Chocolate Lava Cake with a Dollop of Ice Cream

News and Fun Facts For those of you who are fans of durian (or non fans but just are interested in this unusually smelly fruit there’s a Thorny issue: Malaysian durian industry hit by demand slump and manpower shortage due to COVID-19

I’ve found that some are best served by 1:1 classes so I’ve added private lessons to my list of class offerings. Also, just added is a class option for your next team building event. Classes this week: Southwestern Corn Tart, Salmon Cakes, Gingerbread Cake with Apples. New baking series and dinner series start after Labor Day.

Cook and Snap This week’s winner is the photo above, a Chocolate Lava Cake from last week’s class.  Send me a photo of the Eggplant Parmesan to enter the drawing for a FREE CLASS

Top Tip The fall planting season will soon be upon us. How about visiting one of the local Bay Area Seed Libraries before you start? Here is one close by https://ecologycenter.org/basil/ and read this article for more.

What I’m Reading It’s a bit late to take advantage of the cheery harvest but I’m so lucky to have some canned and waiting for a winter day to make a cherry pie to remember the summer sun.   These are from a “you pick” orchard a friend recently visited.   If you’re more likely to purchase yours at the store, read on to learn how the magic of sourcing cherries happens in The Scramble to Pluck 24 Billion Cherries in Eight Weeks

What I’m Watching I have just finished a marathon of 6 season’s of Chef’s Table on Netflix streaming. Before I move on to a different show I wanted to highlight Nancy Silverton. One of her claims to fame is La Brea Bread Bakery in Santa Monica, CA.   You’ve probably experienced her now mass produced version of her original recipe but serious bakers should also check out her bread cookbook. You can watch Nancy’s show on Netflix Streaming but here’s a recap.

What I’m Cooking Before the summer ends I wanted to point you to one of my summer joys, Eggplant Parmesan. For those of you looking for an easy entry into vegetarian cuisine this one may be fore you as you may not even miss the meat since it’s so tasty.