Fruit sensation
We were cruising through Safeway last week and discovered Black Velvet apricots ($3.99 a pound). We've never seen them before so we picked up a few to sample.
Wow. What a pleasant surprise. They look like dark purple plums with fuzz like an apricot. Inside they are bright orange. The peel is tart, like a plum, but the inside is sweet and the texture of an apricot.
After some research, we found out that the Black Velvet apricot resulted from crossing an apricot with a plum, sometimes called an aprium. It's a beautiful fruit that would definitely dress up a fruit salad.
Learn to grill
If you enjoy grilling and you are near Napa this weekend, Copia: The American Center for Food, Wine & the Arts has a class in how to grill like a pro.
Class hours are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. Instructors are award-winning food gurus Andrew Schloss and David Joachim, co- authors of "Mastering the Grill: The Owner's Manual for Outdoor Cooking."
For more information and to sign up for the class check the Copia Web site at www.copia.org or call (888) 512-6742.
A holiday weekend brewing
Here is an interesting statistic from the Nielsen Co. According to its research, consumers are expected to purchase more than 21 million cases of beer during the two weeks surrounding Memorial Day. That amounts to $381 million worth of beer.
Competitive cooks, take note
Through June 27, the California State Fair will be accepting applications for California Kitchens competitions, which includes several cooking challenges. This year, the fair has added a "Make It With Malt-O-Meal" contest, which asks participants to use cold cereal as a main ingredient. Options include Apple Zings, Cinnamon Toasters, Crispy Rice, Frosted Flakes, Coco Roos, Tootie Fruities or any other Malt-O-Meal cold cereal brand. (The hot cereal is excluded.) First prize is $100 in Malt-O-Meal coupons.
For more information or to fill out an application, go to the California State Fair Web site at www.bigfun.org.
