Lakeside Inn and Casino in Stateline is offering a free drink to skiers between 4-7pm every day. Flash a season pass, lift ticket, or mountain employee ID from any resort to get a drink toke.

By Kathryn Reed

WHISTLER, British Columbia — “Bring on the Games” is Vincent Stufano’s approach to the Olympics, which begin this week in his native country.

Stufano, who hails from Montreal, is the executive chef at the Fairmont Chateau Whistler.

Fortunate for him, his favorite Olympic sport, the luge, can almost be seen from where he works. The course is up the mountain a short ways just outside of the Blackcomb side of the mega-resort.

Here is what the chef has to say:

LTN: What are some of the locally grown-raised ingredients used in your dishes? How does using these items make your food better?

Stufano: Some of my favorite locally grown ingredients from neighboring Pemberton area are pumpkins, potatoes, sunchokes, quince, crones, cherries, white peaches, poultry, beef, hazelnuts and chestnuts; fresh seafood from the coast. Using the locally grown ingredients is great because it allows for us to receive the products at the optimal time of freshness and ripeness.

LTN: Food seems to be a bigger component for people as they travel, no matter the destination. As people’s food tastes have become more developed-sophisticated through the years, do you notice having to change the menu or be more innovative? Do you try to keep up with other resorts-restaurants?

Stufano: People seem to be looking for comfort food that is to a higher standard and incorporates flavors they recognize. I don’t try to keep up with others. They try to keep up with me. (He smiles.)

LTN: In the era of celebrity chefs, do you see destinations like Whistler buying into this? The Ritz-Carlton at Northstar-at-Tahoe has Traci des Jardines. Does a well-known chef bring people to the table?

Stufano: I think people like the “celebrity” aspect but I simply do not know if Whistler will follow in this trend. We will have to wait and see.

LTN: When you aren’t cooking for others, what do you fix for yourself, your family?

Stufano: We enjoy comfort foods and simple meals. We try to use organic local ingredients from the farmers market and the area, and be health conscious.

LTN: Do you have plans to create dishes specifically for any of the athletes? Who and what? Or any special dishes for people coming for the Olympics?

Stufano: At this time there are no special requests coming in, however, we are very excited for when the Games arrive and those special requests start coming in. We are pretty equipped to make anything happen and we are looking forward to the challenges ahead. We thrive on the busy and chaotic times and love the challenges, the more the better. There will be a nightly buffet in The Wildflower and I will be designing it to meet the needs of all the different cultures and nationalities that will be staying with us with a variety of dishes and different themes each night.

Below is one of Stufano’s signature dishes. Susan Wood was LTN’s taste tester at the Wildflower last month. She is ready to go back just for the meal.

Vincent Stufano’s Cedar Roast Salmon

Cedar Roast Salmon

Serves 4 people

In the Wildflower restaurant, this salmon is glazed with Maple Syrup, which has been aged in our very own Canadian Oak Whiskey Barrels, served with roasted Pemberton Farm Fingerling potatoes and lightly steamed seasonal vegetables.

For Maple Syrup:

First Chef Stufano purchases old Oak Whiskey 200 L barrels and soaks them in water until the wood has expanded enough to seal the barrel to prevent maple syrup from leaking out. A bottle of whiskey is then poured into each barrel. Four times daily, Chef checks the barrel stirring the whiskey and changes the angle in which the barrel sits. This process continues for two weeks. Maple syrup is then poured into the barrels along with a fresh bottle of whiskey and is left to sit for two months. When aging is completed Chef uses this maple syrup to glaze the Cedar Roast Salmon.

Salmon Method:

combine salmon cure ingredients in a large bowl

spread a thin layer of cure on a baking sheet

place salmon portions top side down on cure for one hour

remove from cure and wipe off excess cure

in large skillet heat olive oil and lightly sear bottom side of salmon

wrap soaked cedar paper and tie with butchers twine

place salmon in 350 degree oven and bake for 5-7 minutes

Pemberton Farm Fingerling Potatoes:

toss halved potatoes with seasoning and olive oil

roast in oven till tender and toss with pommery mustard

Seasonal Vegetables:

lightly steam vegetables and toss with olive oil, seasoning and fine herbs

Red Onion Marmalade:

julienne onion and place in small sauce pot

cover with honey, red wine vinegar and thyme sprigs

bring to simmer and reduce until liquid become a syrup like consistency

Plating:

evenly divide potatoes and vegetables between 4 plates

cut string and pull back paper topped with a spoon of red onion marmalade

garnish plate with a little garnish of some Maple Syrup and extra virgin olive oil

Diamond Peak ski resort in Incline Village is bringing back its Last Tracks wine event starting Feb. 6

For $29 participants can the last chairlift to the mid-mountain Snowflake Lodge and enjoy wine tasting and appetizers before skiing down a freshly groomed run at sunset.

Last Tracks Schedule

Feb. 6 – Sebastiani

Feb. 13 – White Hall Lane

Feb. 20 – Rodney Strong

Feb. 27 – Ruffino

March 6 – Folie a Deux

March 13 – Clos du Bois

March 20 – Wente

March 27 – Simi

April 3 – Ironstone

April 10 – New Belguim Brewing

For more information or to purchase tickets, call (775) 832.1235.

By Kathryn Reed

PLEASANT VALLEY — Who needs a bottle when you have the whole barrel?

It was more like who needs today’s wine when you can have tomorrow’s during the annual Bring Out the Barrel wine tasting event at 22 El Dorado County wineries last weekend.

Tasting rooms were full of people out for a sunny drive through the foothills to sample wine straight from the barrel.

Barrel tasting at Busby Cellars. Photos/Kathryn Reed

“I’m all about research,” said Deborah Robinson of Sacramento as she sipped wine in the back room of Latcham Vineyards.

Seeing what the wineries are doing, finding out projections about the next vintage to be released and being able to purchase the wines before they are bottled are all reasons Robinson attends the barrel tastings.

Kevin Gleave, who Robinson was with, also touched on another reason to attend the event. “I like the drive,” he said.

This sentiment was echoed at various wineries. A distinct hint of spring is in the air in the wine region, even though the vines still look dormant.

Many of the wineries pair food with their wines. Several had hot soup to ladle out on this cool Sunday.

At Narrow Gate, Sue Wood of South Lake Tahoe said she would go back just for the ham and white bean soup. She was fond of the gumbo at Busby, as well

“It’s a great soup because it doesn’t offend any of the wines. Bay leaves are the only spice. The ham hock flavors the broth,” Narrow Gate owner Teena Hildebrand said of her soup.

Plenty of barrels to taste from at Narrow Gate.

At Narrow Gate the one future (barrel tasting) for sale was a Syrah-Viogner blend that Frank Hildebrand created after tiring of paying $80 a bottle at other wineries for that blend. At the event last weekend the futures were selling for $20.80 bottle, but will be $26 when released this summer.

That’s one of the advantages to this event — getting a discount before the bottles are released.

At Busby Cellars, owner Elliot Graham said the barrel tasting event is good because it brings people to the region during a slow time of year.

“Sales-wise they are worthwhile,” Graham said of special events.

This particular weekend was picked because no significant football games were played. Some wineries, like Busby, plan to close Super Bowl Sunday because in past years traffic has been so slow.

It was so quiet last year that it was ideal for a movie to be filmed at Busby. The old barn will be part of a Spanish-language film. The area was doubling as Chile.

From the barrel, people could taste the 2007 Petite Sirah. The 2006 won best of class at the 2009 California State Fair.

At Sierra Vista Winery, 5 percent of the sales for the barrel tasting event were being designated for Haiti relief efforts.

Owner John MacCready said the barrel event doesn’t always bring a lot of buyers to his winery, but added that this year people were buying more than in 2009.

John MacCready taps into the barrel at his Sierra Vista Winery.

His wife and co-owner, Barbara MacCready, said overall ticket sales were up by a couple hundred people this year.

Tom and Madge McLennan of Granite Bay bought a couple bottles of the 2005 Cabernet. Sierra Vista was offering this in comparison to the 2007 that is still in the barrel.

This was the first barrel event for the McLennans who said they were enjoying finding out what the various wineries have to offer.

Passport Weekend is the next big event for the El Dorado wine region. The dates are April 10-11 and April 17-18. Tickets are $65. For more information, click here.

Publisher’s note: This first appeared in the December 2006 issue of the Tahoe Mountain News and is reprinted with permission. Hannah Teter hopes to repeat her 2006 performance in Vancouver next month.

By Kathryn Reed

Kobe beef, Mouton Rothschild Cabernet, Swiss chocolate — certain foods and beverages stand above the rest. For those who know syrup, nothing but the liquid gold from Vermont can cover a pancake, waffle or French toast.

Hannah Teter, 2006 Olympic snowboarding halfpipe gold medalist for Sierra-at-Tahoe, knows her syrup. The native Vermonter has been devouring the sticky stuff all of her 19 years.

“I grew-up eating pancakes and French toast. It was my daily breakfast,” she said late one morning as she waited for a film crew to arrive at the Meyers home she shares with her brother, Elijah. Another brother, Abe, lives across the meadow. She is the youngest of five kids. “My Dad has made syrup since I was little. Me and my brothers went out and would help him.

“With Vermont syrup, it has this sweet flavor. Once it hits your lips it’s sensational. It’s a sweet natural-like blessing from the Earth,” she said.

Breakfast isn’t the only time for syrup.

“After we were done making maple syrup when I was younger, we would get a bowl and pack snow in the bowl and pour freshly made syrup in it,” Teter said. “It would be a treat.”

Her Dad still bottles syrup for family and friends. Those same maple trees he taps into are being used by a company which is mass producing Hannah’s Gold. Since coming up with the creation, Teter has raised about $4,000 for World Vision, which helps underprivileged children in Africa.

“I wanted to do something special. In my heart, since I was younger, I felt an urge to give back and reach back out,”Teter said.

One hundred percent of the proceeds from the bottles that are available online at www.hannahsgold.com and at Sierra-at-Tahoe go to the charity. Sierra is even serving Hannah’s Gold for breakfast in mini packets.

Teter Family Pancakes-Waffles

1 cup oat flour (grind or blended quick or regular works)

1 cup white and/or wheat flour (can be half and half)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Mix above ingredients.

Beat 3 eggs

Add:

1¾ cups milk

1/3 cup oil, margarine or butter

¼ maple syrup, honey or sugar

Mix above with dry ingredients and let set for 30 minutes. Make into pancakes or waffles. Serve with plenty of real Vermont maple syrup.

“This mix will keep in the fridge most of the week, but works best the first few days,” said Pat Teter, Hannah’s mom and the woman who provided the recipe.

Two women who love fresh food and cooking spent 2009 cooking up a fresh idea.

Joanne Neft and Laura Caballero cooked weekly dinners using fresh Placer County produce and meat for eight guests for 52 weeks. The fruit of their labor? A 300-page cookbook called “Placer County Real Food” will be coming out in April.

Neft and Caballero hosted their meals on Mondays using fresh, homegrown ingredients produced by local farmers and ranchers sold at the Saturday Foothill Farmers’ Market.

A tasting workshop and food demonstration using menus from the new cookbook will be one of the highlights at the 15th annual PlacerGROWN Food and Farm Conference Jan. 30 at Lincoln High School.

Caballero will discuss the yearlong cooking project and the development of the cookbook.

Neft started the Foothill Farmers’ Market 20 years ago and formerly had the position as Placer County agriculture marketing director. She came up with the idea for the cookbook to let people know that great food is available at the Farmers Market in all seasons.

Publisher’s note: This is reprinted with permission from the January 2006 issue of the Tahoe Mountain News. The Black Bear Inn now has a cookbook for purchase full of breakfast recipes.

By Kathryn Reed

Living in Tahoe provides for some spectacular weekends — like the one just before the holidays arrived. How can you beat 10 bucks to ski at Kirkwood without crowds and on snow that was in stellar condition because of the bitter cold temps? Two days later I’m wolfing down the best breakfast I’ve had on the South Shore, wishing I had it before my day on the slopes.

That’s one thing Kevin Chandler and Jerry Birdwell, owners of the Black Bear Inn on Ski Run Boulevard, take into account when they whip up one-of-a-kind concoctions in their kitchen — what will stay with skiers and boarders as they schuss through mounds of powder?

As delicious as breakfast was this particular Sunday morning, it’s a shame you have to be a guest at the bed and breakfast (or write a food column) to be able to experience it. I spent a little more than an hour watching them create a breakfast that I’ve never seen here before.

They arrive in the kitchen about 6 each morning. Each is wearing a white chef coat with his name stitched beneath the Black Bear emblem. Breakfast is served to guests from 8:30 to 9:30am. Those staying in the cabins have the option of breakfast being delivered to them. People in the lodge eat at one of the downstairs tables.

The way they work in tandem it’s hard to know they’ve never had any formal culinary training. They’ve learned on the job since opening the inn March 5, 1999. The commercial kitchen has one sink just for hand washing, one for food washing, one for dish washing. Pans hang over the island. Bins of utensils (more whisks and spatulas than most people would know what to do with) sit above the gas range.

Each day of the week something different is served so their guests (the inn has 10 rooms, each accommodating two people) don’t ever indulge in the same dish twice. They graciously accommodate any dietary restrictions or food allergies.

On this particular morning eggs Benedict is being whipped up. Birdwell’s special orange hollandaise sauce is like none I’ve had. The coffee cake is so moist. Chandler assembled a topping for his baked tomato that the party of seven next to me raved about. This was something I would have never thought of for breakfast, but turned out to be a perfect complement to rest of the meal. The fourth item was a poached pear that melted in my mouth.

If you can’t take a vacation in Tahoe and stay at the Black Bear Inn, here is one recipe to make you feel like you’re there.

Jer’s Pears

10 Bartlett Pears

½ pound butter

¾ to 1 Cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

Brandy to taste (optional)

Peel pears. Thinly slice bottom off so pear will sit upright in pan. Use melon baller to core pears.

In skillet, add all ingredients except pears until butter is melted and everything is mixed together. Pour some of the mixture inside each pear. Pour the rest on the outside of each pear.

Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

The thing about these pears is that not only do they make for an unusual breakfast item, but they would be ideal with any meal of the day. And just think what they’d be like with a scoop of rich vanilla ice cream for dessert.

For more information about the inn, go to www.tahoeblackbear.com.

Sacramento Bee

Apparently all this cold weather has done more than just drive us into our kitchens to cook soup and bake bread – it’s aiding fruit and nut trees.

Most fruit and nut trees need a certain amount of chill hours – recorded when the temperature drops below 45 degrees – in order to help develop a crop for the next season, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation.

Read the whole story

By Lenita Powers, Reno Gazette-Journal

Chris Etcheverry and Jeannie Janning went to Reno’s Dish Cafe for a bite to eat today and wound up in front of a camera wielded by a crew filming a segment for Guy Fieri’s television series, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

“You take a bite of the food and they ask you to describe it,” Etcheverry said of her brief turn as an amateur food critic. “It’s a little scary. I told them the scone was really good and the granola had just the right

Guy Fieri also brought his crew to the 2009 Celebrity Golf Tournament in Stateline. Photo/Kathryn Reed

amount of nuts and cinnamon.”

Read the whole story

Peggy Fleming, the 1968 Olympic figure skating champion, and husband Greg Jenkins will be at the Resort at Squaw Creek on Jan. 15 to promote their Fleming Jenkins Vineyards & Winery of Los Gatos

A “Skate and Taste” is from 4 to 5:15pm at the resort’s ice rink for $20.

A four-course dinner at Six Peaks Grille is from 5-10pm fro $95.

From 5 to 10 p.m., the resort’s Six Peaks Grille is offering a four-course dinner in the main dining room, three courses of which are paired with Fleming Jenkins wines. Cost: $95 plus tax and tip. Reservations/details: 530-581-6621.

Fleming and Jenkins will  host to a six-course chef’s table dinner in Six Peaks’ private dining room at 7:30pm at a cost of $250.

Call (530) 581.6621 for information or to make a reservation.