Links around the Bay

I have a lot of great links for you today. The food blog world is a happy, happening place these days.

Pim at Chez Pim was invited to be a guest blogger in Aspen at the Food & Wine Magazine Classic. Her adventures so far have been outlined in three posts, and include stalking Tom Colicchio (she says it's not stalking, but I suspect differently), tasting wonderful Bordeaux wines, and taking harrowing plane flights.

The Food & Wine staff was mostly there, and everyone went out of their way to make me feel well looked after. I was tickled for being introduced so many times as 'This is Chez Pim' as though it was my first name. Even more tickled -- if not downright discomfited -- was when Dana Cowin, the stylish editor herself, pulled a 'OMG you are Chez Pim' when she saw me. How does one respond to that, with a bashful 'hi' and and little wave?

You can read the posts in Pim's words by clicking the links below:

Live from Aspen: 24th Annual Food & Wine Magazine's Classics in Aspen
Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen: Day One
Food & Wine Magazine Classic: Publisher's Party

Joy from Confessions of a Restaurant Whore has a review of Nihon, a newish Japanese restaurant near Rainbow Foods.

The Goma Ae is fast becoming our favorite Japanese salad. It's like your traditional spinach with sesame dressing salad but this one adds asparagus. Add to that the freaking GENIUS idea of having three different kinds of sesame paste (regular, with ponzu and spicy) and you've got yourself a deal. Jon and I went nuts for the spicy dressing, but to be honest I don't know how they can get away with serving it without a warning.

A special thanks to both Biggles at Meathenge and Sam at Becks and Posh this week. Because of their posts, I knew I had to get my hands on some Fatted Calf bacon this week and it is fantastic. Taylor, of Fatted Calf, has a new smoker and he has been working on changing the bacon. Additionally, he has changed his bacon source and is now buying Red Wattle pig from Heritage Foods In Biggles' words:

I would suggest you make a point of picking up some bacon, no really. It looks as though Taylor has hit a sweet spot with the cure & smoking process. It's some damned amazing stuff. Plus it's cut nice and thick so you can get a handle on it and not worry about over cooking it too damed fast. You get bacon, ya hear?

Meanwhile, Bay Area Bites contributor Shuna has been busy over at her blog Eggbeater. She recently had the opportunity to stage at Manresa (to stage is to got to a restaurant kitchen and either observe or help out on a volunteer basis).

I met a few of David's cooks and he said I should stop in and say hi sometime. I didn't tell him that driving through Los Gatos wasn't part of my commute to anywhere I ever went. I was polite, I said, "Sure."

Read the rest of the post here.

It's voting time over at the SF Bay Guardian. Go vote between now and June 27 so that your voice can be heard on 33 important food categories such as best cheese shop, best bloody mary, best Turkish restaurant, and best independent coffeehouse.