Since visiting Austin last year, I've been haunted with memories of The Salt Lick. We witnessed the infamous lines and made the right decision to place an order to go and skipped the hour-plus wait to be seated. My only regret about the visit was not bringing back a bottle of their BBQ sauce to... Continue Reading →
Farmer John Mild Jalapeño Bacon + Bacon-Cheese Hand Pies + Free Bacon
For the last several years bacon has been in a transition stage. It went from breakfast food to headlining meals around the clock, including dessert. But I'm starting to see a backlash with its overexposure. It was especially evident in this year's summer fairs where bacon beer made a questionable splash onto the food scene.... Continue Reading →
Keeping Salad Eating Interesting: Goat Cheese & Beet Salad
Deep in my consciousness, I have a terrible hatred of salad. Salads when I was growing up consisted of iceberg lettuce, tasteless tomatoes and some sort of dressing and lots of it. Going back even further to second grade, the principal pointed at my untouched salad and asked me to take one bite. I don't... Continue Reading →
Northgate Mercado: A Quick Look
Lately I've been foregoing gringo grocery stores for ethnic stores (exceptions to this are Trader Joe's and Fresh & Easy). These grocery stores consist of 99 Ranch, Nijiya, North Park Produce and now I can add Northgate Mercado to the list. I recall reading about the construction of Northgate Mercado in Barrio Logan last year and... Continue Reading →
The Cartoonist Cookbook: Charles Schulz on Cooking and Simple Pancakes
With comic-con just around the corner, I wanted to dust off one of two comic-related cookbooks in my possession: The Cartoonist Cookbook. The cookbook was published in 1966 and features cartoonists and their comic strips, mostly unknown by the current generation. I've never heard of, much less read, The Heart of Juliet Jones or Bringing... Continue Reading →
Annoying Habits, My New Indoor Smoker + Soy Sauce Smoked Salmon
When you enter into a long term partnership like, say, a marriage, you agree to accept your other half's annoying habits. Such as leaving a tiny bit (not even a complete sip) of liquid in a container and returning it to the refrigerator for him to find. And not completely closing a bottle/jar (past incidents include... Continue Reading →
Found Favorite and Baskin Robbins’ Copycat: Lemon Custard Ice Cream
It's been a while since I've dusted off the ice cream maker and made a batch of ice cream. But I discovered a flavor at Baskin Robbins that mysteriously disappeared on a return visit: lemon custard ice cream. It's silky, creamy and has a nice lemon tang that's refreshing on a hot day. I don't... Continue Reading →
Reno Anniversary Adventures: Lake Tahoe, Little Nugget and Scooper’s
Paul and I made a deal on our first anniversary to go to someplace with sand, drink Faygo and eat tacos and to do this every year. For the anniversaries that followed, we cheated if only for convenience. We went to Palm Springs the first year but ate at Green Burrito. For the second year,... Continue Reading →
They Might Be Brownies: Chia Seeds and Coconut Oil
Brownies should be brownies. I learned that lesson the first time I tried Jessica Seinfeld's brownies with spinach and carrots back in 2007. The vegetables were visible in the completed brownie (as evidenced above) and the spinach taste never really went away. I couldn't very well leave experimenting with brownies alone when I recently was doing research... Continue Reading →
Bake Sale Goods + A Lesson on Making Pie on a Stick
The San Diego Food Bloggers Bake Sale is officially over and while the count is still being tallied (looks like we're ahead of last year), there were some lessons to learned from this year. And really, I should have learned them after last year's Faux Ho's debacle: never experiment with an untested recipe the day... Continue Reading →
My Burning Kitchen... on the road 