Before I stepped foot in the San Francisco Baking Institute (SFBI), I had never really baked a loaf of bread in my life. Well, to be honest, I did make a loaf of Irish Soda Bread with my mom for a school project in the second grade. But I really don’t remember too much from that experience, so I am not going to count it. So why did I sign up for two weeks of intensive bread training? Basically, because I needed to conquer my fear of mixing doughs and placing them in the oven. [click to continue…]

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I was lucky enough to enjoy not one but two rockin’ dinners out last week, and while they are located on opposite sides of the country, they are both serving upscale pub food in a casual atmosphere and have been quite successful. The foodie term that has been used to label these concepts are gastropubs, and they are both chef-driven operations that source high quality, local and organic ingredients. [click to continue…]

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During the week breakfast seems to be eaten with one foot already out the door as we race off to begin the day. When we’re rushing to get ready to spend our day at work, the last thing we want to do is work in the kitchen, so cooking a nice sit-down breakfast doesn’t always seem feasible. Packaged cereals, energy bars and fast-food joints have stepped in to make breakfast quick and easy, but usually only offer empty calories and are really not a satisfying or healthy beginning to the day.

For a better start, a homemade breakfast can’t be beat and it doesn’t have to take a long time to put together or create a mess in the kitchen. These carrot muffins are not your standard muffins served at coffee shops or picked up at the grocery store (which are usually nothing more than sugar-laced cupcakes in disguise). Adapted from the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking cookbook, they offer energy-rich whole grains, lower glycemic sweeteners and a heavy dose of beta-carotene and fiber. [click to continue…]

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Farro and I first met while I was working at Oliveto and it was love at first bite. Initially I was attracted to its rich, nutty flavor, but our relationship quickly became serious as I began to realize that farro not only tasted good but made me feelgood as well. Since farro and I first met in a bar (and I am sure many of you know how those relationships work out), I decided it was time to do a little background check. I needed to make sure that farro was not too good to be true. [click to continue…]

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When I was growing up I wouldn’t have thought twice about a morning bagel, but in this post-Atkins, carb-phobic world I think we’re all a little squeamish about the role of grains in our diet.

One thing that cannot be denied is that grains have been a foundation of the human diet for over 10,000 years and many historians link the rise of civilization to the domestication of wild grasses into agricultural products. Basically, once grains were purposely planted into plots of land the hunter-gatherers were forced to stick around while they grew; the hunter-gatherers then became farmers and eventually towns, cities, and traffic jams developed. [click to continue…]

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