#74 | 40 Years of the Kitchen Sisters
New Print: Chandler Pomelo
Hello!
Meditation on a Grapefruit
To wake when all is possible
before the agitations of the day
have gripped you
To come to the kitchen
and peel a little basketball
for breakfast
To tear the husk
like cotton padding a cloud of oil
misting out of its pinprick pores
clean and sharp as pepper
To ease
each pale pink section out of its case
so carefully without breaking
a single pearly cell
To slide each piece
into a cold blue china bowl
the juice pooling until the whole
fruit is divided from its skin
and only then to eat
so sweet
a discipline
precisely pointless a devout
involvement of the hands and senses
a pause a little emptiness
each year harder to live within
each year harder to live without
By the way, I'm Bruce Cole, Publisher of Edible San Francisco. Welcome to all the new subscribers, thanks for joining us!
This month’s print from our subscription series is a Chandler pomelo (alas, we couldn’t find a pomelo poem, so grapefruit is gratefully standing in). More photogenic 😎 than the standard grapefruit, pomelos have thicker skin and petal-like sections that resemble a tropical blossom when cut in half. Pomelos are usually larger than grapefruit, hence the thicker skin, but vary in taste, from sweet to acidic.
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Our Winter issue is on its way, albeit a bit delayed by supply chain issues, but we wanted to share this story by Bonnie Azab Powell on San Francisco’s beloved Kitchen Sisters.
Library of Congress Acquires 40 Years of Kitchen Sisters’ Eclectic Storytelling: The Kitchen Sisters’ immersive style of radio journalism has heavily influenced the current podcast explosion. From the moment you hit play, their rich sonic stew of interviews, ambient sounds, period songs, and theatrical scoring is like listening to an action-packed short film. Edible San Francisco
Manchurian Cauliflower For Days: “But now I just look back. And I'm like, ‘So you don't make any money. You work your ass off. Why?’ I don't need to make food solely for being like, ‘Hey, look at me. Look at what I can do.’ And having people be like, ‘Oh, wow. Ohh ahh.’ I need it, whatever I do, to have more meaning than that.” Preeti Mistry (Juhu Beach Club) in conversation with Alicia Kennedy. From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy
Define Local and Sustainable: “We are a seafood company that focuses on the local California fishery and select nonlocal products. Local fish is sustainable by default as the fishery is very well managed in California. The seasons and quotas are based on science and input from all shareholders who all have an interest in keeping our fish stocks healthy. Additionally, the Department of Fish and Wildlife is a competent and aggressive enforcement agency and there is very little illegal activity in our local fishery. Compare this to most worldwide fisheries that are unsupervised and lack proper regulations.” From an Instagram post by San Francisco-based Water2Table Fish Co.
Spring Roll: Stained Page News reviews 28 new cookbook titles rolling out this coming spring, including:
The Wok: Recipes & Techniques by Kenji Lopez Alt, checking in at 672 pages with over 200 recipes.
Pizza Quest: My Never-Ending Search for Perfect Pizza by master bread baker Peter Reinhart.
Six California Kitchens: A Collection of Recipes, Stories, and Cooking Lessons from a Pioneer of California Cuisine by Sally Schmidt, founding chef of The French Laundry (pre-Thomas Keller).
I Dream of Dinner (so You Don’t Have To) by Ali Slagle of Food52 fame.
Have Avocado, Will Wasabi: Fried Tofu with Wasabi Guacamole from Andrea Nguyen. This recipe has great tips and techniques for crispy tofu without breaking out the deep-fryer. Viet World Kitchen
Pick A Peck Of 🥑 : Bay Area yards are filled with mysterious avocado varieties. Horticulturalist Gary Gragg wants to find as many Bay Area trees as possible, propagate and sell them to keep them alive, just like heirloom tomatoes or apple varieties. Editor’s note: when we lived in the inner Richmond, the house behind us had a huge avocado tree in the backyard, but it was too far of a reach over the fence to ever snag one. SF Chronicle (paywall)
🏈 Go Bengals! Rick Martinez and his alter-ego Alotta Horchata break out a Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken) recipe for this weekend’s Superbowl. Don’t miss his epic half-time show! YouTube
Eater’s Ultimate Guide to Premade Ingredients: From peeled garlic to ranch seasoning, these are the most practical, flavorful, and versatile premade ingredients to have in your kitchen. Editor’s note: We always have a jar of Better Than Bouillon in the fridge, a tablespoon in a pot of beans takes a couple of seconds versus chopping up a mirepoix beforehand. Eater
Still Chewing On His Toothpick: Dusty Baker, at 72, is hard at work in his vineyards, trusting advice from Willie Stargell and paying tribute to Henry Aaron. “I’d be on first base and Willie Stargell would explain to me, hey, this was a dry year, this was a wet year, you ever try this wine, you ever try that wine?” Baker said. “He was my man.” New York Times (paywall)
Call Me Maybe: “Hunting whales is sacred and life-sustaining for Indigenous communities. Despite historic restrictions, bans, and protests, the Makah people in Washington may soon get to lead their first hunt in nearly 25 years.” Civil Eats
ICYMI: Update: In solidarity with Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, and other musical artists who’ve removed their musical libraries from Spotify, we’ve deleted our Spotify account and moved to Tidal. “I am doing this because Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines {via the Joe Rogan podcast} – potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them.” — Neil Young in Rolling Stone.
LISTEN TO EAT. DRINK. THINK. FEBRUARY 2022 on TIDAL (unfortunately Substack doesn’t support Tidal embeds so the link will have to do). We're obsessed with Ellie Rowsell's tantalizing vocals on How Can I Make It Ok? Can’t stop listening to it. Also, new tracks from Nilüfer Yanya, Toro y Moi, Raveena, Mattiel, Hanni el Katib, Three Sacred Souls, maye (lowercase m), and more.
That’s all for this week.
We’re outta here. Be well and take care,
–Bruce
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