GOOD TASTES.CHERRY PICKING TIME: It's the season to load up on fresh cherries. For a fun family outing, head to the cherry orchards in the Leona Valley from June 6 through the end of the month. Although more than two dozen orchards allow consumers to pick their own fruit, times and days vary. Most places provide all the equipment you'll need, including buckets, bags and containers. Prices likely will average about $2 a pound if you pick your own (a few orchards also sell picked cherries). Take cash since some growers don't take credit cards. Ask if you can taste-test varieties to find the cherry you like the best. If you go, make the trip worthwhile and pick plenty as the cherries will last two to three weeks in the refrigerator and are easily frozen whole with stems attached for a snack long after the season is over. To get to the Leona Valley from the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , take the Antelope Valley Freeway The Antelope Valley Freeway is a freeway in Los Angeles and Kern counties in southern California. It is signed as California State Highway 14 along its length. It connects Greater Los Angeles to the rapidly developing Antelope Valley. (14) north and exit at Palmdale Boulevard. Go left (west) 10 miles on Palmdale Boulevard to 90th Street and look for the cherry orchard signs. For more information, call the Leona Valley Cherry Growers Association hotline at (661) 266-7116. The annual cherry parade starts at 10 a.m. June 14 on 90th Street west at Leona Avenue and goes north to Elizabeth Lake Road where it proceeds east. Plan to arrive early in the morning, before the roads close. - Natalie Haughton MALT NOSTALGIA: Two new Frappucino blended beverages with the nostalgic flavor of malt are now available at Starbucks coffee houses. The new Mocha Mocha (mō`kə), town (1990 est. pop. 2,000), S Yemen, a port on the Red Sea. It was noted for the export of the coffee to which it gave its name but declined as a trading port in the late 19th cent. with the rise of Hodeida and Aden. Malt Frappucino blended coffee and Chocolate Malt Frappucino blended creme offer a modern twist to conventional malt-flavored beverages. Order in three sizes - tall ($3.15), grande ($3.55) and venti ($3.95). We liked the chocolate best, but you really have to like malt flavor to enjoy these cold blended drinks. - N.H. CONTEST ALERT: It's time to enter your original, creative burger in the Sutter Home Winery 13th annual Build a Better Burger Contest. The grand prize for the best burger is $20,000. The best potato side dish recipe will earn $5,000. For complete contest rules, visit www.buildabetterburger.com or send a self-addressed No. 10 envelope to Build a Better Burger, P.O. Box 248, St. Helena, CA 94574. Recipes must be received no later than Aug. 29. - N.H. UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATE COMPARISON: If you bake or cook with unsweetened chocolate (which contains neither sugar nor milk solids), the results of a chocolate comparison by Cook's Illustrated magazine a few months back might be of interest. The chocolates were tested in both brownies and in chocolate sauce. Scharffen Berger Unsweetened Pure Dark Chocolate (about $15 per pound) ranked first overall, followed by Callebaut Unsweetened Chocolate (about $5.50 per pound), Ghirardelli Unsweetened Chocolate Baking Bar (about $9 per pound), Valrhona Cacao cacao (kəkä`ō, –kā`–), tropical tree (Theobroma cacao) of the family Sterculiaceae (sterculia family), native to South America, where it was first domesticated and was highly prized by the Aztecs. Pate Extra (about $11 per pound) and Nestle Unsweetened Baking Chocolate Bars (about $4 to $5 per pound). Scharffen Berger came in first in the sauce test; Ghirardelli was first in the brownies. Baker's and Hershey's unsweetened baking chocolates were not recommended. Now you know what to buy. - N.H. DINING OUT: Specializing in exotic rolls, the new, second-story Sushi Bar Unmun in Encino offers such creations as the White Dream ($8.90) of deep-fried baby lobster rolled in soybean soybean, soya bean, or soy pea, leguminous plant (Glycine max, G. soja, or Soja max) of the family Leguminosae (pulse family), native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Asia, where it has been paper with a side of spicy tuna, and a Monkey Brain roll ($6.90) of deep-fried crab, mushroom and spicy tuna. One of its more complex special rolls has not been named. In fact, it's ordered as the No-Name roll ($7.50) and comes stuffed with baked salmon, albacore albacore: see tuna. albacore Large oceanic tuna (Thunnus alalunga) that is noted for its fine flesh. The streamlined bodies of these voracious predators are adapted to fast and continuous swimming. , eel, crab, pickled radish and cream cheese and topped with smelt eggs and green onion. Regular sushi snack prices here range from $2.90 to $5.90. Box specials that include miso soup, salad, rice, gyoza gyo·za n. A pocket of dough that is stuffed, as with minced pork or shrimp, and fried. [Japanese.] (dumpling), calamari tempura Tempura - Language based on temporal logic. "Executing Temporal Logic Programs", B. Moszkowski, Camb U Press 1986. and egg roll are priced from $7.90 (with teriyaki ter·i·ya·ki n. A Japanese dish of grilled or broiled slices of marinated meat or shellfish. [Japanese : teri, glaze + yaki, to broil.] Noun 1. chicken and either California or spicy tuna roll) to $10.90 for a two-item teriyaki meal of chicken, beef or salmon. In addition to tempura, teriyaki and barbecued beef ribs, the Unmun chefs prepare skewered yakitori ya·ki·to·ri n. A dish of bite-sized marinated chicken pieces grilled on skewers. [Japanese : yaki, roasting + tori, bird.] and kushiaki tidbits TidBITS is an award-winning electronic newsletter and web site dealing primarily with Apple Computer and Macintosh-related topics. Internet publication TidBITS has been published weekly since April 16, 1990, which makes it one of the longest running Internet publications. , albacore and tuna tataki, baked mussels, deep-fried soft shell crab and a seafood dish titled ``whitefish whitefish: see salmon. whitefish Any of several silvery food fishes (family Salmonidae, or Coregonidae), inhabiting cold northern lakes of Europe, Asia, and North America. wats-up.'' Sushi Bar Unmun, open daily except Sunday for lunch from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and for dinner from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., is located at 16101 Ventura Blvd., Encino. Information: (818) 528-7737. - Larry Lipson CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1) no caption (Cherries) (2) no caption (Malt Frappucino) (3) no caption (Hamburger) |
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