The keys to delicious meatballs include creating a base of milk-soaked bread for moisture, using different kinds of meat for depth of flavor and letting the meat rest before combining so that the meatballs hold together.

What foods go well together, and what combinations can replace others.

Imagine a place where foodies not only have a favorite chef, but also a favorite farmer; a place where the distance between the organic farm and the award-winning restaurant is mere miles; a place where a sustainable future is foreseeable. It's all a reality in Durham-Chapel Hill.

Scratch pasta is the easiest thing in the world, just two ingredients, and it is so goddamn good. This is my current favorite pasta with wide-cut, hand-made noodles, dressed with a bright, tomato-based sauce made with the extraordinary Castelventrano olives of Sicily.

At Neal's Deli, the pastrami is made in a refrigerator-size smoker, served up with sides like vinegar-softened coleslaw and local beets spiked with horseradish.

40 sandwiches from around the Bay.

Fried rice, topped with crisp ginger and a fried egg.

We try not to stray into neighboring cities, but the video of the protest at Whole Foods Oakland is just too wonderful to miss (hat tip Lisa). It’s a strong, performance-art-like response to Whole Foods CEO John Mackey’s opposition to healthcare reform.

It doesn’t reach the extraordinary brilliance of the Sound of Music performance in Antwerp (below), but I would have liked to have been in Whole Foods when it happened.

Harvest Time is a Non-Profit Organization that is dedicated to improving Agri-tourism in the Brentwood Region of East Contra Costa County. Each year we produce a farm trail map that directs you to over 40 growers which sell direct to the consumer!

Struggling to understand the recent economic downturn? Confused about the relationship between finance and government? Looking for information you can trust on how weenies fit into the economic systems that shape our world? Who better to consult than timeworn teens?In this educational video, the participants of a teen radio forum discuss a question as important today as it was in 1948: What is Capitalism?For those whose attention span has been eroded by capitalism, I offer this shortened summary:Bobby Ray: It's not a dictatorship!Jeanie Sue: No, of course not, silly! Its Democracy.Johnny Jr.: Well, it sure ain't a system of government planning and control.Jeanie Sue: It's Democracy!Betsy Anne: Listen up everybody! Capitalism is private ownership of property. And by "property," I mean weenies.Bobby Ray: Don't forget profit motive!Johnny Jr.: Yeah! And things we want. Betsy Anne: Like WEENIES!Jeanie Sue: You're all wrong. Capitalism is really just another name for competition, competition for weenies.Bobby Ray: Golly, this is complicated. Can we just all agree that it has something to do with weenies?Announcer: Why should there be any question about it? Capitalism gives us the highest standard of living in the world. And that means ALL the weenies we can eat.I wish I could complain about the educational standards in 1948, or the propagandistic celebration of weenies so common to that era. Unfortunately, for all their biases, these teens appear to know a heck of a lot more about capitalism and weenies than my college students do 60 years later. Perhaps I should show this film in class. You know, with weenies.

A new archetypal cookie recipe, one to suit today’s tastes and to integrate what bakers have learned since that fateful day in Whitman, Mass.

With a little shopping, a little effort, and 20 minutes or less for assembly, you can create the kind of carry-out food that will put the local prepared food shops to shame while saving you a small fortune.

The atmosphere is reminiscent of the taco huts on the beaches of California.

Broaden the possibilities for creative cuisine, while maintaining the simplicity and energy savings of one-pot cooking.

Good mabo tofu recipe.

Peanut butter pie, migas, sausage on sauerkraut, ribs, and brisket.

These are amazing... creamy texture inside and crispy shells with a robust, but not overpowering, garlic flavor and a hint of citrus.

The best Korean restaurant in Oakland?

Whaling in the Faroe Islands has been practiced since at least the 10th century.

List of farms and orchards in the Bay Area where you can pick your own fruits and vegetables.

Info on how to make reservations for BBQs at Golden Gate Park.

The secret is fairly equal parts cilantro and mint—herbs you'd never find in the original—which, when paired, give it an exotic quality.

The diners in Restaurant 11 can use their mobile phones to submit a keyword of their choice, which will later appear on the surrounding screens with corresponding photographs from Flickr.

Dona Tomas serves authentic regional and exotic food from all over Mexico.

Those oven-roasted carnitas were long pieces of pork, crispy on the ends, with fall-apart tender, juicy meat that had a nice porkiness to it.

I now feel I don't have to travel to the Mission in San Francisco to get edible Mexican food.

Nice, creative use of annotations. This makes the annotation the artwork, distinct from the photo.

The Penguin Companion to Food is the paperback edition of the Oxford Companion to Food, so see more reviews there...

Video made to fit a semantic description rather than vice versa.

Cactus offers generous, flavorful burritos, tacos, tamales, tortas and enchiladas.

The breakfast special: a whole deboned trout, grilled & served with homemade salsa, two eggs, and homefries.

A Southern style diner/greasy spoon where you can get get great egg dishes.

The menu is versatile and varied, and it's a restaurant that always delivers for us. A favorite.

After more than 25 years of business in Berkeley's "gourmet ghetto," Alice Waters' groundbreaking restaurant is still a hard reservation to secure.

Be it Momma's brisket stew, Nocino-walnut liqueur, balsamic vinegar or salumi of all shapes and sizes, you can be sure that Paul has perfected it by hand.

Almost everyone starts out with the utterly addictive french fries, perfectly salty and crisp served with a dense adoli. Plump mussels arrive in a Pernod-spiked broth. Walnut-dusted halibut rests on a bed of fresh, bright fava beans.

Lalime's serves California-inspired Mediterranean fare to a loyal following in a warm, two-level dining room.

This well-loved restaurant, often described as the Chez Panisse of Oakland, has been popular with East Bay residents for over 25 years.

The unassuming exterior of this little treasure on the Berkeley/Albany border belies the enticing aromas and flavors that wait inside.

La Note is a breath of Provence in the middle of downtown Berkeley.