The Getz Household, known throughout Northern California for hospitality, always had room for at least one more at the table. So, when I drove into Marin, day or night, and called Nancy to see how she was doing, there was always the welcome mat and an invitation to a Tom Jones style feast (sans Tom Jones, unfortunately.) My first Big Brother recipe is dedicated to Nancy and David, regrdless of dimensional whereabouts~ thanks for so many warm and wonderful gatherings convened at their country home. I'll never be able to do justice to Nancy's Pear Pie, inspired by the Pear Ice Cream served at The Avalon Ballroom and/or Fillmore Auditorium. This is my best, however humble attempt to recreate a specialty without equal. Sorry Nancy - it's close as I could get it!! Check some of the recipes at inside at the outside too! Once of Alice's favorites!

 

NANCY'S ELEGANT PEAR PIE

 

               

Ingredients

4 cups pears, peeled and sliced * 1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla * 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice * 1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons flour * Pastry for 2-crust pie
1/4 teaspoon salt * 1 tablespoon milk

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place sliced pears in a large bowl and toss with vanilla and lemon juice. In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, cinnamon and brown sugar then toss with the pears. Turn into a 9-inch pastry lined pie pan. Dot top with butter. Cover with top crust, seal and flute edges. Make slits in crust for steam. Brush milk over top crust. Bake 15 minutes in preheated 425 degree oven then reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 25-30 minutes

 

 

 

For Sam Andrews

Sam Andrews prepares the best French Toast I have ever tasted! He’s a versatile Sagittarius, with a hearty love for the good life. Sam gets deeply involved in whatever he does. He is genuine, sincere and discriminating overall. He is capable of experiencing the freedom that comes with meditation on ‘the big picture’ but can also become a restless spirit when things are just getting underway (like when the day begins.) This recipe could interest Sam over the week or on week-end breaks before the movers and shakers of the world get into gear and pick up the pace again.

CLASSIC FRENCH TOAST

Ingredients

12 slices bread 1/2 inch thick (home made or San Francisco sour dough) * 1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs * 2 cups milk or cream

Directions

Beat the eggs, add the milk/cream and salt. Dip slices of San Francisco sour dough, raisin-walnut, and/or nine grain bread into the mixture and saute in a bit of hot oil until a delicate brown on both sides. Try Fisherman Wharf sour dough if you can locate some – it’s the best bread
for this recipe! Serve hot. Sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar or serve with maple syrup. Other suggestions for enjoyment of this classic toast add variety. They may be prepared ahead of time and stored. Try something from my mother’s traditional cookbook that is fast and delicious:

Apricot Preserve

3/4 cup apricot pulp * 3/4 cup heavy cream * Sugar

Drain canned apricots from their syrup and rub through a sieve. Beat cream until stiff, add to apricot pulp and sweeten to taste.

OR

Bar-Le-Duc

1 quart currants * 2 cups sugar * 1 cup water

Stem and wash currants. Combine sugar and water and heat to boiling, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil rapidly for 5 minutes. Add currants and boil rapidly for 15 minutes. Pour into clean hot jars and seal. Makes 3 (1/2 pint) jars.

 

FRENCH TOAST WITH BEAUFORT

Ingredients

7 oz Beaufort (diced)
10 slices of French or Italian bread
1/4 lb ham (sliced into small strips)
3 1/4 cups milk
4 eggs
3 1/2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbs plain yogurt
1 tsp nutmeg

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk the eggs with yogurt, butter and nutmeg. Heat milk in a pan then, add to the rest of the mixture. Blend all together. Toast bread slightly, then place slices in the mixture for a few seconds on each side. Place bread on a baking pan, layer each slice with ham and top with diced Beaufort. Bake for 30 minutes (until cheese is melted). Try with Comté or Cantal, as well.

 

Wonderful French Toast Recipes
From B & B Chefs Around The USA

Including Decadent French Toast (NY) and Mountain Man French Toast from Romantic
RiverSong Inn in Colorado

 

Chet Helmes
aka Chester Helms of Atelier Dore

Festival Casserole

Chet Tribute Poster
Interview With Chet Helms part one and two

        

 

Monterey Jack!

Monterey Pop D.A. Pennebaker (1968)

What makes it special? Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cooked rice (long and short grain is best – cook in water and white California
wine @ 4 to 1)
whole green chiles, fresh or 1 7 ounce can whole green chiles
4 medium zucchini cut in 1/2" slices
3 large Roma tomatoes, peeled and sliced
1 lb. Monterey jack cheese (slice 1/2, grate 1/2)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup mild or medium hot salsa
1 tsp. dried oregano
3/4 tsp. Salt
2 T. diced green and/or yellow and red bell pepper
2 T. fresh parsley, basil or cilantro

How to make it

Butter 9x13" pan. Cover bottom with rice over 1/8” white California wine* and then a thin layer of split chiles, with cheese slices to cover. Put zucchini slices in single layer to cover, then tomato slices to cover. Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and spread over the tomatoes. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 to 40 minutes uncovered. Top with grated jack (or cheddar) Bake another 5 to 10 minutes to melt cheese. Serves 8 to 10 as a side dish.

I did an interview-chat with Chet Helms at his gallery, Atelier Dore, after we both appeared as guests on Channel 5 'People Are Talking.'
Chet shared some favorite "beat poet on the road" stories that should be posted by someone, so you can read them here once I've cleared a surface on my desk to tackle the project. The show was one of the last "People Are Talking" productions, perhaps because it was live and caused producers too many anxiety attacks. Ross Magowan and Jennifer Montana, sitting in for Ann Fraser, were hosting. There was a mini-fashion show that highlighted 60s fashion updated for the 90s. The post-show interview with Chet will be posted in full in another article, with the transcription of this TV show - brief comments from an interview after this show are now at San Francisco and The Bus. Server upgrade keeps on keeping on - the delay unavoidable!

 

 

Attn: Harry Potter fans [and chocoholics everywhere]: Professor Lupin recommends
chocolate for dementor tremors, as do other Hogwarts instructors. Go Harry Potter
pages with recipes for every day and special occasions.
go Allen Cohen page for Oracle Chocolate Espresso Truffles - also find Herb-Roasted Allen Ginsberg Potatoes!
12 Grimmauld Place The Order of the Phoenix. Specials served at the school
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - the menu, and The Shrmx selection.

Big Brother My Space

 

* Try Francis Ford Coppola’s white wine – contributes an excellent flavor to the rice! If you're curious about Coppola's current project, ON THE ROAD, keep yer fingers crossed. There will be a comparison chart posted for Neal and Brad Pitt if-when the film starts up.

 

 

 

Dinosaurs at Oakland Auditorium, December 31, 1982
Haight-Ashbury and San Francisco Mystic Triangle
Digger Space - Golden Gate Park Panhandle
New York Times Article Rock: The Music of the 60's by JON PARELES, Published: January 18, 1988
PSYCHEDELIC-ERA nostalgia arrived Friday when the Dinosaurs, a group of San Francisco rockers with a 1960's pedigree, headlined
an evening of music, lights and reminiscences.

 

My Interview With Peter Albin

Big Brother and The Holding Company Homepage