Tennessee Funfest, June 17-20, Lakeland, TN

BBQ Ribfest, June 18-21, Fort Wayne, IN

Mo Blues and Barbecue, June 19-20, Sedalia, MO

National Capital Barbecue Battle, June 27-28, Washington, DC

Pig Gig, August 6-9, Bay City, MI

North Star Blues & BBQ Festival, August 7-8, DeForest, WI

Capital City Ribfest, August 13-16, Lincoln, NE

Macarons seem to be the latest and greatest dessert craze to hit the nation, but finding the best doesn’t have to mean hopping the next flight to Paris.  In a recent issue of Sunset magazine, they did the enviable research needed to suss out the very creme de la creme for us.  Here are their top picks:

• Paulette Bakery in Beverly Hills and San Francisco
• Pix Patisserie in Portland
• Opera Patisserie in San Diego
• Essence Bakery Cafe in Tempe, Arizona

Don’t live nearby?  Fear not.  They all deliver straight to your door, which beats an Air France flight any day.

If you happen to be in the San Francisco area, then this cookbook haven is perfect for you.  Omnivore Books on Food, housed in a former butcher shop, is a mecca for the written word in food.  You’ll find everything from the latest cookbooks to top the bestseller list to long-forgotten and out-of-print treasures. They have a wonderful calendar of events featuring authors of popular cookbooks, which you can keep an eye on here. My only regret is that they’re too far away.

Omnivore Books on Food
3885a Cesar Chavez Street
San Francisco, CA 94131
415-282-4712

I headed down there this past weekend with Madeline and as soon as I lugged her stroller up the three steps inside the front door and turned down the sprinkle aisle, I might have gasped.  Just a little.  Whatever sprinkle or sugar you need (or didn’t know you needed) is right there for the taking, and at bargain prices, most are $2 a bottle.  Madeline’s eyes opened up wide as she took in all the colors (not just a color, but several shades of each color), and she put out her hands to ask for one.  I gave her the ones that I was buying to hold and within minutes her lap was full, holding on to the bottles as tightly as she could.

Want sugars to decorate your cupcakes or cookies?  Coarse, fine or sanding?  Whatever color you can imagine is right there for the taking.  Sprinkles?  Only the most adorable ones.  I found a fun graduation cap one that will be perfect for cupcakes for the babysitter next week as her graduation day looms, just days away.  Dolphins sprinkles for Nick?  Check.  Mickey Mouse sprinkles?  Check.  It’s a good thing I set myself a budget before I even stepped in the door.

I arrived at the store shortly before they were closing, so I only checked out half of one aisle, but I promised Nick I would take him back this weekend since he missed out on the first trip.  I can’t wait to check out the cookie cutter aisle - hold me back!

And for those that might be sad because you don’t live close to the store, don’t worry, they ship!

Candyland Crafts
201 West Main Street
Somerville NJ 08876
Telephone: (908) 685-0410

It’s quite the bargain at $15 a pop for general admission (under 12 free).  For complete details, visit their site.

Photo of Sara Snow from Sunset.com.

Join such culinary luminaries as Alton Brown, Michel Nischan, Alexandra Guarnaschelli and Thomas Keller, among others, for two days jam-packed of exciting culinary events.  Over sixty restaurants and 55 top-notch wineries will featured, as well as a wonderful selection of organic and sustainable food and wine.

For more details and to purchase tickets, visit www.cookingforsolutions.org.  Cooking for Solutions supports the non-profit Monterey Bay Aquarium, their Seafood Watch program and many of the aquarium’s initiatives that work towards providing us with healthy oceans.

Photo from Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Last weekend, we headed out on our second stop on our quest to find the best pizza in New Jersey. In case you missed it, our first stop on the tour was Grimaldi’s in Hoboken. This time we headed to Orange to Star Tavern. It’s a place that is pretty well known to anyone who is on their own personal quest for the best pizza in the Garden State, and even made it on the Munchmobile Pizza Tour last year. The interior is very traditional bar with wooden tables and chairs, the requisite big screen TV blaring the current games, and two video games in the front. Nobody came to greet us, so we seated ourselves in a booth near the door. Within a few minutes of sitting down, the waitress came and plunked down a few minutes and took our drink order. For die-hard soda fans, be warned. They’re not serving Coke or Pepsi products here, it’s all RC. Blech.

We already knew we’d be getting pizza, but took a look at the appetizer section as well, just to see if anything popped out at us. Mmmm, Mussels Marinara. Sold. For the pizza, we did half plain and half everything.

“Including anchovies?” the waitress asked when we ordered.

I glanced at The Husband, who laughed. “Yes, it’s ok. I’ll pick them off.” In their ordinary form, I hate anchovies. But melted into a pasta sauce or used in Caesar Salad, and I’m fine, and love the saltiness they impart. The mussels arrived and the sauce was a rich, deep red. Nearly a burgundy color. We dug in. Mussels Marinara should come with bread. How else to eat all that wonderful sauce? No bread came with it, but we requested and received some (no charge). The sauce was terrific, with crushed red pepper flakes spotted throughout. It was fairly spicy, so I was surprised that Nick kept going back for more, but it was almost too good not to. One caveat though. They gave us paper plates to dole out our portions. Um, have you tried putting a thick tomato sauce on a thin paper plate? Not such a smart idea, and by the end, everything had soaked through to the table. Hello? And the napkins are the paper thin kind that are dispensed on your table. Between the pizza and mussels, we went through a lot; they’re just too thin for this type of food. Just as we were finishing our mussels, the pizza arrived.

If you like thin, crispy pizza, this is the place for you. The edges are a little bit charred (love that!) and while the pizza side that had everything on it was full and generous, it wasn’t so much that the thin pizza base couldn’t hold up to it. No flopping here, which was good. This pizza is more sauce than cheese, and the sauce is an interesting one at that … I spotted a few strips of red peppers, so it’s a little off the beaten path.

The vote? Nick said if we tried all the pizza in the world, this one would be his favorite. He ate 2-1/2 slices, which is a lot for him. Oh, that reminds me, the slices are a little bit smaller than the average pie. The Husband said he liked this pizza, but that Grimaldi’s is still his #1 so far. As for me, I love the charred bits of the crust, and I love that it’s a thin pizza, but I think Grimaldi’s is my one to beat for now.

If you go at night, particularly on the weekends, be prepared for a little bit of a wait as they get pretty busy. There are quite a few tables (placed fairly close together) and booths, and additional seating at the bar. The prices? $31 got us three drinks plus one refill (that they charge for), Mussels Marinara and the pizza. Not too bad. Bar pizzas (smaller, more individual size) are also available for $4.50, but be careful if you add toppings, because they can be as much as $3.50 each.

Star Tavern
400 High Street
Orange, NJ
(973) 675-3336

I pulled into the parking lot late and hurried to the front door.  As I entered the hall, a King Arthur representative handed me a program and as I turned to grab a seat, I stopped for a second.  Holy Crowded Room, Batman - there were a couple hundred people there!  I later did a rough count and there were at least 300 or so, covering every demographic … old, young, female and male.  I was surprised to see such a great turnout, but pleasantly so.

The instructor, Carolyn, had just began and there were large projection screens up to make it easier for everyone to see what she was doing in front of the room.  She was outgoing, congenial and had a fantastic, dry sense of humor.  She went through two recipes, an apple pie and a chocolate ganache tart, during the class, and gave many tips along the way.  She explained everything effortlessly and took questions from the audience throughout.

I have never made a crust or bread from scratch, but leaving the class, I was totally inspired.  Inspired enough to stop at the store on the way home and pick up what I needed to make their “awesome whole wheat bread,” a recipe featured in their program from the night.  With under 10 minutes of hands-on time, and a reward of a homemade loaf of fresh bread, how can I resist?

The folks from King Arthur Flour were incredibly generous, giving away some 20-25 door prizes of their various products at the end of class, and giving every attendee a free dough scraper and a $10 gift card. Not near a King Arthur Flour class location?  Fear not, they have free online classes ready when you are.  You can find the complete list right here.  Happy baking!

As I learned on our visit, Bonte is actually a franchise restaurant.  The owners of the Morristown location only own that one (so far), but there is another location in South Orange, among a few in Philadelphia and other spots.  The waffles are made fresh to order, replicating the sugar waffles that are popular in Brussels.  To continue their authenticity, they even import many ingredients weekly from overseas.  Since we have never been to Bonte before, we stared at the menuboard blankly for a few minutes, trying to figure out what to order.  Luckily there was no line behind us, and the woman taking orders was able to make a few suggestions.

Because it was lunchtime, I ordered their Poulot Gruyere sandwich to split with the kids for lunch, and because this place was known for their waffles, I ordered one plain waffle and one with ice cream and fudge topping for dessert.  If we’re going to go for it, we might as well go for it, right?  When ordering the waffles, there are lots of mix-ins that you can get to personalize your waffle.  They mix your chosen item right in with the batter, for little bits of surprises with every bite.

Our verdict?  Skip the sandwiches.  There is hardly any seasoning and when I tell you there were nothing special, I mean they were nothing special.  But, do go and treat yourself to the waffles.  Sticky, sweet, but not overly so, it’s the perfect spot to stop when you want a snack that’s a little different.  You’ll forget those frozen varieties ever existed.  We polished off our ice cream-topped waffle (studded with bits of strawberries) in no time flat.

Bon Appetit!

You can catch his Top 5 selections in the Grub Street the write-up in New York magazine right here, but in the meantime, it looks like I have a few more stops to add to our own pizza tour.

Photo courtesy of NY Mag.