A foodie's dream: Touring Sunset magazine's test kitchen

If you're a foodie and dig the design and garden/outdoor concept of West Coast living, chances are high that you love Sunset magazine. When the magazine lands in our mail pile, my husband and I quickly call dibs on it. It inspires many of our home decorating ideas and gives us ample reasons to host dinner parties so we can test out recipes. In fact, I even post a "test kitchen" series on my personal blog (and sometimes here on Shine), which was inspired by the Sunset test kitchen.

Sunset is hosting its annual "Celebration Weekend" on June 6 and 7, and I earlier this week I got a sneak peek at what attendees will get to see on Saturday and Sunday. (I'll be sharing more photos and stories over the next few days.)

First stop, the Sunset test kitchen. It's made up of four "kitchens" that include gas and electric stoves and a host of appliances and different work surfaces that make your eyes big with envy.

Sunset's Food Editor, Margo True, explained that each recipe published by Sunset goes through a rigorous testing process. After the pros have finalized a recipe, they hand it over to home testers who come to the test kitchen and follow the recipe to the letter. While the home testers love to cook, they cannot be professional chefs and must not deviate from the recipe at hand.

Like the proverbial kid in a candy store, I could have spent hours in the test kitchen, just snapping photos and watching the ladies work their magic. Check out some of the sights:






A gorgeous basket of chile peppers, tomatillos a mango and tomatoes, in preparation for Margo's appearance on "View from the Bay," where she made "fire and fruit tomato salsa."




















Three beautiful and tempting bottles of homemade (er, Sunset made!) limoncello. I loved the way that they were perched on a counter in between the test kitchen and some employee cubicles. A perfect DIY gift idea if you're like me and have a bounty of lemons waiting to be used.









More to come!