Category: BiteClub

Back to School for Grown-ups

So. I've done it. I've voluntarily chosen to subject myself to the pressure of getting a good grade in school - again. It's not that I've never thought about going back to school; to the contrary, I know lots of people - many of whom I envy for it - who have gone back to school, some several times, for advanced degrees in fields wildly disparate from their previous careers. But I never took that plunge, not since I extracted myself, sheepishly AbD, from the doctoral program in which I enrolled straight out of college (if taking 5 years to graduate can properly be considered "straight"). At least, not until last week, when I cleared the wait-list for this continuing-ed course in Web writing...

Pho at Anh Linh

Anh Linh | Santa Rosa

Anh Lihn Vietnamese is a second restaurant for Lee's Noodle House

Foods That Make Kids Cry

A couple of nights ago, I made my eldest daughter cry. But not because of a pending time-out, a too-harsh rebuke, homework overload, or an imminent grounding. No, I made my daughter cry by feeding her dinner because, you see, I'm a passable home cook, but a very bad person, and the animal I cooked used to be Cute.

Sauce Slut: A Glossy, Crimson, Zinfandel Reduction

I confess, I'm a total sauce slut: My wife could legitimately accuse me of infidelity, if only she had thought to proscribe lustfully leering at the 5 mother sauces in our vows, and I might happily eat a shoe, if only it were first slathered with a demi glace of sufficiently high quality.

The Costco Report: Eating My (Cheesy) Words

I received some criticism for yesterday's post - some silly ("Why do you even shop at Costco?"), and some quite fair ("Maybe it's uneconomic for smaller local dairies to supply Costco."). I like to think that I can take it as well as I can dish it out and, while I sometimes like to play rough, I also like to play fair, so here's my mea culpa de fromage: While I may decry my inability to source local cheeses from the Santa Rosa Costco, and while I may now have to drive further and pay more to procure some of my favorite products as a result, that is not necessarily any fault of the Big C.

A Rainy-Day Braise: Ancho Chilis, Zinfandel, and Beets

I think this is a killer one-pot dish for a dank, inclement night although, in point of fact, I'm cheating, because neither beets, nor my protein of choice - young goat shanks, from the Owen Family Farm up in Hopland - are technically in season right now. But the mild heat and smoky undertone from the chilies, together with the spicy-sweet peppery jam of the wine, seemed a natural bedfellow for dense, rich, and slightly gamy flavors...