Food tips

There are many parallels between surfing and cooking starting with the fact that both can be an adrenaline rush. But has there ever been a surfer’s cookbook? That was the question I asked Jim Kempton, a jourmalist, chef, restaurater and surfer. Kempton is the author of First We Surf, Then We Eat: Recipes from a Lifetime of Surf Travel . The answer? Not like this one. Even though I’m not a surfer (yet!) I love this book which combines the best of a memoir and travelogue with recipes. Recipes run the gamut from banana pancakes from Hawaii, Basque tuna steaks, machaca and eggs from Mexico and Rujak, a spicy sweet fruit salad from Bali.  How important is the communal aspect of dining to you and to surfers in general?  It’s important to me because it’s part of what attracted me to certain cuisines, even though we don’t always practice it everywhere it is very important in some places. It’s especially true for surfers. A lot of surfers don’t cook so they dine with whoever does! Surf...

Erica Peters, Marelene Sorosky Gray, Jacqueline Mallorca and John Phillip Carroll In the 1970’s and 80’s James Beard , the "dean of American cookery" took up residence at the Stanford Court  hotel. The hotel was his home for three months out of the year. The San Francisco Professional Food Society recently hosted a conversation with three of his friends and co-workers, John Phillip Carroll , Jacqueline Mallorca and Marlene Sorosky Gray who reminisced about his time at the Stanford Court. It was moderated by food historian Erica Peters.    Here are just a few highlights  from the event:   On his time in San Francisco:  This city and this hotel room were great refuge for him. It was chaos in New York. Julia Child once referred to his New York house as being full of loonies but here he was invited to everyone's home for dinner and he was taken care of. He said, “the city just gets into my blood.” - John Phillip Carroll (JPC) He loved the West Coast and he h...