Winters, CA: I think I'm in love....

That's it. I'm moving to Winters, California. Winters, California... here I come!

Ok ok.. that may have been said in haste (I'm not moving anywhere), but man... I recently discovered this quaint little town and I am SO tempted to give small(er) town living a try. (Instead, I'm putting the squeeze on my mom to pack her bags and relocate there... mom - have you called the realtor yet?).

Anyhow... Winters. I've had the opportunity to explore this hidden-in-plain-sight gem a couple of times in the last few weeks. Once, when Ran took me on a weekend getaway and we stayed in a cabin nearby, and a second time when I dragged my visiting mom back over the river and through the woods to explore her future retirement community. It's a mere 35 miles from my home here in Napa, but obscured from view by the strip mall sprawl of Vacaville along I-80.

I really did fall in love with this place on first look. Not only is the town itself cute as a button, laid out around a small town square (complete with white gazebo and town clock - straight out of a movie), but it's obviously family-friendly (I counted no fewer than four parks with playgrounds and ball fields), VERY affordable (the realty listings nearly made me cry), and surprisingly diverse (in my two trips, I've seen people of all colors and persuasions). It's also surrounded by stunning acre upon acre of meticulously groomed farms, orchards and vineyards, and is within a stone's throw of a variety of outdoor recreation (cycling, whitewater rafting, boating, fishing, hiking...). All of that is well and good, but what does my budding love affair with Winters have to do with this blog? It's the food, of course!

I had the chance to talk to loads of locals - some new to town, some long-timers - and everyone agrees: there is not a bad place to eat in Winters. Along the main drag, Railroad Avenue, you'll find everything from a cyclist-clogged coffee shop to a trendy tapas bar. There's the requisite small-town diner with the line out the door for its hearty breakfasts; a candy shop and soda fountain; a steakhouse complete with taxidermy animal heads mounted on the wall and portion sizes of beef to match... and likely much more. There's also two - soon to be three - wine tasting rooms within a two-block radius, one of which is also home to the Winters Cheese Company.

I was there on a Saturday night, and I tell you - the place was hopping. Putah Creek Cafe was churning out blistery thin-crust pizzas from its wood-burning pizza oven on the street corner; Cody's Restaurant was grilling tri-tip and chicken on the sidewalk a half a block down the street; the Turkovich Family Winery tasting room was open late and bursting at the seams with a young, hip crowd; the Opera House was gearing up for a night of live music, and The Buckhorn Steakhouse was packed with a 45 minute wait to get a table. People were out, the scene was lively, people were laughing and talking to each other, friends and strangers alike... it was awesome.

Winters will not remain a secret for long. Indeed, the very week following my initial weekend trip, the San Francisco Chronicle highlighted the town in its weekly Street Date feature (I gasped when I opened up the paper, and there was "my" Winters, its charm exposed for all to see!). So, I suggest you get on out there to take a look around and enjoy all that Winters has to offer before the tour buses start descending. If you can't get there, here's a photo tour - go ahead, live vicariously!

Scenes from around and about town...

The Buckhorn Steakhouse - big flavors, big portions. Their website has a great list of 20 reasons to visit Winters - make sure to check it out!




Putah Creek Cafe - the quintessential small town diner. Bakery cases overflowing with house-made goodies, counter space for when you can't score a hard-to land booth, and good, good food. My mom opted for breakfast for her mid-day meal (the thick-cut applewood smoked bacon was amazing); I went for the homemade pezole. It was an excellent choice.





Putah Creek Cafe fires up its wood-burning pizza oven in the afternoon and keeps it going well into the evening. Fresh, piping hot pizza, right there on the street corner.


One of the tasting rooms in town, Turkovich Family Wines. The room is casual and elegant, and stays open late on weekends to take advantage of the people out and about. the buzz is lively, and you'll find all of Winters newest young residents bellied up to the bar, with out of town guests in tow (and in awe). In addition to their lineup of wines, they also pour and sell a champagne imported from Argentina (the winemaker's father-in-law is the Argentine winemaker).

The Winters Cheese Company shares a tasting room with Turkovich Family Wines. As it should - the cheesemaker and the winemaker are brothers. Seems as though the whole family is involved in the shop - there's mom behind the cash register, and a cousin behind the bar. I bought loads of cheese, but I should have bought the shirt too!

The other tasting room in town, Berryessa Gap Vineyards.

Breakfast at Cody's - nothing fancy, but pancakes to order and the chef knew pretty much everyone by name. Those that she didn't know by name, she came out personally to greet, as she was carrying a customer's baby on her hip - giving the babe's mom a chance to eat her meal kid-free.

...and later in the day, Cody's was grilling up a storm for the dinner crowd.

Rootstock, a brand new gift shop and soon-to-be tasting room in Winters. When the tasting room is up and running it will represent three different Yolo County wineries.

Views from along Putah Creek, the river that runs through the center of Winters.

Cheesy Fun

So here's a fun Thanksgiving Day idea: have a cheese tasting! I know I'm gunna. It makes for a fun and interesting appetizer course... not to mention oh-so-freaking tasty.

Here's the deal: I recently got a gift membership to an artisan cheese of the month club. Imagine: four different artisan cheeses from all over the world delivered right to your door once a month, complete with fromager tasting notes. It's heaven I tell ya. Along with the cheese itself, the shipments come with a guide for how to conduct a cheese tasting based on a "cheese clock" where the mildest of cheeses is placed on a platter at 6:00, and the selection gets subsequently more bold as you move clockwise. Also included are beverage pairing recommendations, which are pretty much as you would suspect: white wines, champagnes and lighter style beers with the mild cheeses; bold red wines, dessert wines or dark beers as you move to the stronger cheeses.

At a recent dinner party with friends, I gave it a whirl. I loaded up a cheese clock with my monthly club cheeses, as well as a selection I had picked up at the Winters Cheese Company (you did read my love letter to Winters, right?). In all, eight different cheeses, each with its own very distinct flavor profile. No two were similar in the least, and it made for some great tasty nibbles and some lively comparison notes. We did the whole shebang - beverage pairings and all. Here's what was on our cheese clock that night:

• Laurier (goat's milk; Vermont): "Adorned with hand-selected bay leaves that give it a gentle bit of spiciness. The cheese's white bloomy rind protects the protects the rind protects the cheese while creating wonderful layers of flavor and texture."
• Camembert (sheep and cow's milk; Hudson Valley, New York): "Meltingly smooth and buttery with the texture of a triple-creme."
• Caerphilly (cow's milk; Winters, California): "A light-coloured (almost white), crumbly cheese with a pleasant sour tang."
• Garlic and Chive Cheddar (cow's milk; Winters, California): "Chive gives a slight onion flavor with just enough garlic to compliment it. This cheese is reminiscent of a traditional English Cotswald."
• Sage Cheddar (cow's milk; Winters, California): "Sage adds a fragrant herbal aroma and a slightly sweet taste to the Cheddar flavors."
• Smoked Cheddar (cow's milk; Winters, California): "Hickory wood chips give the traditional Cheddar a sweet and delicate smokey flavor and aroma."
• Appenzeller (cow's milk; Switzerland): "This cheese receives its unique flavors from the herbs, liquors and wines that comprise the solution in which the wheels are bathed. It has an herbaceous, nutty flavor and a smooth milky finish."
• Stilton (cow's milk; Great Britain): "Rich, creamy and characterized by its typical blue veining with rich complex flavors and a piquant finish."

We tasted the cheeses with a variety of crackers, as well as with apples and pears, and paired the cheeses with the appropriate wines. I, of course, loved every cheese. I honestly didn't have a favorite. The rest of the tasters were divided: two people picked the Stilton as their favorite, while two others picked the Sage Cheddar. Everyone - hands-down - enjoyed the Laurier.

At any rate, it was a fun casual activity to pass the time before dinner as we chatted and sipped our various wines. It's a great cocktail party activity because it's interactive, and certainly (if you build your clock right), there will be something for everyone.

At any rate, if you'd like to get a really good overview of how to create a cheese clock and pair your cheeses with the appropriate beverages, check out artisanalcheese.com.

Coleslaw Two Ways

How very typical of me to start a coleslaw binge just as the cooler weather is taking over. Coleslaw - that staple of summer picnics and BBQs everywhere... my timing couldn't be any worse. The issue for me, is that I don't necessarily like coleslaw. The mayonnaise-laden dressings that are typical are generally just icky, IMHO. Let alone too sweet. So the summer came and went without me really missing out on a coleslaw fix.

But I do like cabbage. So does Randall. He posed an innocent question one evening: "Why don't we eat more cabbage?" He was right. Why didn't we? Healthy, crunchy, filling.... a good cabbage salad (non-dressed) can last for days in the fridge.... sheesh! That's my kinda food. Off to the store I went.

I remembered that I know how to make a mean Asian slaw, and the reason for the cabbage prompt from Rand was that he had just seen a recipe for a creamy coleslaw made with Greek yogurt. Two great variations of coleslaw with no mayo in sight - awesome. So I stocked up on basic coleslaw ingredients, spent a few minutes chopping (which you know I love!), and made both dressings. The resulting batch was huge, but I left it undressed. That allowed us to help ourselves to the heap of fixings throughout the week, and dress it as our moods dictated. Aside from the huge salad bowl taking up valuable real estate in our fridge, it was great.

So, although the coleslaw season has technically passed, you should give one or both of these variations a try regardless. After all, healthy, tasty, crunchy and colorful never go out of season!

Coleslaw Base Ingredients
(Of course all of this is optional - use ingredients you like!)

• 1/2 head green cabbage, chopped
• 1/2 head red cabbage, chopped
  
• 6 scallions, chopped
• 2 cups sugar snap peas, chopped
• 1 red pepper, diced
• 2 large carrots, shredded
• 1 head cilantro, chopped
• 1 cup nuts (I like roasted peanuts or toasted almond slivers)

Asian Slaw Dressing

• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce (optional... but really, you want it, trust me!)
  
• 2+ tablespoons sugar

Whisk all ingredients until sugar has had a chance to dissolve. Taste; add more sugar if it needs to be a tad sweeter.

Creamy Yogurt/Lime Dressing

• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• The juice of one large lime
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• Kosher salt, to taste

Combine all ingredients and stir well.

Coconut Cream Pie: And the Secret Ingrediant Is....

Remember a week or so ago I speculated that I would share with you what I made when I spent an entire day in the kitchen? Well, obviously I didn't. I was suffering from the fever that was going around (Giants fever!). I've had it since the Spring, but symptoms were especially acute the past week. (The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!). So, no blogging.

But tonight's an off night - the World Series doesn't start until tomorrow - so I'll sneak in some writing before I'm MIA until the whole baseball shebang is said and done.

So back to a week ago, a Sunday spent puttering in the kitchen. I mentioned that my oven and stove top were going nonstop all day, but guess what I didn't do? Bake. (If you know me and this blog, that's no surprise.) Despite not baking, guess what I DID make? A pie!

A pie? Me? What is this - a midlife crisis? (Well yes, but the pie doesn't have anything to do with my turning-40 mind games.... that's a different post for a different blog!). But no - I haven't suddenly gained a sweet tooth and hankering for pastries (even though if I had to choose my poison, pie would be it - it's in the Angell family DNA to require pie at regular intervals, right dad?). I just was curious to try out a no-bake coconut cream pie recipe I saw on some TV show or another, the reason being that the filling was made from tofu.

Tofu pie filling? A semblance of a healthy treat? An almost guilt-free indulgence? I had to give it a whirl. Apparently I'm completely behind the times about tofu pies - turns out hippies, vegetarians and raw foodists have holding out on me. I blame my mom - there was not a lot of tofu experiments at our house growing up. (Now watch - she'll comment that of course she made us tofu pies as kids - she just was clever enough not to tell us! I wouldn't put it past her.) At any rate, unbeknownst to me, when you give a block of firm tofu a whirl in your food processor, it takes on a smooth, creamy consistency ready to take on the flavors of whatever you'd like to add to it. In this case, it was coconut, but I see experiments in my future with berries, citrus, or even savory ingredients. It opened up a whole new world of possibilities in my head.

The other reason I love this recipe? It only requires eyeballed measurements. I made the entire pie without busting out a single measuring implement - ahh. So, there's only some general instructions included below on how to make the pie - you just have to taste as you go along and adjust the ingredients to your liking. That's my kind of non-baking!

So, I whipped up this pie in literally a matter of minutes, and helped myself to a sliver. Success! It really does work, and it really is good. But it still was a pie - in my house (ack!) - so I had to say goodbye. I took my lovely pie to work on Monday morning, placed it in the coffee room for all to enjoy, and it was gone within minutes. Tofu? No one had a clue.

And on that note - GO GIANTS!

No-Bake Tofu Coconut Cream Pie

For the crust:

• 1 package of graham crackers (I don't know how many crackers constitute a package, but each and every brand of graham crackers packages its crackers in the same fashion - it's just one of those wax-paper wrapped packages in the box - all of them)
• 1/2 a cube of butter (I think that's about 2-3 tablespoons), melted

Crumble the graham crackers into a food processor; pulse until they are pulverized into crumbs. Add the melted butter; pulse until the crumbs are moist. Press the crumbs evenly into the base of a pie plate.

Note: the even easier option is to use a pre-made graham cracker crust. I won't tell.

For the filling:

• 1 1-pound block of firm or extra firm tofu (I used Lite extra firm)
• 1/2 cup +/- of coconut milk (I used light coconut milk and it was fine)
• 1/2 cup +/- sugar
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 package of shredded coconut (I used unsweetened) - approximately 4 cups. Toast 1 cup for sprinkling on top of the pie.

Break up the tofu block into a food processor; whirl on high until smooth. Once smooth, start adding the remaining ingredients (except the coconut) until you reach the level of sweetness/coco-nuttiness that suits your tastes. Transfer to a mixing bowl and stir in the shredded coconut. Pour filling into the pie crust. Top with the toasted coconut. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.

Snack Attack! Spicy Baked Chick Peas

Boy, it's Sunday night, and I actually felt like I had a weekend. A bona fide weekend with a couple of days off in a row and no obligations. And a great weekend it was! I got to celebrate my big 4-0 (again!) with a delightful dinner at Bouchon in Yountville, a treat by my bestest gal pal, Carolyn (she spoils me rotten....), revel as the Giants took Game 1 in the National League Conference Series, enjoy lazy mornings where I got to sleep late and read the paper in bed, and - joy of joys - actually spend time in the kitchen.

This morning arrived with a gray drizzle. Perfect. The first rain of the year coincided with my lazy attitude, so it completely confirmed my homebody status. Since the sun wasn't shining, I had no guilt that I wasn't out hiking, walking the dog, exploring or otherwise soaking in a spectacular Autumn day. Nope - we lit a fire in the fireplace and basically hunkered down, Ran in front of the various sporting match-ups that dominate the Sunday television lineup, and me puttering in the kitchen with ideas aplenty on how to stock my larder for the coming week (stock my larder? Who says that?).

At any rate, my oven was on all afternoon, and the stovetop hardly saw an idle moment. I'll probably blog later in the week about many of the things I made today (stay tuned!), but first and foremost on the list was taking care of snack food for the afternoon. I mean, what is watching sports all day without snacks? And since I've outlawed packaged snack food in my house, I needed to come up with something on my own. Chick peas to the rescue.

The humble chick pea. Garbanzo bean if you'd like. I love the little buggers. I eat them in some form nearly every day of the week (seriously - hummus is a staple of my diet). I've written about roasting raw chick peas in the husk on the BBQ grill (one of my all-time fave snacks) - but you just can't count on walking into a store and finding raw, in-the-husk garbanzo beans. It rarely happens. But you know what? You can find pre-cooked garbanzos in a can anywhere, anytime, and with the addition of just a couple spices and a preheated oven, healthy snack time is less than an hour away.

Imagine: crunchy, spicy garbanzo beans that you can Hoover up all you'd like because they're low-cal, no carb, and full of fiber and protein. These baked chick peas rate right up there with kale chips as being one of my favorite go-to healthy snack options.

Preparation couldn't be simpler:

• Open a can of garbanzo beans, rinse and drain. (Although seriously, one can's worth will vanish in a heartbeat. Bust open a couple. Trust me.)
• Pat dry with paper towels.
• In a mixing bowl, toss the garbanzos with a glug of olive oil. Not too much - just enough to coat. I use one of my favoritist olive oils of all time from The Smoked Olive - their chili pepper smoked olive oil. Sheer Heaven. If you don't know about The Smoked Olive - learn now! (I wrote about it here more than a year ago. My love has not waned.)
• Season. Just plain Kosher salt will do the trick, but if you want to make the spicy version I like, also add a heavy dusting of paprika (smoked paprika being my choice), some garlic powder, and a couple of shots of your favorite hot chili sauce or Tabasco. Stir to coat well. Taste them - if you like how they taste before going in the oven, you'll like the finished product times ten.
• Pour the seasoned garbanzos onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and pop into a preheated 350-degree oven for 45 minutes.

When you pull them from the oven and let them cool just a bit, they get crunchy. And addictive. Voila - perfect snack food for a couch potato marathon. Speaking of... Giants are on (and losing....). Later peeps!

All Hail the Kale, Part 1: Kale Chips

I freaking love kale. Love it. Maybe you've noticed. I've written about it here. And here. But you know how I love it the very very best? Baked into crispy chips. That's right - kale chips. If you read as many food blogs as I do, you know that recipes and accolades for kale chips are ubiquitous. Everybody - yes everybody - raves.

Talk about the simplest, tastiest, healthiest snack on the planet. I literally make midnight runs to the grocery to pick up kale when the craving for kale chips sets in (alas, I don't grow it in my little garden). Made a big batch tonight because of that very urge. They really do make you feel as though you're eating junk food (salty! crispy!) when that couldn't be farther from the truth. Low-calorie and chock full of iron, fiber, antioxidants, beta carotene, and vitamin K, it's a downright power veggie. Bring it on.

So to make kale chips:

• wash
• dry
• break the leaves off of the thick stems in bite-size chunks
• toss with a drizzle of olive oil
• season with kosher salt (or any flavored salt/seasoning that you like)
• bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 12 minutes, or until the edges start to turn brown.

Once you remove them from the oven and let them cool just a bit, if they've been cooked perfectly, the delicate chips will simply shatter in your mouth with an explosion of flavor, and the bitterness of the green will have vanished. Test the times in your oven - I find that 12 minutes is *perfect* in mine.

OMG - is my batch finished yet???

All Hail the Kale, Part 2: Obsessed

Somebody stop me...
I can't stop photographing this flowering kale.