The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting crisper, and fall baking season is fully underway. I’ve spent the last few weekends baking various things with apples because it just feels so properly autumnal, and also because Isabelle, at four and half, declared herself capable of learning how to peel apples. She was right; with the proper […]...
{San Francisco}: Farallon Celebrates 20 Years
photo courtesy of Farallon. Twenty years after its opening, Farallon remains one of San Francisco’s most famous and celebrated restaurants. Farallon holds a special place in my heart; it’s one of the first “grownup” dining experiences I had after graduating college and starting my first job in the city. As restaurants go, Farallon is undoubtedly sui generis; entering […]...
{San Francisco}: Eat Drink SF 2017
photo courtesy of Gamma Nine Eat Drink SF 2017, the ultimate celebration of Bay Area food, wine, and spirits, is my favorite way to close out summer. Over 130 Bay Area restaurants, along with over 70 bars, wineries, and distilleries served up a feast of bites at Fort Mason for four days of tasting sessions, demonstrations, classes, and […]...
Italian Cherry Tart and Nonna Box Review
It’s way past Christmas but I still feel like I’m opening presents. Shortly before the end of last year I was gifted a delivery from Nonna Box: a subscription box full of gourmet foodstuffs from Italy. Every month a different area of Italy is featured; in December sweet treats from Marche, a region on the eastern coast […]...
Best Baking Cookbooks of 2016
Happy December! It’s time for one of my favorite posts of the year: my picks for best baking cookbooks of 2016 ! I’ve just returned from a couple weeks out of town – visiting family in the Midwest over Thanksgiving weekend and then flying immediately afterwards to Honduras for work meant not much time for […]...
{Cookbook Review}:Dorie’s Thanksgiving Bars from Dorie’s Cookies
Thank goodness for Dorie Greenspan. What else is there to say? When you’re feeling down and out, in swoops Dorie with a batch of cookies to make everything seem a little brighter. Her new cookbook, Dorie’s Cookies, comes at a perfect time when I’m looking. It’s the book equivalent of a big warm hug. By […]...
Anita Chu, also known as pastrygirl, is a baker, writer, and photographer with a passion for pastry. She trained at Tante Marie's Cooking School and is the author of Field Guide to Cookies, Field Guide to Candy, and Lollipop Love. Anita lives in San Francisco with her husband, baby girl, and rescue cockapoo Snickerdoodle. 
