September 2007

Press

Paulding & Company has been getting a lot of press lately. Two of our favorite teachers were recently featured in San Francisco Magazine, Eric Weiss for his knife sharpening classes, and Rosetta Costantino, with her Southern Italian cooking classes. Next month, Andrea Nguyen (see below), another of the featured teachers, will be in the kitchen as well.

My Basic Cooking class series is again full -- after the Oakland Tribune article, the class filled immediately. Sadly the article online doesn't have the print version's great pictures of my happy students, engrossed in their cooking projects last quarter.

Finally, I've been writing for two publications locally. You'll find my Emeryville Connection (which goes to all residents and businesses in town) articles online at www.emeryvilleconnection.com and Piedmont residents can read the articles in the weekly Piedmont Post newspaper. I've written for the Post for a number of years; the Emeryville Connection is a new paper.

Your Event, My Kitchen!

I want to thank you for a wonderful party. The wine tasting was a great idea and made the surprise work perfectly. Our friends are still raving about the party, food and wine.”

Lisa Liang Siemsen, after a surprise birthday party for her husband

Remember Paulding & Company for your next event -- we are always happy to host meetings, team building sessions, cooking parties, rehearsal dinners and just about any other get-together you can think of. And, if you don't want to do the cooking with us, our catering staff specializes in preparing the best possible fresh, creative and wholesome food for your events, either in our kitchen or at the venue of your choice. Although the next two months are heavily booked, there is still space in the November and December calendar for you. Book now, before it all fills up!

Special Events

Chamber of Commerce Mixer

Once a year, Paulding & Company hosts the Emeryville Chamber of Commerce for an evening mixer. This year, we are joining with new Chamber member and our neighbor, winery Periscope Cellars, to host the event on Thursday evening, October 18th. We're going to try something fun this time -- we'll have the guests making the food. I'm looking for some student volunteers to help staff this event; if you are interested, let me know in an email. Helpers get in free, and of course, get to eat and socialize, too.

Harvest Festival

The Piedmont Harvest Festival is a great destination for the last Sunday of September. Every year, the festival gets better. Although for the first time I'm not working on the food due to scheduling conflicts, you can be assured of good eats, fine live music, a farmers market sponsored by Village Market, the chance to taste the creations of dozens of local cooks who enter the canning, preserving, and baking contests. There's also a kid's carnival, and the Scarecrow Walk -- where the fantastic creations of the kids of the town are not only on display, but up for auction. The Festival runs from 11-3 at Piedmont Park, on Sunday September 30th.

Classes

After the SF magazine article, we've had to ramp up our offering of the knife sharpening class, selling out two sessions over the summer. The next class with Eric E. Weiss, master sharpener is scheduled for Monday evening, October 15th. These are the only knife sharpening classes for home (and restaurant) cooks regularly offered in the bay area, and they are wonderful. If you've ever felt the difference cutting with a sharp knife vs. a dull one, you know you need this class.

Although my Basics class is full, this fall I'm offering a special class through Piedmont Adult School, Thanksgiving Dinner Dress Rehearsal -- a class that is meant for those of you who are overwhelmed by the idea of making this wonderful, traditional holiday feast. Set for Saturday October 27th, this workshop is a lot of fun -- and the resulting meal is a true feast.

Rosetta Costantino has just added some great offerings on the calendar; sign up soon to insure a spot. Check out her Festival del Peperoncino on September 21st -- if you like spicy food, this is going to be a great class for you. I learned how to make Rosetta's spicy Calabrian sausage last year, and love it -- and the rest of the menu, including the spicy chocolate dessert, sounds irresistible.

One very special class that is coming up is sponsored by the Slow Food folks -- Vietnamese Transformations of Rice, October 7th. Taught by Andrea Nguyen, author of Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, this class is available for a bargain price. Sign up soon to insure a spot!

In the Market

This is harvest time -- probably the best market time of the year. There are still wonderful summer fruits, berries and stone fruit (the O'Henry peaches are at their peak), joined by the fall fruit -- sugar plums (once known as prune plums), early pears and lots of apples, and the grapes are getting sweeter by the week. Fall is the best time for figs, too, with white and green varieties joining our more common black missions.

In the vegetable world, summer squash is being joined by winter varieties, and the peppers are ripening and now come in many colors. The tomatoes are at their peak now—you can read my article on dry farmed early girls at http://www.emeryvilleconnection.com/news/september-2007/in-the-kitchen.

Unfortunately, they didn't have space in the newspaper for the second recipe, my eggplant parmesan, which uses the super-easy tomato sauce in the article; I've included both here as your recipes of the month. The tomato sauce is one I've been making for over 30 years, developed when my eldest was a toddler grabbing at my legs while I tried to make dinner -- so I had to be fast. It's super easy, and very, very good. The eggplant is a no-fry version, which I prefer. And, once you have made the sauce, it comes together quickly as well. I always have some of my tomato sauce in the freezer.