Inhaltsverzeichnis für March 2017 in Sunset

ONE OF THE EARLIEST MEMORIES I have from my childhood in Manila, Philippines, is of a daytime party at a relative's house—platters of pancit noodles, buckets of San Miguel beer, chicken thighs sizzling on the charcoal grill, and my cousins and I playing barefoot tag in the backyard. In the center of it all was a gleaming lechon, the whole roast suckling pig that holds court at Filipino festivities ranging from baptisms to funerals. (Apple in mouth optional.) Like most gatherings I remember from my native country, it was a rollicking good time. And 20-plus years later, when I threw my 300-person wedding reception in San Francisco, my Uncle Tong brought—what else?—a lechon for the occasion. A generous home-cooked meal shared with friends: Truly, does life get any better? That's…

THE FRONT LAWN HAD TO GO. Not only was it an uninspiring match for the Mediterranean-style home—which is located in the Bay Area town of Atherton—but it was thirsty as well. Parched, in fact: During the summer, the homeowner had to truck in water to keep it green. Tasked with replacing the grass, landscape designer Chris Jacobson was encouraged to get creative. Spurred by the client, a gardener herself, Jacobson looked to the work of Dutch landscape master Piet Oudolf, who is perhaps best known for the plantings on New York City's High Line. "He does these invented prairie gardens with large drifts of perennials," says Jacobson. "The challenge was to "Californicate" that look." Out went the flat, water-guzzling lawn, and in came curving paths and gently sloping berms. To…

In a strip mall in L.A.'s Chinatown, Alvin Cailan is grilling chicken and slathering it with a citrusy annatto baste. He's at Unit 120, his restaurant incubator, though he's better known as chef-owner of the West's wildly popular Eggslut restaurants. Unit 120 is closed to the public today, but rap music thrums inside the kitchen while Chad Valencia of Lasa restaurant seasons pancit noodles and Isa Fabro layers a mango dessert. The chefs, all Filipino Americans, are creating an off-the-menu dinner for family and friends that highlights some of their projects at Unit 120—and the new direction of Filipino cooking. "It's like a clubhouse for chefs, with a mission," Cailan explains about the small space. Here, cooks can try out long-term residencies, pop-ups, even a single dish—without committing to a…

BEST BEACH BUDDY SWING TIME Meet Layback Co., a new hammock company from Vancouver, B.C., whose eye-catching prints—palm fronds, feathers, stylized waves—pack into a matching knapsack for easy transport and look even cooler on the sand. "The idea started in a friend's backyard in Venice Beach," says founder and owner Adam Cook. "What sets ours apart from the rest is the lifestyle we're branding. Hammocks have been around forever; we're not trying to re-create the wheel, just make it that much more fun." From $79; layback.co. BEST MIXER Your new favorite cocktail "I didn't come from the beverage industry, but I've always been fond of eating and drinking," says Ann Soh Woods, founder of Soh Spirits. The Los Angeles entrepreneur channeled her love for Japan into a smooth-drinking whiskey called…

Pretty enough to eat Come spring, we're hungry for color—in our gardens and on our plates. Edible flowers deliver on both fronts. Here are our favorite blooms to plant now, and how to use them in the kitchen. FLOWER and HERB BUTTER SERVES 6 / 20 MINUTES While edible flowers make great additions to salads or cocktails, you can also get creative using butter as your canvas. This recipe is adapted from chef Josh McFadden's book Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables (Artisan Books, May 2017; $35). On a platter, thinly smear ½ cup room-temperature unsalted butter. Scatter with edible petals; herbs such as dill, parsley, tarragon, and thyme; sliced green onion; flake sea salt; and freshly ground pepper. If you like, add cracked coriander seeds and red chile…

I'M ON THE FERRY from the British Columbia mainland, churning across the sparkling water. I should probably be at the bow with the other tourists, watching for whales. Instead, I'm hunched over my phone, scrolling through the menu of a restaurant that lies ahead, deep in the woods of Galiano Island. I'd been wanting to visit Pilgrimme ever since I saw pictures of the place, a wooden cottage glowing among the cedar and fir, like something out of a fairy tale. Its chef had spent time at Noma, the world-famous Danish restaurant, and was conjuring meals from strange, wonderful ingredients gathered from the beach and forest. Now I'd made the thousand-mile trek from San Francisco to try it for myself. When we disembark, I discover I'm the only foot passenger…

WINE PAIRING Benessere Vineyards 2014 Estate Sangiovese (St. Helena; $32) CORNED BEEF SALAD SERVES 4 / 25 MINUTES This salad is a light but still festive way to serve corned beef on St. Patrick's Day—or to use up leftovers the next day. 2 cups rye bread, torn into 1-in. pieces (about 3 oz.) 3 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted ¾ tsp. kosher salt, divided ¼ tsp. freshly ground pepper, divided ½ tsp. caraway seeds ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 2 tbsp. each white wine vinegar and whole-grain mustard 1 tbsp. each Dijon mustard and chopped shallot 1 tsp. honey 1 qt. loosely packed torn butter lettuce (about 3 oz.) 3 cups each torn romaine lettuce and green-leaf lettuce (about 4 oz. total) 12 oz. cooked corned beef, torn into large shreds…

IT'S NO SECRET that a great bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon is easy to come by in Napa Valley. Or a good bottle of almost anything in Sonoma County. As appealing as those wines are, however, they come with the price of fame. In Napa, for example, there's a swath along the Mayacamas Mountains that produces wines I especially love—and that command big bucks. But a recent flyover revealed what should have been obvious: The Mayacamas Range doesn't stop at the Napa County line! It drops down into Lake County, where, along the slopes of the Red Hills subregion, vineyards experience similar growing conditions to those on the Napa Valley side. The resulting wines boast all the elements—muscular mountain tannins, beautiful aromatics, lively acidity—that make Napa's bottles stars. That's especially true…

Rough it among the animals on SANTA ROSA ISLAND, CA Terrain Just three native terrestrial mammals live on California's second-largest island—and humans aren't one of them. The mountains on this patch of land, 40 nautical miles from Ventura, are also home to almost a hundred species of birds, including the recently reestablished population of bald eagles. Add to that the turquoise waters and white sand beaches, and you'll see why this is a prime daytripping spot. Shelter BYO, preferably a windproofed tent. On Santa Rosa Island, 30-knot winds are not uncommon. A 1½-mile hike from the ferry landing will bring you to Water Canyon Campground (from $15; nps.gov/chis), in Becher's Bay, which has 15 basic sites with pit toilets and picnic tables. (Beach camping is also permitted at sites across…

Last spring, Tim Pfeiffer was doing some routine cleanup on the beach outside his cabin in Vashon Island, Washington, when he made a serendipitous discovery. Amid the washed-up fishing floats and tangles of seaweed, he turned up a tiny wood-mounted illustration of a seaside village. "It reminded me of both the San Juan Islands and Cape Cod, which was funny because these places were the inspiration for our home," says the Seattle-based interior designer. He wiped off the relic, marched it inside the house, and displayed it on a living room shelf. That inclination to see past chipped, decayed façades is what captured Pfeiffer's imagination when he and his partner, Matt Carvalho, stumbled upon the 1890s house after years of searching for a vacation home on the island. A former…

BAINBRIDGE Island, Washington, is woodsy, peaceful, full of wildlife—and after seven years, garden designer Tish Treherne was at the end of her rope with it. She and her husband, Adam Michel, had built their dream house, a contemporary labor of love, deep in the forest. As it turns out: too deep in the forest. "We lost the little sun we got about 2 p.m.," she says. "We hit the wall. We were considering moving to a sunnier climate." And then, on a lark, Treherne went to see a house that had just come on the market. The previous owners had remodeled it from a 1920s beach cottage to a chic ranch house. Best of all, it was flooded with light. "I fell in love with it," says Treherne, who scooped…

Spring cooking Right now, it's not just the favas and morels that have us racing to the kitchen—it's the new cookbooks too. Here are snippets from some favorites. BALANCING ACT Master the four elements that are the focus of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat (Simon & Schuster, Apr 2017; $35) and you'll make consistently delicious food and be more comfortable improvising, says Samin Nosrat, a former Chez Panisse cook—and cooking teacher to everyone from middle schoolers to Michael Pollan. With acid, for instance, she recommends adding different kinds at different stages. Add mellow acids like red wine at the beginning of cooking—for instance, when starting a beef stew—and sharp ones like lime juice to add a bright finish to avocado salad. MEYER LEMON CRUSH Limonana, or mint lemonade, the national drink…

April showers bring May flowers—and shrubs, and ornamental grasses, and every other plant in the Sunset Western Garden Collection (sunsetwesterngarden collection.com). We're prepping for our spring planting extravaganza in the upcoming April issue, so to one lucky reader we're giving away $1,000 worth of SWGC plants that have been custom-selected for that reader's specific Sunset climate zone. Whether you live in the mountains of Colorado, the deserts of Arizona, coastal Oregon, or elsewhere in the West, a Sunset Western Garden Collection representative will work with you to tailor a new look for your yard. For more details on this Facebook contest, visit sunset.com/plantcontest—and stay tuned for our garden-lovers' guide next month.…