Tag: La Cocina

Categories
Randomness San Francisco

the forage kitchen

You might remember my mention of the Underground Market here in San Francisco a few years ago. Well, despite being tremendously successful at attracting both vendors and eaters, the Market was shut down by the city due to health code violations. The Market’s founder Iso Rabins has come up with a new (and legal) way to help these artisanal food businesses get off the ground. It is called the Forage Kitchen and they’re raising money on Kickstarter.

I wrote a piece about the future Forage Kitchen, what it’s existence means for food entrepreneurs in the Bay Area and where it fits within the national shift towards eating local for GOOD Magazine. You can read the entire piece here, and I hope you do.

-Emily

Categories
San Francisco

CA Homemade Food Act

Hi there friends!

I’m thrilled to say that I’ve had another piece published in GOOD Magazine. Free Jam: It’s Time to End California’s Law Against Selling Homemade Food discusses the current state of CA’s legislation prohibiting the sale of homemade foods and the proposed law that would change those regulations and give entrepreneurs the freedom to sell certain foods made in home kitchens to the public. Fascinating stuff for food lovers!

If you’re interested in reading my last piece for GOOD about La Cocina—a business incubator that helps low-income food entrepreneurs start their own businesses—check it out here.

-Emily

Categories
Recipes San Francisco

fresh strawberry milkshakes & other exciting news

First the milkshakes … we walked the dogs to the park on Saturday afternoon and after a brisk stroll on a sunny summer day, our friend-neighbor Nadr suggested strawberry milkshakes. (Side note: Can you believe that these three beasts all live on the same floor in tiny apartments and get along swimmingly?!?) Now, I’m not one to turn down a great idea like that and so we went back to my place and focused our efforts. I supplied the milk and food processor, Nadr supplied the strawberries and ice cream, Robin provided the charm (and Harry Potter audiobooks  – my new addiction).

Fresh Strawberry Milkshakes
1 pint fresh strawberries, stems removed
1 pint vanilla ice cream
2/3 cup milk

Combine strawberries, ice cream and milk in a blender or food processor. (A blender is probably a better choice, but none of us had a blender and milkshakes could not be denied so food processor it was). Give it a whirl, pour into glasses and enjoy! Tricky recipe, right? Fresh strawberries just make it!

And now for the exciting news … I am officially a published writer. It feels darn good! I wrote an article for GOOD Magazine about La Cocina and the wonderful work they do in San Francisco. You can read it and check out the photos here. I am so proud to see it “in print” and the piece has gotten a lot of social media buzz – great for La Cocina and great for me!

-Emily

Categories
San Francisco

la cocina: street food festival preview dinner

I’ve mentioned La Cocina previously in a few posts, but I’ll give a quick run down just in case you’re new here. La Cocina is an incredible San Francisco non-profit incubator kitchen that provides affordable commercial kitchen space and industry-specific technical assistance to low-income and immigrant entrepreneurs who are launching, growing and formalizing their food businesses.

 

I was honored to be invited to the media preview dinner for their upcoming Street Food Festival. The Street Food Festival is one-day event that showcases La Cocina’s businesses and other local artisans. It is designed to bring together San Francisco food businesses and San Francisco eaters and also publicize the work that La Cocina does in the community. Last year over 35,000 people attended the event, and this year we are hoping for 50,000 visitors.

The media dinner took place about a week ago at Fort Mason Center and was a tremendous success! It was packed with local press, food bloggers and other luminaries in the community, and La Cocina’s businesses did an incredible job cooking a sit-down dinner for almost 200 guests! I was floored by the quality of the food and the energy at the event. Just wonderful!

I am beyond stoked for this year’s Street Food Festival! It will take place on Saturday, August 20th from 11 am – 7 pm in the Mission District on Folsom St. from 22th to 26th Streets. If you’re in the area, please stop by this amazing event and sample some incredible, artisanal food!  You can taste the love in each and every bite, I promise.

-Emily

Categories
San Francisco

la cocina: simple salsa with el buen comer

On Wednesday I attended and photographed the Simple Salsa cooking class at La Cocina. A while back I wrote about the amazing work that La Cocina does in San Francisco, but here is a quick synopsis before we get to the photos.

La Cocina is dedicated to expanding business opportunities for low-income women food entrepreneurs. La Cocina provides affordable commercial kitchen space, guidance to its participants for planning and growing their businesses and access to larger markets for their products. La Cocina helps local women become economically self-sufficient and contribute to the vibrant San Francisco economy doing what they love to do.  If you are interested in learning more about the wonderful work La Cocina is doing here in San Francisco, please visit them here.

Simple Salsa was taught by Isabel Caudillo of El Buen Comer. Isabel specializes in guisados—stewed meats in wonderful sauces—and her class covered both fresh and cooked salsas. I learned a lot about the different types of chiles used in mexican cooking and also about the different ways to prepare salsas. There are raw, fried, roasted and boiled salsas; each technique seeks to maximize the flavor of the ingredients it features. Isabel did an amazing job sharing the building blocks of salsa construction so that participants can create amazing salsas at home. I was so inspired by the class and cannot wait to try out Isabel’s recipes at home.

Here are some photos I took during the event.

If these salsas tempt you as much as they tempted me, you can try Isabel’s food at Sunday Suppers from 5 – 10 at Heart Bar on Valencia St in San Francisco. If you’re interested in taking a cooking class at La Cocina, find out more information here.

-Emily

Categories
San Francisco

la cocina: african celebration

La Cocina is an amazing San Francisco business dedicated to expanding business opportunities for low-income women food entrepreneurs. La Cocina provides affordable commercial kitchen space, guidance to its participants for planning and growing their businesses and access to larger markets for their products. La Cocina helps local women become economically self-sufficient and contribute to the vibrant San Francisco economy doing what they love to do. Just one quick example: With La Cocina’s guidance and facilities, Veronica of El Hurache Loco has gone from an enthusiastic home cook, to a food stand operator, to catering events, to planning the opening of her own restaurant. Like I said, amazing! If you are interested in learning more about the wonderful work La Cocina is doing here in San Francisco, please visit them here.

Last Wednesday, I went down to La Cocina to photograph their African Celebration cooking class. The class was led by two of La Cocina’s businesses – Chiefo’s Kitchen and Eji’s Ethiopian Gourmet.  I had a great time and I wanted to share some of the photos. If you are interested in attending a future cooking class like Simply Salsa or Back in the USSR, check out the offerings and sign up here.


-Emily