Cook Here and Now:

Buongiorno, our next dinner is less than two weeks away and sustainable seafood is our theme.

Food & Wine magazine will be shooting the event for an article that will be coming out in November, so we have to be flexible with the ingredients (the recipes and dishes appearing in the article should be possible to duplicate in November). For this event, admission priority will be given to regular attendees.

Go to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch for a complete list of sustainable seafood choices in California. Pick a fish from the Best Choices or Good Alternatives columns.

Vegetables will be: leeks, eggplants, hard-shelled squash (kabocha included), mushrooms (shitake, morels, porcini)
Fruit will be limes and all California-grown dried fruits (this will give us a little more latitude).

A presto,
Marco Flavio

The plan
30 of us will cook and eat together on August 3rd, starting at around 2:30.

The dinner will be in San Francisco. Jeremy has kindly offered his company's very large, multiple-range kitchen for our gathering at the last event. There will be enough space for us to use the stoves and ovens in a couple of shifts.

I'm letting only 30 people register for this event, so act quickly.
Every person coming (including any guest you bring, or your other half in a couple) will have to sign up for a slot and either cook something or provide local wine and beer (if beverages slots are available, see below).

Since participation is limited, please let us know at least four days before the dinner if you're not going to be able to make it, so we can invite someone else to join us. Emailing me on shorter notice (or not at all) is unfair to everyone, especially the people who wanted to participate and couldn't because all the slots were taken.

We'll divide the meal plan this way:

12 participants will make main courses for 3-4 people each (including some vegetarian options)
~~3 participants will make appetizers for 8 people each ALL SLOTS TAKEN~~
~~5 participants will make salads for 8 people each~~ ~~ALL SLOTS TAKEN~~
~~5 participants will make dessert for 8-10 people each~~ ~~ALL SLOTS TAKEN~~
5 participants will bring at least 2 bottles of good *locally produced* wine per person (not per couple) and some *locally-brewed* beer. Consider that most cooks spend $25-50 (and up!) just on their ingredients. If you're not cooking, you should be prepared to spend at least this much on beverages, out of respect for your chefs. ALL SLOTS TAKEN
~~1 participants will bring non-alcoholic beverages for 20 (sparkling water and juices, locally produced when possible) ALL SLOTS TAKEN~~

Please let me know who is coming by name. Once we reach 30 people confirmed, I will close the event and start another post for the waiting list. If the slots are full for what you'd like to bring, please choose something else instead. (Don't worry: There will always be another event to showcase your skills.)

So post a comment on the blog (do NOT email me directly) under the call-for-participation post letting me know the following:
First and last name
Email address
What you'll be bringing (appetizer, main course, etc.)
If you brought wine last time, you should now cook something (unless you cooked as part of a couple and made a large entree).

If too many people pick the same course, I'll have to assign a different course to the last entrant.
If the votes are tied for ingredients, I'll flip a coin.

This is going to be great! So sign up before the spaces are gone.

A presto,
Marco Flavio

Buongiorno.
Another foggy morning in San Francisco, but the colors and scents of the market always manage to restore a sense of summer on these cold mornings. Our dinner is a couple of weeks away, and I've just picked the ingredients for it. Details coming later in the week.

What I found this week at the San Francisco Alemany Farmers Markets:

Lemon basil is here. It's excellent on baked fish or chicken, and you can use it instead of parsley in a potato salad. So deliciously tangy.

I hadn't seen Myoga since I was living in Japan. It's a wild Japanese ginger with a slightly crunchy, texture. It's sliced very thinly, and used as a garnish for sushi or Miso soup. Only the shoots are edible, and most of the plant is considered extremely toxic ... it's the blowfish of vegetables.

Warren was asking me the origin of the word eggplant. Egg-sized, white — from the looks of these, you'd expect to find yolks inside.

We have an extremely wide selection of melons, so here's a visual list for you. Go find your favorite, and quick — these last until September and that's it until next year.