With the approach of colder weather, hearty dishes and hot soups will be making their way back to the dinner table.  The uniquely warm and comforting experience of eating a perfect one pot dish is made possible by the earthy flavors of vegetables and meats which are gently extracted from great seasonal ingredients. An essential ingredient for your fall and winter cooking is homemade stock.

While most home chefs purchase stocks or broths from the market, those products are almost never as good as the homemade kind, and just plain cost too much. Restaurant chefs make their own stocks from scratch for two reasons: because stocks are the foundation of all good soups and sauces (the French word for stock is fond, meaning “foundation”), and because stocks make good use of food scraps that would otherwise be thrown away.

Summer fruits with a long season, like apples and peaches, and other fruits that ripen in autumn, like many plums and pears, are among the most excellent fruits for making fillings for pies and tarts. Autumn is the harvest season, and these and other fruit, especially stone fruit, are the first to fill the proverbial cornucopia, and are in fact falling off the trees this time of year.

Enjoy this recipe for Blueberry Plum Tartlets. It calls for a traditional pie crust, but you may also substitute this Almond Shortbread Crust recipe for an even more elegant treat. And consider making this Bourbon Whipped Cream as an accompaniment.

Summer has finally made it’s sultry self known here in the City by the Bay, after the standard ocean-induced foggitude. By now most of the rest of the country has already drowned it’s thirsty palate in iced tea, lemonade, Gatorade, soda pop, and ice water, but many of us San Franciscans are just getting into the summer swing of things.

There are teas, energy drinks and vitamin drinks aplenty, but sometimes the best things are made with good old raw ingredients right at home. Lemonade is easily made by the glass, and it’s as good for you as it is refreshing.

But another beverage that has real health benefits and is also yummy, but which gets less recognition, is homemade ginger ale.

By following a few simple guidelines, you can produce exquisite pies and pastries right at home with a minimum of work. Plan ahead now and create some delightful treats for any upcoming events, or just to have wonderful treats around the house.

Three things to keep in mind:

1. When preparing fresh pie and pastry dough, wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest in the refrigerator immediately. Return the dough to the fridge every time you notice that the dough is approaching room temperature. These cooling/resting periods are crucial for two reasons: a. It prevents the fat (i.e. butter, shortening, margarine) from melting, which will create a more flaky crust, and b.

Chef Adam Cutsinger has hand-picked three of his favorite cocktails to pair with yummy snacks AND to compliment the [hopefully] warm and sunny long weekend.

First stop - perfect for an Easter Brunch - is the Russian Punch. This beautiful punch is perfect with blinis . Although blinis are traditionally topped with caviar, you can substitute sour cream, ham, lox, some other kind of fish, or place a dollop of orange marmalade on top each blin, er, silver dollar sized pancake.

To keep warm through the early evening hours - well, when is the last time you’ve sipped a negroni? The Negroni is a classic, also known as The Martinez. An old school cocktail which came into existence around 1906 and which has taught Mr.