Need a night out with the Ladies, or want to celebrate Valentines Day a bit early? The Downtown Campbell Wine Walk is taking place Wednesday, Feb. 9 from 5-9pm. Taste fine wines and enjoy tasting tables from local wineries in many of the Downtown shops and galleries; listen to live music; enter the raffle; and sample taste treats in a warm and friendly community atmosphere! Participating Wineries Include: Aver Family Vineyards, Brassfield Estate Winery, Burrell School Vineyards & Winery, Cahill Winery, Cooper Garrod Estate Vineyards, Coterie Cellars, Domenico Winery, El Sol Winery, Fenestra Winery, Fortino Winery, Guglielmo Winery, Hannah Nicole Vineyards, Heart O' The Mountain, Kirigin Cellars, Little Valley Winery, Pinder Winery, Poetic Cellars,Roudon Smith Winery, Sarah's Vineyard, Savannah Chanelle Vineyards, Silver Mountain Vineyards, Sycamore Creek Vineyards, Travieso Winery, Villa del Monte Winery Ticket Information is here. Credit: Prevention The February Prevention issue features this heart-healthy recipe for Couscous with Chickpeas, Dried Fruit, and Cilantro. Enjoy! WORK TIME: 20 MINUTES / TOTAL TIME: 25 MINUTES / SERVINGS: 4 1/2 c water 1/4 tsp ground allspice 1 c orange juice 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 c whole wheat couscous 2 Tbsp olive oil 1 med onion, sliced 1 med green bell pepper, thinly sliced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 1/2 tsp curry powder 1 can (15 oz) no-salt-added chickpeas, rinsed and drained 1/2 c dried apricots, sliced 1/2 c dried sweetened cranberries 3 Tbsp chopped cilantro Heart-Healthy Tip: Perk up low-salt beans with the sweetness of orange, apricot, and cranberry. Chemical Research in Toxicology A new study published in the journal 'Chemical Research in Toxicology,' issued by American Chemical Society, warns that cigarettes damage smoker's DNA within minutes rather than years, thus highlighting that it is never to early to quit. Per the Study: 'Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are among the likely major causative agents for lung cancer in smokers. PAH require metabolic activation to exert their carcinogenic effects, and one important pathway proceeds through a three-step sequence resulting in the formation of diol epoxides, which react with DNA to produce adducts that can cause mutations and initiate the carcinogenic process. However, no previous published studies have examined this critical pathway in humans specifically exposed to PAH by inhalation of cigarette smoke. This study used a unique approach employing a stable isotope derivative of phenanthrene, the simplest PAH with a bay region, a feature closely associated with PAH carcinogenicity. Twelve subjects each smoked a cigarette to which [D10]phenanthrene had been added. Plasma was analyzed for [D10]r-1,t-2,3,c-4-tetrahydroxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydrophenanthrene ([D10]PheT), the major end product of the diol epoxide metabolism pathway of phenanthrene. The analysis was performed by gas chromatography−negative ion chemical ionization−tandem mass spectrometry, using [13C6]PheT as internal standard. The results demonstrated that the three-step pathway resulting in the formation of diol epoxides, as monitored by [D10]PheT, occurred with remarkable rapidity. Levels of [D10]PheT in plasma of all subjects were maximal at the earliest time points examined, 15−30 min after smoking the cigarette containing [D10]phenanthrene, and decreased thereafter. These results demonstrate that the formation of a PAH diol epoxide occurs rapidly in smokers. Because PAH diol epoxides are mutagenic and carcinogenic, the results clearly demonstrate immediate negative health consequences of smoking, which should serve as a major warning to anyone contemplating initiating tobacco use.' Have you experienced Yosemite’s Chefs' Holidays at The Ahwahnee? This culinary adventure is held each year in January and February and features renowned Chefs from around the United States. Each Session includes: A 'Meet-The-Chefs' Reception with wine and hors d' oeuvres, Cooking classes and demonstrations followed by tastings, Behind the scenes kitchen tours, and a Five-course Chefs Holidays Gala Dinner that includes four paired wines. I attended the January 12th and 13th 2011 Chefs Holidays Event featuring Headliner: Michael Tusk---Quince, San Francisco. CA Demonstrators: Colin Ambrose---Estia’s Little Kitchen, Sag Harbor, NY and Jesse Cool---Flea Street Café, Menlo Park, CA If you're vegetarian or vegan, just let them know in advance and they will prepare a special five course menu for you!! I requested the Vegan five-course chefs gala dinner, and more information and pictures follow. Before detailing the delicious gourmet foods, I thought I would give you some background on the park operator, DNC Parks & Resorts at Yosemite, Inc. (DNC), which has innovative GreenPath® and GuestPath® programs that promote stewardship in special places, including “eco-friendly cuisine”. More than half of the menu offerings in the dining room feature organically grown, sustainably-harvested or locally grown products. There are numerous purveyors from whom DNC regularly purchases organic and sustainable products in multiple food categories for use in Yosemite kitchens park-wide. T & D Willey Farms in Madera, California is the most prominent. As certified organic farmers for over 20 years, T & D Willey Farms mastered crop rotation to enrich the soil in a natural fashion, resulting in farm-fresh fruits and vegetables, many of which are received the day of harvest. Other notable suppliers of sustainable and organic foods to Yosemite kitchens are as follows: PRODUCE Mountain Meadow Farms ~ Flagstaff, Arizona: Seasonal heirloom tomatoes. California Olive Ranch ~ Oroville, California: extra virgin olive oils. CEREALS, GRAINS & SPICES Back To Nature ~ organic crackers and cookies. Nature’s Path ~ organic breakfast cereals. Full Circle ~ organic breakfast cereals, rice & salad dressings. Simply Organic ~ spices. Deboles ~ gluten free pasta. Woodstock Farms ~ organic sugar. COFFEE & TEA Green Mountain Coffee Roasters ~ organic coffee beans. Mother Lode Coffee Roasting Company ~ Sonora, California: ground coffee. Traditional Medicinals ~ Sebastopol, California: herbal teas. JUICES, SAUCES & SOUPS Santa Cruz ~ organic fruit juices. Walnut Acres ~ organic pasta sauces. Honest Tea ~ organic teas and ades. Amy’s ~ organic canned soups & chili, noodles. FROZEN FOODS Boca Burger ~ organic soy burgers. Amy’s ~ organic frozen pizza, burritos, pot pies. LUNCHEON ALTERNATIVES Variety of vegan, vegetarian / organic tofu WINE Silver Fox Vineyards ~ Mariposa, California: producers of the “Yosemite Cuvee” wines sold at the retail level and all of The Ahwahnee’s private label wines. Chef Michael Tusk, Quince San Francisco featured his famous: Raviolo di Ricotta with Tomatero Farm Egg, Nasturtiums and Opal Basil Chef Michael Tusk's Ravioli di Ricotta The Recipe is below. Note: I have many vegan readers, and many people are concerned about the treatment of chickens, particularly in the factory farming industry. However, I've met people who have their own backyard chickens and treat them very well in addition to letting them live a long life and are not killed. This is why I've chosen to feature this recipe. Note2: I spoke with Michael Tusk after the Gala Dinner, and he offered to prepare a Vegan Course Meal at his restaurant - just contact Quince. Note3: For Gratitude Gourmet readers who want to to veganize most of the recipe, use vegan ricotta, plant-based milks like Almond, Soy, and Hemp, and EarthBalance non-dairy butter. Recipe Credit Chef Michael Tusk Serves 6 Ricotta: 1/2 Gallon Strauss Farm whole milk, 1 quart Strauss Farm heavy cream 12g salt 12g sugar 25g lemon juice 7g citric acid Pasta: 1 cup 00 flour 1 cup all purpose flour 8 egg yolks 2 whole eggs olive oil salt Garnish: 6 Tomatero Farm egg yolks 4 oz unsalted butter 1 cup nasturtiums 1/4 cup opal basil 1/4 cup squash blossoms Method: Make the ricotta the night before by lining a perforated hotel pan with cheesecloth, with a drainer pan below. In a saucepan, combine the whole milk, heavy cream, salt and sugar and bring slowly to a boil. Combine the lemon juice and citric acid to the milk mixture. Remove from heat and let rest for 1 hour. Strain the ricotta by pouring the mixture into the perforated hotel pan. Let drain overnight in the refrigerator. Remove the ricotta the next day using a spatula and place in a mixing bowl. Season it if necessary with salt and parmigiano to taste. If the ricotta is too moist cut in some ricotta that has less moisture such as Bellwether Farm or Marcelli Brothers smoked ricotta. To make the pasta dough, combine the two flours and make a well. Add the egg yolks and whole eggs, olive oil and a pinch of salt. With a fork, mix up the yolk and then start cutting some flour into the well until the majority of the flour has been absorbed. The amount of flour will vary according to the size of the eggs being used. knead the dough for five minutes and then wrap in cling-film and leave to rest for 1 hour. Roll the dough out, at the thinnest setting possible, into rectangular sheets 3 inches wide by 24 inches in length. You will need two sheets this size. When completed cover the dough with cling-film so it does not dry out. Spoon the ricotta out into approximately 2.5 oz balls leaving 1.5 inches between each ricotta addition. With a spoon or a shell-on egg make a nest into the ricotta in which you will place the farm egg yolk. Take the shell-on egg and gently push it into the ricotta. You will form a nest into which the egg yolk will lay. Make sure not to push down too hard, The egg mush rest gently with ricotta on all sides and below it. Crack the eggs and save the whites for a different use. Keep the yolks in their shells, resting in their cartons. Gently tilt the yolk out of the shell into the ricotta nest. Do all 6 ricotta nests. If a yolk breaks, discard it and crack a new yolk open. Spray the dough with an atomizer filled with water, and drape the second piece of pasta over the first. Press around the outer ridge of the cheese with your index fingers until all air has been removed. It is essential that you do not push down too hard at this point and disturb the yolk. Cut out the raviolo di ricotta into circular raviolo using a circular pastry cutter. If you do not have a circular pastry cutter, just cut into squares. Sprinkle semolina on a half sheet pan generously and use a pastry bench scraper to transfer the raviolo to the sheet pan. Plating: Heat six 12 inch dinner plates. In a large sautee pan melt the butter and add a bit of pasta water. Add the nasturtiums, basil and squash blossoms and season with a bit of salt. Remove from heat while you cook the pasta. Bring a rondoe large enough to hold all six raviolo up to a boil with water. Season with salt and turn down the water to about 190 degrees. Add the raviolo to the water and poach for about 3 minutes. The outer edge of the pasta should be tender but the yolk should remain molten. Spoon out the raviolo onto the dinner plates using a spider or large perforated spoon. Drain excess water off the raviolo and place all on the warm dinner plates. Rewarm your butter and spoon the warm butter over the raviolo. Serve immediately. In the fall shave white or black truffles over the raviolo. No additional cheese is necessary. If you make it yourself, please let me know how it turns out for you by Commenting on this Blog Post or on Gratitude Gourmet's Facebook Page. Parts Two and Three Stay Tuned for Yosemite’s Chefs' Holidays at The Ahwahnee Parts Two and Three where I'll feature: - Demonstrators: Colin Ambrose---Estia’s Little Kitchen Sag Harbor, NY and his Granola Bar Recipe, and Jesse Cool---Flea Street Café, Menlo Park, CA and her Beet Gnocchi Recipe - Behind the Scenes Kitchen Tour - Five-Course Chefs Holidays Gala Dinner with Wine Pairings Wow! Valentines Day is approaching Fast, and Gratitude Gourmet is finding some great Valentines Deals for you. What are your favorite gifts for Valentines Day? Do you give yourself a Valentines Gift? Well, you should because it's important to recognize how great YOU are. Check out these great Wine.com Deals below that expire 1/31/11. Jeanette Hurt is an award-winning writer and author, and has written for Wine Enthusiast, Gourmet, and Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel. She is a certified sommelier with accreditations from the Court of Master Sommeliers and the Wine & Spirits Education Trust, has managed wine programs for numerous award-winning restaurants, and is a wine educator, speaker, and consultant. Her latest book, Wine and Food Pairing will help readers find the perfect pairings that go beyond the traditional red and white pairings, noting the similarities and differences in intensity, acidity, and sweetness of the wines in relation to the tastes of the cuisine. It: • Includes a glossary, a master pairings list for more than 100 foods and wines, wine menus for special dinners, and wine and food resources • Breaks down white, red, sparkling, and dessert wines into flavor profiles for pairing • Matches wines with international cuisine She even mentions a wine tip for strict vegans on page 134: 'Some wines contain trace amounts of animal products such as egg and gelatin, which are used to clarify the wine in a process called fining. If you are a vegan and want to avoid these wines, you'll either have to inquire at the winery or the wine store or look for a wine label that states that the wine is "un-fined." As a tip, Frey Wines are vegan and gluten-free. Want to know even more about food and wine pairings? Then check out Wine and Food Pairing. It would be a great Valentines Day Gift! I recently had Dinner at San Francisco's Squat and Gobble Marina Location. They now have several dinner options and a dinner special: 1 appetizer, 2 entrees, and 2 glasses of wine for $29.95.
My dinner included: - a fresh and delicious House Salad with carrots, cucumbers, and tomatoes with sun-dried tomato dressing and freshly ground pepper, - the savory Tofu Stir Fry with steamed jasmine rice, sauteed carrots, broccoli, peppers, onions, snow peas, sesame oil, and green onion shoots which is vegan, and I highly recommend you try this fabulous dish! - I paired it with a nice red italian wine: Podere Montepulciano d' Abruzzo. - For dessert, I had the server-recommended Apple Pie Crepe...a great dessert to have on a cold winter San Francisco evening! The restaurant was very welcoming with its bright, colorful decor and great ambiance. Soft Euro Music was playing the entire evening which was nice. The Server also consistently checked to make sure everything was ok. Try Squat and Gobble for dinner and order the Tofu Stir Fry! :) Sweet Potatoes are great any time of year. How about Sweet Potato Cinnamon Spice Terra Chips for the holidays? I recently tried TERRA Chips Sweet Potato Cinnamon Spice Chips, and they're tasty and will be available for a limited time at Whole Foods Markets and select food stores. You can always try the regular Terra Sweet Potato Chips here. According to a recent Washington Post article: "More than half the 1,500 chefs polled by the National Restaurant Association for its new "What's Hot in 2011" list included vegan entrees as a hot trend. Vegan entrees came in at No. 71 out of 226 trends (beating out organic beer and drinkable desserts) - that's far from No. 1, but evidence of veganism making inroads beyond urban strongholds like New York City and Los Angeles. Some chain restaurants like Souplantation and Pizza Fusion even mark vegan items on their menus." You can read the full article here.
Gratitude Gourmet has been profiling this Vegan Trend for quite some time with these articles: Meatless Monday is a 2011 Restaurant Trend, Why CEOs are Embracing Vegan Diets, and Video: Caldwell Esselstyn Jr. MD & Dean Ornish MD Explain Bill Clinton's Diet To CNN. Here's a Doctor's Lounge article called 'Vegetarian Diet Tied to Less Phosphorus in Kidney Disease'.
Specifically, Chronic kidney disease patients who consume a diet high in vegetables rather than meat may prevent the accumulation of toxic phosphorus levels, according to a study published online Dec. 23 in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Here's the link to the full article. Per Reuters: Four previously abundant species of bumblebee are close to disappearing in the United States, researchers reported this month in a study confirming that the agriculturally important bees are being affected worldwide. They documented a 96 percent decline in the numbers of the four species, and said their range had shrunk by as much as 87 percent. As with honeybees, a pathogen is partly involved, but the researchers also found evidence of inbreeding caused by habitat loss. You can read the full article here.
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