Tomato Season’s BLT

By Katie Barreira

Around this time last summer, I got a sandwich that blew my mind. I always love a BLT for its addictive combination of meaty bacon, crisp lettuce and sweet-tart tomato. But this particular BLT was all about the “T;” 3/4-inch-thick slices of sun-ripened tomato were the meat of this stunning sammy. This weekend, I returned to see if the best-ever TBL (Tomato, Bacon and Lettuce) was back in season; I was in luck.

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Settling Down to a New Season

By Sandy Hu

Labor Day always seems a little sad to me, marking the unofficial end of summer. In San Francisco, our farmers’ markets are still bursting with heirloom tomatoes, peaches, nectarines and fresh herbs, but we know that soon all of nature’s largesse will gradually slip away.

We officially turn the page from a summer lifestyle that’s casual and informal, to settling back down to work and school. When my kids were growing up, I always tried to introduce a few new brown bag ideas to mark the start of the school year and to help all of us get back into the daily routine.

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Special Fork Bloopers – Celebrating 100 Video Posts

By David Hu

Every Friday is Video Friday at Special Fork. Our videos are designed to show just how easy our recipes are to prepare. I’m proud to announce we recently hit a milestone, having produced our 100th video.

To commemorate that achievement, we decided to reveal some of our trials and tribulations along the way. While we know a lot about food, we aren’t experts at being the on-air talent for our videos.

We try our very best. But as you’ll see, sometimes things don’t always work out as planned…

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Curiosity, Courage and Confidence

Chefs are an odd lot. We have the stamina to work long hours, the courage to experiment and be improvisational, and the creative fuel to cook delicious food every day. Actually, this means we’re more foolhardy than odd, but we all have lots of tricks and techniques we’ve learned over the years that help us in a pinch.

I thought it would be fun to share a few tricks of the trade with you every few weeks ... it’s like a peek behind the kitchen doors. And remember, regardless of a chef’s character, our curiosity, courage and confidence is what separates the good from great. I tell my boys all my secrets, though I think they’re sick of hearing them, so I hope you enjoy!

Salt: Why you’ll only see kosher and sea salts in a respectable kitchen; never iodized.

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Harness the Sun – for Tea!

By Lori Powell

To celebrate the last of the long days of summer, sun tea is in order. It is nice to know that you can still make something at home with such minimal fuss as sun tea.

You simply need a large, clean glass container with a lid, some tea bags or leaves, some good clean water and lots of bright sun…oh and patience. For sweeteners add honey, maple syrup, or pure fruit juice just before serving. Ice is mandatory.

I like to refer to this as Slow Sips because this humble beverage is about as far away from instant sweetened iced teas or soda as possible.

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