My Week in Food

Started the week off with a visit to the farmers’ market in Healdsburg, a charming wine country town with an equally charming Saturday market, where I discovered Alpine berries. Tiny, and part of the strawberry family, they taste like candy.

This also happened over the weekend (look away vegetarians and Babe-loving friends): Whole roasted pig done in a Caja China, a traditional Cuban method of barbecuing inside a wooden box that made for a most delicious meal for a very large crowd.

Not so traditional was this twist on a tomato Mozzarella salad, only in this case it was tofu instead of cheese. It was part of a tofu cooking class hosted by House Foods Tofu with superstar Top Chef contender, Melissa King, behind the stove.

This was camp lunch for Virginia one day. Why does melon done with a melon baller taste better?

My lunch that same day? Not so well balanced, but some days are just like that. Sourdough chocolate bread from the lovely Craftsman and Wolves bakery, cultured butter, and strawberry jam.

This is what lunch looked like the rest of the week: Little tacos on corn tortillas crisped in a pan with Cheddar, whatever veggies I could scare up, sriracha, and a big spoonful of my new favorite fermented food: Wild Brine Beet and Cabbage Sauerkraut. Weird but GOOD.

Not remotely weird, but also GOOD was dinner at a gem of a restaurant tucked in an alley off of one of San Francisco’s grittiest streets. Dinner at Montesacro felt a little like I might be in Italy, everything was tasty, the waitstaff was friendly and warm. What’s not to love?

Favorite dinner of the week? I’d planned to make summer rolls with the kids, but had to dash out before there was time. So I set them up with all the fixings and rice papers to go with. They pulled it all together.

A surprise treat of the week was discovering a forgotten roll of chocolate chip cookie dough in the back of the freezer. It’s from this recipe in the New York Times. It’s a little fussier than most in this genre, but makes for a darn good cookie.

This was a “we’re heading out of town cook through the fridge” frittata at the tail end of the week. I sauteed onions, fresh corn, zucchini, basil, lemon juice, and salt. Poured eggs over the top and dotted the whole thing with goat cheese. I cooked it on the stove top and finished it under the broiler (or more accurately, I overcooked it under the broiler. It happens.

On the menu for 4th of July weekend? DIY Otter Pops (sans artificial everything). I’m taking a page from this post on making your own two-ingredient pops.  Let the brain freeze begin!

How was your Week in Food?