Fork & Bottle - The Artisan Food, Wine & Cheese Gastronomic Portal for Culinary Adventurers

Most Recent Articles

Major new article:
Getting your Kids to Like
and Eat Diverse Foods
plus, Better Snacks
and Packed Lunches

Biodynamic Wine Producers List
Passes 500 producers!

New Recipe: Garbure (Duck Soup)

Great Cheese Find: Tumin del Dian

Major New Page: Directory of
Irish Farmhouse Cheeses

Mendocino, Ft. Bragg, Boonville
Restaurant Reviews:
Café Beaujolais
Le Rendezvous
Mosswood Market

Wyndhayvn Gardens Summer 2008

New Recipe:
Pork Tenderloin with Dukkah

Wine Tasting: Bonhams Pre-Auction

New Food Reference Book Reviews:

The Story of Tea A Cultural History and Drinking Guide by Mary Lou Heiss and Robert J. Heiss

Tea Aromas and Flavors Around the World by Lydia Gautie

Preserving Food Without Freezing or Canning by the Gardeners and Farmers of Terre Vivante

Fish Forever by Paul Johnson

Fine Waters by Michael Mascha

Watermelon Juice with a hint of Kaffir Lime Fresh Seasonal Summer Drinks!

New Recipes

• Fast Lasagna

• Brussel Sprouts with pancetta and walnuts

New Books & Reviews

A16: Food & Wine
by Nate Appleman, Shelley Lindgren with Kate Leahy
A passionate new cookbook and winebook from the stars of the A16 restaurant in San Francisco. Nate Appleman reveals classic recipes for his celebrated pasta, pizza, antipasti and charcuterie, while Shelley Lindgren shares her passion for Italian Wines. A beautiful book that shows the wonderful marriage of Italian Food & Wine.

The River Cottage Family Cookbook by Hugh=Feranley-Whittingstall & Fizz Carr

The River Cottage Family Cookbook
by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall & Fizz Carr

F&B Cooking
with Kids pick!

This American edition is really a welcome addition to the family cookbook shelf. The recipes are a great selection of dishes for families to eat together. They are simple enough for young cooks to try a hand at; adults will enjoy cooking from it as well. This would make an excellent gift!

God in a Cup: The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Coffee
by Michaele Weissman
God in a Cup is a wonderfully written quest by a coffee neophyte for the story behind the rise of artisan roasters. I really learned a lot from this book and enjoyed reading it. The style is light and fresh. I finally have a much better sense of the global coffee scene, where the good coffee comes from, and what to look for.
F&B Highly Recommends.

The Home Creamery
by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley
I'm quite intrigued by this just released book of recipes. It has everything, from ricotta to yoghurt, but I'm most interested in her methods for crème fraîche, sour cream, buttermilk and cultured butter.

New Books

Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes
by Jennifer McLagan
I was so impressed with the depth of knowledge Ms. McLagan has in food science and nutrition. The introduction was a fascinating read. The recipes span the different fats like butter, duck fat, lard, etc., and offer very attractive dishes as well as solid recipes for standards like popovers. What I loved were the fat comparison charts throughout. Who knew I should be using duck fat more often?!
F&B Highly Recommends.

Renewing American's Food Traditions by Gary Paul Nabhan - RAFT

Renewing American's Food Traditions: Saving and Savoring the Continent's Most Endangered Foods
by Gary Paul Nabhan
A book about Heritage and Endangered Foods in America. Part of the Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) Project to protect and save endangered foods and traditions and, to promote diversity. Really interesting reading and keep a notebook handy!

Upcoming Release:

In Seaon by Sarah Raven with foreward by Dan Barber

In Season: Cooking with Vegetables and Fruits
by Sarah Raven, Foreward by Dan Barber
One of Britain’s leading gardeners and authors on the subject, Sarah Raven is an expert on all things to grow, cut and eat from the garden. In Season offers home cooks 450 simple but delicious and healthy recipes that take advantage of what is available seasonally.

Welcome to
Fork & Bottle

Fork & Bottle focuses on our love of food, especially wine and cheese. We are picky about where our food comes from, how it tastes and how sustainable it is. We are always hunting for great, real food – not the stuff found in big supermarkets and chain restaurants. We care about what we eat.

Fork & Bottle also covers organic gardening, cooking with kids and, our explorations of Napa Valley/Sonoma County wine country. We welcome your feedback.

– Jack & Joanne

New Restaurant Reviews

• Cyrus in Healdsburg, CA - Our fourth visit finally achieves the grand dining experience that our earlier visits only hinted at.

• The Restaurant at Meadowood in Saint Helena, CA, was excellent and showed us clearly that they are one of the very best restaurants in the Napa Valley.

• Restaurant at Auberge du Soleil in Rutherford, CA, unfortunately, was dissappointing.

• Dry Creek Kitchen in Healdsburg is Charlie Palmer's Sonoma County outpost. Probably the most elegant outdoor lunch in the area.

• Rosso Pizzeria & Wine Bar in Santa Rosa has become our casual restaurant of choice. The food is always good to excellent, and there is a wonderful emphasis on local and sustainable ingredients. Bonus: The wine list features affordable organic and biodynamic wines. June 2008: The new menu has arrived with some great additions; Lardo and Thursday night's Soft Shell Crab.

New Wine Tastings

• Barolo, Brunello & Bellavista

• Rhone Rangers

• 2005 Bordeaux

Biodynamic Wines Master List - the most complete list of Biodynamic wine producers around the world

Our Favorite Pages

• Seed Sources - Heirloom, Organic, Biodynamic, Rare and Heritage sources for seeds.

• Gingerbread Houses - How-to, Kits and Resources.

• Biodynamic Wine Producers - simply the best list on the web for this very sustainable wine growing method.

• Bonus Secrets of Wine Country - we live in wine country and share our secrets.

Great Cheese Finds

• Cahill's Porter      • Selles sur Cher

• Seelander      • Timanoix

• La Pierre Doree    • Abbaye de Tamie

Don't Miss...

Edward Behr’s quarterly journal, the Art of Eating, covers food, wine, cheese, etc., focusing on artisanal sources and restaurants. The article topics are well chosen and delivered with terrific writing and editing (no ads).

The Summer, 2008 Issue (#78):

The Andouillette of Troyes: Primary Sausage  Edward Behr
•  Fishing for Avgotaraho  Diana Farr Louis
•  Salentine Home Cooking  John Irving
•  Foraging for Clams on Block Island  Hank Shaw
•  Velveting, Deep-Frying, Stir-Frying, and General Tso’s Chicken  Ed Schoenfeld
•  Why This Bottle, Really? Jacqueline Friedrich on Yannick Amirault's Les Malgagnes from St. Nicolas de Bourgueil
•  Notes and Resources (avgotaraho and bottarga, and "My Big, Expensive Stainless-Steel Stove")

Books
•  Nancy Harmon Jenkins on Lori De Mori’s Beaneaters & Bread Soup
•  Edward Behr on John Thorne’s Mouth Wide Open
•  Winnie Yang on Ammini Ramachandran’s Grains, Green, and Grated Coconuts
•  David Cobbold on Clive Coates’s The Wines of Burgundy

Heirloom Tomatoes from our Garden

Explore our huge
Amazon store, including
2007-2008 Food,
Wine & Cheese Books

Fork & Bottle's
Statcounter Pageviews:
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Events Calendar

Family Winemakers of California Tasting
San Francisco - Aug. 24

Sonoma Wine Country Weekend
Healdsburg & Sonoma
August 29-31

Slow Food Nation
San Francisco
August 29 - Sept. 1

Great British Cheese Festival
Cardiff - Sept. 27 & 28

For more upcoming events, click here.

Jamon Iberico, made from black Iberico pigs that feed on acorns, are native only to Spain. These have just arrived from Spain for the first time ever!

Slow Food in the Heartland by Kurt Friese

A Cook's Journey: Slow Food in the Heartland
by Kurt Michael Friese,
is an exploration of the Slow Food movement in America's Midwest. It is complete with recipes and notes on the diverse slow and artisanal producers and farmers of the Midwest.

Slow Food Nation's Come to the Table: The Slow Food Way of Living Foreward by Alice Waters

Slow Food Nation's Come to the Table: The Slow Food Way of Living
edited by Katrina Heron, with foreward by Alice Waters.

Wine Country Cooking
by Joanne Weir

The reknowned cookbook author focuses on Wine Country Cooking, offering light and fresh suggestions for casual California food with Mediterranean influences. Recipes are accompanied by wine pairing suggestions.