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  • Gelato’s Biggest International Festival Returns to America

    (Gerry Furth-Sides, event photos are courtesy of the event producer) When Gelato’s biggest international celebration is back in America, returning to its success and will make stop in California at La Cumbre Plaza, 121 S Hope Ave, Santa Barbara, CA 93105, October 13-14.  The Gelato Festival America is here to spread awareness...

  • How Spice Island’s New Line Inspires Global Cooking

    (Gerry Furth-Sides) International spices have come mainstream.  Just one glance at a supermarket spice shelf today reads light years away from even a year ago.  Spice Island’s New Line of Seasonings Inspire Global Cooking with product plus a website filled with details and recipes, and most of the sources.   It goes al...

  • French Sitram Puts American Chefs Under Pressure

    (Gerry Furth-Sides) Sitram USA is as passionate as the French in love can be for their contemporary store-top pressure cookers.  That’s love convinced me to start using it as a pressure cooker instead of as the beautiful stainless steel thick-clad based stockpot I love that is also perfect for regular cooking.  Jill Nu...

  • First Seasonal Pumpkin Goes Nuts: Best Invention Since Sliced Bread

    (Gerry Furth-Sides) We were hooked on Honey Roasted Peanut Butter at the first spoonful.  So this pumpkin product is our favorite among the fanatical rush to use this fall, seasonal culinary darling.   Blending Pumpkin Spice and Pumpkin Flakes brings out a remarkable Pumpkin Pie flavor.  It is holiday-worthy whether spread on...

  • The 13th Food Event 2018 at EXCLUSIVE Private Site

    (Gerry Furth-Sides. Note, in a computer crash I lost my Semler Ranch photos) For years I’ve answered questions about where to eat by suggesting samplings first at special select events such as the  Los Angeles magazine’s The Food Event 2018: Its 13th Annual Epicurean Extravaganza. To purchase tickets and for more in...

  • House of Blues Wins 2018 Anaheim Gardenwalk Chef Challenge

      (Gerry Furth-Sides, all photos courtesy Nancy Newman Photography) The Anaheim GardenWalk hosted its second annual Chef Challenge Cook-off on Sunday, October 14th, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.  Sponsored by DiningOut Magazine, top chefs from seven notable Orange County restaurants competed for best-in-show honors with their s...

  • Must-Try (Mexican-inspired) the NIXON CHOPS & WHISKEY in Whittier

    (Gerry Furth-Sides) When I was invited to Whittier’s Uptown Whittier restaurant District, billed as the “new foodie hub of Southern California,” I was skeptical until I saw the name of Mexican-Japanese American Katsuji Tanabe as executive chef of the NIXON CHOPS & WHISKEY.  The service, food and atmosphere...

  • Americana Culinary Surprises in the Whittier Museum

    (Gerry Furth-Sides) Whittier was full of surprises, all good, starting with how easy it was to get there.  The  Whittier Museum was next on the list.   Like many, I’m sure, after visiting for the day we also now understand that the Whittier museum is not the library is in Yorba Linda, birthplace of Nixon.  Nixon [&hel...