It's official: July 2012 was the hottest month on record for the lower 48 states. The record heat wave hasn't abated, it is scorching our cornfields and pressing down on our roofs, blowing blasts of hot air inside when the doors are opened. One needs a chilled glass of wine to soothe the overheated body and to pair with summer meals. All hail rosé! It fits the bill exactly. Made from red wine grapes, but without the extended skin contact during fermentation that infuses red wine with deep color, rosé wines have all the fullness and range of tastes of a red wine, with the added summertime benefit of being properly served chilled. Jewel-like in color, cool and quenching, rosé is the ideal wine for blistering heat.
Not only does rosé quench the heat of hot temperatures, but it pairs well with spicy food. Last weekend, my chef friend Lila came over on a sultry afternoon to teach me how to cook Thai food. She and her husband Jeff travelled around the world for a year studying regional cooking from experts in Mexico, Peru, Turkey, Greece, India, Thailand and Florence, Italy, where she graduated from culinary school in 2001. Wondrous ingredients were piled on my counter, including aromatic kaffir lime leaves, banana leaves, fiery Thai peppers, dried shrimp, red Thai chili paste, limes, pre-shredded green papaya, heads of garlic and purple-edged Thai basil.During our afternoon preparation, we had sips of cooling Buttonwood Farm Syrah Rosé--a brilliant fuchsia-colored wine with a silky texture, crisp acidity and perfumed cranberry and tropical fruit flavors--that I bought during my visit to the sustainably farmed winery in the Santa Ynez Valley.
Lila showed me how to cut circles from the giant banana leaves using a very sharp paring knife and bowl for a template. The leaves have a dull side and a shiny side--one can feel the texture of the ribs of the leaf on the shiny side. Place the dull sides together and pinch the four corners together, securing them with half a toothpick to make a banana "boat". 
Chunks of firm-fleshed snapper--or in our case, sea bass--and coconut were stirred together with thinly sliced kaffir leaves, eggs, fish sauce, palm sugar, coconut cream and Thai red chili paste. We filled the "boats" with the fish mixture. For visual interest, a bit of rice flour was cooked with coconut milk to make a white paste to brush onto half the fish; sliced chili and Thai basil leaves were sprinkled on top decoratively before steaming the fish in a Chinese bamboo steamer.
Lila worked on mashing chiles and garlic for the fresh green papaya salad using the traditional mortar and pestle called a kruk, shown in the top photograph, while I made saffron rice and Pad Thai noodles. The green papaya salad is called som tam which means "sour pounded" and has a balance of sour lime, sweet palm sugar, savory fish sauce and hot chili tastes mixed with the tangy papaya and salty dried shrimp. Garnished with cherry tomatoes and peanuts, it was a marvelous accompaniment to our meal.
We carried everything up to the outside deck to serve our families as the temperature cooled and the first comets in last weekend's Perseid meteor shower streaked across the night sky. I had a nice bottle of Castoro Cellars Marsanne from a previous Touring & Tasting wine club shipment. Castoro Cellars was one of the first wineries in the Paso Robles area and they make terrific wines organically and sustainably from their Templeton estate vineyards. It was interesting to note the difference in wine pairing between the Thai food and the two wines. Both were impressive--the Buttonwood Rosé highlighted the savory shrimp and egg while the honey and melon-flavored Castoro Marsanne brought out the creamy coconut and chile heat.
A lovely evening with friends was capped by warm coconut pudding with chunks of mango and a plump and polished port from Jessup Cellars. I had purchased a bottle of their Cabernet Sauvignon Port at their friendly tasting room on our last trip to Napa. Not overly sweet as some ports can be the Jessup Port was thick with sensual chocolate, espresso and dark cherry flavor.Click here to view another recipe that pairs wonderfully with rosé.
In Santa Barbara, "June gloom" normally settles in for the first part of summer--maritime fog moves takes up residence in town for weeks. But, this year, the record heat experienced by most of the country has translated to outstanding June weather in Southern California, with abundant sun but moderate temperatures. Kitchen gardens have flourished and tomato plants are pumping out a record crop. My kitchen counter has been overflowing with an ocean of shiny red fruit and I've been chopping, roasting, and stewing tomatoes into nearly every dish. Salsa fresco has been on the top of the list--served with chips and guacamole and a nice glass of Syrah.
The Aztecs were the first civilization to cultivate the tomato--a plant native to South America. It's unclear whether Christopher Columbus or the Spanish explorer Cortés first brought the tomato to Europe, but its popularity is indisputable. Imagine Italian cuisine without it!
The buzz around the wine biz is that the hot new place to taste is the 
Lompoc can also be a town for kids. I had a fun mom/daughter weekend some years ago. We walked old town which is filled with dozens of murals, most of them part of a program conceived in 1988 by the Stevens family as a tourist draw. 
But, the main draw in Lompoc is the stellar wine. I drove out to replenish my supply of one of my favorite wines, 
Sta Rita Hills just to the east of Lompoc is home to many highly-rated wineries. It is known to have the perfect climate for growing Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. 
Even on a Saturday in the summer, the Wine Ghetto tasting rooms are not mobbed the way they are in Napa. But, a happy group was at the congenial 
Alicia suggested I go next door to 
Before Google Maps and GPS, it was difficult to find the coastal town of Bolinas. No signposts marked the turn off Highway 1 to the tiny coastal town because its reclusive--and often famous--residents tore down any signs as soon as they were installed. Home to dozens of low-key celebrities known for a range of accomplishments from art, literature and music to science and cuisine, the community includes the legendary locavore and proponent of organic produce Alice Waters, along with singer Grace Slick, actress Frances McDormand, and writer Richard Brautigan. On our family trip, we drove the 2 hours along Highway 1 from San Francisco to Bodega Bay on a gorgeous sunny day, passing Bolinas, the expansive crescent of sand of Stinson Beach and the 15 mile long Tomales Bay known for its oysters. Sadly, our kids are not fans of the mollusks, so we had to pass the Tomales Bay Oyster Company and Hogg Island Oyster Farm where one can bring a picnic and indulge in buckets of fresh or barbecued oysters.
This was our third time staying at the lovely 
Sonoma County is an excellent destination for a family vacation--there is so much to do! In Sebastapol, the sustainable 
Christine, who runs the Full House Farm with her husband, David, milks one of their two goats, getting a gallon to a gallon and a half a day which she uses to make creamy goat cheese. Christine served samples at the end of the tour along with fabulous Pinot Noir and Tangerine Chardonnay jellies. We stopped by the nearby Wildlflour Bakery for their brick-oven baked bread for a picnic in Armstrong Woods State Park in Guerneville. Towering redwood shade an easy walk to the picnic area and admission is free.
Next door to the Wildflour Bakery, 
We intended to take the kids kayaking on the Russian River--several companies will outfit you at the top of the river and shuttle you back at the end of the 3 - 4 hour experience, but our leisurely walk in the woods squeezed out the trip. Instead, we went on the 
Your sense of touch will tell you when a steak is cooked, without needing to cut into it (though you can--just to check!). Make a fist, with your thumb inside your palm and squeeze tight. Touch the area shown in the photo--that is the feeling of a well done steak. Release all the fingers except the index and thumb. Touch again--this is medium rare. Relax the hand apart--touch and feel the softness of raw meat. Try this next time you cook steak--touch the steak, then touch your hand in the appropriate configuration and see if this simple sensory guide works!
Your sense of taste is obviously the most important tool in the kitchen. Pity the unfortunate ones who "eat everything" and are just as satisfied with bland food as spiced, with junk food as gourmet cuisine--they will never be great cooks! If you want to be a good cook, be a discriminating eater--notice the difference between food you eat that is ok versus fabulous and use your senses to decide why you like something so much. Is it the herbs in the dish? The smell of the food? A crunchy sound? The way it looks on the plate? Use vision, smell, taste, touch and hearing to experience what you eat--then use those memories to recreate the experience in your own kitchen. Come to your senses and delicious food will follow!
Touring and Tasting's latest magazine issue is the largest and most comprehensive yet! President Paul Arganbright was giving away free copies at the Santa Barbara Wine Festival, held at oak-shaded, creekside grounds of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. Also, a free wine gift basket was the prize for the person who could correctly guess the number of corks on a glass jar.
I was in the neighboring booth with my catering friend 
Short on time, we hit a few of the booths where we knew the wine would be excellent: 
Besides the amazing ravioli, top foodie discoveries included the passion fruit dessert by Renaud's Patisserie and Bistro--no surprise. Executive pastry chef Renaud Gonthier makes elegant desserts int he French tradition and makes the best croissants in town--crisp and flaky on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. Freezer Monkeys are pastry chef Tiffany Buchanan's creations--handmade natural-flavored popsicles with great taste combinations like Raspberry Thai Chili and Caramelized Pineapple. A beautiful day--and proceeds benefited the Museums exhibits and science education for school children!
Mark
Twain said, "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San
Francisco." Usually, those words ring true. The fog lays over the "City
By the Bay" and cold winds blow off the Pacific. But, this weekend we
thumbed our noses at Mark Twain and enjoyed two days of glorious
sunshine. When the sun shines on San Francisco, the city, the bay and
Pacific sparkle and the views are breathtaking.
The next morning, we went next door to the hotel and had a tasty, breakfast sandwich at 
Years
ago, we made the kids walk the mile and a half from the Ferry Building
to Fisherman's Wharf and had to endure a lot of complaining. This
weekend, seeing the line of pedicab drivers out front, we sprung for the
$20 for a fun ride in the sun along the ocean. Fisherman's Wharf was
busy with street musicians and artists and throngs of tourists from
around the world--stand in one spot and you will hear a dozen different
languages being spoken. We looked through the 13,000 square foot gallery
of nature photographer Rodney Lough, Jr. who documents Yellowstone,
Banff, Death Valley and other photo-worthy landscapes, then shared fish
and chips at Sally's Famous Fishwich--a tiny take-out next to the mammoth Franciscan Crab Restaurant. For only $8, we got a meaty piece of fish with minimal breading and pungent and delectable garlic fries. Next door is Boudin Bakery
with an overhead conveyer belt of bread baskets weaving through the
store from the glass-walled kitchen where one can see the baking team
wheel racks of bread into the enormous ovens, portion dough and form
loaves into braids and turtle shapes.
That
night, we had a short walk to the Moscone Center to have sushi and udon
at the Japanese restaurant 
