by Christina Waters | Apr 10, 2008 | Food, Home |
The quest for chocolate continues — and my most recent fieldwork has turned up another reason to live.
Lake Champlain Organic Chocolate! Packaged in a convenient purse-sized (!) 1.25 oz bar, this truly TDF chocolate comes in some brilliant forms. Those who like it dark will scream over the 55% cocoa Dark Spicy Aztec. It tastes something like what Moctezuma might have consumed on his way to the harem – the rich, deep chocolate is spiked with vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin seeds and enough cayenne pepper to make your palate pay attention. The finish on this one is very exciting.
Now for the milk chocolate, sea salt and almonds version. Those of you who will recall my ecstatic description of A16‘s chocolate budino with sea salt and olive oil, should heed this shout out about the Lake Champlain chocolate bar. Even though it contains only 38% cocoa, which ramps down the intensity of its chocolatey-ness, it recovers nicely thanks to the presence of sea salt. The salt powers the chocolate flavor further, faster and, I’ll say it, deeper. Almonds are a value-added ingredient which brings even more to this mouth party.
Dig it – the price is a mere $1.79 per bar, which is scored into eight convenient two-bite-sized rectangles.
At Shoppers, and probably elsewhere. Get it. Eat it. Get some more.
by Christina Waters | Apr 8, 2008 | Home, Wine |
Silver Mountain Vineyards – 2004, Tondré’s Grapefield, Santa Lucia Highlands.
I’m convinced that something close to sorcery must occur in the Tondré Grapefield. Because Tony Craig – formerly of David Bruce, who’s now joined founding winemaker Jerold O’Brien at Silver Mountain – is making all the Silver Mountain wines I’ve been tasting. But these Tondré grapes just seem to power the vintage into another plane of flavor duration. Sassafras, plum, rhubarb and licorice and a finish that lasts over a minute. This is a pinot noir that requires absolutely nothing more than a glass! And it gets better the second day, when more earth and mushroom tones appear at the top and the bottom. Roses perfume the very summit of the finish. Incredible stuff.
2004 Miller Hill Vineyard. At 13.5% alcohol, this wine has real finesse and cries out to be joined by chicken, fish or perhaps a lightly-seasoned duck dish. We tasted an initial round of ash and tobacco, something rich, meaty and spicy in the middle – Bolognese? blood? – and a finish of pomegranate, licorice and wood putty. (more…)
by Christina Waters | Apr 7, 2008 | Food, Home |
TLC rancher Jim Dunlop himself was doing the farmers market honors last Saturday – sitting on a mound of free-range gold from his free-rambling, pasture raised chickens. I’ve wandered the range with some of the very chickens who laid these eggs and a happier, more inquisitive, feisty bunch doesn’t exist. Ergo – I was happy to go ahead and pay top dollar – seven of them – for a dozen of the TLC ranch-fresh eggs.
Check out this three-minute egg, sitting in my favorite egg cup from San Miniato al Monte monastery shop in Firenze. An egg worth savoring, loaded with protein, omega 3s and grassy terroir. Intense flavor and electrifying orange color (not photoshopped I promise!) — TLC’s superior eggs are worth every penny.
Tastes Like Chicken Ranch – not just for terrific pastured pork. At your local farmers market.
by Christina Waters | Apr 3, 2008 | Home |
A charmed corner of Berkeley, this wedge of turf at Cedar & San Pablo. At one edge of the small parking lot is the mighty wine house of Kermit Lynch, where I stopped by to see what I could afford in the way of 2005 Burgundy. (Not much, but I did my best.)
At the other end sits the home of Acme Breads, an establishment that lives up to its name. And in between is the thin slice of cafe heaven, Cafe Fanny – founded by Alice Waters and named after her daughter. Here I paused over an expertly-made caffe macchiatto, and a long slice of delicate pear galette. The fruit had been sliced into stained glass transparency, embedded into a flaky croissant pastry and then almost invisibly glazed with jam. Accompanied by a small, barely sweetened dollop of whipped cream, it fueled my drive home along the Nimitz.
by Christina Waters | Apr 2, 2008 | Home, Wine |
Friday. 5:30pm. A splash of Gruner Veltliner from the Austrian house of Nigl in the glass and a beautiful appetizer plate of alternating coral and green bands of ahi and avocado. Add a dusting of black sesame seeds and a luscious vinaigrette spiked with tamari and sesame oil. The entire sensuous array has been dusted with a chiffonade of fresh basil. You are at Soif and you know you’re in exactly the right place at the right moment.
Especially since winemaker Richard Alfaro was sitting two seats away, just close enough to reveal a few key plans for his winemaking future. No, I will not tell you. Yet. In his honor I switched to a spicy Pinot Noir 2005 made by Richard himself. It went brilliantly with the remains of the vivacious appetizer plate.
Pinot and primavera are now firmly fused in my sensory memory banks. A splendid union.
