Dagoba Chocolate

A couple weeks ago when I was at the SF Ferry Building Plaza with Laura and Marisa, we stopped at the Scharffen Berger shop to buy my mom’s favorite Scharffen Berger cocoa powder. That day they were giving away free bars of Dagoba organic chocolate with your purchase. I admit it’s pretty slick marketing because here I am writing on my blog about a chocolate I had never heard of.

Marketing ploys aside, I rather liked this chocolate. The bar I was given was the “lemon ginger” flavor. I love crystallized ginger in my chocolate but was a little skeptical about the “hint of lemon.” The hint turned out to be just enough, not overpowering but still interesting.

Dagoba, which is based out of Ashland, Oregon, makes several different creative infusion bars (like Chai; Blueberry Lavender; and Acai, Goji and Currants) as well as single-origin chocolate bars, drinking chocolates and baking chocolates. Dagoba prides itself on its organic and sustainable practices, which you can read all about on their website.

Dagoba, which means “temple of the gods,” describes itself as “Dedicated to the Art of Chocolate Alchemy® – transforming exceptional cacao into edible gold.” I give Dagoba two thumbs-up for their clever use of words: their newsletter is called “The Tao of Cacao” and the ingredient list for my lemon ginger bar reads: “Organic dark chocolate…OG crystallized ginger, OG lemon, and, of course, love.”

Chocolate, ginger, lemon, love — what more could you ask for?

Romaine: A Tabula Rasa of Sorts

Ask me what I feel like eating for lunch and chances are I’ll say, “Salad.” And I’m not talking about wimpy, gotta-lose-some-weight salads. These are salads crafted with all-important salad elements: protein, crunch, color, variety. A plate of lettuce is a like a blank slate, just waiting to be turned into a culinary masterpiece.

Most days the salad elements consist of things like last night’s leftover pork, black beans or tomatoes and whatever cheese I can find in the fridge. Sometimes, though, the contents of the fridge fortuitously come together to create a refreshing and gratifying salad. Such was the case last Thursday. It was the last day of winter and the sun spilling onto the back deck had me craving a lunch to welcome spring. With a plate of romaine as my tabula rasa, I grew excited as I discovered what we had in the fridge: cucumber, red bell pepper, goat cheese. All I needed to do was sprinkle on some pepitas, tear up a handful of cilantro, drizzle on some olive oil and orange muscat champagne vinegar. Add a few grinds of black pepper and my salad was ready. Yum. Welcome, spring.

SF Farmer’s Market Primavera Tamales

The Farmer's Market stretches around the front, side and back (as seen here) of the Ferry Building Plaza. Primavera is located in the back.

One of my favorite places in San Francisco is The Ferry Building Plaza, especially on Saturday mornings when the Farmer’s Market is buzzing with people. From the college student pushing along his bicycle to the mom pushing a baby buggy, the Farmer’s Market is a place for people to come together. Families sit on the pier eating fresh pastries, old friends meet up for coffee and customers greet newly-found friends, the food vendors.

Laura and Marisa, happy to see each other again.

It was such a gathering place for me nearly two weeks ago when Laura, Marisa and I met there. The three of us had not been together in nearly nine months — a long time when you see each other nearly everyday for four years! While we wandered through the stalls tasting dried kiwi, local cheeses and eggplant spreads, we chatted away as if time had never passed. We decided to forgo the incredibly long line for Blue Bottle Coffee (we would go to the Cafe later in the afternoon) and took up the Primavera line instead.

Me with my butternut squash tamale.

Primavera serves organic, authentic Mexican food. They handcraft the wildly popular tamales that were named “Best Tamales” in 2004 by SF Chronicle food editors. Sticking to their motto of “traditionally inspired, organically inclined,” Primavera has gained a devoted San Francisco following.

Marisa and Laura's chicken mole poblano tamales plate.

Primavera also makes traditional Mexican breakfasts, featuring a different breakfast from various regions every Saturday. Plates piled with eggs, avocado, black beans and cotija cheese — chilaquiles aguascalientes — made me wish I had four stomachs like a cow. On this Saturday, however, we decided to try the tamales. Marisa and Laura split the chicken mole poblano tamales plate, while I got a butternut squash tamale.

My tamale was sweet, mild and creamy. Corn, jack cheese and butternut squash — comfort food items in my book. A scoop of salsa from the vat at the booth added the perfect amount of heat and kick to the tamale. Marisa and Laura’s chicken  mole poblano tamales were much spicier and the mole sauce had nice depth and dimension. So, is the Primavera line worth the wait? I think so. Try it out; I think you’ll be pleased.

The Primavera menu, which changes weekly, from the day we ate there.

Irish Soda Bread

Yesterday afternoon in the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day I made Irish Soda Bread.  Consulting my favorite online recipe source, Epicurious.com, I discovered a fascinating article called “The Great Irish Soda Bread Debate”, which discusses true Irish Soda bread and its many variations. According to its author, Irish chef Rory O’Connell, authentic Irish Soda Bread has very few ingredients: just flour, baking soda, salt and buttermilk. Recipes with eggs, butter or fruit are not the norm, but may be found on special occasions.

I decided to go the authentic route and made the “White Soda Bread” recipe on Epicurious. The  bread is super-easy to make since it has  few ingredients, does not rise and only cooks for 35 minutes. I left out the caraway seeds because I did not have any on hand and substituted half whole-wheat flour for white flour. If you are substituting whole-wheat flour, you may need to add more buttermilk to attain the right consistency. I also took Rory O’Connell’s advice of not overworking the dough (it was a bit crumbly but still held together) and was really happy with the tenderness of bread. The house smelled delicious as the bread cooked and I could not wait until our corned beef and cabbage dinner to try some. Sure enough, it was delicious smeared with butter. I am excited to make this bread again and try some of the other variations on the Epicurious site.

Ingredients
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used 1 3/4 white flour, 1 3/4 whole-wheat flour)
2 tablespoons caraway seeds (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups – 2 cups buttermilk

Method
Preheat oven to 425°F. Lightly flour baking sheet. Mix flour, caraway seeds, if using, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Mix in enough buttermilk to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball. Turn out onto lightly flour surfaced and knead just until dough holds together, about 1 minute. Shape dough into 6-inch-diameter by 2-inch-high round. Place on prepared baking sheet. Cut 1-inch-deep X across top of bread, extending almost to edges. Bake until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, about 35 minutes. Transfer bread to rack and cool completely.

Note: Read the Reviews of the recipe on the Epicurious website! They often provide helpful clues as to where a recipe needs special attention or what variations were successful (or not). I was rather amused to learn on the Corned Beef and Cabbage reviews that St. Patrick should be shortened to “St. Paddy” rather than “St. Patty” because Paddy refers to a male while Patty refers to a female. Oh the things you can learn on the internet!

It’s Planting Time

This weekend Sam and I rolled up our sleeves, grabbed our shovels and cleared the weeds from a tiny patch of dirt behind his house. Then we mixed Kellogg Amend garden soil with the regular soil and planted vegetables and herbs.

We planted:
– red leaf lettuce
– spinach
– red bell peppers
– a jalepeno plant
– sweet peas
– cilantro
– sweet basil
– Green Zebra tomatoes (these are my favorite!)
– Sweet 100 tomatoes
– Pink Brandywine tomates

Sam has several citrus plants growing in containers, including grapefruit, kaffir lime, lemon and orange trees. We also discovered potatoes growing in the pot with his orange tree, so we transplanted those to the garden patch. Pea plants are climbing up the iron fence and the mint has spilled through the fence to the hillside, but the merlot grape vine remains dormant. For such a small area, Sam’s backyard is turning out to be a rather promising garden.

I am most looking forward to eating the spinach, lettuce and tomatoes, so hopefully they will be successful. I am also planning to plant some Scarlet Runner Beans–the inspiration for this site’s name–once I figure out the best location and way to plant them.

It will be at least 50 days (early May) before the vegetables are ripe, but for now we can enjoy snipping the herbs for cooking and watching the vegetable plants grow. More pictures to come along throughout the growing season!

Definition of an Adventure

Amaretti and chocolate -- our Mt. Diablo snack.

Last week Laura was visiting and we decided to make the winding, 40-minute drive to the top of my beloved Mt. Diablo. The recent rains have turned the hillsides a brilliant green, and the white flowers cropping up on the trees remind me that spring is on its way. Charcoal-gray clouds looked magnificent against the bright blue sky.

The visitor's center "turret."

The visitor’s center on top of Mt. Diablo is in a stone building with an enclosed lookout-tower on top and bears a slight resemblance to a castle. Laura and I had visited  our fair share of castles and aged stone churches in England and Italy together and felt faintly that we were reliving those adventures. The same chilly wind that turned our fingers red and made us pull our scarves closer around our necks in Europe was doing the same thing here in California. When we traveled in Europe, we always had some sort of sustenance with us, whether it be cucumbers and bread and butter in England or dried figs and clementines in Italy. On our Mt. Diablo trip we had amaretti, Italian almond cookies  light as meringue, and chocolate from Colombia.

Southerly view from Mt. Diablo

I wondered aloud to Laura how fascinating it is that food can have such a distinct connection to a memory. “Wouldn’t it be fun to always have a certain food to associate with a certain excursion? To intentionally add the sense of taste to memories?” I asked. “That is the definition of an adventure,” smiled Laura. “An adventure includes going somewhere you’ve never been, doing something you’ve never done and eating something you’ve never eaten.” I had never thought to define what an adventure is, but Laura and her fiancee Ben, who had heard this definition from a friend, are the authority when it comes to adventures. From now on, I think I’ll work on developing a taste memory. No, I won’t work so hard that I will think myself out of actually enjoying the moment; it will be about noticing tastes and connecting them with my surroundings.

The Wine Bible

I was recently given a copy of The Wine Bible, which is written by Karen MacNeil. I was told that this was an easy-to-understand and comprehensive guide to wine, and reading the accolades on the front, back and inside covers (yes, there are that many!) of the book bore this out.

Bon Appetit wine and spirits editor Anthony Dias Blue writes: “A dazzling, comprehensive, modern guide to wine, free of elitism and pedantry.”

Robert Mondavi writes: “The most complete wine book ever. A must for anyone who loves wine, whether they are a pro or an amateur. Thorough, authoritative, and entertaining.” And Mondavi isn’t the only one who calls the book entertaining, Danny Meyer, co-author of The Union Square Cafe Cookbook, also calls the book entertaining.

The book is hefty, measuring 1 ¾-inches thick and weighing 2 lbs. 12 oz., but not so big that I would feel uncomfortable toting it along to read on BART. The pictures are all black-and-white but they are plentiful. Boxes of text-extras are set amongst the regular text, making it simple to learn something with a 2-minute glance through the book. After all, who has time to sit down for an hour at a time to uncode some esoteric wine book? Karen MacNeil’s The Wine Bible is perfect for our busy, go-go-go lifestyles where we want information quickly and in small doses.

The first part of the book is devoted to explaining how wine is made and how it should be tasted, while the subsequent chapters examine specific wine regions and the varietals therein. At over 900 pages, I’d say the book ought to be pretty comprehensive!

As I make my way through these 900 hundred pages of wine wisdom, I’ll be sure to share with you on my blog what I learn.

GuS: Grown-up Soda

While the kids guzzle down their Capri Suns and Kool-Aid,  we adults can reach for cans of Coca Cola or Orange Slice. You know the feeling: you don’t really want a cloying-sweet soda, but sometimes that homemade hamburger needs something a little more substantial than water as an accompaniment.

A couple weeks ago I was scoping out the beverage case at Whole Foods when a Dry Meyer Lemon soda caught my eye. Meyer Lemon soda? I thought. Dry Meyer Lemon soda? Doesn’t “dry” refer to wine? The Meyer lemon concept intrigued me because  I had become enamored with the wonderful floral fragrance and taste of Meyer Lemons since making a Meyer Lemon Souffle in January. And “dry,” well, I thought I had just figured that term out when it came to wine. This was definitely the drink for my lunch.

What I discovered was a soda made with the adult palate in mind.

GuS or Grown-up Soda markets itself as “100% Natural” and “Not Too Sweet,” two things I’m a big fan of. The Dry Meyer Lemon soda was still sweet, but not as syrupy-sweet as many lemonades (drinking a Pellegrino Limonata three days later confirmed this). The carbonation was refreshing and overall I was pleased and eager to try other flavors.

What’s the damage? The sodas do have added sugar, 22g – 24g per 12 oz. bottle. The calories aren’t too high for a fruit drink or soda at 90-98 calories per bottle. Sure, you won’t have the zero calories of Pepsi One or other diet beverages, but you won’t be putting potentially harmful chemicals in your body either.

If you want to turn your Grown-up Soda into a cocktail, check out their website for cocktail recipes.

Give GuS a try and let me know what you think.

Sugarcoat It Studio Takes the Cake

Why a picture of the "Beneath The Great Wave off Kanagawa"? This painting is the inspiration for one of Markell's cakes. Pretty cool, huh?

If you want a cake that tastes as good as it looks, then check out the spectacular cakes made and decorated by Krista Markell. Below is a teaser of a short article I wrote for Diablo magazine about Markell and her cakes. 

“For Krista Markell of Sugarcoat It Studio in Berkeley, seeing her works of art vanish is all in a day’s work. Markell’s medium isn’t oil paints or acrylics…” Read more.  

Be sure to check out Markell’s portfolio of cake designs. Even if you’re not in the market for buying a cake, it is fun to see how creative Markell is with her cake decorating.