In the waning weeks of summer vacation, with the days already getting shorter and the first day of school on the horizon, few of us want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen.  Now is the time to make the most of the incredible bounty of the August garden.

I’m talking tomatoes, here, of course.  As far as I’m concerned, nothing compares to the deep, sun-warmed flavor and chin dripping juiciness of a freshly picked tomato.  Whether it’s a salty, smoky Cherokee Purple or a nicely acidic Early Girl, a good tomato needs very little help to make a good meal.

A couple of slabs of ripe tomato and a sprinkle of salt is the perfect mid-summer lunch.  Add toasted bread and a salty bit of cured pork and you have a simple feast of the season that crosses continents and cultures.  In America, it’s a BLT.  In Spain, it’s pan con tomate, or bread with tomato. (more…)

I wasn’t planning on posting another asparagus recipe this spring.  Really, I wasn’t.  But the local asparagus is still so gorgeous at the farmers market that I find myself buying it every week.  Then this recipe landed in my in-box last week in a newsletter from Pizza Antica and all bets were off.

Chef and owner Gordon Drysdale is a pizza genius who’s turned his original pizzeria at San Jose’s Santana Row into a mini-chain with locations in Lafayette and Mill Valley.  I’ll never be able to replicate his thin crust but I’m grateful that he’s willing to give out some of his recipes now that I don’t get into San Jose that often. (more…)

If mention of olive oil turns your thoughts to Italy, it’s time to expand your horizons.  Some of the freshest most flavorful olive oil on the market today comes from California.

For more than two decades the state’s  boutique producers of high end oils have been getting all the attention.  One of the most popular and widely distributed, McEvoy Ranch, commands more than $20 for a 12.7 ounce bottle of its  intense, pungent oils from Tuscan varieties of olives.

Now, California is building a reputation for high quality oils delivered at a more modest price, thanks to intensive planting techniques, mechanical harvesting and a proliferation of high tech mills.   Although many may be familiar with the oils from the mammoth California Olive Ranch, with mills in Oroville and Corning, far fewer are likely to recognize the products of the state’s number two producer, Corto Olive.  That’s because most of its oil production is bottled under private labels for the likes of Zabar’s and Sam’s Club. (more…)

I confess I’m a gadget junkie.  I come by it honestly.  My dad has always been fascinated by the newest technological wonder and he’s built an impressive collection of toys over the years.  I’ll never catch up, try as I might.

I work to keep my addiction under control, though, now that I no longer get a regular paycheck.  That’s what makes the iPhone apps so much fun.  (I know, I know.  You have to buy the phone first but I’ve done a good job of rationalizing that purchase.)  The apps are cheap—as long as you don’t go overboard and download everything that looks remotely useful.

In the six months since I got my phone, I’ve been checking out and playing around with apps.  Some didn’t make the cut.  Others were one-trick ponies.  But I’ve come to rely on a handful, especially when I’m away from home and working in an unfamiliar kitchen without my collection of trusted cookbooks. Here are some of my favorites: (more…)

For the first time in several years, I won’t be attending the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco this weekend. If I were, I would be heading straight for the Food Should Taste Good booth to get another sample of their terrific tortilla chips flavored with black, green and kalamata olives.

A neighbor brought these chips to a New Year’s Eve party and I’ve been hooked ever since. I took them on a hike with some friends a few days later and they couldn’t stop eating them. The sturdy texture also made them good dippers for hummus.

Now, I’m not a big junk food eater and I generally avoid processed foods, but I make an exception for tortilla chips. Life is too short to pass up all the great flavor and satisfying crunch of good chips. I try not to buy them very often but I’ll rarely turn one down despite all the fat and sodium I know they harbor.

These chips remove a little of the guilt. They’re made with real food, including stone ground corn, sunflower or safflower oil, evaporated cane juice, sea salt and natural seasons — all organic. There isn’t an ingredient listed on the package that I can’t pronounce. Still, their calorie, fat and sodium counts are nearly as high as the big name commercial tortilla chips.

The brand offers a number of unusual flavors, including a chocolate version that I found a little odd but not as strange as I expected. Still, I’m sticking with the olives. It’s an inspired flavor combination. (more…)