We did a photo shoot for Santa Cruz Food Tours! They updated their website with the photographs and it looks great! Superb, tasty, and fun food tour with lots of Santa Cruz history too.
BITF Food Photos • A Photo-Shoot for Santa Cruz Food Tours!
Written by Les on November 29th, 2011Hello Holidays: Family Food Holiday Traditions Dinner Party Idea
Written by Les on November 25th, 2011
Start out the holidays right by gathering your friends for a December Holiday Party!
What: Family Food Traditions Holiday Party
When: December
Number: 10 people (1-2 dishes or a drink per couple), or 5 couples
Wear: Holiday Sweaters
Bring: Tell each friend/couple to bring a Family Food Holiday Tradition to Share
* Get an idea of what everyone is bringing so you don’t have 5 meat dishes or 5 desserts (or maybe that is OK).
Gifts: White Elephant (humorous) under $15 per person
Cocktails: Traditional Wassail Holiday Cocktail Recipe & Evan Williams Eggnog ($10 @ Bevmo)
If you do this, let us know how it goes! We are going to try it out too … recipes to follow.
In the meantime, you can see some of our “Tried & True Family Recipes for the Holidays”: Appetizer, Gift Munchies, Cookies, Breakfast Pastry, and Grits.
Having a huge cocktail party? Tips for $310 Cocktail Party for 30 People!
What does your Thanksgiving Plate say about you?
Written by Les on November 15th, 2011
What does your Thanksgiving plate say about you?
- Large Portions: Big Personality, your an extrovert, and like attention from the amount of food you put on your plate
- Small Portions: Self Controlling, aware of consequences, shy, polite
- Average Plate (sides are touching and it isn’t overloaded, just enough): Logical and well-adjusted (maybe predictable)
- Messy Plate: Easy-going, friendly, not high maintenance, a little aloof but you don’t care, because you didn’t notice anyways
- Super Neat Plate: Precise, many boundaries, controlled, need to let loose a little, I mean, come on, it’s Turkey Day!
Two Favorite Thanksgiving Salads with Persimmons:
& Don’t forget this Thanksgiving Cocktail Recipe and to make this tasty thing the day after Thanksgiving with your leftover turkey!
Breakfast for Dinner Club Menu
Written by Les on November 8th, 2011
When mom is out of town or dad is out town, breakfast for dinner! But when Gourmet group meets, is brunch for dinner off limits? Absolutely not. Come on, you can wear your pajamas.
Breakfast for Dinner, Menu for Ten:
- Mango Bellinis
- Tomato Basil Quiche Recipe Baked in cute Quiche pans from Target (For the brave, try Bouchon Quiche Recipe, out of this world, but check out our tips!)
- Individual Parmesan Hash Brown Cups (Super simple, super tasty, have two!)
- Granola, Yogurt, & Berry Parfait Recipe (w/ Homemade Pecan Maple Granola Recipe)
- Maple Pecan-Crusted Bacon Recipe (well, the meal centers around this)
- Pumpkin Streusel Coffee Cake Recipe
Halloween Dinner for Many!
Written by Les on October 30th, 2011
Homemade Bat Shaped Tortilla Chips accompany this great Vegetarian Chili recipe! It is a good one to put in the crock-pot and serve to your friends all night long.
You will need a Halloween shaped cookie cutter.
&
Homemade Baked Tortilla Chips Recipe
- 12 Flour Tortillas
- Butter & Minced Garlic, melted
- Cookie Cutter (for whatever holiday you desire)
Preheat oven to 350F.
With your cookie cutter, cut out the pieces and then lay them as a single layer on a cookie sheet. Brush the melted butter and garlic on both sides of the tortillas. Then bake in the oven for 12-15minutes.
Community Dinners & Edible Monterey Bay: Santa Cruz
Written by Les on October 21st, 2011
If you haven’t been out to a community dinner, they are a fun way to meet new folks and share in local, in-season foods. In Santa Cruz there are two Community Dinners that I know about but have only attended one of them so far. The photographs above are from Cellar Door’s Wednesday Night Community Table at the Swift Street Complex (3 course Prix Fix $30). This dinner pictured above actually took place last June, hence the strawberries and peas, but Community dinners and the first publication of the “Edible Monterey Bay” crossed my mind again this morning and I realized I should write about them.
The night that we ate at Cellar Door’s Community Table, we met a really nice couple from Carmel Valley who happened to be starting the first Edible Monterey Bay Magazine. When you have been a tourist in other cities you may have noticed the “Edible Oakland,” “Edible Columbus,” “Edible …” so you get the point, they are in many cities in this country (actually 70 magazines are out there www.ediblecommunities.com). When I saw my first “Edible” Magazine, I believe it was in Oakland and I was impressed with the variety of food stories featured and as a photographer was impressed with the images printed on this nice matte paper that has an earthy or organic feeling. I realized that reading the “Edible” magazine for an area would educate me on local, more unique farm to table restaurants as well as stories on local food specialties and farmers and their own great recipes. The “Edible Monterey Bay” magazine features local food cultures of Santa Cruz, San Benito and Monterey Counties, season by season. You can pick up copies for free at these locations.
Two Community Dinners in Santa Cruz:
- Cellar Door’s Wednesday Night Community Table ($30 – 3 course meal)
-
DIG’s Pop-Up Restaurant with Lightfoot Industries – Fridays ($35 for 5 course meal + dessert) Tickets are available online www.lightfootind.com For questions about dinners please contact info@lightfootind.com.
The Picnic Basket: Santa Cruz
Written by Les on October 13th, 2011
If you think all there is to Santa Cruz is the beach boardwalk, you’re wrong, branch out. Actually the boardwalk is not a first choice for a spot to spend the day down in Santa Cruz. Of course, unless you have folks visiting from out of town who have kids. It is always fun to take the kids on the Big Dipper roller coaster or to walk out on the wharf and hear the barking animals below. Having just made that statement, let me contradict myself by telling you to check our three favorite Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk foods post! AND, check out The Picnic Basket, a new place to grab lunch down at the Boardwalk for keepin’ it classy. It caught my eye this summer when we took our niece to get a homemade corn dog and to get jerked around for awhile on the rickety coaster. The Picnic Basket doesn’t look like it belongs down by wharf area because it is quite tasteful looking in a retro beach kind of way, but not diner style-retro over the top. It is owned by Penny Ice Creamery which is a great sign. So one afternoon we finally got to stop in and get a great local El Salchichero hot dog with Farmhouse Kulture Kraut and a Santa Cruz Mountain Brew (check out their facebook page for $1 off coupon until 11/1/11 https://www.facebook.com/thepicnicbasketsc) or a Verve coffee. They have a rotating selection from Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing, Santa Cruz Aleworks, Uncommon Brewers, Boulder Creek Brewing Company, Corallitos Brewing Company, Seabright Brewery, and Sante Adairius Rustic Ales (yes, all in Santa Cruz County!). They let us have a taste of the local wine they serve and of course as we were quickly sipping, a train went by outside, nice touch. You can still get Penny’s Ice Cream with a choice of about 9 flavors in the case. I love all of the local foods and drinks you can get at the Picnic Basket, seriously check out their tasty menu online and their fun coupon deals from FB. PB is a healthy and tasty alternative, see their salad choices too. We are glad to have them around!
Kids, tell your parents you will let them go to The Picnic Basket if they take you to the Boardwalk. It just might work!
The Picnic Basket tag-line says it all: Local • Artisan Food • Drinks • Coffee • Ice Cream
125 Beach Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060
| Mon – Sun: | 7:00 am | - | 12:00 am |
Pleasure Pizza in Santa Cruz: BBQ Chicken Pizza Slice!
Written by Les on October 12th, 2011
This is a really simple post but I wanted to feature this great BBQ Chicken Pizza by the slice that we had recently at Pleasure Pizza in Santa Cruz. I don’t typically like chicken pizza toppings because they can be dry and bland but this is a the best I’ve tasted because of its sweet and subtle spicy flare. There are now two locations for Pleasure Pizza. They are both across the street from each other on 41st Avenue and one is a more of a sit down restaurant “East Side Eatery” and one is a pizza by the slice spot “Pleasure Pizza”.
BBQ Chicken Pizza:
- Semi Spicy BBQ Sauce
- Pepper Jack Cheese
- Red Onion
- Red & Green Bell Pepper
- Pineapple
PLEASURE PIZZA | 11AM – 10PM DAILY
BY THE SLICE • TO GO • DELIVERY
4000 PORTOLA DR. SANTA CRUZ, CA 95062
PHONE / DELIVERY: 831.475.4999