Food Round Up, The Best of November, 2004

November has been such a busy month. I was bowled over by the Baby Rack Ribs at San Francisco Oola, as well as discovering Hendrick's Gin there. Also in the City, Middle Eastern Saha was another great new find on the SF restaurant map.

Over the Golden gate Bridge in Marin, I was delighted by a salad I had at Tabla in Larkspur. Traveling on to Napa, the picnic menu at Copia's American market Cafe was pretty tasty and fresh too.

I was totally spoilt by several good friends who had amazing dinner parties, to which I was invited. Del and Presd treated me to my first Choucroute experience whilst D & K spent days creating us a feast from The French Laundry Cookbook.

Another highlight of the month was meeting the down-to-earth and totally charming Jamie Oliver at a book signing. I tried out one of the recipes from his new book Jamie's Dinners which was fast, easy and successful.

I didn't know what to think when Amy likened me to Martha Stewart after I posted about the Cranberry Chutney I made for a Charity bakesale. I'll take it as a compliment seeing as Martha's street cred has reportedly shot up since she landed herself in the nick. The current season of bakesales came to an end on December 1st. I'll post shortly with an update on the amount of money we raised for a good cause.

Elsewhere in the world of food blogs, there were many dinners written about where it was a great shame to have missed an invitation. Derrick first had me salivating over his burgers made with duck fat from a foie gras terrine. Soon after he made a delicious sounding Duck Confit . Melissa - hold on to that guy!

Clement, repeatedly, continues to wow the food blogging community with the ease at which he appears to churn out complicated creations and stunning photographs. This month I particularly enjoyed his tips on how to make French Macarons.

Gastronomie's post about fresh Dungeness Crab, brought home fresh and served up on newspaper, made me long to do the same thing. But Fred detests seafood so maybe it's not such a great idea. I did pass on the newspaper idea onto a friend who is having a Crab and Champagne birthday dinner party on Thursday night, so maybe I won't miss out on this homely looking treat after all!

Feeding Dexygus made a fantastic fancy cake which really deserves a second look as do these really pretty Pistachio Apple Cupcakes from Debbie in Brooklyn and this gorgeous looking recipe for Sweet Potato Pot Pies from 101 Cookbooks Heidi who continues to completely inspires me with what I consider to be consistently the very best photographs in the food blogosphere.

Jen at Life Begins at 30 has been writing several posts highlighting the importance of Buying Locally at Farmers Markets and when it comes to Seasonal gift purchases. Check out the San Francisco areaideas on her blog with a conscience.

Have you been to Ronald's website dedicated to all food blog events? Click here for his wonderful IMBB site which now does more than keep you up to date on current blogging events. Ronald has also recently added some forums, great for helping food bloggers to communicate with each other.

Finally, back to the food. Delectation and Chez Pim also shared some great San Francisco restaurant tips during the month of November. Speaking of Pim, I haven't even explained yet how she came to inspire me into parting with 70+ bucks for over 3 kilos of chocolate. But that's a story for another day, and the next month, here at Becks & Posh...

Food Round Up, The Best of November, 2004