Dinner Fast: Farro Risotto with Rapini Video

Risotto is always a quick dish to make for dinner because it takes about 20-25 minutes to cook the rice, and then you have this creamy goodness for a meal. But this time I mix it up by using farro instead of the traditional Arborio rice.

I discovered farro, an Italian grain, last year and love the healthy aspect of it because it’s a whole grain. Then I started seeing it on restaurant menus, mostly in soups or salads, but once as a risotto. So that’s how I came up with this simple farro risotto and rapini dish. This dish is healthy (well, except for the cheese and butter) and it’s all vegetarian. (Full recipe is below.) Enjoy!

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Farro Risotto with Rapini Recipe

Copyright 2011 by Cooking With the Single Guy

Ingredients:
1.5 cup farro
2-3 cups rapini, chopped
1/2 sweet onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup dry white wine
3-4 cups vegetable stock
3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 T unsalted butter
2 T extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan or sauté pan, warm olive oil over medium high heat, then add onion and garlic. Saute until translucent, about two minutes. Add the farro and allow to toast for a few seconds, then add white wine and cook over medium until most of wine is evaporated. Start adding the vegetable stock a couple of ladles at a time, adding as the stock gets absorbed by the farro. The farro should take about 20 to 25 minutes to cook.

Half way through cooking the farro, add the rapini and allow it to wilt and cook. (Don’t add it too early or else the rapini will get really soggy.) Cook for another 10 minutes until farro is done. (Check by taking a bite and if farro taste soft and how you’d like it, then season with salt and pepper to taste. )

Remove pan from heat and add butter and cheese. Stir to mix well and then serve immediately. Garnish with more grated cheese. Serve with garlic bread or a small mixed salad.

Makes 2 to 3 servings.

Pair with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

TIP: It’s still not easy finding farro. I buy mine at the Pasta Shop at the Rockridge Market Hall in Oakland, and it’s sold by the pound. It’s often sold dried. The fresher the farro, the shorter it’ll take to cook. You can find it at specialty Italian stores, or you can substitute it with wheat berries.

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David vs. Goliath of Whoopie Pies

I thought I would do my next taste-off on whoopie pies. I mean, I read they were the next cupcakes, after macarons and then after, well, regular pies.

Whoopie pies supposedly are an extremely popular treat on the East Coast, where there’s a debate about where they originated. (Some say it started in Dutch country in Pennsylvania.) Then they were supposedly invading California, with a few restaurants offering them up.

But over the last few months, I kept an eye out for whoopie pies to try. And after looking at various bakeries, I only found them at two places. So my big taste-off of whoopie pies pretty much boiled down to a simple battle between the Teacake Bake Shop on the East Bay and SusieCakes in San Francisco, which probably piqued people’s interest in this nostalgic treat in the first place.

When you look at the two versions, it really is a battle between David and Goliath, with David being from Teacake and Goliath being the monster whoopie pie from SusieCakes. Here’s a closer look.

Teacake Bake Shop’s whoopie pie ($2.50) has the traditionally look of the chocolate cake-like sandwich and the vanilla icing filling. The one I got couldn’t really keep its shape because the top cake looked like it was sliding off as I tried to take a picture.

The cake was like a chocolate cupcake cut in half, and the filling was really sweet. But I have a feeling that people like their whoopie pies to be sweet. I’m not a real sweet person so it seemed too much for me, although I did eat it up pretty fast.

SusieCakes’ whoopie pie ($5) is like twice the size of Teacake’s and just holding it in my hand it felt hefty. The sandwich portion is a cookie, instead of a cake, though it was soft enough to bite into. The filling was just as sweet as the Teakcake version, but because there was more of it, it really was too much.

In the end, I have to say I like the SusieCake version just because of the cookie portion of the whoopie pie was really good. But because I’m not into really sweet desserts, the fact that both whoopie pies had really sweet fillings made both not very appealing. So maybe I'm not a whoopie pie person.

Teacake Bake Shop, 5615 Bay St. (Bay Street Mall), Emeryville. PH: 510.655.0865

SusieCakes, 2109 Chestnut St., San Francisco. PH: 415.474.2253

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Bodega Bistro in San Francisco

Vietnamese in the Heart of the City
607 Larkin St. (at Eddy), San Francisco
Tenderloin
PH: 415.921.1218
Open for lunch and dinner daily
Reservations, major credit cards accepted
www.bodegabistro.net

Because I don’t have a car, I’m often running my errands around the BART stations, and over the last few months I found myself getting off at the Civic Center in San Francisco to connect to other destinations. And often as a respite in my errands, I found myself at a table at the Bodega Bistro Vietnamese restaurant.

Bodega has been around since 2003, playing up the street food delicacies of Vietnam. The window even displays the popular scooter that most Vietnamese use to get around the major cities. But sometimes Bodega gets eclipsed by another popular Vietnamese restaurant a few yards up the street called Turtle Tower.

That’s a shame, though, because I think the selection of dishes is more plentiful than Turtle Tower and the quality almost on par – but without the crowds hanging out in the front.

When I first visited, I met my friend Ken who lives near the area for a quick lunch. I wanted something simple and easy, so I ordered the Pho Ga, the Vietnamese version of chicken noodle soup ($7.20). The bowl of rice noodle was fresh and tasty, but nothing exciting or spectacular.

Ken, being a vegetarian, ordered the Pho Rau Thap Cam ($7.20), which was a colorful bowl of pho, the rice noodles, with an assortment of fresh vegetables. While the soup was good, Ken said the flavor tasted so rich that he suspected it might have been a chicken broth base instead of a vegetarian stock.

One of my favorite Vietnamese dishes is bun, or the rice vermicelli in a bowl with fish sauce. Bodega offers a Bun Tom Thit Nuong ($8.10) or rice vermicelli with broiled pork and shrimp. The bowl that came out was a massive bowl with thinly sliced pork with just three pieces of shrimp, and with the accompanying thin threads of carrots and cucumber and dusted with peanut bits. The vermicelli was clumpy, which is typical of Vietnamese restaurants who cook the noodles ahead of time, but overall it delivers the freshness and satisfaction of the vegetables mixed with the pork.

I’ve also tried the Bun Rieu ($8.10), which is the rice vermicelli but served in a soup stock like pho. Bun Rieu is made using a tomato soup base and flavored with crab meat. But the crab meat isn’t what we’re used to and instead is a paste that gives a richer crab flavor but without the natural texture of crab. Bodega’s version is better than others I’ve tried in the city, giving this air of authenticity and served with shredded cabbage and other unusual vegetables, not the typical basil and bean sprouts often used to eat with pho.

And in my last visit I ordered a rice dish, the Com Ga Nuong Xa or broiled lemon grass flavored chicken with steamed rice ($7.20). The platter of food came with chicken breast that was pounded into thin pieces and then grilled. The chicken was tender but with just a subtle scent of lemon grass. It was a lot of food, with the chicken served up with steamed broccoli.

Side note: Although there are some dim lights, I always felt that it was so dark inside the restaurant even though I ate mostly at lunch.

Service at Bodega is welcoming and friendly in the beginning but they can forget about you at times, so you end up having to flag someone down to keep things moving. But the food is a nice value and offers a decent alternative to the crowds at nearby Turtle Tower.

Single guy rating: 2.5 stars (convenient and fresh)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

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Chile Pies and Ice Cream in San Francisco

They say pies are the new cupcakes, and there’s no better way to test this theory than at Chile Pies and Ice Cream.

This corner shop in a quiet neighborhood north of the Panhandle in San Francisco has been opened since last spring. I noticed it awhile back and always made a mental note to check it out, which I finally got around to this past weekend.

Chile Pies was opened by Trevor Logan, who previously ran the Green Chile Kitchen in the space. But he moved his restaurant up the street to a larger space and opened this pie shop in its place. Logan’s Green Chile Kitchen focused on the flavors of New Mexico, and that theme continues with his homey pie shop.

Chile Pies has a wonderful home-made feel to the décor, with eclectic toy pieces on shelves and lots of hand-written chalkboard signs. It plays up the whole country feel, from the galvanized tin cans to the mason jars used for water glasses.

With a place totally dedicated to pies, you can imagine the selection – and the challenge of making a decision. I actually came around lunchtime, and not having lunch yet, I decided to order a savory pie. One of the few savory pies on the menu is the house specialty, the Chile-Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust.

Side note: A slice of pie cost $5 and you can buy whole pies for $25. The ice cream served at an additional cost is sourced from Three Twins Ice Cream.

The Chile-Apple pie was this humongous piece of pie that was made by layering several thinly sliced apple. The chile, of course, gives it that heat and that’s why it’s considered a savory pie, but sweetness still comes through with the walnut streusel and honey. I really enjoyed the streusel, like a crumble, and even though the pie was supposedly cheddar, the cheddar flavor only comes when you eat the crust’s edge. (It was actually kind of nice, like eating cheddar cookies.)

I probably would have been OK just with that one big slice of Chile-Apple Pie, but when trying to decide I saw this amazing Country Peach and Blueberry pie and had to get a piece. And with a sweet pie, you need the ice cream so I got a scoop of cardamom ice cream, which was so lovely. The pie itself was so good, even though I wondered how they got such great-tasting peaches this time of year. Again, I loved the crumble on top. The pie filling wasn’t sweet – just the naturally sweetness of the fruit coming through.

I learned that you can’t really design a lunch around pies, but you can definitely have an enjoyable pie-eating experience at Chile Pies, which offers up some delectable pies made fresh every day. (I have to go back for the lemon buttermilk or chocolate peanut butter or banana cream! But only one slice at a time next time around.)

I still like looking for cupcakes, because they are smaller than pies. But if pies are the new cupcakes, Chile Pies is definitely leading the way.

Chile Pies and Ice Cream, 601 Baker St. (at Fulton), San Francisco. PH: 415.614.9411. Website

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Kitchen Towels Should Stay in the Kitchen

It's just a sign of the economy. Like staycations a few years back, restaurants have been trending toward casual and comfortable so people won't feel bad about going out to eat. It's supposed to feel like you're dining at home, I guess.

Problem is, I don't use a kitchen towel to wipe my mouth at home. Kitchen towels are for wiping the counter top, not to lay on my lap.

One of the latest things popping up at restaurants lately are kitchen towels used for napkins. Gone are the white linens. Now we get these big towels that to me seem awkward on the lap, like I'm on a break from washing the dishes. But my main pet peeve about kitchen towels for napkins is not that it seems weird, it's that after a few wash they often seem to lose their shape and then you get lint all over your pants.

I don't mind the kitchen towel for napkins when it fits into the restaurant's concept, like at a restaurant that has crab feeds where you get messy or when the place is called Mama's. But at almost every other restaurants, especially where entrees begin at $25, maybe they can still afford a nice napkin for their guests.

My friends think I'm making a big deal about this because a napkin is a napkin, even if it came from the kitchen. What do you think? Do you think it's an odd trend to use kitchen towels for napkins or do you think it's a cute gimmick for the times?

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Delfina's Pork Sugo Recipe

One restaurant dish that always leaves me in awe is pork sugo, especially when it's preceded with the words "five-hour" or "four-hour" or "any-long-ass-time hour." The idea that someone slaved over the pot for hours in the kitchen makes it worth ordering to try. And the dish of rich pork, sauce, and pasta never fails.

When I saw that 7x7 Magazine published the pork sugo recipe from the popular and award-winning Delfina Restaurant in San Francisco, I told myself I had to make it for myself. Not only does it take a few hours to cook, it's actually a two-day cooking experience.

So here's the full recipe from the 7X7 website, but I'll walk you through it here when I made it recently in my kitchen.

I started with both pork spareribs and pork butt. I guess Delfina likes the idea of the flavor of both cuts. I browned the pieces in my heavy-bottom pot. When they were done, I removed them and set them aside.

Then I worked on the vegeables, sauteing the onions, carrot, celery, garlic, and herbs (fresh rosemary and sage). So far, the ingredients weren't anything "secret" or unusual. Sounded like just the very comforting vegetable base. After the vegetables softened, then I added a tablespoon of tomato paste (I cut the overall recipe by half, so don't try to match my ingredient measurements to the official Delfina recipe), which gave the overall pot a nice red color, giving it the start of that Italian flavor. I deglazed with white wine and then returned the pork back to the pot and covered it up with chicken stock. Then I placed it in the 325-degree oven and cooked it for about two hours until the pork meat became tender.

Then the recipe said to put the pot into the refrigerator overnight. So that was day one.

The next night, this was how the pork mixture looked in my pot after sitting in the frig overnight. The congealed fat had an orange hue to it. Of course, this made it easy to scrape up the fat and discard. Then I warmed up the sugo on low heat and then removed the pork pieces again.

The recipe said to then put the sugo mixture into a food mill to puree it. But I don't have a food mill so I used my hand blender to puree the mixture until it was a smooth sauce. Then I let it simmered until the sauce thickened.

For the meat, I used a fork and shredded them into pieces and removed the bones from the spareribs. Then I returned the pork back into the sugo and seasoned everything with salt and pepper. Now I was ready to serve it, and the Delfina recipe tells you how to cook just enough sugo you plan to eat that night, leaving the rest for later nights (or freeze in the freezer).

I had some pappardelle, which is the flat ribbon pasta. Sorry, I didn't make it myself (come on, I already spent two days cooking the pork) and if you're looking for pappardelle and can't find it, just buy sheets of ready-made pasta and cut them in wide pieces. While the pasta cooked, I warmed up the sugo in a saute pan with some butter, and then added chopped flat leaf parsley, shredded parmesan cheese, and a pinch of chile flake. When the pasta was ready, I just added it straight into the pan and blended everything together.

And here's the final dish ready to eat. I served it up with more freshly shaved parmesan cheese, and had it with a glass of Napa Valley merlot, which was perfect for this rich dish.

So how was it? I can't say it was as perfect as at Delfina, but it was good. I think it needed more salt but I was afraid to add too much salt during the seasoning because already restaurant recipes has all the butter, etc. So I held back, but the next night when I made the rest of the sugo, I added a bit more salt and that brought out the flavor of the pork. And like anything else slow-cooked, the sugo seemed to taste even better two days after sitting in the refrigerator.

Despite this being a two-day cooking process, the actual steps of the dish aren't very difficult. This is a really comforting dish, and making it makes me feel like some Italian grandmother. I'm definitely bookmarking the recipe and will be cooking it up again when I feel like a dish that will stick to my ribs.

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Single Guy’s Planner

Ooops, I missed a planner for last month because I was busy. Plus, February’s such a short month by the time you hear about an event, it’s over! So let’s just focus on March, which seems to be springing with a whole bunch of foodie events. Go check one out!

March 9-12 (Wednesday-Saturday) – Oliveto’s Whole Hog Dinners. This Oakland establishment hosts its annual celebration to the pig when it serves up all the various parts in entrée items featured on the dinner menu. You can bet there’ll be a lot of salumis along with all sorts of offal selections. For more information check out the restaurant’s website or call 510.547.5356 to make your reservations.

March 11, Friday – Camino hosts Gabrielle Hamilton, chef/owner of New York’s Prune Restaurant. Prune is an extremely popular restaurant, especially for brunch, and its chef Gabrielle Hamilton has released her memoirs entitled “Blood, Bones and Butter” that is already receiving rave reviews. Hamilton will be in town promoting the book at typical book signings, but if you like your book signing with a side of entrees, then check out Camino Restaurant’s special dinner event. Ticket is a bit hefty at $127 (via PayPal), but that gives you cocktails with the author chef followed by a three-course family style dinner at the popular Oakland restaurant. If you don’t want to pay the service charges on PayPal, you can call the restaurant to reserve your spot (ticket will then only be $100) at 510.547.5035. Check the restaurant’s website for updates on the menu. Camino, 3917 Grand Ave., Oakland.

March 12, Saturday – The Clandestine Dinner Series. A real underground dinner, unlike the pop ups that exist in real restaurants, will take place somewhere in the Mission. You have to fork over the $105 for the six-course dinner and you get emailed the address. The dinner starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday, and there’s also one at 5 p.m. on Sunday, put on by Stag Dining Group’s Jordan Grosser and Ted Fleury. Tickets for Saturday can be purchased here and Sunday here.

March 13, Sunday – SWAP: Homemade Dinner. Just like when you’d swap your brown bag lunch as a kid, 18 Reasons take it to a whole level by having people swap meals at its Mission District community space. Make one meal (enough for four people) and bring them in pre-portioned to-go containers between 4:30 to 5 p.m. and swap it for another meal made by someone else. Cost is $5 (not including your expenses to make the dinner) and RSVP is required at info@18reasons.org so they know how many swinging cooks there are. 18 Reasons, 593 Guerrero St., San Francisco. For more information, check out the group’s website.

March 17, Thursday – Schroeder’s St. Patrick’s Day Street Party. This longtime German restaurant loves the polka, and they really kick up a storm with an Irish twist at this annual block party that’s free and draws a lot of young Financial District types. Street closed off in front of the bar on Front Street at California. Kick back some green beer.

March 17, Thursday – "Life on the Line" Book Signing with Chef Grant Achatz. Noted Chicago Chef Grant Achatz has a compelling story. Some of you may know that the chef of the renowned Alinea restaurant was diagnosed with tongue cancer a few years ago. He's better now, and has come out with his memoirs, written with business partner Nick Kokonas. The two will be signing books form 12:30 p.m. at Book Passages at the Ferry Building. For more information, go to the store's website.

March 19, Saturday – Honey Celebration at the Ferry Building. The Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture (CUESA) puts on series of events at the Saturday farmers market focused on honey. At 10 a.m., Sunset Magazine Food Editor Margo True talks about the bees’ role in the garden and makes two desserts, while Fairmont Chef J.W. Foster talks about his bee-keeping adventures on the roof of the famous San Francisco hotel. The regular cooking demo at 11:45 a.m. is by Chef Brandon Jew of Bar Agricole. Event is free to the public at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero.

March 19, Saturday – "Childhood Favorites" Brunch and Book Signing. Berkeley's Summer Kitchen Bake Shop puts on a special brunch with kid-themed foods as a benefit for Children's Hospital of Oakland. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., shop for some kid-friendly brunch items like pop tarts and Dr. Seuss-inspired green eggs and ham, of course. Also at the store will be children's book author Kelly Corrigan, who will be signing copies of her latest book "Lift." Summer Kitchen, 2944 College Ave., Berkeley.

March 26, Saturday – SF Underground Market at Public Works. The latest installment of the community/home-made market runs from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the take-home products and 6 p.m. to 2 p.m. for the night-time hot food fun. Admission is $5 for the day event and $10 for night, and don’t forget as always you need to sign up to be a member to attend. The Public Works space is located at 161 Erie St., San Francisco.

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Kingdom of Dumpling in San Francisco

Soup Dumplings to Beat the Cold and Rain
1713 Taraval St. (between 27th and 28th Avenues), San Francisco
Outer Sunset neighborhood
PH: 415.566.6143
Open Tues. to Sat., 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sun., 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; closed Monday
No reservations, major credit cards accepted

When I visited the relatively new Dumpling Kitchen a few weeks ago in my continuing search for good Shanghai soup dumplings, I mentioned the more widely known Kingdom of Dumpling was just up the street on Taraval.

My friend Kim, who's a vegetarian, commented on the post about vegetarian soup dumplings, and that got me curious about whether such a thing existed. We noticed a vegetarian dumpling on the menu for Kingdom of Dumpling, so we made plans to check it out one rainy and cold weekend (we've been having a lot of that lately in the Bay Area).

The rain meant there probably wouldn't be the typical crowds hanging out outside the restaurant, which actually has a very non-descript entrance. Even the sign looks a little tired, and even more gray in the rain.

Still, we arrived just as the restaurant opened and got one of the tiny two-tops near the entrance. This place is so small it would qualify as a dive if it wasn't so well-known and thoroughly written up by various publications. Kim and I studied the menu, looking for the vegetarian options. (I still knew I would try the Shanghai soup dumplings, aka xiao lung bao, made typically of pork and filled with actual soup.) Kim is a vegetarian, mostly because she doesn't like the flavor of meats.

I recommended the Green Chives Pancakes ($5.95) because I love the aroma of chives. Kim and I discussed why not more Western dishes incorporated chives other than in baked potatoes because I love chives. The pancakes actually came out differently than what I recalled growing up because I remember them more flat and filled more with chives-infused dough. But instead Kingdom of Dumplings version looked like filled pita breads.

Still, these were incredibly fresh and tasty, although a bit difficult to eat without making a mess. These were actually two pancakes cut in half, so the whole order looked like a lot. I appreciated how the kitchen sends out the orders once it's done because these pancakes were piping hot.

So Kim and I discussed getting the vegetarian dumplings, which aren't a vegetarian version of Shanghai soup dumplings because we learned there's only one way to make xiao lung baos and they can't make it vegetarian. I suggested the vegetarian dumplings, but Kim noticed the Shrimp Dumplings with Green Chives ($6.95) and wanted to try that instead.

These dumplings, which don't have the soup in them, came as a dozen all squished onto a tiny platter. They're not the prettiest, but they were very hearty. The shrimp inside was fresh and a nice bite-size compared to some places where you're searching for the shrimp. And of course, we both love chives so didn't mind them in these dumplings.

Finally, the main event, the Shanghai Soup Dumplings ($4.95). This one order comes with just six in the bamboo steamer, which was fine since I was primarily eating this. Kim did try a couple because she wanted to experience the idea of soup in a dumpling, I'll get to her reaction in a bit.

As for me, I enjoyed them. Kim asked how they compared with Dumpling Kitchen, whose xiao lung bao were so delicious they're still on my mind. But after trying Kingdom of Dumpling, it's difficult to compare because they're quite different than Dumpling Kitchen's version. It's like when people ask me if San Francisco is better than New York to live, and having lived in both cities, I always say each city is good for its own reasons.

Kingdom of Dumpling's xiao lung bao aren't as pretty as Dumpling Kitchen's, but the skin is a nice thin texture and the soup is tasty with a lot of depth. Dumpling Kitchen's soup was more herbal and aromatic, while Kingdom of Dumpling's version is more rich. One thing's for sure, these dumplings are amazing for the cold weather.

Kim, on the other hand, thought the soup dumplings filled with pork tasted like bratwurst. Keep in mind, Kim's from the Midwest. She said the pork had a sharp taste that reminded her of bratwurst, but I told her I thought the sharp flavor she tasted may be the slight vinegar flavor in the soup. It's kind of hard to tell when you each everything all in one bite.

There's actually a lot to eat for a vegetarian, if you think about how we ordered the chives pancakes, could have ordered the vegetarian dumplings and ordered a tray of this Garlic String Beans ($6.95). The beans were vibrant green and looked like it was stir-fried in a kind of bean paste. The actual beans weren't crunchy, but they had a lot of flavor.

We had a lot to eat and left very satisfied, especially since for lunch we had a lot of food for a reasonable price. Despite the rain outside, people kept coming looking for a table. While Dumpling Kitchen down the street has a larger menu and bigger space, I can see why people keep coming to the tiny Kingdom of Dumpling. It's freshly made dishes and satisfying soup dumplings will make you leave feeling filled and warmed.

Single guy rating: 3.25 stars (fresh from the kitchen)

Explanation of the single guy's rating system:
1 star = perfect for college students
2 stars = perfect for new diners
3 stars = perfect for foodies
4 stars = perfect for expense accounts
5 stars = perfect for any guy's dream dinner

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Fro-Yo Rankings: The Loving Cup in San Francisco

With the recent cold snap we've been having around the Bay Area, it's probably hard to read about frozen yogurt. But that's the thing about living here. The micro-climates just keep a changin'.

Last weekend it was warm enough to explore the neighborhoods and get some fro-yo. I have to thank reader Missee, who commented recently in my post about Fraiche to say I should try this place called The Loving Cup in the city.

I'd never heard of the Loving Cup, but mostly because I think it's more known for its rice pudding, and because it's in the Russian Hill/Polk Gulch neighborhood, which I rarely venture out to because I'm not an antiques freak. ;-)

Walking in, it has the feel of an old-time candy store, and you see the display case filled with large bowls of rice pudding of an assortment of flavors. (Who knew you could make so many flavors for rice pudding.) Actually, gourmet rice pudding was a hot thing for awhile a couple of years ago. But I wasn't here for the rice pudding (and I couldn't imagine getting both pudding and yogurt), so I turned my attention to the frozen yogurt.

Loving Cup helps you with the ordering by organizing the steps and the ingredients. You start with the base (vanilla or chocolate) and then start adding on, with fruits (usually frozen during this time of year) and the typical assortment of toppings using cookies, crackers, nuts, grains, and candy.

I picked a vanilla froyo and asked for blueberries and raspberry. What I didn't realize was that Loving Cup blends the fruit into the yogurt, so each cup is "lovingly" made to your order creating a new yogurt flavor. I didn't realize this because then I wouldn't have mixed those two fruits together. I just thought the blue and the red would look pretty as toppings against a white vanilla yogurt. So that's how I ended up with the cup that looks like the above, and old bubble gum looking frozen yogurt. This is the medium size.

I gave my fro-yo a try, and right off the taste was not the slightly tart fro-yo of recent craze. Too bad because I'm more partial to the partly tart fro-yo because then you know you're eating a flavor. This one tasted almost bland, and with the combination of the fruits, I think it created this odd almost bubble gum texture. The fro-yo was thick, but I wouldn't say creamy. I'm not sure how to describe it, but I wasn't a fan.

Loving Cup seems like a fun idea, and I saw people coming in and instead of mixing in fruits getting chocolate ganache dripped on top, and that's probably more a favorite that creating your own fruit flavor. Maybe next time I might go for the rice pudding.

Single Guy’s Fro-yo Rankings:

1. Red Mango, Palo Alto
2. Pinkberry, Southern California and San Jose
3. Fraiche, Palo Alto and San Francisco
4. Mr. Green Bubble, Oakland
5. Tuttimelon, San Francisco
6. YoCup, San Francisco
7. Icebee, San Francisco
8. Yoppi, San Francisco
9. Jubili, San Francisco
10. Tutti Frutti, Oakland
11. SoGreen, San Francisco
12. Yogurt Harmony, Berkeley
13. Creations, Berkeley
14. Cultivé Frozen Yogurt, San Francisco
15. The Loving Cup, San Francisco
16. Yogen Früz, San Francisco

The Loving Cup, 2356 Polk St., San Francisco. PH: 415.440.6900. www.lovingcupsf.com

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Food Podcasts to Go

I was probably one of the few people around who didn't have the ubiquitous white earpods coming out of my ears, listening to music. That's because I never owned an iPod. My feeling was, hey, I already have enough to carry, what with my cellphone and camera (you know I got to shoot those pictures) and sometimes my sunglasses. I couldn't imagine carrying a music player, too.

Then Apple came out with the iPhone and that would have solved the whole issue of carrying my cellphone and a music player (and in some cases my camera), but I had a Verizon cellphone and didn't want to make the switch to AT&T. So you know what happened last month, right? After years of rumors and anticipation, Verizon finally was allowed to sell the iPhone and I ordered mine right away.

Now I love my iPhone, especially since my Web surfing is much faster than on my previous Blackberry. But more importantly, I now can play my music from my iTunes and I've started watching podcasts.

I'm a real visual guy, so I don't just download podcasts to listen to. I'm looking only for video podcasts, where I can actually watch something as I wait for the bus or BART. So I've been hunting down food podcasts, in particular. I haven't seen a whole lot, but here are some of my favorites. (You can search these titles in iTunes under podcasts.)

1. Epicurious: Food and Drink. A food media institution, Epicurious offers up fundamental "how-to" video podcasts. Even though these podcasts are four years old, and they're not offering up new ones, the information is still relevant. Learn the basics about how to temper chocolate or make creme anglais. Don't know what's "creme anglais?" Then download the podcast.

2. Jamie's Ministry of Food Recipes. You know one person I search for by name is Jamie Oliver, and sure enough he offers a whole slew of cooking demo under this series name. Even though this series is from 2008 and it doesn't look like he's producing any new ones, there's enough in his archives to keep you busy watching for awhile. Plus, this is the Naked Chef, so come on, you can be sure to be entertained by his style and food knowledge. And really, because podcasts are often less than 10 minutes, he sticks to the cooking and does less shtick. (Not that I ever minded Oliver's shtick.)

3. Market Kitchen Recipes from the Good Food Channel. I admit I have a thing for the English accent (um, didn't you just read my post about Jamie Oliver?), so I was excited to discover this collection of video podcasts created by this British food channel. And not only are these cooking demos interesting to watch, there are tons to download, more than three years worth of viewing. So I'm going through them for awhile. A variety of British chefs buy ingredients at the popular farmers market called Borough Market and cook right at the market outside. This is a well produced series with some interesting recipes.

4. Simply Ming. Chef Ming Tsai's "Simply Ming" TV series is always educational to watch. But when I did a search under his name, just this one episode is offered up as a video podcast. It's pretty much a TV episode turned into a podcast. But it's still entertaining to watch Chef Ming on location in Beijing.

5. What's This Food? This is a new video podcast featuring Daniel Delaney, who's a young entrepreneur who has created several interesting Web-based food programming through Vendr.tv. Now he's started this podcast where he talks about a particular food ingredient, most times unusual or something you might not be familiar with, and then he shares a quick recipe using that ingredient. Like with all his video productions, Delaney's "What's This Food?" is pretty slick, and Delaney has that quirky personality (with the accompanying spikey hair) to keep it entertaining.

So do you watch any particular video podcast? Got any recommendations for me to download?

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