by Cynthia Chow
As the holiday season approaches, Maine’s frequent cooking competition champion Sherry Oliveri is perfecting her snazzy sweet potato panzanella recipe. First though, she has the honor of being a judge for the local newspaper’s Story for Glory Cookie Bake-off. Bakers are challenged to present compelling origin stories for their recipes that match the tastiness of their creations. While Sherry’s own baking skills are admittedly lacking, her collection of other cook-off wins more than qualifies her to judge cookies as well as the accompanying heart-warming tales.
by Kathleen Costa
& Kim Davis
Ten years ago Carissa Carmichael couldn’t wait to escape her hometown of Oak Creek Valley for a big city adventure in San Francisco where she honed her skills, knowledge, and experience with aromatherapy and reflexology through her association with friend and mentor Mari Kemp. However, nine months ago her adventure turned horrific ordeal that included accusations of “fraud” and an arrest all courtesy of her big city, now ex, boyfriend.
by Terrance McArthur
Coagulated milk protein. Sound delicious?
Hold on! That’s cheese we’re talking about, and there are over a thousand types, each with a different combination of the animal source, its diet, added enzymes to speed coagulation, pasteurization, butterfat, and aging. The Great Food Search presents the ooiest, gooiest, cheesiest dishes we could find—How Cheesy Can You Get?
by Terrance McArthur
Everly Swan is worried about a rival tea shop opening in town, her relationship with hunky police detective Grady Hays, and the annual Lost Colony historical drama, and…oh, yeah…a star surfer, dead with an arrow in his back, in Bree Baker’s sixth Seaside Café Mystery, Partners in Lime.
by Mallory Moad
“This is a hopeful sign.”
Those are the words of Bryce Cannell. He and his wife, Jennifer, were enjoying sandwiches and colorful pasta salads at the grand opening of the Sunnyside Delicatessen. The closure of this iconic southeast Fresno eatery in March, 2020, was the last straw in a long series of pandemic-related shutdowns, uncertainties, and disappointments for this pair of local educators.
by Lorie Lewis Ham
One of the wonderful things that the San Joaquin Valley has to offer is fresh fruit and vegetables–the City of Reedley is actually known as The World’s Fruit Basket. One way to obtain some of that delicious produce is from fruit stands in the area. Recently, we chatted with Reedley farmer and the operator of one of these stands, Liset Garcia, from Sweet Girl Farms. Sweet Girl Farms is a family business.
by Sandra Murphy
& Cynthia Chow
This week we have even more mysteries for your end of summer reading-A Glimmer of a Clue: A Fairy Garden Mystery by Daryl Wood Gerber, Deadly Delights: A Bookish Baker Mystery by Laura Jensen Walker, Death of an Italian Chef: A Hayley Powell Mystery by Lee Hollis, and Reserved for Murder: A Booklover’s B&B Mystery by Victoria Gilbert.
by Terrance McArthur
When it’s summer in the San Joaquin Valley, it’s hot…so, why not have a hot dog? The Great Food Search has gathered a tasty pack of the frankfurter kind. Let’s take a bite.
by Jim Mulligan
There’s a new place in town to grab a pizza and a few other savory treats on a Friday night—or any day of the week for that matter. The Pirate’s Den opened its doors recently this summer and is welcoming patrons who want to satisfy their hunger pangs with delicious pizzas, sandwiches or sizzling chicken wings. I stopped by recently to take home a pizza and wings, and had a chance to chat with owner Victor Villacaña about the new restaurant venture.
by Cynthia Chow
After the death of her best friend’s mother, Riley Rhodes returned to her hometown of Penniman, Connecticut, to help Caroline recover and assist in running the late Elizabeth “Buzzy” Spooner’s Udderly Delightful Ice Cream Shop. Scooping out delicious layered confections in waffle cones is a delight on its own, but it also gives Riley an escape from a career mistake. Her job as a librarian and travel blogger had actually been going well, but it was a snafu working undercover for the CIA that revealed a lack of judgment and misplaced trust.
by Tom Sims
A few weeks ago, I was working at Fresno’s Woodward Park branch library, but I arrived too early and it was not open. Simultaneously, I had a “hankering” for coffee. I crossed the street to the shopping center knowing that any respectable center of its kind would have, at least, a mediocre cup of coffee.
by Kathleen Costa
Caitlyn Le Fey is improving with her apprenticeship and working meticulously to create the delicious caramel sauce befitting her grandmother’s reputation and worthy to be the centerpiece at Lord James Fitzroy’s Mabon Ball. But, her efforts are impeded when Pomona shows up critical of Caitlyn’s lack of effort on her costume for the ball. Worse, she’s shocked to learn and witness that Pomona can actually do magic; not the magic one should be proud of or one that helps people, Pomie takes pleasure in casting pain on a bunch of ants setting upon some spilled caramel. Caitlyn knew Pomona associated with Thane Blackmort, the enigmatic billionaire, and was showing signs of darkness, but doing magic…for evil?
by Terrance McArthur
It’s summer, and you want to eat something light, so…Let there be SALADS! And there WERE salads…and they were GOOD!
The Great Food Search has featured salads before (in 2014 and 2019), and some of the restaurants I’ll talk about this year are ones I’ve mentioned in earlier articles, but they aren’t the same salads, so…Let’s Eat!
by Lorie Lewis Ham
This year Olivaia’s OLA in Lindsay, CA won Best of the Valley in the Big Fresno Fair San Joaquin Valley Olive Oil Competition. We decided to reach out to them and learn more about this locally grown olive oil. Recently we chatted with Giulio Zavolta, who is cofounder of Olivaia’s OLA together with his wife Rachelle Bross. Giulio is educated and trained in architecture, and Rachelle is a PhD trained dietitian.
