Kate Bradshaw

1 week ago | sacbee.com | John Metcalfe |Kate Bradshaw

What's the dill with pickles and drinks? It's not just the rise of the pickleback – a dive-bar favorite combining a shot of bourbon followed by a shot of pickle juice that has been growing in popularity since its reported 2006 invention. Pickles seem to be having a moment, popping up increasingly in and near our beverages. Pickle juice has long been a cult favorite of endurance athletes, some of whom swear by its cramp-prevention powers (though the data is less conclusive).

1 week ago | mercurynews.com | John Metcalfe |Kate Bradshaw

Get your trendy pickle fix at Little Bird or Fox Tale Fermentation Project

3 weeks ago | mercurynews.com | John Metcalfe |Jason Mastrodonato |Linda Zavoral |Kate Bradshaw

But with the change in seasons comes another opportunity to dive into the delicious world of sandwiches. Take them with you on hikes, midday picnics in the park, road trips or just a lazy night in. Many of these sandwiches are big enough to have one half for dinner and leftovers for lunch the next day.

1 month ago | mercurynews.com | Kate Bradshaw |Kate Bradshaw

At Greens, a vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco, Executive Chef Katie Reicher waits eagerly each year for the potaotes to come in from the farm, Green Gulch. “These potatoes haven’t been cured (a several-week process that helps to preserve them), so their skins are still paper thin, and their flesh still sweet from the earth,” she writes in her forthcoming cookbook, “Seasons of Greens” (Weldon Owen, $45).

1 month ago | mercurynews.com | Kate Bradshaw |John Metcalfe |Jason Mastrodonato |Linda Zavoral

Public libraries have always been busy spots, but they’ve grown even more so in the years since the pandemic. They’ve become not just spots for homework or book browsing but free co-working spaces, with desks filled with people quietly but busily typing away. Of course, using up all that brain energy can work up an appetite. And fortunately, long gone are the days of snackless stacks. Here are eight library-cafe pairings across the Bay Area with great vibes and even better eats. Croissant, anyone?