Sources for ingredients

California Cuisine
1505 Hollard Rd
PO Box 596
Maumee, OH 43537
PHONE: (419) 893-5149
Source for Rykoff-Sexton concentrated stock bases, including Nature's Beginnings, the low-sodium chicken and beef base concentrates and MSG-free chicken stock base.

Cipriani Bellini Base

At Harry's Bar in Venice, younger customers may order Virgin (or, baby) Bellinis, in which the peach juice used to make a grown-up Bellini is mixed with soda water instead of sparkling wine. Now, Cipriani, which owns the restaurant in Venice and others in New York, has introduced Cipriani Bellini Base, a carbonated peach soft drink. It can be served over ice for a nonalcoholic Bellini or mixed with rum, vodka or gin.

Though it makes a rather aggressive Bellini when combined with sparkling wine, add it to a dry white wine and you have a budget alternative to the classic drink. Cipriani Bellini Base is $1.75 for a 6.7-ounce can at Cipriani Le Specialità, 110 East 42nd Street. It is also sold at Grace's Marketplace, Mangia and Citarella stores.

Don Johnston's Honey

Don Johnston is a cardiologist in Rochester, Minnesota who enjoys this endeavor on the side.

His honey, creamed honey, soaps and hand cream are available at:

Bibelot Shop, three Twin Cities locations, 4315 Upton Av. S., Minneapolis, 612-925-3175; 1082 Grand Av., St. Paul, 651-222-0321; and 2276 Como Av., St. Paul 651-646-5651.

Cooks of Crocus Hill, 877 Grand Av., St. Paul, 651-228-1333; and 3925 W. 50th St., Edina, 952-285-1903.

Kowalski's Market, four Twin Cities locations, including 8505 Valley Creek Rd., Woodbury, 651-578-8800.

Turtle Bread Co., 3415 W. 44 St., Minneapolis, 612-924-6013.

Live a Little Gourmet Foods
P.O. Box 10916
Oakland, CA 94610
PHONE: (510) 594-1406
Source for a tasty, though eggless, Caesar dressing, Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing, Very Blue Cheese dressing, and an unusual Mango-Lime dressing as well as croutons which are far superior to anything I have found to purchase and even better than some of the homemade croutons I have turned out on nights when I am too rushed to do a good job with croutons as well as throw together the salad they will join.

From the Mailbag:
Virginia Davis, a partner in Live a Little, sent this comment, 8-16-00:

". . . we're really not suited up to ship to individuals unless they were to buy by the case. Of course we ship to . . . stores and more is always better. All dressings are $45/cs and croutons are $30/ cs. 12 in each box." [Contact Live a Little by double clicking here on: virginia@livealittle.com]

RAO's Homemade Sauces etc.
If you are very lucky, you have eaten at the source, but most of you living beyond metropolitan New York may be lucky if you can find Rao's sauces in your grocery store.
For all the rest of us, there is www.raos.com

Also, you can contact Rao's by phone at 1-800-HOMEMADE

Last, but not least, if you cannot get reservations at Rao's, or, if you want to be in the lead "discovering" an excellent restaurant in Manhattan, try Baldoria's on 49th St., conveniently located within walking distance of Times Square. If you love fresh oysters, run don't walk.

The French Laundry Cookbook by Thomas Keller (publ. Artisan, 1999) www.workmanweb.com

Silpat: a flexible silicon-coated, nonstick fabric sold in sized to fit commercial baking sheets and available from such places as Williams-Sonoma and Sur La Table. I actually bought one and trimmed it to fit my own baking pan. Just rinse and dry and its ready to go again. Tom Keller says in his French Laundry Cookbook that you can use parchment paper or a non-stick baking pan if you do not have a silpat. I purchased one in my favorite local kitchen store, Everything for the Kitchen in East Hartford, Connecticut. Williams-Sonoma sells them in our local mall; other kitchen supply stores sell them too. I do not know if they are available via catalog.

You can find the above recipe(s) by tapping here on the Home Cookin' index.

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