Nothing brings out San Carlos residents like a new restaurant on Laurel Street! Johnston's Saltbox, at the southern end of Laurel (cross-street: St. Francis), has been quite the draw since opening in early April. The team of Sean Johnston and Jennifer McAteer Johnston -- he handles the front of the house, while she handles the … Continue reading Eat Local: Johnston’s Saltbox in San Carlos
650Food is six months old today! If you've been following along, you know that I've been writing about food -- eating, cooking, buying, and growing -- in the 650, aka San Francisco's peninsula neighborhoods. A few weeks ago I wrote, admittedly with a smidge of garden envy, about neighborhood gardens. Well, today my garden envy … Continue reading Grow Local: In Which I Walk the Talk
Cinco de Mayo, your annual excuse to drink too many margaritas, is coming up on Monday -- although some of you over-achievers might be getting a head start this weekend (in that case: rock on witcha bad selves). You know I love my margaritas, but this year I'm celebrating by shaking things up with another … Continue reading My-my-my-my Paloma!*
Ready to make the filling for Orange-Scented Anzac Biscuits with Dark-Chocolate Truffle Filling? If you're just jumping in here, you might want to pop on over to read Part One of this story to get caught up. Part One gives you a short history of ANZAC day and Anzac biscuits, along with my orange-scented version of … Continue reading Part Deux: Orange-Scented Anzac Biscuits with Dark-Chocolate Truffle Filling
Australian food -- not the new, ModOz cuisine of today's successful Australian restaurants, but the traditional Australian food that was made by my grandmothers and great-grandmothers -- is funny stuff. More often than not, recipes were the result of creative problem solving, a need to economize, and usually had a bit of folklore attached. Take … Continue reading Inspired: Making ANZAC Biscuits (Part One)
Off the Grid (OTG), San Francisco's rapidly expanding food-truck palooza, has been spreading the food-truck love to parts outside the city for the past couple of years. What does that mean for those of us who reside in the 650? We can now experience food-truck dining closer to home just about any night of the … Continue reading Field Trip: OTG in MP
I was feeling a bit nostalgic for Easter treats this week and decided to pull something from the Gâteau et Ganache archives: passion fruit daisy marshmallows. For years I made a spring trio of fruit marshmallows -- strawberry, passion fruit, and lemon -- cut into daisy shapes and finished with a button of dark chocolate … Continue reading Marshmallows and Chocolate, Oh My!
You know what I love about spring in the 650? Everything! The days are deliciously warm, and the sun sets late enough in the evening that you can have dinner outside. Spring color brightens every yard on my street, thanks to blooming trees, rose bushes, and freshly planted annuals. The luscious perfume of citrus blossoms … Continue reading Inspired: Creating a Kitchen Garden
The first time I walked into Taylor's, Gott's Roadside in Palo Alto's Town & Country shopping center last fall, I was super excited to order my all-time-favorite Ahi burger. Maybe I'd even splurge and order a side of sweet potato fries! From the time construction started and the "Coming Summer 2013" sign appeared in the … Continue reading Field Trip: Taylor’s — er, Gott’s Roadside
If you've been following 650Food, you know that I've written about food waste previously, and that I'm working on reducing food waste in my own kitchen. I'm loving the opportunity to research and learn more about the ingredients I'm buying and coming up with new ways to use them. My current projects involve carrot greens … Continue reading Getting Ahead of the Green Bin
