Food and Wine Events

Literary Luncheon: Isabel Allende - In the Midst of Winter (Corte Madera)

Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - 12:00pm

Tickets: $55 (includes meal & signed lunch)

PLEASE NOTE: While we are now sold out of tickets for Isabel Allende's Literary Luncheon, customers without tickets are invited to purchase her book and watch Isabel Allende speak via the monitors in our store or café during the event. Customers who choose to attend in this method will also have the opportunity to join the signing line to get their book personalized and get a photo taken with Isabel Allende. If you plan to attend this way, please try to arrive by 12:30 pm on Oct. 31.

In the Midst of Winter begins with a minor traffic accident—which becomes the catalyst for an unexpected and moving love story between two people who thought they were deep into the winter of their lives. Richard Bowmaster—a 60-year-old human rights scholar—hits the car of Evelyn Ortega—a young, undocumented immigrant from Guatemala—in the middle of a snowstorm in Brooklyn. What at first seems just a small inconvenience takes an unforeseen and far more serious turn when Evelyn turns up at the professor’s house seeking help. At a loss, the professor asks his tenant Lucia Maraz—a 62-year-old lecturer from Chile—for her advice. These three very different people are brought together in a mesmerizing story that moves from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil, sparking the beginning of a long overdue love story between Richard and Lucia.

Exploring the timely issues of human rights and the plight of immigrants and refugees, the book recalls Isabel Allende’s landmark novel The House of the Spirits in the way it embraces the cause of “humanity, and it does so with passion, humor, and wisdom that transcend politics” (Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post).

Born in Peru and raised in Chile, Isabel Allende is the author of a number of bestselling and critically acclaimed books, including The House of the Spirits, Eva Luna, Stories of Eva Luna, Of Love and Shadows, and Paula. Her latest novel is The Japanese Lover. Her books have been translated into more than thirty-five languages and have sold more than 65 million copies worldwide. She lives in California.

 

51 Tamal Vista Blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925

Cooks with Books: Deepa Thomas - Deepa's Secrets (San Francisco)

Saturday, July 29, 2017 - 12:30pm

Customers who are unable to attend this event are welcome to request autographed copies prior to July 29. Simply order a copy of Deepa's Secret here and mention you preference for an autograph and any inscription at the comments field at checkout. 

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Taj Campton Place, San Francisco • $150 per person
Event ticket includes meal, wine, tip, tax, and a signed copy of the book.

Online sales now closed. Please call (415) 927-0960 ext. 1 for waitlist availability.

When Deepa Thomas discovered that carbs were the culprits for her husband’s Type 2 diabetes, she deconstructed and reinvented her native Indian cuisine. The result is New Indian-- healthy, flavorpacked, visually stunning fare. Michelin two-star chef Srijith Gopinath will collaborate with Deepa in his Campton Place kitchen to serve up her secrets, as she shares the fusion techniques and kitchen wisdom from her cookbook.

**Deepa is donating all her royalties from the book to FoodCorps, a nonprofit that connects children to healthy food in schools.**

Deepa’s Secrets is not only filled with delicious, healthy, and healing recipes but with wonderful stories about a colorful and inspiring life.”— Mark Hyman, MD, author of Eat Fat Get Thin, & Director, Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine

“They’re no longer secrets! Home cooks and professional chefs will be inspired to use Deepa’s original, simple methods for harnessing complex flavors to create amazing tastes.”
—Srijith Gopinathan, executive chef of two-Michelin starred Taj Campton Place.

 

Taj Campton Place
340 Stockton Street
San Francisco, CA 94108

Literary Luncheon: Julia Glass - A House Among the Trees (Corte Madera)

Wednesday, July 12, 2017 - 12:00pm

Tickets: $55 (includes lunch & signed book)

Online ticket sales are now closed. Tickets available at the door.

In A House Among the Trees -- Julia Glass's fifth book since her acclaimed novel Three Junes won the National Book Award -- she gives us the story of an unusual bond between a world-famous writer and his assistant--a richly plotted novel of friendship and love, artistic ambition, the perils of celebrity, and the power of an unexpected legacy

When the revered children's book author Mort Lear dies accidentally at his Connecticut home, he leaves his property and all its contents to his trusted assistant, Tomasina Daulair, who is moved by his generosity but dismayed by the complicated and defiant directives in his will. Tommy knew Morty for more than four decades, since meeting him in a Manhattan playground when she was twelve and he was working on sketches for the book that would make him a star. By the end of his increasingly reclusive life, she found herself living in his house as confidante and helpmeet, witness not just to his daily routines but to the emotional fallout of his strange boyhood and his volatile relationship with a lover who died of AIDS. Now Tommy must try to honor Morty's last wishes while grappling with their effects on several people, including her estranged brother; the lonely, outraged museum curator to whom Lear once promised his artistic estate; and Nicholas Greene, the beguiling British actor cast to play Mort Lear in a movie. When Greene arrives for a visit, he and Tommy are compelled to look more closely at Morty's past, a process that undermines much of what Tommy believed she knew about her boss--and about herself. As she contemplates a future that will no longer include him, her unlikely alliance with Greene--and the loyalty they share toward the great man--will lead to surprising upheavals in their wider relationships, their careers, and even their search for love.

Julia Glass is the author of five previous books of fiction, including the bestselling Three Junes, winner of the National Book Award, and I See You Everywhere, winner of the Binghamton University John Gardner Fiction Book Award. Other published works include the Kindle Single Chairs in the Rafters and essays in several anthologies. A recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Glass is a Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emerson College. She lives with her family in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

51 Tamal Vista Blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925

Cooks with Books: Elisabeth Prueitt - Tartine All Day (San Anselmo)

Saturday, May 6, 2017 - 12:00pm

Insalata's Restaurant in San Anselmo • Singles: $115; Couples: $185 (one book)
Event ticket includes meal, wine, tip, tax, and a signed copy of the book.

Please note: this event is now sold out.

An all-purpose cookbook with 225 breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert recipes for the whole-foods way people want to eat and bake at home today, from James Beard Award-winning and bestselling author Elisabeth Prueitt, cofounder of San Francisco’s acclaimed Tartine Bakery.

In 1993, Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson opened Tartine Bakery in a modest storefront in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District and immediately changed the city’s—and nation’s—culinary landscape by popularizing rustic, wild yeast-leavened bread and wholesome and delicious cooking. In Tartine All Day, Tartine’s first all-purpose (non-baking) cookbook, Prueitt shares 150 master recipes plus 75 variations from her incredible repertoire of breakfasts, soups, salads, packable lunches, suppers, holiday staples, breads, and desserts, all guaranteed to transform daily home cooking. With 150 compelling photographs and recipes for instant classics (such as White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese with Toasted Grain Gratin, Brined Pork Chops with Roasted Apples and Corn Spoon Bread, and Chicory Salad with Farro and Lemon-Buttermilk Dressing), plus Prueitt’s gluten-free stand-bys, this hardworking resource will inspire and instruct home cooks in new and enduring ways.

Elisabeth Prueitt is the co-founder of the Tartine Bakery and the Manufactory and the owner of the ice cream shop Cookies & Cream. She is also the author of the original Tartine Cookbook, a James Beard Best Pastry Chef repeat nominee and winner (2008), and founder of the Conductive Education Center of San Francisco.

 

Insalata's
120 Sir Francis Drake Blvd
San Anselmo, CA 94960

[CANCELLED] Cooks with Books: Cal Peternell - A Recipe for Cooking (Larkspur)

Sunday, April 30, 2017 - 12:00pm

Please note: this event has been cancelled.

Left Bank Restaurant in Larkspur • Singles: $115; Couples: $175 (one book)
Event ticket includes meal, wine, tip, tax, and a signed copy of the book.

Celebrate the joys of a great day in the kitchen and a meal shared with family and friends with this follow-up to the bestselling, IACP Award-winning Twelve Recipes, featuring next level, home-cook-friendly recipes for occasions large and small

Twelve Recipes provided the basic techniques and recipes for essential home cooking. Now, A Recipe for Cooking takes home cooks to the next level.

Cal Peternell gives you everything you need to cook for big get-togethers, holiday feasts, family occasions, and for a special dinner for two. He organizes the recipes by season to help cooks plan their meals from first bite to last—how a meal should start, what should be the main attraction, what should be served alongside, and how to choose the perfect finish.

Illustrated with charming color photos and drawings, this book offers a range of delicious, easy-to-master fare: Savory Tart with Onions, Olive, and Anchovies; Shredded Zucchini Fritters with Basil Mayonnaise; Citrus Salad with Ginger, Cilantro, and Saffron-toasted Pistachios; Fish and Shellfish Soup; Rolled Pork Loin Roast Stuffed with Olives and Herbs; Lasagna Bolognese; Belgian Endive Gratin with Gruyere and Prosciutto; and a Blood Orange and Buttermilk Tart. Each of Cal's recipes utilizes the freshest, most delicious ingredients of each season.

Here are meals to share with close family and good friends—to laugh, drink, and cook with—as well as dishes that give you some quiet time in the kitchen, slicing, seasoning, and simmering. With food to make introductions, to commemorate, to celebrate, even, on occasion, to gently instigate, this is Cal Peternell at his wittiest, warmest, and most inspiring.

Cal Peternell grew up on a small farm in New Jersey and graduated with a BFA in painting from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. His cooking career began at Bix in San Francisco, and continued to Biba and The Blue Room in Boston, and back to San Francisco for a sous chef spot at Loretta Keller’s Bizou. Cal was hired at Chez Panisse in 1995, has been the chef in the Cafe since 2001, and took over as chef of the downstairs restaurant in 2013. Cal is the author of Twelve Recipes. He and his wife, Kathleen, have three sons and live in Berkeley, California.

 

Left Bank Larkspur Brasserie
507 Magnolia Avenue
Larkspur, CA 94939

Cooks with Books: Deborah Madison - In My Kitchen (Santa Rosa)

Thursday, April 27, 2017 - 6:30pm

Please note: this event is now sold out!

Spinster Sisters Restaurant in Santa Rosa • Singles: $110; Couples: $170 (one book)
Event ticket includes meal, wine, tip, tax, and a signed copy of the book.

From Deborah Madison, the country’s foremost authority on vegetarian cooking and one of the most trusted voices in food, comes In My Kitchen: A Collection of New and Favorite Vegetarian Recipes, a carefully curated and updated collection of her most loved recipes.

Reflecting how she cooks at home today, Deborah Madison’s newest book shares 100 of the most inspired and innovative recipes from her vast repertoire, all pared down to the key ingredients needed to achieve delicious, nuanced flavor, with simplified preparations. In My Kitchen is a vegetable-forward cookbook organized alphabetically and featuring recipes like Roasted Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Sunflower Sprouts; Fennel Shaved with Tarragon and Walnuts; and Olive Oil, Almond, and Blood Orange Cake. Perfect for both weeknight dinners and special occasions, this book will delight longtime fans and newcomers to Madison—and anyone who loves fresh, flavorful cooking. Lavishly photographed, with an approachable, intimate package, this is the must-have collection of modern vegetarian recipes from a beloved authority.

Deborah Madison is the award-winning author of 13 cookbooks, including New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Vegetable Literacy. She is well known for her simple, seasonal, vegetable-based cooking. She got her start in the San Francisco Bay Area at Chez Panisse before opening Greens. In 1994, Madison received the M.F.K. Fisher Mid-Career Award from Les Dames d’Escoffier and in 2016 she was inducted into the James Beard Foundation Cookbook Hall of Fame.

MENU FOR APR. 27

* Seasonal Vegetables with Marjarom Sauce
* Artichoke Scallion Saute on Toast
* Saffron and Chard Flan
* Cauliflower with Romesco
* Black Rice Salad
* Blood Orange Almond Cake with a Rhubarb Compote/Lemon Curd

 

Spinster Sisters
401 South A Street
Santa Rosa, CA 95401

Cooks with Books: Desmond Tan & Kate Leahy - Burma Superstar (San Francisco)

Thursday, April 6, 2017 - 6:30pm

Burma Love Restaurant in San Francisco • Singles: $120; Couples: $195 (one book)
Event ticket includes meal, wine, tip, tax, and a signed copy of the book.

**EVENT SOLD-OUT**

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MENU FOR APRIL 6

- Chicken with Mint
- Wok-Tossed Broccoli
- Chili Beef
- Fiery Tofu
- Coconut Rice
- Pumpkin Pork Stew
- Fermented Tea Leaf Salad

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Burma Superstar: Addictive Recipes from the Crossroads of Southeast Asia is an eclectic collection of 80 achievable yet spectacular recipes from famed San Francisco Bay Area Burmese restaurant, Burma Superstar.

For years, Bay Area residents and out-of-towners have packed the house—and lined up out the door—for the salads, curries, rice, and stir-fries served at Burma Superstar, a beloved Burmese restaurant with four locations in the San Francisco Bay Area. This collection of recipes includes favorites like Tea Leaf Salad, Samosa Soup, Pumpkin Pork Stew, Garlic Noodles, and Black Rice Pudding that have made the group of restaurants one of the most recognizable in the Bay Area but it also takes readers into the kitchens of Burmese home cooks, whose style of cooking drives menu inspiration. As Burma—now called Myanmar—opens up to the world after a half century of seclusion, there has never been a more exciting time to share the multi-ethnic flavors of Burma Superstar. 

Desmond Tan was born in Burma and came to San Francisco when he was 12 years old. He has grown Burma Superstar into four thriving, unique locations (with a fifth on the way). In 2014, he launched Mya Foods, the first Bay Area company to import Burmese ingredients—most notably laphet, Burma’s famous fermented tea leaves. Kate Leahy co-authored A16 Food + Wine, the IACP Cookbook of the Year and recipient of the IACP Julia Child First Book Award; SPQR; The Preservation Kitchen, which Eater.com ranked as one of the most notable books of the year; and Cookie Love.

 

211 Valencia St.
San Francisco, CA 94103

Literary Luncheon: Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney - The Nest (Corte Madera)

Wednesday, April 5, 2017 - 12:00pm

Tickets: $55 (includes meal & signed book)

The Nest is a warm, funny and acutely perceptive debut novel about four adult siblings and the fate of the shared inheritance that has shaped their choices and their lives

Every family has its problems. But even among the most troubled, the Plumb family stands out as spectacularly dysfunctional. Years of simmering tensions finally reach a breaking point on an unseasonably cold afternoon in New York City as Melody, Beatrice, and Jack Plumb gather to confront their charismatic and reckless older brother, Leo, freshly released from rehab. Months earlier, an inebriated Leo got behind the wheel of a car with a nineteen-year-old waitress as his passenger. The ensuing accident has endangered the Plumbs’ joint trust fund, “The Nest,” which they are months away from finally receiving. Meant by their deceased father to be a modest mid-life supplement, the Plumb siblings have watched The Nest’s value soar along with the stock market and have been counting on the money to solve a number of self-inflicted problems. 

Melody, a wife and mother in an upscale suburb, has an unwieldy mortgage and looming college tuition for her twin teenage daughters. Jack, an antiques dealer, has secretly borrowed against the beach cottage he shares with his husband, Walker, to keep his store open. And Bea, a once-promising short-story writer, just can’t seem to finish her overdue novel. Can Leo rescue his siblings and, by extension, the people they love? Or will everyone need to reimagine the futures they’ve envisioned? Brought together as never before, Leo, Melody, Jack, and Beatrice must grapple with old resentments, present-day truths, and the significant emotional and financial toll of the accident, as well as finally acknowledge the choices they have made in their own lives.

This is a story about the power of family, the possibilities of friendship, the ways we depend upon one another and the ways we let one another down. In this tender, entertaining, and deftly written debut, Sweeney brings a remarkable cast of characters to life to illuminate what money does to relationships, what happens to our ambitions over the course of time, and the fraught yet unbreakable ties we share with those we love.

Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney lives in Los Angeles with her husband and children. She has an MFA from Bennington.

 

51 Tamal Vista Blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925

Literary Luncheon: Lisa See - The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane (Corte Madera)

Friday, March 24, 2017 - 12:00pm

Tickets: $55 (includes meal & signed book)

**Please call 415 927-0960 for registration details**

A thrilling new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Lisa See explores the lives of a Chinese mother and her daughter who has been adopted by an American couple.

Li-yan and her family align their lives around the seasons and the farming of tea. There is ritual and routine, and it has been ever thus for generations. Then one day a jeep appears at the village gate—the first automobile any of them have seen—and a stranger arrives.

In this remote Yunnan village, the stranger finds the rare tea he has been seeking and a reticent Akha people. In her biggest seller, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, See introduced the Yao people to her readers. Here she shares the customs of another Chinese ethnic minority, the Akha, whose world will soon change. Li-yan, one of the few educated girls on her mountain, translates for the stranger and is among the first to reject the rules that have shaped her existence. When she has a baby outside of wedlock, rather than stand by tradition, she wraps her daughter in a blanket, with a tea cake hidden in her swaddling, and abandons her in the nearest city.

After mother and daughter have gone their separate ways, Li-yan slowly emerges from the security and insularity of her village to encounter modern life while Haley grows up a privileged and well-loved California girl. Despite Haley’s happy home life, she wonders about her origins; and Li-yan longs for her lost daughter. They both search for and find answers in the tea that has shaped their family’s destiny for generations.

A powerful story about a family, separated by circumstances, culture, and distance, Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane paints an unforgettable portrait of a little known region and its people and celebrates the bond that connects mothers and daughters.

Lisa See is the New York Times bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Peony in Love, Shanghai Girls, China Dolls, and Dreams of Joy, which debuted at #1. Ms. See is also the author of On Gold Mountain, which tells the story of her Chinese American family’s settlement in Los Angeles. Ms. See was honored as National Woman of the Year by the Organization of Chinese American Women in 2001 and was the recipient of the Chinese American Museum’s History Makers Award in fall 2003.

 

51 Tamal Vista Blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925

Cooks with Books: Georgeanne Brennan - La Vie Rustic (Larkspur)

Sunday, March 26, 2017 - 11:30am

Left Bank Restaurant in Larkspur • Singles: $115; Couples: $165 (one book)
Event ticket includes meal, wine, tip, tax, and a signed copy of the book.

Please note: this event is sold out!

James Beard Award winning author Georgeanne Brennan translates the tenets of a certain way of living—an approach to daily cooking that’s rooted firmly in the French tradition—for American home cooks everywhere. Featuring recipes driven by the seasons and the outdoors, paired with lovely lifestyle photography, this inspiring cookbook weaves together her personal experience, stories, and tips about how to create a sustainable life—one that celebrates the relationship between the land and the table, and among food, family, and friends—no matter where you reside.

The Potager: Year-Round Vegetables: green garlic and new potato soup; charred artichokes with fresh herb dipping sauce; zucchini and pine nut fritters; fennel and chicken braised with lemon; savory chard and raisin tart; sweet pepper and shelling bean Gratin; parsnip soup with toasted almonds; winter beignets with sauce verde

The Orchard: Fruits & Nuts: homecured olives, cherry and onion chutney for seared duck breast, chestnut and pork stew, pear, arugula and shaved parmesan salad, mulberry and pistachio tart, chestnut cream profiteroles

The Barnyard: Cows, Goats, Sheep, Pigs, Chickens, Ducks & Rabbits: foie gras terrine, chicken liver pâté, shredded duck confit and cornichon buns, beef braised in red wine and bone marrow, roast chicken with potatoes and droppings, stuffed breast of lamb-Michoui style, frozen meringues and fruit cream

The Forest & Fields: Wild Things : snail stuffed mushroom, wild mushroom soup, foraged greens and prosciutto salad, quail with juniper glaze and shallots, fresh bay leaves skewered with lamb and peppers, Crème Brûlée with Black Truffles, lavender pepper goat cheese.

Water: Fish & Shellfish: smoked trout pate, thin sliced raw scallops with wild fennel pollen, pot de poisson, Moules Gratinée, sea bass with lemon verbenas buerre blanc, sea urchin sauce

With lovely recipes and tips to sustainable life, La Vie Rustic allows you to live the French lifestyle in your home!

Georgeanne Brennan is a James Beard award-winning cookbook author and journalist. She and her work have been featured in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, Gourmet, Food and Wine, San Francisco Chronicle, Edible magazines and elsewhere. Her books have been translated into multiple languages, including her memoir, A Pig in Provence. In 2014 she founded La Vie Rustic: Sustainable Living in the French Style, a product line and on-line store. She lives in Northern California and travels several times a year to her long time home in Provence where she once lived, keeping goats and pigs and making and selling goats milk cheese.

 

Left Bank Restaurant
507 Magnolia Ave.
Larkspur, CA 94939

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