I'm inaugurating a wine blog today on Bay Area Bites. It's a labor of love for me. I worked for a decade in the wine trade in the seventies and eighties, in New York City, San Francisco, and the Napa Valley. I've kept a toehold in the industry since then, while working as a news editor, reporter and anchor at KQED Public Radio. I still get a thrill from tasting great wine, or decent wine that's a great value; and my cup runneth over with suggestions. People look at me strangely ("Is this nut coming on to me?") when I make recommendations in the liquor aisle at Safeway. So this blog will provide a more acceptable outlet for my tasting notes. I'll try to avoid numbers, and talk about how these wines behave on the lunch or dinner table, where they belong.

I promise to taste a lot of cheap stuff, and warn readers off the plonk. To give you an idea of my palate, I'm a locavore, deeply chauvinistic about California wines. I'd rather keep Californians at work than ship my dollars overseas.

But I promise to be fair: my first love was for French Burgundy-- red and white, and I've toured Champagne, Burgundy, Beaujolais, and the Rhone Valley in France. I just wish that Premier Crus from the Cote D'Or weren't $50 and up.

Enough of that... Let's drink!

I did a bubbly tasting not long ago; and with New Year Eve upon us, I wanted to share my thoughts, and those of my guests, on what we liked.

I should note that my wife says Champagne makes her feel 21 again, ready for romance. (She's still very young of course.) And I think Champagne imbues even awkward people with elegance, and makes awkward moments fizzle away. Both qualities seem like essential components to a happy New Year's celebration.

At the tasting we started out with Non-Vintage Bugey-Cerdon ($22) from Patrick Bottex in the French Savoie. It sure ain't Champagne, but it's a lovely, low alcohol, deep pink bubbly. It smells of strawberries, and marries sweet raspberry and crisp apple flavors in the mouth. It could be the perfect wine for drinking while making out when the balloons drop.

We moved on to some California sparklers. We all loved the J Cuvee 20 ($32), smelling of toast, golden apples, and lemon. Just lovely, and our favorite of the tasting. We also tried the Gloria Ferrer Royal Cuvee 2001 ($35). The 2001 just won best of class in the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Judging, and seemed very complex from its long aging, with a bouquet of almonds, lemon, and black currants. It tasted crisp and appley in the mouth with a creamy finish.

We also tried two sparkling rosés, made with blends favoring Pinot Noir. The Schramsberg 2005 Brut Rosé ($40) smelled like strawberry shortcake, and lasted and lasted in the mouth. The J Brut Rosé ($41) showed nice appley notes in the nose, and raspberries and pink grapefruit in the mouth.

Everyone liked these two rosés, but the women at the tasting preferred the steelier qualities in the white bubblies.

We only drank one true Champagne, a Veuve Clicquot Brut Non-Vintage ($40). It smelled of toast and mushroom, but it disappointed in the mouth, tasting a bit tired. "The Old Widow" is now among the top selling Champagnes in the world. It tastes like they make a lot of it -- decent but not worth the price, especially in today’s economy.

At my recent Hanukkah party I poured a few bottles of Domaine Chandon Riche NV. Domaine Chandon (in Napa and owned by France’s Moet and Chandon) adds a touch of Muscat to Chardonnay and Pinot Noir to get a slightly sweet sparkling wine with flowers and peach in the nose, and a lovely finish. Great with latkes. The best part-- I paid $13 at Safeway and I see it’s selling for $22/bttl in Washington D.C.

I haven’t tasted it recently, but I’ve also enjoyed bubblies by Roederer in Mendocino's Anderson Valley. And Iron Horse makes some extraordinary, if pricey, California sparklers in Green Valley in Sonoma.

So happy New Year. I'm looking forward to more posts in 2009.

I'm going to make just one prediction for 2009:

Urban gardens will become as de rigueur as weekly trips to the farmer's market.

Of course, I'm not the first to notice the idea of urban food production coming into the forefront. Last year saw the launch of San Francisco's Victory Garden pilot project and Wired magazine had an article on Urban Farming as well. Most likely you saw Slow Food Nation's Victory Garden at City Hall or you may have even heard about Graze the Roof, a Summer rooftop edible garden at Glide Memorial. While those projects are over, the idea of producing food in an urban setting has only just begun.

If you want to become an urban farmer, consider enrolling in Alemany Farm's Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture. It's a year long hands-on program that will teach core principals of food production such as soil fertility and composting, propagation and planting, seasonal tree care, water-wise irrigation, plant identification, integrated pest management, and crop planning.

If becoming a farmer is not quite your thing, but you still want in on the conversation, check out OPENrestaurant at Yerba Buena. Join members of Slow Food Nation and the urban farming community for OPENrestaurant, a socially engineered informal dinner created by a collective of restaurant professionals. Share a simple meal while chewing on the question: How can the urban landscape be productive? Buy a meal ticket and enjoy dinner and a glass of wine while learning more about urban farming, foraging and gleaning from people directly involved in these practices or simply show up for the discussion.

What: OPENrestaurant with Slow Food Nation, a discussion and dinner prepared by Jerome Waag and Stacie Pierce of Chez Panisse and Chris Kronner formerly of Serpentine and Slow Club.

Where: Grand Lobby, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission St, San Francisco

When: January 6th, 2008, 7 pm

How: Buy a meal ticket, $20 or $15 for Yerba Buena members. Or call the box office at 415.978.2787. The discussion is free for those who do not choose to dine with the group.

Why: Get a head start on planting for Spring, receive seed packets and enjoy local beer and wine, white beans and greens from city farms, pork rillettes, bread from Tartine and dessert.

This is the third year in a row that I have published a list of my favorite tastes of the year. My personal rules for the tastes: they have to be something that I first tried in 2008, and they must knock my socks off. I am lucky that every year I am able to taste new dishes that completely change my culinary point-of-view. This year I delved more into Thai food, and spent a lot of time in San Francisco so not many dishes are from out-of-town. The tastes, in no particular order are:

Chicken noodle soup, Thai House Express. I was introduced to this soup in January of this year and have had it many, many times since. I enjoy the light broth of the soup and always order it with thin egg noodles. When chili paste is added from the condiments provided on the table, it makes for the perfect bowl of soup. 901 Larkin Street at Geary, San Francisco.

Burger and duck-fat fries, Spruce. Much to the consternation of the New Yorkers who read Serious Eats, I had the audacity to declare the Spruce hamburger as the best hamburger in San Francisco. New Yorkers could not believe that a great burger could be served on an english muffin. I stand by my decision, and can't think of many places I'd rather spend an evening than the Spruce bar with a burger and a cocktail. 3640 Sacramento Street at Spruce, San Francisco.

Sunchoke salad, SPQR. When a chef shuffle at SPQR occured last January, I was worried. After opening in October 2007, SPQR quickly became a favorite on my restaurant rotation and I didn't want the food to change. I needn't have worried. Chef de cuisine Chris Behr turns out solidly awesome food and I'm never disappointed. One of my favorite bites all year was their sunchoke salad served with tangerine pieces, radicchio and toasted almonds. The combination of flavors makes for a perfect bite. 1911 Fillmore Street at Bush, San Francisco.

Arctic char crudo, Bar Crudo. 2008 will be known as the year that I finally tried Bar Crudo. I was enchanted by the flavors of nearly every dish, but especially enamored of the arctic char with wasabi tobiko. Magic. 503 Bush Street over the Stockton tunnel, San Francisco.

Nam prik noom, Renu Nakorn. My first taste of the delicious nam prik noom -- a chili dip served with crudite -- was at Lotus of Siam this year in Las Vegas. While it was delicious at Lotus, I preferred the dish when I had it at Renu Nakorn in Southern California. Lotus of Siam's roots were born out of Renu Nakorn, so the dishes were very similar with Renu Nakorn's spice level being perfect. I can't wait to eat this again. Renu Nakorn re-opened this year in a lovely space after being closed for several years and is well worth a trip if you're in Southern California. 13019 Rosecrans Ave near Hwy 5, Norwalk.

No-Knead Bread made by me. Until this year, I had never made a loaf of bread by myself. I'm not saying that the bread I made was perfect, and about 15 loaves later it's still not. But I will always remember that first taste of my first loaf of bread.

Kanom krok, San Bruno Thai Temple. Kanom krok -- the popular Thai dessert that is made of sweet coconut cream and batter in the equivalent of an Ebilskiver pan -- was a new taste to me this year. I tried kanom krok at several places, and my favorite bite was the one I tried first at this Sunday Thai temple brunch. 310 Poplar Ave at Crystal Springs Road, San Bruno. Sundays only, best to go around 11.30 or noon.

Butterscotch budino, Mozza. It was hard to choose just one bite at Mozza to feature, as it was one of my favorite places in Southern California this year. The budino is a perfect dessert -- a butterscotch pudding topped with salted caramel and served with rosemary pine nut biscotti. I'm not a fan of overly sweet desserts and this dish struck the perfect balance between sweet and salty. 6602 Melrose Ave at Highland, Los Angeles.

Mussel Salad, Bar Jules. Jessica Boncutter opened Bar Jules early this year, and I was lucky to spend many an afternoon there with friends enjoying the fresh, local and delicious food. The mussel salad pictured above is a perfect representation of the food that I loved here in 2008, and I can still remember the perfectly cooked mussels contrasted with aioli and simple boiled potatoes. 609 Hayes Street at Laguna, San Francisco.

Ankimo, Sebo. No taste deserves its own, completely separate, blog post more than the ankimo at Sebo. Thinking of evenings at Sebo this year makes me break into a wide grin. It's the combination of absolutely impeccable sushi, combined with the personality of the chef owners and the company that I enjoyed there. I never really understood the draw of ankimo, which is monkfish liver, until I tasted it at Sebo. While I still typically am drawn to the uni at Sebo over the ankimo, I have ankimo on the list for the sheer fact that it changed my mind and my culinary perspective. My dining partner and I were so exuberant about it one night that we convinced Loretta Keller, owner of Coco500, to re-open her already paid check to have an order of ankimo. She thanked us. 516 Hayes Street at Octavia, San Francisco.

Happy New Year, all. And here's to many, many great tastes in 2009.

Previous taste lists:
Top 10 Tastes 2006
Top 10 Tastes 2007

After the holidays' repeated culinary excesses, my mouth, stomach, and soul are all screeching for something quite simple and healthful. This lentil soup always fits the bill. I'm not sure if it's the folic acid-loaded lentils or the fresh, cleansing flavor of the parsley that does it for me, but whatever it is, I'm hooked.

The recipe is based on one from my favorite cookbook, Alice Waters' Vegetables, and was first introduced to me one winter night in Virginia by my mother-in-law. Judy presented the lentil soup in beautiful earthenware bowls that somehow made it seem that much tastier, and served it up with a fresh green salad, thick slices of olive bread, and a lovely bright Italian red wine.

As soups go, it somehow manages to be both rustic and refined with the tiny French green lentils and the small dice of the carrots and onions. I find it eminently satisfying and always make enough for several days of leftovers.

A word on lentils: the soup calls for a combo of brown and red lentils, but Judy used green Le Puy, and that -- with a few other changes to the original recipe -- is how I've continued to make it. (Sometimes I add the tiny black beluga lentils to the green just to vary colors, sizes, and textures.) In my experience, the very best green Le Puy and black Beluga lentils can be found under the brand name of Cassoulets USA. They come from Twin Falls, Idaho and cook up far more evenly and firmly than any other brand of green Le Puy lentils I've found in high-end grocery stores.

Lentil Soup

Makes: 4-6 main course servings

Ingredients:

1 onion, diced small
1 carrot, diced small
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cup green lentils, rinsed and picked over to discard small stones
1 small bunch parsley, leaves separated from stems.
1/2 head garlic
1/2 small fresh chili pepper
2 quarts water
1/2 teaspoon cumin seed
1 teaspoon fennel seed
1 teaspoon grains of paradise
2 cloves garlic, minced
Lemon juice
Extra virgin olive oil

Preparation:

1. In a soup pot over medium heat, sauté the onion and carrot in olive oil until the onions are gilded and translucent, about 1-2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

2. Wrap the parsley stems, 1/2 garlic head, and chili in cheesecloth and add it to the pot. Add the lentils and water and bring to a boil. Simmer until the lentils are tender, but not mushy, about 45 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, toast the cumin, fennel, and grains of paradise in a dry skillet over low heat until fragrant. Crush the toasted spiced with a mortar and pestle, or by using the bottom of a heavy skillet. Chop the parsley leaves.

4. When the lentils are done simmering, remove the cheesecloth and add the crushed spices and minced garlic. Taste for seasoning, add lemon juice, chopped parsley, and additional salt and pepper, if necessary.

5. Serve soup in bowls with a dribble of olive oil.

One of the things I love about cooking around the holidays is experimenting with all the ingredients in my refrigerator. Although I have a great time planning our Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year's feasts, I think I enjoy the impromptu ones even more. Take Christmas breakfast this year: although I had every intention of making cinnamon rolls the night before Christmas so we could have freshly-baked ooey gooey deliciousness in the morning, an ill-timed head cold forced me to bed early. So there we were, Christmas morning with no buns. What we did have, however, was a fridge full of fresh and luxurious holiday ingredients.

After my daughters had their fill of opening the slew of presents Santa left, I sidled into the kitchen and opened the fridge. As I stared at the contents, I started to get hungry. My cold was subsiding and my nasal passages were starting to be able to discern smells again. As I scanned the shelf before me, I realized I had all the makings for a great frittata: eggs, baby spinach, pancetta, ricotta, parmesan, and heavy cream. It didn’t take long to mix everything together, and once I did, my mother commented on how the pancetta’s pink color coordinated with the green spinach to make a lovely Christmas color combination. I stared at my plate and felt a bit like an accidental Martha Stewart until I looked up and was brought back to reality by my messy kitchen. Even better than how it looked, however, was the fact that the eggs, ricotta and heavy cream had merged into a gorgeous custard, with the pancetta, spinach and Parmesan adding both salty and savory flavors.

The foods I had on hand worked well for my needs, but I could have easily used a variety of other items many people have lying around during the holidays. If you have a refrigerator full of random leftovers from holiday menus, just use whatever sounds good to make your own great holiday frittata. Some items you may want to use are cheeses left over from an appetizer platter, crème freche, ricotta, heavy cream, baked ham, sausage, pate, or al dente vegetables. There’s nothing like a frittata to make the most of a 1/2 cup of leftover whatever.

I’m also including my recipe for breakfast sausage, which I made on Christmas morning to go with the frittata. I like to start with sausage meat from my local butcher, but you could just as easily cobble this dish together using mild Italian pork or chicken sausage, or bratwurst. Any sausage you like is fine as the real flavor comes from adding a few more ingredients to the meat. Sometimes I add rosemary, spring onions and mustard, but I have also tried and liked adding a tablespoon of maple syrup, thyme, and shallots. You could also toss in a tablespoon of fruit chutney.

Most of us don’t have heavy cream and aged cheeses sitting in our refrigerators on a daily basis, so if you have holiday foods left over, make the most of them. Chances are your cupboard will revert back to a more modest and healthier ingredients list in a week or two and the opportunity will be lost.

Holiday Frittata

Serves: 4 - 6 people

Ingredients:
6 eggs
1/2 cup ricotta, crème freche, or sour cream
1/2 cup heavy cream or whole milk
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped pancetta, sausage or bacon
1/2 cup fresh spinach or arugula
1 Tbs olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place olive oil and your meat of choice into a medium pan that can go into the oven for 5-7 minutes or until your meat is lightly browned.
3. Meanwhile, whisk your eggs in a medium bowl until they start to get frothy.
4. Whisk in the ricotta, crème freche or sour cream and then add in the 1/2 cup of heavy cream or whole milk (please note that you should only use one of each ingredient, i.e., not heavy cream AND whole milk).
5. Once the meat is browned, add your spinach or arugula to the pan and sprinkle on a dash of salt. Mix and set in the oven for 2-3 minutes, or until the greens wilt.
6. Add the Parmesan to the egg mixture and then add it to the pan and bake for 5-7 minutes, or until the eggs become semi-firm.
7. Switch your oven to broil and place the pan about two inches beneath it. Broil your frittata until lightly browned and then quickly remove from the oven.
8. Serve.

"Homemade" Breakfast Sausage Patties

Makes: 8 - 12 sausages (depending on how large you make the patties)

Ingredients:
6 sausages (chicken or pork) or 1 pound sausage meat
1 Tbsp finely chopped rosemary
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/4 cup chopped spring onions or shallots
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preparation:
1. Remove sausage meat from their casings and place meat in a medium bowl.
2. Add all the other ingredients and then form sausage into patties.
3. If making baking in the oven, place the patties on a large baking sheet and cook for 10 minutes on each side or until the patties are thoroughly browned.
4. If making on the stove top, heat a large pan on medium high and fry patties on each side until browned and thoroughly cooked through.
5. Serve.

Some people look forward to Christmas all year. They start designing their Holiday cards before the dye on their Easter eggs has even dried. Thanksgiving isn't treated so much as a reflective day spent with friends and family, but rather as an appropriate time to start dragging out the Holiday decorations.

I know people like this, but I am not one of them.

My favorite December day happens to be today, known in the Commonwealth countries as Boxing Day or, more religiously, as the Feast of St. Stephen.

In brief, Boxing Day custom dictates that those of the privileged classes give something back to the little people-- those folks who spend the year cleaning their toilets, corraling their children, and fetching them lattes. Little tokens of thanks are offered, like thoughtful long distance phone cards, cash, and things generally gone unused and unwanted by the rich. A dear little tradition, if you ask me.

Upon first hearing about the holiday without actually knowing anything about it, I thought the name implied the much-looked-forward-to boxing up and putting away of Christmas decorations. Upon deeper reflection, I decided it was a day spent putting unwanted Christmas gifts back in their packaging to be returned at the soonest possible opportunity.

In a way, I suppose it is such a day, only it is easier if you simply re-gift such items and hand them over to people who have nothing and, therefore, will be grateful for the sudden windfall of, say, a toaster that burns the words "I love you" into their bread. They will think you really care. In fact, they will be reminded of it daily.

In light of today's theme, I have come across several re-giftable food-related items, a few of which I thought I'd share. If you have received anything particularly horrible this season, I would very much love it if you would share it, if not with your cleaning woman, intern, or CPA, then with me.

The Darth Vader toaster is a tough one. There is a certain geek chic to it I find (mildly) appealing, but the fact the the photo displays a piece of bread that, apart from the area charred by the dark side, looks stale and untouched. I would be inclined to re-gift this to my sister, whose Jedi name is Loreen Shadowchaser and has a sideline business of creating startlingly accurate reproductions of light sabers which are highly regarded in certain circles. The toaster is available at shop.starwars.com for a mere $54.99.

The Brownie Edge Pan sounds like a delightful gift for brownie lovers, but the uncut logs of brownie look more like uncut logs of brownie after having been digested. I can't think of anyone upon whom I'd wish to foist this item, which is available at Get Organized for $19.80 (reduced from $19.98).

If one really wants to pamper one's banana, the Banana Bunker is just the ticket at only $4.95 (or, if you want to shield and coddle a whole bunch, $19.95 for five). Available in fashion colors, your friends and co-workers will point out the obvious, condom-like qualities of this gadget which you will never live down. Ever. Even if you get a new job and move to another city.

The Automatic Martini Shaker can be found at Get Organized for $49.98. Get Organized, if you didn't know, seems to be an unending font of gadgetry, spewing forth page upon page of unbelievable crap, as well as truly useful items. The Automatic Martini Shaker strikes me as a totally useless gift, of course, but especially for the wealthy, who have other people make their martini's for them anyway. Perhaps one might give this to one's favorite bartender with the thought of preventing the inevitable repetitive stress injury that will befall him or her a few years down the road. A thoughtful re-gift if there ever was one.

This last present, I think I would keep-- it's just too clever not to. Who doesn't need a useful, not-so-subtle memento mori around the kitchen, especially if one is, say, carrying a boiling kettle of oil from stove to the countertop? Sadly, these Sylvia Plath oven mitts (once available at etsy.com for $28.00) have been sold out for weeks. The popularity of this item gives me hope, namely the hope that there are others out there just like me-- people depressed enough by all the Holiday Cheer Pressure that piles upon us every year. Maybe, like me, they just want some quilted, poetic in-joke to cushion their heads as they lay them on the still- warm oven door, after the last gingerbread man has been baked, inhaling the sweet smell of another Christmas completed.

I've finally gone and done it. I killed my sourdough starter. It had a very well-meaning life, and when it was good, it was really superb (in my pizza dough). It was strong, at least in it’s youth. But the other morning, when I was clearing out the refrigerator in preparation for Christmas, I came across it, pushed into the back of the fridge, forlorn and forgotten. How could I?

Surprisingly, I managed to keep it going for nearly a year--my longest sourdough stint yet. It started life in Napa; we made it during a photo shoot for a cookbook I was editing, Williams-Sonoma Family Meals. We made a ton, and doled it out to the entire team, each Mason jar lovingly labeled with a hand-written tag courtesy of 9-year-old Ella. I think, with the exception of Maria the author, mine was probably the only one that survived.

But now it's gone. And since it is the time of year for new beginnings and new resolutions, and because I’m currently snowed in and housebound with my entire family for Christmas (in the arctic storm of the century in Portland Oregon) and looking for something to keep us busy so we don't kill each other, I’m going to make another batch. (If you find yourself in the same situation this holiday, I recommend something similar.) But this year I resolve to keep it alive. And to embark on many more culinary adventures in the year to come. Possibly involving my new starter. But this is only the beginning...

How To Make A Sourdough Starter
There are as many different ways to make starter as there are names for it (some of my favorite names include mother, chef, biga, and poolish). I’ve seen recipes using grapes, raisins, even rhubarb! Some use water, some use milk or yogurt, and some even use the water that you’ve boiled potatoes in. This one was inspired by Maria's and by one I made in culinary school way back when.

Ingredients
2 cups unbleached bread flour
2 cups smushed organic grapes
2 cups warm water

Procedure:

Day 1: Mix the flour, grapes, and water together in a glass or ceramic bowl. Put in a warm place to sit, at least overnight. I put it in my oven (with the oven off of course).

Day 2: Check the bowl the next day. You want to see bubbles on the surface, which is how you know it’s starting to ferment. It can take a while though (even up to 5 days or so), depending upon the room temperature and the amount of yeast in the air. So be patient!

Once your starter is bubbly, add 2/3 cup warm water and stir until combined. Strain out the grapes through a large mesh sieve. Discard the grapes and feed the starter with 1/2 cup bread flour, stirring to combine. Again, place the starter in a warm place to continue fermenting.

Day 3: Feeding time! Stir and feed your starter again with another 1/2 cup bread flour and 1/2 cup warm water. Let it hang out for another day.

Day 4: It's party time! Your starter should be ready to use in whatever recipe you might have that calls for sourdough starter. You can store it in the refrigerator in quart-sized Mason jars, just make sure you punch a hole into the top so it doesn’t explode.

The care and feeding of your starter
Your starter should be fine if you keep it in the fridge and feed it once a week, with 1/4 cup bread flour and 1/4 cup warm water. If it grows too big though, you either need to start making some bread or give it as a gift to your friends and family! Or just throw it away, but really that’s wasteful, so why not just make some bread. Or waffles, scones, biscuits, pancakes, pizza, whatever you can come up with...

For the second year in a row, Scharffen Berger and TuttiFoodie are hosting the Chocolate Adventure Contest. You have a little over two weeks to put the finishing touches on your best chocolate recipe in one of three categories--beverage, sweet or savory that includes at least one "adventure" ingredient and Scharffen Berger® Chocolate: dark chocolate (mentioning exact cacao content anywhere from 62 to 99 percent), milk chocolate or cocoa.

This year's adventure ingredients are: popping candy (unflavored or flavored), wattleseed, palm sugar, basil, mustard seeds, coriander, black sesame seeds, black or pink peppercorns, chili pepper (fresh or whole dried), coconut milk, kaffir lime leaf, matcha tea, mango, plantain, jicama, tapioca pearls (any size), tamarind (or tamarind paste), cacao nibs. Grand prize winners in each of the top three categories will win $5,000. There are also runner's up prizes. Read all the rules and details before donning your apron.

I checked in with a couple of this year's judges to get their best tips. First local chocolate guru and cookbook author, Alice Medrich:

What are your favorite trends in chocolate recipes?
I like unexpected ingredient pairings that work so well that when you taste them you say "of course!" and "why didn't I think of that." Some of these are as subtle and simple as chocolate paired with extra virgin olive oil, salt and spices, or a hint of aged Parmesan in a chocolate nut wafer.

Where do you see the most potential for innovation in recipe development?
I love that place where sweet and savory meet. I want to see (and create) more recipes that are imaginative without being forced or gimmicky: Deliciously New, but not so weird that you don't want to taste them again and again. This involves being open to flavors affinities between ingredients that we don't normally put together! The adventure contest-with its global and pop (literally!) culture ingredients and flavors is fertile ground for the wildly creative AND the intellectual cook. New flavor paradigms will emerge, and from them, new classic dishes. Because the contest involves home cooks, as well as professionals, we'll see an acceleration of new ideas and new trends. It's exciting.

And from the founder of the Tutti Foodie newsletter, Lisa Schiffman:

What are your favorite trends in chocolate recipes?
I've got a few favorites. First: recipes that take a chance on something new, whether it's a surprising ingredient or a new technique. Second: savory chocolate recipes. Historically, we've seen chocolate recipes that are laden with sugar-so much so, that the sugar often overwhelms the recipe. Creating something savory with chocolate seems to open new flavor vistas.

Where do you see the most potential for innovation in recipe development?
In simple recipes with adventurous twists.

Good luck!

Here is one of the top recipes from last year's contest to get you thinking outside the box:

Wasabi Pears In Deep Chocolate Pools
Creator: Susan Scarborough, Florida
Category: Dessert
Servings: 4
Adventure Ingredient: Wasabi

Ingredients:
4 small pears, such as a good sized Seckel
4 cups Riesling wine
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons wasabi paste
8 ounces Scharffen Berger® 70% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate
4 mint leaves or stems of lemon grass

Preparation:
Peel pears closely, leaving the stems. Core from the bottom, leaving the pear whole, and slice bottom flat to make a stable base.

Place the wine, sugar, water, lemon juice, and half of the wasabi in a 2½-quart saucepan over medium heat.
Stir until sugar is dissolved and add the pears. Simmer until pears are just tender. Remove from heat and add the remaining wasabi.

Cool, remove from liquid, place pears on a plate and then cover. Chill in refrigerator.

When ready to serve, place chocolate in top of double boiler and melt over simmering water. Pour pools of chocolate on individual dessert plates, top with a pear. Insert stem of mint leaf near stem of pear, cross lemongrass stem on rim of plate for garnish if desired.

Presentation:
If you have rectangular serving plates, use them and place the pear with mint leaves on one, with the stems of lemongrass crossed on the other.

If you'd like to melt the chocolate in this recipe without using a double boiler, try this method: just before you're ready to serve the pears, heat a 1/3 cup of half and half in a small saucepan over low heat. Then add the chocolate, stirring until the chocolate is fully melted. You can then pour this mixture in pools on the individual dessert plates and top with a pear.
-- Chocolate Adventure Contest staff

Kitchen Counter at Contigo

As we wind up 2008, I will be happily ringing in the new year and looking forward to the new restaurants that 2009 will bring to San Francisco. Here are three restaurants specifically that I cannot wait for:

Contigo. Contigo is being opened by a friend -- Brett Emerson from In Praise of Sardines. Emerson will be going to be serving food inspired by Barcelona with locally grown products. The restaurant will be located at 24th and Castro in Noe Valley. I saw a sneak peek of the beautiful space a few days ago, and cannot wait to see the restaurant in action in early 2009.

Urbino. Urbino will be the third restaurant to be opened in San Francisco by the group that brought us A16 and SPQR. It will be a 130-seat restaurant located in Dogpatch and focusing on Italian food from the Le Marche region. You can get an idea of the type of food by checking out this Food and Wine recipe for piadine (flatbread sandwiches) from chef and co-owner Nate Appleman.

Heaven's Dog. In January, we can look forward to a new restaurant from Charles Phan of Slanted Door fame. Heaven's Dog will be located in the SOMA Grand tower. The restaurant will feature Chinese food and noodles, along with a star bartending team including Jackie Patterson, Thad Vogler, and others. You can see the full bartending line up at Alcademics.

Next week, I'll be releasing my Top 10 Tastes of 2008 -- a list which I also wrote in 2006 and 2007.

Although I didn't make it Saul's Deli this year for their annual Neverending Latke sidewalk fest, a lingering craving for piles of crispy potato cakes convinced my husband to brave the task of grating and frying.

He more or less followed a straightforward recipe from Gourmet and managed to deliver, with his first try, a most excellent feast. Some crème fraiche, homemade applesauce and leftover oil from donut frying may have gilded the latkes, but they're so good, we don't really need much more than a plate or fork. Of course, some of us who hover around the cook right at the stove don't even need those.

Everyone and their bubbie guard special tricks to making the best latkes in the world. Mine involves one of the most important tools in my kitchen: a beloved grater. My Bluffton Slaw Cutter, named for the Ohio village of just over 3,000 people where the company has been producing their crazy sharp graters since 1915, ensures thin, delicate, crisp shavings of potato. As anyone who works with good tools knows, the best ones are simply constructed, made to last decades and respond to each individual user. With the Bluffton grater, you can vary the length and thickness of your vegetable strips depending on the strength and angle you use.

Mine is just over 20 years old. Nothing fancy, it's one thin but strong piece of metal with edges bent over a single length of thick-gauge wire that -- oh beautiful simple tools! -- curves to become a handle. It's long enough to lie over a bowl. And most importantly of all, a special process of hand-hammering the holes creates edges that become sharper the more you grate. Sorry, not holes, knives. Etched into the metal is a warning: "HOLD THE FINGERS SO THAT THEY DO NOT COME IN CONTACT WITH THE KNIVES."

You can find older versions of the grater at flea markets -- look for "Bluffton, Ohio" or "Bluffton Slaw Cutter" somewhere on the face of it -- or you can order a set your own to start sharpening with cabbage, carrots and potatoes. You can get all three for only $16.

My husband learned the hard way that my grater is indeed very sharp. The last batch of latkes have a bit of his skin and, maybe, a few drops of blood. (What are the laws of kashrut on that?) I reminded him to use my other secret tool for the best latkes ever: the glove.

It's an exfoliating glove from the Japanese dollar store. You can find them for a few bucks at any drugstore or bath shop. I store one next to the oyster knife for shucking, while the other sleeps next to my grater. They're thin and flexible enough to allow nimble maneuvering of even the most recalcitrant bivalve, and also strong and sturdy enough to deflect sharp edges. Easy to use, wash, dry and store, the gloves have helped me slash my Band-Aid budget by at least 75 percent. I suppose less scarring on my hands is one indirect benefit of repurposed beauty aids.

And if, after reading all of this, you're still wondering why I don't pull out my food processor to grate the latkes, then you apparently like yours mushy and bruised. Give me a hand-grated potato cake any day over cleaning potato from the crevices of a plastic processor lid.

Latkes

Makes: Enough for 2 hungry or 4 overly modest eaters

Ingredients:
2 large potatoes, peeled
1 small onion, diced small
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Salt to taste
Pure olive oil or peanut oil
Crème fraiche and applesauce

Preparation:
Grate potatoes into a bowl of water. Drain well and then spread in a thin layer on a clean kitchen towel. Roll up and then twist the towel to wring as much liquid as possible from the potato shreds.

Dry out the bowl and in it combine the potato, onion, egg and salt. Stir until evenly coated.

Heat 2 inches of oil in a wide, heavy pan over medium-high heat until it begins to shimmer. With a fork, form small rounds of the potato batter in a large spoon and then slip them into the hot fat. Continue shaping the latkes in the pan, if needed, with a fork. Cook until golden brown on both sides, 4 to 5 minutes per side.

If the cook is keeping guests out of the kitchen while cooking in a desperate attempt to shore up latke supplies, they can be kept warm in a low oven. Spread them on a rack placed over a sheet pan and place in a 250-degree oven.