WandaLUSTLeverage. Ubuntu. Sustainability. Transitions.

Story by Wanda Hennig

This story was first published in Food Illustrated magazine, London, with photography by Richard Jung

A visit to Greens in San Francisco is a celebration of the senses. Dip your spoon into a bowl of butternut squash soup and delight in the delicate harmony of lightly caramelized onions and apple confit blended with a hint of calvados. Feast your eyes on a salad that marries fresh ripe figs with Kodata, Mission and Calmyra olives, melon, watercress and creamy goat’s cheese. Inhale and delight …

Story and Pictures: Wanda Hennig

First appeared: East Bay Edible

“In Zen practice we want our intuition — our universal self — to come forth,” says Berkeley Zen Center abbot, Sojun Mel Weitsman Roshi. “When you’re doing simple tasks [like peeling broccoli or breaking lettuce into bite-size bits], your body, mind, the broccoli, the knife, your hand, the breath, are all involved. When you keep bringing your attention back to what you’re doing — when you are simply one with your activity — it’s the same as sitting zazen.”

Richard Avedon Photographs, 1946 – 2004, runs July 11 to November 29 at SFMOMA.
James Freeman’s newest Blue Bottle coffee shop is located high above the streets of San Francisco in the new SFMOMA sculpture-rich rooftop garden.
Working from a small kitchen next to the espresso counter is his wife, Caitlin Williams Freeman. She makes all the goodies — a selection of them inspired by the museum’s art. The unmistakably Mondrian cake, for example, deliciously coated in ganache.
Then there’s her Wayne Thiebaud collection; and other sips and bites inspired by what’s showing …

Top 12 Castro dine-out hotspots

The San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration runs Saturday June 27 noon to 6 p.m. and Sunday June 28 noon to 7 p.m. (after the Pride Parade — see Web site for route and details) at the San Francisco Civic Center.
Expect more than 300 vendors (including abundant food stalls); nonstop music and comedy acts on the Main Stage and at other stages such as the Trans, Homo Hip Hop, Asian and Pacific Islander, Women’s, Soul of Pride African American and Latin stages. 2009 entertainment includes BoA, Solange …

A delicious adventure —

“Why am I living in a city?”
The question came the first time when I glanced upward from beneath the visor of my sun-screening cap and caught sight of two white pelicans flapping slowly and in unison. Suddenly they parted company.
One hovered for a moment — and then plunged from the sky, wings pulled back, torpedoing into the water just yards in front of the kayak. Seconds later it was back up and bobbing on the surface savoring its fishy victim.

Tomales Bay and Point Reyes Peninsula

The question …

Story and photos by Wanda Hennig
All travel has a culinary flavor, given that one has to eat. True culinary travel, however — I’d say what defines it is the focus. It’s about eating the specialties of a place. Learning about the food traditions of the people. It doesn’t imply eating lavishly, isn’t necessarily about haute cuisine, and it doesn’t have to cost a lot. Visiting a farmers market and creating a picnic from the produce stall … Read more

A breathtaking beach walk; a scenic cliff-top hike; a chance to see harbor seals up-close-and-personal; and if you keep your eyes peeled, perhaps a whale to two breaching and blowing or, at this time of year, flocks of pelicans heading north.
Story and photos by Wanda Hennig
Then there are the rock pools to explore; sand for the kids to dig in if you take them along; and an incidental visit to one of the world’s most famous surfing spots, which just happens to be a marker on the trail.
And if …

Story and pictures: Wanda Hennig

Fort Bragg a hotbed of conscious creatives and sustainable agriculture activists? That wasn’t how I remembered it from previous visits. Good camping, yes, at the MacKerricher State Park three miles north on Highway 1; and the legendary Glass Beach that’s more interesting to read about than to visit; and unmemorable meals in the quaint harbor; and Old Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout at the North Coast Brewing Company. But now a foodie friend was telling me about their active Slow Food group and saying things like, “I went to Italy and saw what they were doing with agritourism in Tuscany and thought …

She’s been called Alameda’s Julia Child and like Child, Weezie Mott is in a class of her own.
By Wanda Hennig
From Alameda magazine You know you’ve arrived at “The Motts” when you glance down and see it printed on the doormat. The appetizer-sized woman summoned by the doorbell simmers energy. She could be wearing her Ecole de Gastronomie Francaise Ritz-Escoffier apron that has her name, Weezie, custom-stitched in bold letters above the Paris-based cooking school motif. But there’s no class today. No guest chef coming in to cook, or culinary field …

You can too!
Have you thought of adding “culinary education and cooking skills” to your wine country travel menu?

Story and photos by Wanda Hennig
First published in Black Diamond Living magazine
A food writer friend recently came to visit me from South Africa for the second time. On her first visit, at the end of the first day, she sat me down, poured me a glass of wine, and firmly advised me that she was not interested in any more of this sightseeing — unless the sight was between one good place to …