Category: Food

Steak with Chimichurri Sauce

One of our absolute favorite things to do during summer is to throw luscious steaks over a smoking grill. Few things are more tantalizing than perfectly cooked ribeye steaks or New York steaks – tender and flavorful and beautifully charred. About the only thing that can make said steaks even more appealing is pouring fresh…


From Prisoner to Barista, This Jail Offers Inmates a Chance to Find a Career in Coffee

By Benjy Egel From The Sacramento Bee Sacramento—Jamie Mason was more than 20 years into her career in specialty coffee when she got a call from an alarming source: the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. The Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center was starting a coffee education and barista training program, a lieutenant told Mason, and they wanted…


California Has a New Take on Mezcal and Tequila. How Sacramento-Area Farmers Are Leading It

By Benjy Egel From The Sacramento Bee Sacramento—On recent a brisk March morning in Woodland’s rolling hills, Raul “Reppo” Chavez was already covered in sweat. Chavez and his cousin Antonio had spent the last half-hour hacking away at their agave plants—monstrous pineapple-looking beasts whose spiky leaves are all that can be seen above the soil….


Delicious, Healthy Memorial Day Recipe Ideas

Editor’s Note: Elizabeth Stein shares some of her favorite healthy and delicious recipes in her latest cookbook, “Eating Purely: 100 All-Natural, Organic, Gluten-Free Recipes for a Healthy Life.”  Stein, a holistic nutrition counselor and founder of Purely Elizabeth, is on a mission to help others to live a more health-conscious lifestyle. With this philosophy in mind, she…


Bánh Mì (Vietnamese Sandwich)

View the print-ready version of this recipe. I love the fresh, bold flavors of Vietnamese food, and I especially love attempting to recreate my favorite dishes in my own kitchen. This recipe is not authentic so check out this recipe from Hungry Huy, or this one from Cooking with Lane for truly authentic Bánh Mì. Banh mi (pronounced ban mee),  means…


One Pan Coconut Chicken Curry Is Seriously Simple

As a French trained chef, Indian cooking had been out of my comfort zone. Recently, my friend Laurie Burrows Grad sent me her favorite quick chicken curry recipe for me to try. First, I wanted to make the curry powder from scratch, as my esteemed colleague, the late Raghavan Iyer, recommended in his latest book, “On the Curry Trail.”…


ANALYSIS: Beijing Conducts Training for Village Officials Nationwide as Rural Conflicts Intensify

China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) recently conducted a rare training session for village officials nationwide. Experts have suggested the move would be part of the CCP’s attempts to address its power crisis resulting from intensified conflicts in rural areas. The large-scale simultaneous training courses, jointly organized by the Central Committee and the Party School,…


Inside the Most Expensive Chinese Restaurant in America

The idea of Chinese food doesn’t often bring to mind an elaborate, 19-course meal of meticulously composed dishes served in custom-made vessels. “Chinese food has thousands of years of history and culture. It should be expensive,” said chef Guo Wenjun, whose eponymous restaurant in New York, at $518 per person for the tasting menu, is…


Gretchen’s Table: B in This Vegetarian BLT Is Rice Paper ‘Bacon’

By Gretchen McKay From Pittsburgh Post-Gazette When it comes to favorite sandwiches, one meat-and-veggie combination stands head and shoulders above the rest: bacon, lettuce and tomato. A BLT is easy to prepare, uses humble ingredients and each bite provides an intoxicating mix of salty, crunchy, cool and tangy-sweet. But what if you don’t eat meat?…


This Lemony Stuffed French Toast Is the Stuff Dreams Are Made Of

Nothing screams springtime quite like a bright, celebratory brunch punctuated with lemon, and this stuffed French toast is just that. Fluffy, custard-like slices of brioche or challah get filled with creamy ricotta cheese flavored with fresh lemon juice and zest, and then get toasted in butter until golden-brown. It’s the classic French toast you know and love,…