Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Our favorite comfort food is mapo tofu - spicy and warming - over rice with some sauteed greens. Something about one bowl foods you can hold in your hand do it for us...

that's easy - coconut curry soup with rice noodles and fried tofu. Yum!

white sangria is always a hit at our place during the hot summer months. here's a favorite recipe for it:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/27/dining/271drex.html

this recipe was highlighted on serious eats about 18 months ago and i've made it quite a few times since then:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/food/5310305.html

yum!

i've even put the cheese mixture into a serving dish and sprinkled the bacon on top (instead of making a ball).

i live locally and i would check out the ferry building marketplace. you get a little bit of everything there - wine, cheese, produce, sweets, places to eat. It's right at the end of market street. other suggestions to check out michael bauer's list are right on. gary danko is superb, thahn long out in the sunset is tasty too. you can get sourdough anywhere. i would avoid fisherman's wharf and ghirardelli - that area is pretty gross (although that's where gary danko is - just south of ghirardelli square on north point). definitely go for dim sum while you're here. There is so much good food here - you are definitely in for a treat!

I've been on WW for a while and I've found that the recipes in Shape Magazine are fabulous and have low(er) point values for a meal. If you have online access to WW, you can enter the calories/fat/fiber and it will give you the points right there. I've found alot of recipes in the 6 point range that are really filling (and so much better than a frozen dinner) that my family will eat. This one for Gorgonzola burgers (http://www.shape.com/healthy_eating/recipes/Gorgonzola_Burger_recipe.html) is one of my favorites.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that I usually make double the sauce - it's so tasty!

My 4 year old is pretty adventurous (raw fish, lamb, curries, etc.), but there are still those days when she really wants boxed mac and cheese or those dreaded mcnuggets (for which i can 'thank' a relative for introducing her to). I think it's inevitable when they hit school age to want that kind of stuff. I remember seeing Mario Batali talk to someone (Maybe Gwyneth on the Spain show?) about his kids only wanting hot dogs at a certain age. It's awful for folks who like their food, but it happens (and it sucks)! :)

I second the C&O recommendation - l love their honor system for their wine and the food is good too!

I have a few and I really like them, although nothing compares to the heft of a good old chef's knife. I don't use my ceramic knives for, say, cutting through bones and sometimes even pressing a clove of garlic that's fat is sometimes sketchy.

I've been lucky that I haven't chipped mine (yet?) and I've had my oldest one 3+ years. You can send them to Kyocera for sharpening for $5 or so.

If you want a cheaper foray into ceramics, you could get one of the ceramic hand slicer/mandolines available at Williams-Sonoma. I think they're under $30.

I would make this:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/SUMMER-FRUIT-SALAD-WITH-MINT-SUGAR-109657

It's a really yummy recipe!

When I have mint leftover I make mint sugar and put it into ice cube trays and freeze them. Once they are frozen i pop them into a ziploc and use them for fruit salad or mojitos.

I actually didn't mind the recipes at the back too much - I'll admit it was confusing to find some of them though. I thought the content was pretty blah this month though - that bugged me more than the recipe location. Although the little piece about the beekeeping was interesting.

My daughter has a peanut allergy (at first she had a milk allergy, tree nut allergy, and peanut allergy but luckily outgrew the first two already). If I were to have another, I wouldn't touch peanut butter or nuts ever during the pregnancy or breastfeeding, even if there isn't absolute evidence of a connection. I still feel guilt for all the PB I ate with my daughter. If your husband has a tree nut allergy and asthma, I would avoid just to be on the safe side. Living with a peanut or tree nut allergy is really awful at times and constantly has me scared for my daughter - every time the phone rings I think the worst.