, however...) If you miss the sale, keep in mind it is Book Fair Season and a portion of sales goes to various schools in the community.

So...time to get some cookbooks for the chef or foodie in your life? Might I offer some suggestions that I found while strolling the aisles at Chaucers.

My Nepenthe: Bohemian Tales of Food, Family and Big Sur.
My Nepenthe weaves together stories and tales about the famous California restaurant perched on the majestic cliffs of Big Sur. It celebrates the magic and history of place through food and the Fassett family who started Nepenthe.

(Mark your calendars for a book signing with the Author, Romney Steele - December 7, 2009 @ 7:00)

Top Chef: The Quickfire Cookbook
This follow-up to the "New York Times"-bestselling "Top Chef: The Cookbook" draws from all five seasons of the hit reality show and features 75 of the best recipes culled from the Top Chef Quickfire Challenges. Illustrated.
My New Orleans: The Cookbook
"My New Orleans" will change the way you look at New Orleans cooking and the way you see World-famous chef John Besh. It's 16 chapters of culture, history, essay and insight, and pure goodness. Besh tells us the story of his New Orleans by the season and by the dish. Archival, four-color, location photography along with ingredient information make the Big Easy easy to tackle in home kitchens. Cooks will salivate over the 200 recipes that honor and celebrate everything New Orleans.

..
A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to Cafe Reconcile, a New Orleans-based non-profit organization dedicated to providing at-risk youth an opportunity to learn life and interpersonal skills, and operational training for successful entry into the hospitality and restaurant industries.
Big Sur Bakery Cookbook: A Year in the Life of a Restaurant

Here from the celebrated California restaurant Big Sur Bakery is a stunningly photographed cookbook showcasing seasonal ingredients, local vintners, fishermen, and farmers--and the food that makes the Big Sur Bakery unique.

Tucked behind a gas station off California's legendary Highway 1, the Big Sur Bakery is easy to miss. But don't be fooled by its unassuming location--stumbling across the Bakery, as countless visitors have done on their way up and down the Pacific Coast, will make you feel as if you've discovered a secret: a gem of a restaurant where the food, people, and atmosphere meld together in a perfect embodiment of the spirit of Big Sur.

The Complete Tassajara Cookbook: Recipes, Techniques, and Reflections from the Famed Zen Kitchen

In this comprehensive book, one of Tassajara's most well-known and beloved cooks, Edward Espe Brown, presents hundreds of recipes using fresh, whole foods; detailed notes on preparing seasonal ingredients; and, perhaps most important, inspiration for cooking with joyful intention and attention. Presented with humor and warmth, this book is full of wonderful insights into living a life that celebrates simple food.

Tacos (from Mark Miller of Coyote Cafe fame)

Featuring 75 contemporary and classic taco recipes, this book also highlights the history, culture, ingredients, and techniques that have made this one of America's favorite foods.

Crescent City Farmers' Market Cookbook

Poppy Tooker tells the story of the Crescent City Farmers Market through her distinctly New Orleans voice as one of a local food preservationist, Slow Food New Orleans founder, and longtime market collaborator. With a market tradition dating back to the late 1600s, the story of the rise and decline of New Orleansa city markets prior to the creation of the Crescent City Farmers Market is both educational and entertaining. Tooker recalls whimsical and wacky market events with both prose and archival photography.

Ad Hoc at Home

In the book every home cook has been waiting for, the revered Thomas Keller turns his imagination to the American comfort foods closest to his heart—flaky biscuits, chicken pot pies, New England clam bakes, and cherry pies so delicious and redolent of childhood that they give Proust's madeleines a run for their money. Keller, whose restaurants The French Laundry in Yountville, California, and Per Se in New York have revolutionized American haute cuisine, is equally adept at turning out simpler fare.
All Cakes Considered.
Melissa Gray is National Public Radio's Cake Lady. Every Monday she brings a cake to the office for her colleagues at NPR to enjoy. Hundreds of Mondays (and cakes) later, Melissa has lots of cake-making tips to share. With more than 50 recipes for the cakes that have been dreamed of and drooled over for a lifetime. (Listen to the NPR story about the book...here.)
Remember to try to keep it local this holiday buying season, especially books. I, for one, don't want my beloved Chaucer's to be a casualty of the "Book Pricing War' now being waged at an ever "decreasing" pace.
You might be happy when you walk into a store and see a potential Christmas gift at a deep discount. But the American Booksellers Association is not, accusing three giant retailers of "predatory pricing." They've asked the Justice Department to investigate.

The group fears these "book wars" could close the book on many small, independent stores, - CBS News

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Sunday, June 07, 2009 

Perhaps the loveliest of opening movie sequences

highlighting the wild untamed beauty of Big Sur...the land where many free spirits go to get spiritually recharged. From the controversial movie (in its day), The Sandpiper staring the battling Burtons.

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Friday, December 26, 2008 

Sierra Mar is now on Open Table!

If you are looking for gastronomical and spiritual renewal, Sierra Mar at the Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur is one of those special places I highly recommend going to, although for most of us we have to really save up our pennies. Now, you can book a reservation on Open Table!
Overlooking the Pacific Ocean with a spectacular view of the California coast, the award winning Sierra Mar Restaurant serves world-class cuisine in an awe-inspiring setting. This Big Sur restaurant features an innovative, four course, prix fixe menu, which changes daily and utilizes organic, seasonal fare. Sierra Mar offers wine selections from one of the most extensive collections in North America. - Sierra Mar

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Wednesday, July 02, 2008 

The Big Sur Fire has JUMPED THE FIRE LINE


The evacuation area has increased by 10 miles from Tuesday and now encompasses nearly the entire Big Sur community. - SFGATE

There's a "techie" who is helping to fight the Big Sur fires and he checks in on a blog on Wired.com

I'm on the Big Sur Volunteer Fire Brigade and we've been working hard with the huge force here to keep our friends' and neighbors' houses from burning down. The air support alone has been spectacular and effective -- in the last 48 hours an Air Guard C-130 with a retardant pod, two four-engined bombers (turboprop P-3 Orion airframes), a couple of two-engined bombers and a couple of twin-engined spotter craft. Add to that [helicopters like] a civilian Chinook, a big-ass old Sikorsky and a bunch of Hueys hauling 1,000 gal buckets from the ocean or from ponds up to the fire lines. Fire Camp alone is three times bigger than any movie location I've ever seen (though not as huge as the moderate-sized military exercise they were ginning up for at Ft. Hunter-Liggett, just as we finished up fire school in early June).


*UPDATE* All residents in Big Sur told to evacuate.

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Thursday, June 26, 2008 

My Beloved Big Sur

might just become a shadow of our tears instead of smiles....if the flames continue to move forward.

(Opening scene of the 1965 film, The Sandpiper, starring Liz & Dick....showcasing the amazing beauty of "the Sur.")



California officials closed a stretch of the state's scenic coastal highway around historic Big Sur on thursday as a wildfire threatened 500 homes in the remote area known for its contemplative retreats.

Firefighters have been battling hundreds of blazes across California sparked by lightning strikes over the past weekend, including two that merged into the single fire around Big Sur, an artists' haven that was once home to writer Henry Miller.

The Big Sur fire has burned more than 23,500 acres (9,510 hectares) and destroyed 16 homes and two other buildings.

Big Sur, on California's central coast, is heavily wooded, with steep slopes running down to the Pacific Ocean. The terrain creates one of California's most dramatic landscapes -- and slow going for almost 700 firefighters on the scene. -
Reuters

Say a little prayer for those up in The Sur and hope that legendary spots like
Nepenthe, Esalen, Big Sur Lodge, The Campgrounds, The Post Ranch Inn and Bixby Bridge remain standing...uncharred.

Keep abreast of the fire via Xasauan Today

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