News and Fun Facts   The weather is taking on a chill as it does in California once the Halloween costumes are put away.   To brace myself against the morning chill, oatmeal and maple syrup are top of mind.  So I have some interesting tidbits about those in this newsletter.  Classes have a Thanksgiving focus for the next 2 weeks.  Even if the number at your table is small this year a fabulous dessert would be wonderful.  So you’ll see pumpkin pie on the class listing for this week and a not so Thanksgiving chicken tender class.  Next week we head towards Thanksgiving sides.

Snap and Cook Photo Drawing  The pumpkin mousse photo above was shot by a student in a recent class.  She won a spot in the pumpkin pie class.  You can win a class too.  Join a class and take a photo or maybe take a photo of your oatmeal you make with the recipe below.

Top Tip  For those of you with pie on your mind for Thanksgiving, learn about pie shields.  Or go whole hog on pies and buy the new “The Book of Pie” cookbook.

What I’m Reading  When I was young, maple syrup generally came in a plastic Log Cabin bottle loaded with chemicals.  We are so lucky today to have real maple syrup from maple trees at nearly every grocery store.  Even in the pure form it does beg the question, “Maple Syrup.  Is it good for you or just pure sugar?”

Misleading marketing of the week: maple syrup of all things

What I’m Watching A new season of “Someone Feed Phil” just popped up on Netflix Streaming.  Season 4, episode 2 hits close to home as Phil eats his way through San Francisco and hob nobs with some of the Bay Area’s greatest chefs.   He raves about Tartine’s chocolate croissants, has a heart to heart chat with Dominique Crenn, tours 3 of Thomas Keller’s properties in Yountville.   Check it out and make a list of all of these great restaurants to visit when we are able to do that again.

What I’m Cooking  The former Whole Foods CEO wrote an article a while back about making oatmeal in a rice cooker.  He would travel with a rice cooker and oatmeal and make it in his hotel room on business trips.  I’m not kidding about that.  I thought it was a great idea and I’ve been making my oatmeal that way ever since.  Here’s how:

I use these ingredients and then press the “on” button to let the rice cooker do it’s magic

1 cup old fashioned oats

2 ½ cups liquid (my preference is 1 cup water and 1 ½ cup almond milk