Pacifica Riptide

Eat Your Broccoli!

This Harris Ranch soup is delicious, but I advise a very long walk, swim, or workout after absorbing a bowlful.

Download Broccoli Cheese Soup

Harris Ranch: Something for Everyone

Mantelpiece @ Harris Ranch Restaurant, Coalinga, Calif. (John Maybury photo)

Whether or not you like to eat meat, Harris Ranch is a great halfway stop along the I-5 drive between the Bay Area and Southern California. Both carnivores and vegetarians will find plenty to like on the menu, including Harris Ranch-sourced meat, poultry, produce, and dairy products. Check out the menus and recipes:

CLICK HERE FOR HARRIS RANCH WEBSITE

After a hearty meal in the restaurant, diners enjoy browsing the old-time country store, with Harris Ranch fruits, nuts, baked goods, specialty and novelty items of all kinds, and of course—fresh cuts of Harris Ranch beef. If you want to really take it all in, stay overnight at the adjoining Harris Ranch Inn. In the morning, I recommend the huevos rancheros. Or my name ain't Juan Mayburrito.

Masala Pakistani/Indian Restaurant Reopens in Eureka Square

It took longer than expected, but the Masala Pakistani/Indian restaurant reopened in the north end of Eureka Square at the beginning of the year. They are open for lunch and dinner, with a break in mid-afternoon. The same low prices they had at Rockaway are still in effect. Because this is one of my go-to places for a less expensive dinner in town, I'm selfishly hoping people who like ethnic food will give them a try and keep them in mind.

CARL MAY

(Masala is open daily except Tuesday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Lunch buffet is $7, dinner buffet is $9. The menu offers three appetizers, nine a la carte entrees, four combination plates, soups, salads, desserts, and beverages. Free wifi available.)

Raw Cookie Dough Linked to E. Coli Outbreak

news.yahoo.com/raw-cookie-dough-linked-e-coli-outbreak-020222034.html

By Mikaela Conley
ABC NEWS
December 9, 2011

Licking the spoon for a couple tastes of raw cookie dough is an added bonus to the baking process, especially at holiday time, but the risk of falling ill from the batter might be greater than once thought.

New research published in the journal Clinical Infectious Disease found that the culprit of a 2009 multi-state E. coli outbreak was none other than the ready-to-bake prepackaged cookie dough found in most grocery stores. At the time of the outbreak, 77 people from 30 states became ill from the bad batter. About half of those people got so sick they had to be hospitalized.

After a thorough investigation, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control still have yet to fully pinpoint the ingredient in the cookie dough that caused the outbreak, but CDC study author Dr. Karen Neil said researchers believe the problem was in the flour. Raw flour does not go through the same rigorous process to kill pathogens the way in which eggs, molasses and sugar do in commercial products.

"You should not consume raw cookie dough or any other raw product that's intended to be baked or cooked, and food should always be prepared according to the recipe or instructions," Neil told ABCNews.com.

Because eating raw cookie dough is such a popular pastime (during the investigation, several people noted that they bought the uncooked batter with the intention to eat it as is), CDC researchers recommended manufacturers make the product safer as a ready-to-eat product. They also noted that more consumer education should be available about the risks of eating raw products such as cookie dough.

But Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of the department of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, said characterizing eating cookie dough as a risky behavior might be a bit of a stretch. It's similar to eating a hamburger or steak rare or medium rare, he said.

"Eating cookie dough is part of growing up," Schaffner said. "We know people are going to do it. It's too delicious. It's too much of a habit. To ask people not to do it is like whistling in a graveyard."

Nevertheless, Schaffner did note that commercial cookie dough companies should heed the CDC's advice by making sure its raw products are safe to consume as is.

"In the modern world, we have the potential to distribute a tainted product to a lot of people, so manufacturers should process the materials safely and expect that it could be eaten raw," Schaffner said.

As you bake up a storm this holiday season, Neil recommended to visit www.foodsafety.gov to learn about the best ways to handle raw and uncooked foods to keep you and your family safe and healthy.

See Food & Eat It: Which Fish Are Safe to Eat?

Download Whatfish_graphic

CLICK FOR MONTEREY BAY AQUARIUM SAFE LIST

Montara's La Costanera Picks Up a New Michelin Star

CLICK FOR NEWS STORY ON LA COSTANERA

Nona's Kitchen, R.I.P.

One of our favorite "comfort food" eateries in Pacifica and also one of our original advertisers, Nona's Kitchen on Pedro Point has closed. If you have information, please post a comment below.

Montara's La Costanera One of Top Five U.S. Peruvian Restaurants

CLICK FOR TOP 5 U.S. PERUVIAN RESTAURANTS

A Grape in the Fog Celebrates Its First Anniversary

CLICK FOR NEWS ABOUT A GRAPE IN THE FOG

Proprietor Beth Lemke (photo by Jody Holman Webster)

Bay Area Food Landscapes

The San Francisco Bay Area is well known for its dramatic natural landscapes as well as its diverse and metropolitan culture. But what very few people realize is that alongside these dynamic urban areas, extensive beaches, and parklands lie nearly 2 million acres of working farms, ranches, and vineyards, constituting more than 40 percent of the land of the nine-county Bay Area.
 
These food landscapes are the focus of the just-published October–December 2011 issue of Bay Nature magazine. Urban Farms to Open Range: Putting Bay Area Food Landscapes on the Map is a special eight-page section bound into the issue that features a three-page foldout map highlighting the various food-producing regions in and around the Bay Area, as well as the large variety of food products produced here.
 
According to Bay Nature publisher David Loeb, Urban Farms to Open Range is part of the organization’s efforts “to help knit together the region’s venerable open-space conservation community and the growing food justice movement, promoting appreciation of healthy, locally produced food as part of a broader vision for a sustainable Bay Area.”
 
Accompanying the map are profiles of three local sustainable farms, from an urban community garden in a Latino neighborhood of Santa Rosa to a large commercial ranch in Solano County. The publication also features an introduction by Sibella Kraus of Sustainable Agriculture Education (SAGE), a Berkeley-based nonprofit that promotes agriculture at the urban edge and collaborated closely on the Bay Area Food Landscapes project.
 
Thanks to funding from the California Coastal Conservancy, Greenbelt Alliance, and Union Bank, an additional 15,000 copies of “Urban Farms to Open Range” are being distributed free of charge through farmers markets and food and open space nonprofits around the region.
 
November 16 Forum on Food Landscapes
As part of the Food Landscapes project, Bay Nature is also sponsoring a forum at the David Brower Center in downtown Berkeley on the evening of November 16. This event, "From Urban Gardens to Open Range: The Present and Future of Food Landscapes," features four local food producers who will discuss the challenges they face in creating a sustainable food system in the Bay Area. Funding for the forum has been provided by the Michael Lee Environmental Foundation. For more information about the map or the event, contact Beth Slatkin, Marketing Director (beth@baynature.org; 510-528-8550 x 207).
 
Bay Nature is an award-winning magazine dedicated to the exploration of the natural world of the Bay Area. Published by Bay Nature Institute, the magazine is available both by subscription and at bookstores, newsstands, and park visitor centers throughout the Bay Area. Visit Baynature.org to learn more.