"Berkeley" news and stories

I had the opportunity to taste some very expensive and seriously delicious coffee yesterday. Peet's Coffee is bringing some of their blends to grocery stores in Philadelphia, and so they've come to town with their coffee educator Erica Hess to promote the availability of their products around the City of Brotherly Love.

My first exposure to Peet's coffee was Christmas when I was 14 years old. My cousins, knowing that I was getting an espresso maker from my parents, brought with them a pound of espresso roast from Peet's down from Berkeley as a gift. I remember it as excellent coffee and the fact that its availability was sort of limited in those days made it seem that much more special.

Since we heard about some chefs who are not exactly following the all-natural philosophy of the "Alice Waters school of cooking" yesterday, it seems only fair to take a look at one of her cookbooks today. The Chez Panisse Café Cookbook has a lot of material on her beliefs, her philosophies about food, ingredients and cooking, and even a few recipes to complement the text. Essentially, the core of Waters' beliefs is that food should be produced as sustainably as possible and served when it as fresh as it can be. Her recipes focus on highlighting the flavor of the ingredients in as close to a natural state as possible.

Chez Panisse Café is not exactly the same restaurant as Chez Panisse. It is actually a somewhat more casual restaurant above the Chez Panisse dining room where dishes are ordered a la carte, rather than as part of a prix fixe. Not that the less formal presentation detracts from the food or flavors. Instead it gives the chefs a bit wider range of dishes to work with, both casual and fancy. The recipes in this cookbook are some of both: Beef Carpaccio with Capers, Parmesan and Anchovies, Roast Pork Loin with Rosemary and Fennel, Meyer Lemon Eclairs and Pizzetta with Farm Egg and Prosciutto.

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If you ever find yourself in Berkeley in the morning, I highly recommend stopping by Bette's Oceanview Diner for breakfast. The diner is always bustling and the food is great, especially if you like pancakes. The Pancake Handbook is Bette's official recipe book, with lots of favorites. You can preview many of their recipes online, including their German Apple Pancake, Sour Cream Cloud Cakes and Crispy Potato Pancakes. As you can see from their menu, though, they do serve more than just pancakes and the book also has many of the Diner's other favorite breakfast/brunch fare, including scones, muffins and even english muffins.

The recipes are presented in a friendly way, with conversational introductions to the dishes that are along the lines of discussions you might have with the servers at the Diner, though these discussions are followed by easy-to-read recipes. Fair warning, though: you may find yourself eating a lot more breakfast food after checking out this book, so you might just turn yourself into a "morning person" - and a happy, well-fed one at that!

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The fatty acid Omega-3 has been the topic of discussion ranging from a treatment for prostate cancer to treatment of mood disorders. Although numerous wide-reaching studies have shown positive and negligible results, grants for studies and participants roll on.

Why? It has been proven that Omega-3 fatty acids, particularly as found in fish like mackerel (highest content/weight ratio) and salmon, prevent and aid those who have cardiovascular disease. When you start throwing the human heart into the fray of what's good for it, and there's a compound isolated proven to help keep it healthy, there will be no shortage of interest. What's good for the heart may good for all the heart supports: the brain, the rest of the vital organs, the health of our blood itself.

The problem with relying on fish for our daily intake of Omega-3 is that today's fish have much higher levels of mercury than those that our ancestors ate. So, where can you get your Omega-3?

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Anyone who has spent a fair amount of time in Berkeley and has eaten more than two meals there knows the Cheese Board. Owned and operated by the workers, in true Berkeley style, it is a fantastic cheese shop and bakery, with a pizza place next door that has lines down the block at lunch and dinner. The Cheese Board is the kind of place that locals go to on a near-daily basis and others take trips out of their way to stop in.

But stopping in isn't an option, particularly if you live nowhere near the SF Bay Area. If you want to try your hand at some of their products at home, The Cheese Board: Collective Works is definitely the book to get. It has recipes for some of their most popular items, including currant scones, bran muffins and lots of their famous breads. The quick pastry items, such as the scones, are much easier and less time-intensive than the bread recipes, but their instructions are comprehensive and you will achieve good results if you put in the time it takes to work through the recipes. Aside from the breads, the book also has a cheese guide and a history of the co-op, which was founded in 1967 and has become a Bay Area institution in the time since then.

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