Sweet Napa

Moving Day

2006-02-26T17:45:00.000-08:00

I've gone indie... to www.sweetnapa.com

And just like moving homes, this is going to take a while to adjust--the content is the same as ever, but I've got a lot of thoughts for style that will take some time to materialize. I just couldn't wait to be on my own, so see you there! :)

The City Bakery - Los Angeles

2006-02-21T17:21:00.000-08:00

Note: I have since revisited The City Bakery Los Angeles.

I have so many thoughts about The City Bakery Los Angeles that I'll have to start out with the most important aspects and ramble on and on until perhaps I am the only person still here. BUT if you're still with me by the end of the post, then add The City Bakery to Wild Flour Bread as a place that is worth-jumping-on-a-plane-for.... New York or Los Angeles (your choice!).
So, pastries first. Maury Rubin opened The City Bakery in NYC in 1990, and he is especially known for tarts and pastries-- having even authored The Book of Tarts. The Pretzel Croissant epitomizes the City Bakery ethos -- considering a classic (French) form and organically innovating it into a new (American) sensation. The croissant dough is salted (perhaps through salted butter?) and sprinkled with sesame seeds, and it is finished by crossing the ends of the croissant, which simply integrates pretzel engineering. It's also partially whole wheat, so it turns out flaky but still a bit squishy. A perfect balance of croissant and pretzel. It works, too, that there aren't big salt crystals on the outside--it would ruin the chew--so I consider the sesame seeds a masterstroke.
If it hadn't been so bright in Brentwood, this Melted Chocolate Chip Cookie would be its actual lusciously deep chocolate color. Akin to a brownie cookie, it's a galaxy of ganache-like chocolate interspersed with chunks of chocolate and some undissolved sugar crystals for extra texture. The outside is just firm enough to contain the gooey goodness inside... but in my attempt to my break off a piece of the center, my fingers only emerged coated in fudgy chocolate. Spectacular. When I ate the leftovers later in the day, though, the cookie had solidified a bit.
Lemon Tarts. Perfectly puckery with a softening sweetness, and creamy besides. The only hesitation was eating the Pacman-ish face on these. We overcame that. These were the only tarts on offer, but I'm hoping that their other tarts, such as milky way, blueberry coconut, cranberry-almond-caramel, and MANY MORE find their way to LA soon. They are all made in round flan rings, with minimalist--though organically creative--designs.
Their chocolate chip cookie... well... rules. Chewy, flavorful, great chocolate, great dough (it also has slightly discernible sugar crystals when you chew). This cookie was more on the bready side, as opposed to the sugar-y/butter-y side that their East Coast cookies have had. This could be a factor of: choice, the air (temp or humidity), the quirks of the maker of the batch, or the flour (which are often regionally different). The batter is available in some stores as Maury's Cookie Dough to bake at home. I hope that their white chocolate chocolate cookie turns up in the LA store, because I liked that one best in NY.
For fun, I also tried a berry scone and a miso morning glory muffin (with carrots). They check out. And yes, you will taste the soy in that muffin. Coincidentally, the muffins have a wide flat bottom that reminds me of the flan rings shapes used for the tarts.
We did eat lunch first, and we both went for the trademark salad bar, which ends up something like this.
We piled up cornmeal-crusted catfish, roasted fennel, beets with mint, spinach/asian pear/black sesame salad, soy molasses salmon, radicchio/chickpea salad, spicy thai eggplant, roasted brussel sprouts, and breaded chicken with cilantro sauce. The sweet, tender catfish and the roasted fennel stood out as especially delicious while the thai eggplant stood out as being really slimy.

We also got a side of sharp and creamy macaroni and cheese. It tastes like a mix of cheddar, asiago, and fontina to me, but could just be a really great cheddar. I got the lovely puce prickly pear lemonade, and Chad got the regular lemonade.
Sigh.... that mac & cheese in its full glory.

We also got a chili cheddar boule. I liked the cheese feet created by the melted cheese off the bottom sides. It was fantastic with the Turkey White Bean Chili that we made at home that night.
And so went our meal.

There was also a lunch counter where you could get pressed sandwiches, egg scrambles, sandwiches, and the like. It was mostly savory, but I especially wanted to try the date and walnut w/ fresh ricotta pressed sandwich and the guava and cream cheese sandwich.

I've never been the type to rush to a new restaurant when it opens, but I think that the City Bakery in Brentwood shows its youth right now. It's only been open for about two weeks. The pastry counter and salad bar were a bit bare -- it was about 1:00 when we left and a lot of NY stalwarts weren't out there--no peanut butter cookies, no homemade marshmallows, no marinated tofu w/ chili sauce, only one type of tart. Certainly, there was plenty to binge on, but not so much in comparison to NY.

At the same time, though, there were offerings that I don't remember seeing in NY (I was last there in November)... the bread bar (though the sign wasn't clear about who bakes it -- it might be all shipped from Zingerman's in Ann Arbor, Michigan)...
The clothing display....
I'm still torn between this t-shirt....

and this sweatshirt....
That reminds me. They DID have the amazing trademark hot chocolate on offer. I just knew I couldn't fit that rich and creamy molten chocolate into me that day. They are supposed to have a cold hot chocolate soon. I can also only hope that The City Bakery Hot Chocolate Festival makes its way to LA, too.

There was also an extensive catering menu available (is that in NY, too?), divided into breakfast, lunch, afternoon snack, midnight snack, and cocktail party. This is a good time to talk about price. As I understand it, The City Bakery is organic. So, that salad bar above will run you $16/lb. Cookies and muffins are $3/ea. For catering, for example, a "breakfast box" of mini muffins, seasonal fruit & fresh squeezed OJ runs $15/person; a half tray of mac & cheese is $40; cornbread with aged cheddar, peach jam, & jalapeno butter is $10/person; and chicken wings are $36/dozen. I like that the $10/person "Assembly-Required Hot Dogs" includes a comic book, among many other things. I believe that it's worth it, but for me, that would mean enjoying its worth every five years or so... or seeking out an expense account. As for the salad bar, at least spinach leaves are light.

I'll be traveling to LA a bit this year, and I'm looking forward to seeing how the City Bakery LA evolves. The quality is definitely there, in swoon-worthy proportion, but I wonder which products will find their way to its counters. I was expecting to see Maury Rubin's take on Los Angeles and its foods, but right now, it very much feels like an LA branch of a NY institution (having only its classic pastries for sale, bagels on offer, references to Manhattan on its catering menu). Of course, it is also winter, so there is time to amp up for spring and summer produce. Rubin, after all, follows a "Chez Panissian" (aka Alice Waters, aka started in California) approach of local foods and seasonal menus, so I expect interesting things to come.

One thing that did feel Californian was its interior design. Unlike the rather industrial silver permeating the NY branch, the one in the Brentwood Country Mart is white, and quite bright--even if it did retain a minimalist core. It's extremely roomy, especially with only 10 tables and 6 counter chairs for eating, but there is ample outdoor seating at wooden tables w/ umbrellas and lots of room to wander around the shop.

And what did I cunningly manage to include in all these photos? Yes, there is a Chocolate Room LA.
And although there is an outdoor City Bakery sign for the mall, I can't remember whether it's so New York-style or so LA-style to not have a sign on the place itself....

Behind!

2006-02-21T14:43:00.000-08:00

If I could implement one norm of the kitchen into everyday life, it would be the practice of loudly saying "Behind!" when you're in such a position--usually when walking by--and sometimes elaborating with "Sharp behind" and "Hot behind." Sure, it's abrupt, but man, is it effective. No one has to do anything in particular, except be aware and not step backwards.

Fellow supermarket shoppers, considered yourselves warned.

City Bakery LA... City Bakery LA... City Bakery LA... City Bakery LA...

2006-02-17T15:47:00.000-08:00

For those west coast people who love Maury Rubin's City Bakery in New York City, you may be interested to know that the long-promised Los Angeles branch at the Brentwood Country Mart has FINALLY opened.

I'm off to Los Angeles for the weekend, and anyone who reads this on Saturday morning can be certain that at that very moment I'll be basking in the glow of a cold hot chocolate, a pretzel croissant, and anything else I can get into my giddy little hands.

Full photos and descriptions to come.

Some Rolls, Some Cakes, Some Pies

2006-02-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

We continued our baking techniques class this week by continuing to have two days for each topic.

At the end of each class, we choose the best examples what we made for evaluation by the chef. So, we go to our products--in this case, rolls--and look for ONE good one. This has been difficult the last couple of days. It's amazing how many things can go wrong with a baked good. And how each roll can be afflicted in a unique way.
Rolls are tricky beasts. There are just so many of them to roll out from so much dough that you have to get through, and you just want to get them all done--because 1. you don't want the dough to dry out,2. you want them to get out in time for lunch (to serve, but also so you don't want to have to go checking ovens and rotating trays when you should be sitting and eating), 3. your hand gets tired, and 4. you don't really like rolls in the first place. I prefer the crustier, looser crumb large loaves; and a bit of the communal feeling of sharing the daily bread.

Anyway, we were able to scavenge exactly one passable roll of each kind we were supposed to make.
Clockwise, there's the brioche, the knot roll, the cloverleaf roll, and the parkerhouse roll. The chef liked the marbled brioche look, which probably happened b/c some egg wash dried out before baking. Our other brioche, though, were either decapitated while baking or otherwise deformed, so we chose this one for its shape.

Except for the brioche, they're all made from the same soft roll dough (made with milk and eggs), and yet I'd eat the cloverleaf or knot if I had to, but probably wouldn't touch the parkerhouse because the shapes affect consistency. The cloverleaf is formed by dividing each piece of dough into three pieces, rolling them into circles, and putting them next to each other in muffin tins. The knot roll is made by rolling out the dough so that it's snakey and tying it into a knot, with the ends tucked underneath. The parkerhouse is made by letting the dough proof a little as a round ball, then rolling the middle flat, and folding it over so that the two fat ends connect to make a pair of lips.
Above are milkrolls, which are meant to "kiss" (the technical term) while proofing, so that you can pull them apart. Because the soft roll dough is handled less than the other rolls here, these are much softer. As far as evaluation goes, this was our only one, so we had to show it. It's not bad, per se, but you can notice the irregular sizes of the rolls, the askew edges, and that swirl on the bottom right is probably from overworking the dough. The soft crumb was right on, though.

We also made cream pies. We were given the recipes and told to come up with a presentation as if the slices were to be sold individually. It turned out during evaluation that we were supposed to use whipped cream on all of them. We had just made a chantilly cream with added coconut syrup for the coconut cream pie. Even that pushed me to the end of tolerance. Whipped cream is pretty boring to me; I'd rather that the main event have enough flavor to support itself (these pies turned out pretty bland). Also, though, the go-to whipped cream garnish would be a rosette on the wider end of the pie made with a star tip. So a teammate did that for the coconut cream. Granted, the chocolate chips aren't stunning on the chocolate, but it stirs up something good in my minimalist soul; maybe piping our own choc chips would have been good instead. And I like just the star banana slice on the pie. It's clean, and if you have that banana slice when it's still crispy (before the moisture from the banana makes it bleed), it's pure bliss.

At least, though, the pies were made like pastry cream, so we were able to practice not scrambling our eggs or scorching the bottom of the pot.
Our polenta cake didn't rise as high as it should have; probably because the sugar and butter weren't thoroughly creamed together; the butter was too cold. This is also not a very flavorful recipe for the cake -- we had to brush it with lemon simple syrup in order to give it some distinction. But it should be light and high, not dense and low. Our sour cream pound cake was good, but we somehow came out with 1/2 pound less batter than we should have, so the bottom layer isn't as thick as it should be. And even with these slices, we had to pore over them to choose what to present.
We made scones and muffins today. Our muffins had the distinction of having butter, eggs, and sugar that were undermixed AND flour that was overmixed. So, there were nodes of sugar splotching the top and some tunnels running through the crumb.

In some ways, it was a challenging week because I don't like to make what I don't like to eat. So, I can only fall back on the promise of learning techniques that may come in handy some day to apply to what I do like. The chef said that when we go out to work, we're going to be taking orders for the most part, rather than relying on our creativity, so culinary school is when you should try to push your limits and try thing; so I am probably also going to weave that reasoning into changing recipes that I am not happy with. We are also more familiar with the kitchen and each other, and our didn't make many huge mistakes this week--another group had to make up their cake batter three times due to assorted mistakes! And there's nothing wrong with that--it's not like you have to pay extra for more ingredients, and heck, you've learned a lot--but sometimes you feel like you've met with the weighing scales enough for one day.

Sweetie Pies - Napa

2006-02-16T20:26:00.000-08:00

So, I've been rather open about where I've been in the area and what I've seen, but I've kept a little secret: a few weeks ago, I drove around downtown Napa--literally, it's mostly a "U"-- with the intention of blogging about it... and went straight back home. There were some cute shops that I may wander into when I want to buy yarn or beaded goods, but nothing that I could see that was enough to justify looking for a parking space and attempting to parallel park. Most importantly, no pastry shops that I could find. I felt let down.

I usually jump onto Hwy 29 from my apt, and dowtown is a few minutes in the other direction, so I hadn't gone back since.

But yesterday, a classmate told me about a certain Sweetie Pies bakeshop in downtown Napa. Reeeaaallly?

So, I went today. It turns out that Napa has a sort of Napa River District that is on the outer southeast tip of downtown. It's quite pretty, and not only was I inspired to park, but I was also inspired to take pictures.... Of obvious signage.....
I don't know how long this district extends, but this area was comprised of one large brick building called the Hatt Building, which was built in 1893 by a Captain Hatt. It houses such places as Sweetie Pies, a Vintage Sweet Shop, a restaurant called Celadon that I've heard praised, Napa General Store with fancy food gear and a cafe, and Angele's, which has this snazzy setup.
I expected good things when I saw Sweetie Pies' storefront
Unique signs denote unique bakers.
Inside, they had a large glass display of cakes--including a lot of cheesecakes--with cookies on top, and around the corner of the counter, they had more breakfast pastry sort of items. The eating area had a clean country cafe sort of feel--woodsy and homey.
My favorite acquisition was the Breakfast Cookie. Packed full of carrot, raisins, coconut, and perhaps orange zest, it was refreshing and satisfying moist and flavorful. The occasional edge was also slightly caramelized and extra chewy. The sweetened coconut was a clever icing all on its own. I can see myself craving this cookie.
Next, the nonfat oatmeal bar was also triumphant. More flavorful than the name suggests, it had plump dried fruits interspersed throughout the layers of oats and a brown sugar-y batter. The sprinkling of coarse sugar on top slyly contributes crunchy sweet bites.
I had high hopes for the Oreo Cookie, but it just didn't work out between us. I did get to the shop at about 5:00, so maybe its slight lack of freshness is understandable.... but it was also just a bit bland and the filling was a little too liquidy, too. It did make me crave white choc chips in the oatmeal bar, though.
I was excited by the Mud Pie Cheesecake, too, but it was too buttery for me. I like cheesecake that separates in ridged sorts of chunks and tastes like cheese, but this was one very smooth and dense without much cheese flavor. I liked the chocolate ganache layer on top and the oreo crust on the bottom, but the two layers of cheesecake in the middle were a shame.
There were so many things to choose from at Sweetie Pies that I'm looking forward to going back and nabbing more Breakfast Cookies and some new discoveries. I could have easily ordered 10 other things that looked good on this visit.

And a bonus was spotting another destination on way home home through downtown Napa: Annette's Chocolate and Ice Cream Factory.

Good thing I live so close.

Physical Therapy for a Baker

2006-02-16T19:51:00.000-08:00

So, baking isn't all sugar and butter all the time. It's something of a contact sport, as all the ingredients that have passed my way can attest. In fact, I haven't felt so much like a sports team member since high school field hockey.

Part of that is the fun of the camaraderie with the people I'm working with as we dart around the kitchen, and the comparing how other people are doing against how you're doing, and the vague feeling of winning when something works out well, as well as the feeling of defeat when it doesn't.

Another part of the sports analogy is physical. When we're not standing, we're walking quickly. We try not to get burned, splattered on, or careened into. We try not to hunch over the bench (as the work table is called).

When I first started the program about a month ago, my knees started to hurt. Sharp pains near the bottom of the kneecap. Standing hurts, but I prefer that to walking and tackling stairs.

I've had problems with my knees in the past (10 yrs ago), so I knew that my legs are probably weak and my knee caps are askew. My shoes always get worn out on the outside heel. I wanted to try to fix this and make sure it wasn't something more serious, so I saw a doctor. He said that I have patella tendonitis, which is caused by standing all day. Shocking. He also lightly mocked how weak my legs are, and sent me off to physical therapy.

I went for the first time today, and will have 2-3 visits for 3 weeks. I'm starting off with light exercises and stretches. It turns out that my feet are a little flat and my hip muscles are also weak, causing my femur to roll in a little when I walk, instead of going slightly out to support my body. I'll continue the exercises on my own after 3 weeks.

So, I just wanted to share this as a part of the culinary school/baking experience for me. And at least my orthopedist who specializes in sports understood why I saw him... and didn't mock me for that.

Cara Cara Orange Vanilla Sorbet, aka Creamsicle Sorbet

2006-02-14T16:09:00.000-08:00

When I said that I would try to make the Cara Cara Orange Vanilla Sorbet at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen, I thought that I'd just end up using regular navel oranges. But while at the bonanza of potatoes and citrus at the Ferry Building Farmers Market, I found and snatched up Cara Cara Oranges. After the farmer tossed in a couple free satsumas, I knew I was in for a good time.

Reading sorbet recipes is sort of like reading the phone book: every entry is slightly different. Among the concerns of sorbet are adding enough sugar so that the fruit flavor is enhanced and the texture is soft instead of icy hard and not adding so much sugar that it's too sweet and it won't completely freeze. Also, each different kind of fruit and even each batch of fruit needs to be adjusted according to its own sweetness. So, watermelon sorbet at the beginning of the summer may need more sugar than at the end of the summer.

I'd been told at C's BK that a vanilla bean had been infused in the simple syrup, so with that as my guide, I winged my way to a rather satisfying dessert. Cara Cara Oranges have a slight grapefruit flavor intermingling with the orange, and that flavor came through just perfectly. It was also a desirable consistency. I woosed out with the vanilla bean, though. I thought that a half bean would be strong enough, but instead of the creamsicle effect that the sorbet at C's BK had, mine only had a subtle note of vanilla. So, I amended the recipe for a whole bean. I was tempted to scrape the vanilla seed out for more flavor, but their sorbet had no black flecks and I didn't want any grittiness. I hope that a whole bean works. Maybe other ways to enhance the vanilla flavor would be to put a vanilla bean into the sugar for long enough to make vanilla sugar, and then making the simple syrup with both the sugar and the whole vanilla bean.

Cara Cara Orange Vanilla Sorbet
Makes 4 servings
Loosely Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1 vanilla bean
1 1/2 c freshly squeezed cara cara orange juice
1 tbs cara cara orange zest

Combine sugar, water, and vanilla bean in a small-to-medium saucepan, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil. Cool and remove vanilla bean (to hasten cooling, place the syrup in a bowl, and place the bowl in another bowl filled with a mixture of ice and water).

Combine about 1 cup sugar syrup with the citrus juice. Taste and add more syrup if necessary. Stir in the zest.

Refrigerate until cool if necessary, then churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Mustards Grill - Yountville PLUS Vague Police Musings

2006-02-14T15:23:00.000-08:00

Mustards Grill is generally the local standby for good food. Everyone I know loves Mustards. And tourists do, too. So, Chad and I went there as our own Valentine's dinner on Saturday night to see what it's all about.

After my introduction to Cindy Pawlcyn's style at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen in St. Helena, Mustards Grill felt oddly familiar. The black and white decor with splashes of color through flowers and paintings. The individual pepper grinders and tiny bowl of salt. The folksy, yet knowing humorous touches on the menu and decor.... such as this sign at the end of the hallway to the bathrooms.
The food was great, though the desserts were even better than the main courses. Or maybe I'm just that kind of person. So, since I started with The End anyway, I'll proceed with dessert.

I had the pear sorbet with poached pears. When I ate my first spoonful, I wondered if they'd scooped ice cream on top of the sorbet. It was so creamy.... but tasted of pears... so I looked down, and WOW, that was the sorbet. Just like the Cara Cara Orange Vanilla Sorbet at C's BK, it was amazing. So smooth and creamy and concentrated goodness with its own unique taste... and notice that its presentation is almost exactly the same as at C's BK. The poached pears were also fantastic; rather than mealy or wooden like some that I've had, they were syrupy and solid; maybe they poached them in a dessert wine. It also came with a snickerdoodle, of which I am a registered enthusiast.
Chad had the Warm Guittard Chocolate Hazelnut Truffle Tart with Jack Daniels brown sugar ice cream, coffee caramel sauce. Rich and amazing. I stole at least three bites without even attempting to distract him.

For the main course, I had the grilled duck l'orange with celery root and pommes Erasto. It's a brave presentation because the duck appears big and liver shaped. It's a cleverly arranged breast and leg/thigh, though, and conceals most of the slivered fingerling potatoes. The sauce was orange-cognac, and the slivered orange peel in the celery root salad on top was a nice counterpoint. I like it when one ingredient is used in different elements of a dish. It ties it together. I suspect that the potatoes were cooked in duck fat. They made me perk up, savor, and force Chad to have one right away. Erasto, by the way, is the name of a chef at Mustards. The duck itself was a wonderfully flavorful meat coated by a centimeter or so of duck fat/skin encrusted with herbs. Crosswise, it looked something like to an iced cake. Glorious.
Chad had the "Truck Stop" special with a steak, sweet potato gratin, and broccolini, in a slightly creamy sauce that seemed to be made of beef juices. The gratin was especially flavorful. I swear we saw flecks of herbs in it, but the waitress denied it. And the steak... it was good steak. Great flavor, and unlike the steak frites at Cindy's, it had a satisfying chew.

You'll notice, too, that our food and sauces were--well--shiny. There was no holding back on flavor conducting, heat retaining butter and oil. Yummy, but this is calorie splurge food.

There were two disappointments to our visit, though.

One was our waitress who kept trying to get us to order more stuff. I resent it when I'm asked to order additional courses or items that I clearly didn't allude to. And to ask multiple times throughout the meal, and to ask my date after I had said no, lacks tact. She should have just came out with it and asked "Would you like to spend more money?" We also got our check not even halfway through our desserts. She was hardly helpful with questions, too. These may be details--and displayed by only one admittedly crucial employee--but they make the difference between making you feel like you're spending your own special holiday at a hospitable restaurant and making you feel like you're being pushed through a money-making feeding ground.

Also, we were disappointed by the drinks, and about 90% of this was because of one factor: limes. Whether it was the lemon-limeade, the El Guapo (their name for a caipirinha), or the margarita, we kept running into limes that weren't properly offset by sugar. They were just unpleasantly sour; and as you can tell, limes are a big part of the drink menu. And my cherry cosmo barely tasted of cherry; it tasted more like triple sec with cranberry juice. That's a shame because they use a house infused cherry vodka for it. After the transcendent cocktail Chad had at C's BK, this was all that much harder to accept. The drink menu looks great, and has so much promise, but the bartender was off that night.

One fantastic aspect of the drink menu is its reverse cocktail section, which are cocktails with much more juice/flavoring than alcohol (and priced accordingly), so that drivers can indulge a little but still drive safe and legally....

There's a very long story here about our reaction to a California Highway Patrol checkpoint blocking Hwy 29 Saturday night, but I'm just going to boil it down to: don't drink and drive. It's going to turn out badly. You are being watched. And not only by police. If you try to park on a residential street to try to burn off some time, the residents will turn on their lights.... shine flashlights at you.... and call their neighbors to ask them to try to get a better look at you through their window(s). And I wasn't even over the legal limit since I only had one drink at the beginning of the night; I was just being extra careful. Also, there's a Napa veterans' residence campus off Hwy 29, where the speed limit is 15 mph. And you will still be watched. Because everyone knows that an unfamiliar VW Beetle is sure to stir up trouble.

The Ferry Building and Fisherman's Wharf - San Francisco

2006-02-13T14:32:00.000-08:00

My boyfriend, Chad, came up to Napa again this weekend, and instead of an intricately planned out road trip spanning three counties, we took the ferry from Vallejo to the San Francisco Ferry Building. I knew that once there, we could just walk around wherever the spirit moved us; Fisherman's Wharf is about a 20 min walk away.

The ferry, by the way, is fantastic. Not only is it comfortable and smooth, but for $17 and free parking in Vallejo, you get a pass for full day ferry use (one way is $10). You save yourself the stress of driving (narrow, hilly streets w/ small signs) and parking ($$$) in SF. $34 for two is probably even less than gas and parking in SF.

I also planned our visit to coincide with the Farmers Market outside the Ferry Building, which itself is a treasure trove of artisanal food purveyors of surrounding counties -- it was like an all star game for me after reading about all these companies, and seeing their stores all neatly tucked into the building.

I bought a donut muffin from the Downtown Bakery and Creamery in Healdsburg I've heard the stuff of legends about the bakery, but this muffin was awfully dry with a poorly proportioned cinnamon and sugar mixture on the outside. The bakery remains on my hit list nonetheless.
Although booths encircled the entire Ferry Building, there's only so much that can be produce in the winter.... pretty much potatoes and citrus. There were also cheeses, spreads, honeys, etc.
And almond blossoms...
And butter...
I found Point Reyes Blue Cheese to buy from the source! It was very tangy and strong. Good, but I still have cheese from last weekend, so I didn't get any.
Inside the Ferry Building, Peet's Coffee won the longest line contest.
A permanent mushroom store.
I got a star anise-pink peppercorn truffle and a grapefruit tarragon truffle at Recchiuti Confections. The latter was a predominantly tarragon ganache with a candied grapefruit peel on top, while the former had an elusive licorice and more flavor. Both melted nicely on the tongue. I was surprised by their, um, rustic appearance, but it works. The LATimes had two great CA chocolate articles this week, which includes this company. Read 'em before you have to pay for 'em.
It was just about lunchtime, and this was probably one of the hardest choices I've ever made in my life--the buffalo tacos? Oyster Po' Boy? Lamb sausage sandwich? Something from the Japanese Deli? Something in the Slanted Door, a Vietnamese restaurant? Scrambled eggs and bacon on a baguette? Cheese? Cookies?

We chose Rose Pistola and Rose's Cafe, and I got the Hawaiian Tombo Tuna w/ fennel, arugala, and aioli on that kind of cakey, buttery bread that is sooooo good. It was a great sandwich--and even with a green and white theme-- that was made even better by not being made of boring seared tuna. This tuna was a rich white fully cooked tuna that was just excellent. Chad got the pork sandwich with salsa verde. The odd name comes from melding the name of their two eateries -- an Italian restaurant in the North Beach area and a cafe in the Cow Hollow area..
An old-fashioned cupcake from Miette, an organic pastry shop in the building. It starts out cakey but practically melts into fudge in your mouth. Just perfect.
And a grapefruit macaron, which was probably the best macaron I've had in the US. Light as air, and barely chewy at the end, with a fresh grapefruit tang. Also one of the more rustic I've seen.
I liked Miette a lot, and even approve of their aesthetic--elegant and casual, and nothing annoying like a star tip in sight.
We then walked along the piers to Fisherman's Wharf, which has areas that are much more of a theme park rendition of a waterfront. Bubba Gump. Hard Rock. Fudge. NO pictures of that.
But I do love the strip of seafood booths that look like this one.
And cook their food like this.
It's exciting to walk through and be a part of this sea of people where everyone carries at least one red and white paper basket full of seafood chunks, fries, or a bread bowl filled with soup. Combined with a beer pulled out of one of the ice buckets, it's a great idea for lunch.
There's also the original bushman, who scares people, poses for pic's, and amuses me to no end.
The flagship Boudin Bakery also resides here. They've been making sourdough--from the same maintained starter--since 1849. They recently renovated this building, into a 27,000 square foot... well... bread themepark, including a museum.
They sell 20 different kinds of breads, and arrange some into amusing shapes, while baskets of bread float around from tracks on the ceiling
From the sidewalk, you can even watch the bakers shape dough. If you've been harboring things you want to say to a baker, here's your chance to let it out.
We turned around and walked back to the Ferry Building after going inland a couple streets. I was glad that these two people found each other.
A cute little park with jumpin' stones.
We had some time to spare before our ferry back, so we just sat on a bench and admired the view.

Week 1 Wrap Up Over Bread

2006-02-12T22:52:00.000-08:00

These are samples of the lovely challahs and sunflower pullmans we made on Friday. Chad and I took the weekend to finish the two-braided one on the bottom.

I've been debating with myself how to talk about culinary school on the blog. On the one hand, I want to share the detailed knowledge that I am gaining in technique and science, but on the other hand, there are already so many books that already say the same things about baking--and many people, esp people who read food blogs, probably already know a good bit of that already. And if I write entire recipes -- even recipes scaled down from, say, 6 pies to 1 pie -- it also kind of misses the point, esp since the facilities at the school are different from the average kitchen. We're not really learning recipes--the closest thing may be ratios--but we are learning technique. And that's really best learned by doing, or gathering as much info as possible and then doing it on your own.

So, the best I could come up with for now is to share the bits that I didn't know -- and probably the occasional fantastic recipe.

So, here are some things that came up on breads and cookies this past week:

If you have begun mixing bread dough and discover that you have mistakenly used only half the water necessary, you must throw it out and start again. Otherwise, since gluten has already formed, the additional water will not distribute evenly, and you'll be left with a wet paste laden with chunks of protein. You can add a little bit of water if the dough is too dry, though, and you have already measured correctly.
If you make tart dough a day ahead and mistakenly put it in the freezer instead of the refrigerator overnight, then mixing it for a little while in a mixer with a bread hook will soften it up without making the butter melt. You could also put it in the fridge, but it'll take a long time to thaw.
Although one of our books has pretty much all the recipes we make, we have to write them out by hand onto index cards to use in class; they are best kept in a small flip photo album. This is one of the more tedious things to do, since you have to copy the recipe, make sure it fits onto the card, incorporate add'l notes from the chef when he went over the recipe, and the legibility of my handwriting only barely rivals that of a 2nd grader with a sprained wrist. I think of it as the culinary equivalent of writing briefs of cases for law school.
Pullman pans for bread (our common sandwich loaf) were created by one of the railroad Pullman's. It's rectangular shape made them store more efficiently.
It's especially easy to burn bread that's in the oven during lunch on Friday, because people are just feeling too good to rest and look forward to the weekend to get up and check it.
Challah should have the flaky internal consistency of a croissants, but bread-like. The strands are braided together, so that when cut, each slice has a cross section of a strand that oriented slightly differently, so that the crumb can be arc-like. Striations on the outside of the bread, though, are a sign of it being overworked or dried out when it was dough.
Slashing bread not only looks nice, but lets the bread expand evenly from its gases inside. Otherwise, bread will puff irregularly. Also, slashes alone can force the bread into an oval or square shape, among others.
Empty "tunnels" in brownies, and other such baked goods, are a sign of over-mixing the flour into the batter. The flour built structures within the bread that stayed during baking.
The deck oven used by the school has 4 levels and is at least 6 ft deep. It has buttons to release steam, usually both before and after loading it (but egg-washed breads are not steamed). And it's temperature is set according to the % to the top and the bottom; it was usually 40% top heat, 60% bottom. It makes amazing bread.
Bread is usually done when it has an internal temp of 195 degrees F.
If batards aren't rolled tight enough, they will flatten.
Shaping dough is key, and although some moves are the same, it varies widely between each bread.
Fougasse, the leaf shaped loaf with holes, is fun to make. But if you are putting olive oil and sea salt on top for flavoring, apply before the final proof, or else it will have to proof longer if added partway into it.
Bread has been properly proofed and ready to bake when it no longer springs back after being poked.
When fermenting and baking, it's important to know if the seam side of dough should be up or down.

A Valentine's Queen of Sheba Cake for Two Behind a Curtain of Cardamom Honey Strawberries

2006-02-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

I've been wanting to try the Queen of Sheba Cake for awhile, which is a chocolate and almond cake with chocolate icing. It's one of Julia Child's classic recipes, that apparently was all the rage when it was published--as I learned in the wonderful 24 hr audiobook biography of Julia Child called Appetite for Life.

Chocolate and nuts can be too rich to have alone, though, so I decided to match it with some form of strawberry. Since strawberries aren't really in season now, doctoring up their lusciousness seemed like a good idea. I'd heard that if you cover strawberries in sugar overnight, then they will release their juices. I like the pairing of chocolate and honey, so I decided on that form of sugar. And I wanted a little spicy kick. I considered cinnamon, cloves, or black pepper, but no... cardamom had to be it.

The strawberries were just fantastic--bursting with flavor and lushly moist with a hint of floral cardamom goodness (be aware that cardamom is very pungent, so a little goes a very long way). I made up the recipe, based on what seemed like a good idea at the time and what I've made before. I didn't measure anything, so keep in mind that it's a very casual, adjustable recipe.

The Queen of Sheba cake was also very good, but I must have overbaked it. It was rather firm, not creamy in the middle as it's supposed to be. I baked it for 25 mins at 350, but I'll have to try again, and start checking it at about 18-20 mins for a moister cake. Even so, the flavor was rich and alluring and sweet, and a wonderful mix of chocolate and almonds. I found two versions of the cake online (b/c she had tweaked the recipe herself), one with semisweet chocolate and one with a bit of unsweetened chocolate. I used the former, because it's what I had. And be warned that it needs an 8 inch cake pan, which can be frustrating for the 9 inch cake pan owner. The volume is too different to simply use the 9 inch cake, but if you have small ramekins or individual pans, you could try baking multiples ones in those, and start checking it much earlier--maybe 8 minutes, to be safe.

Queen of Sheba Cake with Cardamom Honey Strawberries
adapted from Julia Child
Yield: For an 8-inch cake serving 6 to 8 people

For the Cake:
4 ounces or squares semisweet chocolate melted with 2 Tb rum or coffee
1/4 lb. or 1 stick softened butter
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
Pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
2/3 cup pulverized almonds
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup cake flour (scooped and leveled) turned into a sifter

For the Icing:
2 ounces (2 squares) semisweet baking chocolate
2 Tb rum or coffee
5 to 6 Tb unsalted butter

Equipment:
A round cake pan 8 inches in diameter and 1-1/2 inches deep
A 3-quart mixing bowl
A wooden spoon or an electric beater
A rubber spatula
A cake rack
A small covered pan
A larger pan of almost simmering water
A wooden spoon
A bowl with a tray of ice cubes and water to cover them
A small flexible-blade metal spatula or a table knife

Instructions for the Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

Butter and flour the cake pan. Set the chocolate and rum or coffee in a small pan, cover, and place (off heat) in a larger pan of almost simmering water; let melt while you proceed with the recipe. Measure out the rest of the ingredients. Cream the butter and sugar together for several minutes until they form a pale yellow, fluffy mixture.

Beat in the egg yolks until well blended.

Beat the egg whites and salt in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed; sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.

With a rubber spatula, blend the melted chocolate into the butter and sugar mixture, then stir in almonds, and almond extract. Immediately stir one fourth of the beaten egg whites to lighten the batter. Delicately fold in a third of the remaining whites and when partially blended, sift on one third of the flour and continue folding. Alternate rapidly with more egg whites and more flour until all egg whites and flour are incorporated.

Turn the batter into the cake pan, pushing the batter up to its rim with a rubber spatula. Bake in middle level of preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Cake is done when it has puffed, and 2-1/2 to 3 inches around the circumference are set so that a needle plunged into that area comes out clean; the center should move slightly if the pan is shaken, and a needle comes out oily.

Allow cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Run knife around the edge of the pan, and reverse cake on the rack. Allow it to cool for an hour or two; it must be thoroughly cold if it is to be iced.

Instructions for the Icing:
Place the chocolate and rum or coffee in the small pan, cover, and set in the larger pan of almost simmering water. Remove pans from heat and let chocolate melt for 5 minutes or so, until perfectly smooth. Lift chocolate pan out of the hot water, and beat in the butter a tablespoon at a time. Then beat over the ice and water until chocolate mixture has cooled to spreading consistency. At once spread it over your cake with spatula or knife, and press a design of almonds over the icing.

Yield: For an 8-inch cake serving 6 to 8 people

Cardamom Honey Strawberries
Yield: 6-8 servings with cake

1/2 c Honey
4 tsp Water, or up to 8 tsp if you want it runnier
a small pinch of Cardamom
As many Strawberries as you'd like -- maybe 1-2 per person

Over low heat, combine the honey, cardamom, and a bit of water in a small saucepan, and melt until runny, stirring occasionally. Taste for spiciness, and adjust if necessary. Add more water if you want it runnier, and stir in. Let cool.

Cut strawberries in half. Put in a shallow sealable container and pour honey over strawberries. Cover, shake to coat, and let chill in the refrigerator overnight.

Arrange strawberries with cake and drizzle honey syrup over everything.

Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen - St. Helena

2006-02-10T16:13:00.000-08:00

Follow me on a tour of St. Helena's back streets through the eyes of Cindy Pawlcyn.

So, Cindy's Backstreet kitchen isn't quite a hole in the wall serving food out of said hole. It looks somewhere between a bistro and a tea house, with brilliant use of multi-colored water glasses (of all things) for splashes of color. It's also about as casual as you can get in St Helena, except for a burger stand (Taylor's Refresher) or KFC. We went there on a Sunday afternoon.

One picture can contain many treasures.
First off, you get warm, crusty bread, cut in slices and half, which is perfect for people like me who usually twist off half of slices anyway. It saved me a step.

Then there are the bowls of coarse salt to pinch onto your food and the personal pepper grinder.

Then that burger: the duck burger. It had a smokiness and juiciness, a little sweeter than a turkey burger with a silkier texture. It was topped with a hoisin mushroom kind of a sauce, and the fries (which were expertly spotted with coarse salt, like edamame) came with their shiitake mushroom ketchup, which I loved, but if left to my own imagination, would have thought was a honey mustard sauce with a touch of horseradish. The bun was also perfectly toasted, and it was a delightful Sunday afternoon meal.

Chad got the steak frites with ginger garlic marinade and rosso butter, which was tasted great.... but neither of us would have called it steak frites. The steak was a rather narrow and thick NY strip, and it was one of the juiciest I've ever encountered. Juices seemed to deluge every bite, but it was at the price of its firmness; some people's teeth would be sorely disappointed. And their frites were french fries, not the true matchstick frites.

And that aesthetically triumphant drink is a Dark & Stormy, made of dark rum and ginger beer. It was refreshing, and somehow complex.

I'd heard the legend of the Campfire Pie, so I knew that dessert would be coming my way. It seemed like half the room followed this plate to my table with admiring gazes.
It contained a kind of candied nuts (whose official name is almond ding) and chocolate chips, all mixed up into a meringue that pervades the whole slice, but is denser with nuts and chips on the bottom. It is supported by an oreo crust, and surrounded by a kind of caramel sauce. Not only was it toasted on top, but you'll notice toast marks on the side of the slice, too. THAT's brilliant. I like that every slice is given such individual attention.

Just as exciting was the Cara Cara Orange Vanilla Sorbet, served with an almond butter cookie. Cara cara oranges were described as a cross between a grapefruit and navel orange, and the simple syrup to make the sorbet is infused with a vanilla bean when it is made. It was incredibly refreshing and flavorful. I fully intend to try to replicate the recipe at home.
And a word about service -- our waitress was very friendly and happy to answer questions, and find out answers that she didn't know. It helped to round out a very pleasant Sunday lunch in St. Helena's gritty back streets.

Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen
1327 Railroad Ave
St Helena, CA

Mine!

2006-02-09T17:32:00.000-08:00

I branded my tools for culinary school.

And Sweet Mercy, We Went Home

2006-02-09T16:30:00.000-08:00

And so concludes my 18 part expose of a single Saturday in Marin and Sonoma Counties.

All I want to do now is go to Wild Flour Bread to celebrate. Friday is one of their pizza days....

California Carnivores - Sebastopol

2006-02-09T16:15:00.000-08:00

Since it was almost 5pm, California Carnivores, in the rural southern part of Sebastopol, turned out to be our last stop. And it seemed fitting -- why not watch another species eat for a while? It's purported to be the world leader in quality carnivorous plants. I was looking forward to seeing Venus Fly Traps and expanding my ready knowledge of other carnivorous botanicals.
Oh. They close at 4pm. Most stores and wineries close around 4pm or 5pm, so I wasn't very surprised.

But I still looked inside.... and could make out two skeletons amidst some plants.
I think that even carnivorous plants are in their winter phase this time of year. Their plants outside looked pretty recently pruned... but given my lack of teaching, these may or may not be carnivorous.

Village Bakery - Sebastopol

2006-02-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

On the way back down through Sebastopol, we stopped at the Village Bakery, which is known for its Scandinavian specialties amongst its breads and pastries. They had a lovely long pastry case full of cakes and tarts and pastries. Like Mom's Apple Pie, this was a rather traditional establishement, smelling faintly of butter and flour. We ordered the lemon roll cake and mocha biskvie.
I think I've stumped Google on what biskvies are. They possibly derive from a form of biscuit, as it was a cookie-like bottom with apricot preserves and icing on top. A lot of icing--see that ridged structure on top of the cookie? Solid icing. Apricot preserves is kind of another one of my pastry pet peeves.... Why does it pop up so much? It always tastes the same, and is just kind of there and usually comes in huge plastic tubs. The lemon roll cake was rather dry and bland; only a hint of lemon flavor came out of it. Neither of us ate much of either pastry.

The cookies were quite good though. Anise seed and cardamom. Fresh, chewy and flavorful, the cardamom boosted by coarse sugar on top. I'd have them again.
The bakery was decorated in a rural elegant Scandinavian style.
And had this wheat wreath hanging in the window above a counter where we ate.
They also stock items like lingonberry and gooseberry preserves.

Mom's Apple Pie - Sebastopol

2006-02-09T15:44:00.000-08:00

On the road back down to Sebastopol, we stopped at Mom's Apple Pie.

I'm not going to lie. We were feeling the effects of all the food at this point. But we walked in with open minds, looked at their pastry cases of double crust pies and cream pies, and promptly ordered a medium sized peach pie.
I think there's always room for pie, especially because I don't really eat the crust. I can recognize a good one, but to me, it's just bland, buttery stuff that gets in the way of the fruit. That turned out to be a good thing, because this pie crust tasted more like flour than anything else. Maybe it wasn't chilled or baked long enough, or--god forbid--had too little fat in it. It was kind of flour-y and dry. You can tell by the picture that it's a bit too light and dull.

The crust was a bit dome shaped and was mostly divorced from the filling that lay on the bottom, with a big old air pocket between the two. The peaches were more like preserves than pie filling. It may be a thin line of difference, but I think pie fillings should be slightly gelled and a little looser than preserves. The flavor was ok, but more tart because of the concentrated fruit.

So, we were a bit disappointed. I hate to be negative about places that I've only been to once and I know must struggle to get customers and seem to be literally a Mom and Pop place, but I'm judging based on my own criteria and recognize that quality changes day to day, or even pie to pie. It's just that getting bad pie dampens the spirit.

And don't get your hopes up from this sign in the parking lot. They only have deli sandwiches and such. I guess it's just supposed to look cool. We learned the hard way. And yes, we would have ordered it if they'd had it. We may have been full, but fried chicken is fried chicken.

Kozlowski Farms - Forestville

2006-02-09T15:30:00.000-08:00

I don't think that winter is a good time to visit Kozlowski Farms in Forestville, which is north of Sebastopol and a mile down the road from Iron Horse. It would be fun to buy fruit there when it's in season, but when we went, there were jars and jars of jams and sauces and dressings, and a few pastries in the pastry case. Many free samples, which were good, but I wasn't smitten by anything. Unless I can find something that I absolutely can't make myself and must have, I'm not so much into those. I considered the Kiwi Jam (which wasn't offered as a sample that day), but in the end, I just walked away. If you're into bottled stuff, though, this is your paradise.

Iron Horse Vineyards

2006-02-09T14:55:00.000-08:00

We took a break from food for a wine tasting at Iron Horse Vineyards which is considered to be in the Green Valley region of Sonoma County.

For some reason, it reminded me of a cool rock band that I've just discovered, whose songs are beautiful and full of intricate surprises without showing off , and acts like they're just doing what they were born to do. They made goodness seem easy. I have a feeling that there's more going on with their wines than I was able to absorb at the first first tasting, and I'm looking forward to giving them another spin.

It was a thorough tasting -- 12 wines, including 3 limited reserve wines, for $5. They claim that sales and tours are by appointment only, but we ascended the narrow and curvy palm tree-lined path up to their hilltop abode and were served without any question of a reservation.
They are especially known for their sparkling wines, which are all made by the methode champenoise, which is a certain way to make wine bubbly and was originated by Dom Perignon himself. To give you an idea about this detailed process, I found a website that cites the stylistic decisions within this method that are made by each producer: viticultural practices, cultivars, maturity, pressing vs. crushing, types of press and press pressures, press fractions, phenol levels, use of SO₂ and the oxidative condition of the base wine, yeast for primary and secondary fermentation, barrel fermentation and aging, fermentation temperatures, malolactic fermentation, post primary fermentation lees contact, age of cuvée, reserve wine, blending, time spent sur lie, nature of the dosage, and CO₂ pressure.

It's awfully nice for them to go to such lengths to please even those who merely saunter in, reservation-free, to swig some. They have a beautiful outdoor tasting area. The counter looks like this.
The view looks something like this.
It was the Wine Country equivalent of a tropical bar set right on the beach.

So, we tasted. The 1998 Blanc de Blanc was especially good. As they describe it, it has "in your face yeast with true aged champagne character. A super serious sparkler that finishes long and dry." Their 2002 Estate Chardonnay and 2002 Limited Reserve Corral Chardonnay were especially delicious ones; not too sweet, but still retaining fruitiness.

If you're not so much into the particulars of wine, the year of the wine seems like an extraneous piece of info that could just as well be another year. But it makes a difference. We tried the 2002 Estate Pinot Noir and the 2001 Estate Pinot Noir. The 2002 noticeably tasted " just off the vine" while the 2001 had harmonized into deeper notes; and it charmed this pinot noir cynic because it actually had some flavor and body... rather than the watery body of pinot noirs that I usually notice. But older wines aren't always better. Each wine has a peak time to drink it, which could be asap. So, aging your TJ's Two Buck Chuck will probably only lead to trouble.

The sparkling wines at Iron Horse are in the $30-$36/bottle range, and the whites and reds in the $24-$39/ bottle range.

And two more rock star elements of Iron Horse: our server was cool and friendly and even danced at one point (and I have a pic, but it doesn't seem fair to post it), and their parking lot has this contraption:
Rock on.

Culinary School? Oh, yeah.....

2006-02-08T19:52:00.000-08:00

So, I was going to wait until the end of my series on our food blowout trip on Saturday until I would post current happenings, but it's getting a little ridiculous. Oh sure, I'll still post the roughly 6 remaining Saturday posts, but now about school.

On Monday, we started our 3 week Baking Techniques Block, which is yet another overview of the entire program, but this time, we have an hour lecture and work in the kitchen for the rest of the day. On Monday, though, the Chef Instructor went over all the recipes we would make for the rest of the week. The class of 17 is divided into 6 groups, and each group changes subjects every two days. So, three groups worked on breads for the first two days and three groups worked on cookies for two days; then we switch for the remaining two days. We will also spend two days each on topics like laminated doughs, rolls, and desserts.

I was in a cookie group, so we made Almond Spritz cookies (made with my ideological nemesis, the star tip) and Russian Tea Cookies (aka Mexican Wedding cookies) yesterday and Fudge Brownies and Pecan Diamonds today. Tomorrow will be baguettes and batards made out of a regular lean dough and pate fermente (which has dough from the previous mixed into the main dough, akin to a poolish or starter) and the next day will be Sunflower Whole Wheat Bread and Challah.

At the end of the day, we gather round the chef instructor who offers his critique for everything made by the different groups. It's amazing to see the variation from the different groups that comes out of one recipe. Often, the biggest difference has not to do with technique, but baking it to the proper doneness -- I think mastering that is one of the biggest challenges, because it has the greatest effect. Mixing batters and shaping doughs are way easier to practice and master, in comparison, especially since you often get to practice multiple times per recipe.

Although I've made some of these things before, the one of the trickiest part for me is controlling allllll the variables that come up in baking and trying for consistency. This is rough, because as far as I can tell, a group makes everything once; and you are working in a group, so there is also the committee factor and the dividing of duties. So, you practice rolling out short dough or shaping batards or fougasse, and you get feedback at the end of the day for what went right and wrong, but you know that you won't have a chance to perfect it in class again.

Of course, techniques overlap for many recipes, but as of day 3, I'm just concerned that I'm learning to make many things but I'm not making them properly (even if they do turn out yummy enough). I don't want to say "I know how to make perfect brownies, but I haven't made them yet." Sure, next time I might not overbeat the flour into the brownie batter as we did today, but I might because I haven't tried again yet. The practical test will be to make about two things that we've made in the block, and it may be the second time I've made it. You can practice at home, too, of course; I know Julia Child, when she attended culinary school, made for dinner what she made in class, which is a good--if costly and timely--idea. Also, Culinary school isn't about grades -- it's whether you can make good stuff or not.

Of course, this will be very different from working in a restaurant or bakery, where I probably will be making the same products day in day out and will have plenty of time to master.

So, I can understand why the school wants us to sample making different things, but I'm just waiting to build up my skills so that I can have better across the board results. When I look at what I make, I want to be able to proud to sell or buy them; if not, I want to improve them until I can.

And don't get me wrong -- being in the kitchen has been a blast! Big mixers, lots of ingredients and techniques--the days fly by now, and I could go even longer every day.

Patisserie Angelica- Sebastopol

2006-02-08T19:46:00.000-08:00

And we persevered. Next was Patisserie Angelica, a few blocks away from Screamin' Mimi's, but rather than downtown, it was more in a commercial park area. It was housed in a chalet-like building.
This place has serious pedigree -- one of the co-owners trained at Fauchon and La Maison du Chocolat in Paris, and attended Callebaut College and Cacao Barry School--so not just one chocolate school, but TWO.

I found the pastries and chocolates to be in a classic style with a touch of the eclectic.
Baked Frangipane Tarts, key lime tart with oreo crust, parisien pastry, tiramisu pastry, fallen chocolate souffle pastry. There were chocolates and an icing wrapped "package cake." A marvelous display, in a humble pastry case so that the offerings stand out like jewels. There were pictures of amazing wedding cakes on the walls - elegant and skilled, and very much in control though they had complicated designs.

Despite our fullness, we tucked into the Cardinal Sin: a flourless chocolate pastry with chocolate ganache and chocolate shaving toppings.
I also had a free sample of their raspberry cheesecake -- I don't know where they found such juicy, flavorful raspberries, but that bite was a sensation in its own right. And the Cardinal Sin... was rich... and delicious... yet somehow felt light enough so that we made rather good progress with it....

Screamin' Mimi's - Sebastopol

2006-02-08T19:20:00.000-08:00

Next we made our way to Screamin' Mimi's in downtown Sebastopol. They make ice cream 5 gallons at a time using fresh natural ingredients, and guess what? It rules. Shocking.

I tried the signature Mimi's Mud -- which has espresso, homemade fudge, oreos, and choc chips. And since the day's theme was pretty much to eat anything good, no matter the consequences, I paired it with a Grapefruit Campari sorbet. They were both flavorful in their own ways, and didn't clash too much.
Their selection is seasonal, and their available ice creams may include cinnamon crumb cake ice cream, lavender, berries and cream, grand marnier; or sorbets: pear Gewurztaminer, strawberry Cabernet, chocolate almond, and crane melon.

And their decor is just as colorful as their products...
And this has nothing to do with Screamin' Mimi's, yet this Miata parked nearby seamed to fit in:

Bill's Farm Basket - Sepastopol

2006-02-08T18:58:00.000-08:00

Next, we headed back east. We happened upon yet another unexpected cool place on the rural outskirts of Sebastopol: Bill's Farm Basket. It's an organic store with produce and dried fruits and other sundries. PLUS, on that Saturday and Sunday, they had BBQ organic chicken cooking outside. Yes, in February. But it's California... In the afternoon, you can usually wear short sleeves.
You may have guessed by this time that this area of California is rather in-your-face liberal. You're right. I came across references to the "alternative" town of Sebastopol here and there. Turns out that it has the second-ever Green Party majority in its city council, so it's pretty much run by the Green Party (Arcata, CA was the first). It's also a nuclear free zone. It seems like it's easier to eat organic here than not. And we saw this car and sticker in the parking lot. Apparently, it runs on pure vegetable oil. And it's a Mercedes station wagon. Go figure.
You may have also noticed that there is a lot of good food in this area, with an unusual devotion to espresso. You're very astute. On the south side the parking lot, resides this establishment.

Wild Flour Bread - Freestone

2006-02-07T18:30:00.000-08:00

If I could, I would keep this post at the top of my blog, always. Wild Flour Bread was my favorite of all the places we visited on Saturday--and we visited a lot of good places. It's also my favorite place that I've been to so far in the Napa area--and I've visited a lot good places. I love it.

Put simply, no matter where you are in the world, if you book an airplane ticket right now to depart in 3 hrs (providing you arrive btw Fri-Mon), rush to the airport, arrive in Oakland or San Francisco, and drive like a madman to Freestone, CA to sample the breads at Wild Flour Bread, it would be completely worth it. You may not even be a bread person, but you will easily become a Wild Flour bread person.

It's amazing bread. Served warm, perfectly chewy on the inside and slightly crusty on the outside, and so full of flavor. It's like eating perfection.

And mind you, it's basically in the middle of nowhere. This is the view across the street.
The view inside is perhaps just as beautiful, but even more breathtaking.
That wood-fired brick oven in the back bakes these organic loaves to perfection.

On their website, they say that they sell 900 loaves daily through this retail shop, and I'd believe it. A lot of people were on in the perfection of this relatively small place, and it's a comfortable spot to relax; everything just feels right with the world in the bakery. It's the kind of place where a conterperson addresses the crowd by calling out "I'll help anybody."
So, what'd we get? The fougasse (with potatoes, jack cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic, potatoes, and rosemary) and the sticky bun. When we brought our purchases to the communal table, I felt the sticky bun, and said "Oooh, it's still warm." I then felt the fougasse, and said "Oh my god, this is warm, too." It was like Christmas morning.

I think that Wild Flour is a bit like the classic Ben & Jerry's of breads -- they like to throw a lot of chunks of good stuff in (though there are pure grain breads, too). They also have a tricky way with bread names. A fougasse is usually a leaf shaped lean dough with holes. Our fougasse looked like this.
The ladder-like ( /cough-cough/ fougasse-like) loaves on the mid-left of the interior picture above had goat cheese and had a different loaf name that I can't remember. I found that out later.

Anyway, the chunks in the breads are not just limited to potatoes and garlic. When they say there's cheese in the bread, they mean chunks of glorious melted cheese. So, getting it warm is part of the beauty. The rosemary is also more mellow when it's warm (it's stronger when you devour the leftovers later).
And the sticky bun. There's nothing like it in the world. Syrupy on the edges, chewy, cinnamon-y, wildly folded.
You can't really tell from the pic, but it's huge--about the size of a healthy hardcover book. Like the fougasse, it's whole wheat. They don't mention this on the menu board, but in a way, they don't really need to. It is what it is, and it tastes delicious; it doesn't taste like some lame Whole Wheat Wonder Bread. This the real stuff that just tastes good.

The owner used to work in specialty glass in Santa Rosa, so there's even stained glass to admire... in the bathroom.As well as a bread bunny in the window.
They have pizzas on Fridays and Monday. Sigh.... they must be spectacular....

Tomales Bakery - Tomales

2006-02-07T16:22:00.000-08:00

Despite my scouring of the web, we actually happened upon a bakery in the town of Tomales that I hadn't heard of, though the name is pretty obvious: Tomales Bakery.
Now is a good time to mention that there were many bicyclists in this area. It'd be pretty crazy to bicycle around Napa--because there are a lot more cars along its two major byways of Hwy 29 and Silverado trail--but bicycling around Marin and Sonoma counties must be quite nice. Curvy roads, gorgeous scenery, and rolling hills. I think most of them come up from San Francisco for a weekend cycle. The bicyclists also have a taste for pastries, as shown above, and as I noticed outside of the Bovine Bakery in Point Reyes Station.

So, of course, we stopped to sample the Tomales Bakery. It has a tiny selling area, but a large outdoor space with benches and plants. It's open Thurs-Sunday, from 7:30am.... "until it's gone!"

We were very happy with their olive and sun-dried tomato pizzette, which had a good crispness (and it was the closest we got to eating a real lunch). They had a few other kinds, too.
For dessert, we had the lemon-raspberry square. The lemon dominated, but the occasional burst of raspberry seeds and finish of raspberry flavor worked rather nicely. And yes, my "plate" was my canvas bag, as we sat outside on a bench.
I also had a perfectly-sweet hot apple cider.

The town of Tomales has a population of about 200 hundred people, though during the railroad boom, there were 2,000. The town displays an old-fashioned architecture, though with modern awareness. You'll notice that that bank-like building on the right is "Not A Bank"--it's an art gallery.
There was also a cozy looking inn.
And a rather matching general store.
These buildings aren't necessarily the commercial area..... but they're the majority of it. And I'd be happy to go back....

Here's a good article from the San Francisco Chronicle about the town and area.

And we kept driving, back into Sonoma County.

Tomales Bay

2006-02-07T14:28:00.000-08:00

We chose a beautiful route up along Tomales Bay on our way through Marin county and back into Sonoma county. There are lots of signs for BBQ oysters in restaurants. The bay is a prime oyster spot, and the Tomales Bay Oyster Co and Hog Island Oyster Co have been recommended to me. You can buy oysters and barbecue them right on the water; and bring a cooler to bring oysters home, if you've so inclined. An article about west coast oysters is here. Hog Island Oyster Co is also located in the San Francisco Ferry Building.

We didn't indulge in oysters, but did admire the scenery, and the houses that have great views of the scenery.
And finally, I was able to stop near a farm to take pictures of the lovely cows that make such fine cheeses and milk and cream for the area.

Point Reyes Blue Cheese, Where Are You?

2006-02-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

So... Not all dairies are open to the public. But I really, really wanted to stop by the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co, which is known for their blue cheeses. Point Reyes Original Blue, in particular. I looked on the internet. I went on their site. I noticed that they listed a PO Box as their address, and there was no visitor info. Granted, I knew I could probably buy it at the gourmet shops in St Helena and Napa, but I wanted it from the source.

But I also knew that it was run by the Giacomini family. So, as I was leaving Point Reyes Station, I drove past one sign for the Giacomini dairy... and then another one about 1/8 mile past.... so I veered into the driveway. Maybe I could score some after all.

This kind of "road" continued quite a ways over rolling hills, and forked into the earlier driveway. No dairy was in sight. I wanted to go back to the highway but it was clear that a certain first rule of Napa also applies in Point Reyes... First rule of Napa: there are no u-turns in Napa.
We did reach the dairy eventually. A muddy, black, bird-infested, cow-staring complex of buildings. I finally was able to turn around. And fast.

No blue cheese for me.

Cowgirl Creamery - Point Reyes Station

2006-02-06T17:03:00.001-08:00

Brilliant name, eh? Actually, I guess the name of the store is Tomales Bay Foods, but their cheeses are made under the Cowgirl Creamery banner and I think that's just way cooler. The cowgirls in question are veterans of Bay Area restaurants such as Chez Panisse and Bette's Oceanview Diner.

Their store has a selection of organic produce, jams, a deli with pates (including rabbit), and a glorious cheese selection. Behold some of their hard cheeses...
We were graciously treated to about 6 samples of their cheeses that we chose until we decided on one. If the cheeses at the Marin French Cheese Co reminded me of the farm, these cheeses reminded me of wine. Each one burst with combinations such unique and elegant notes that I usually become aware of at wine tastings. We decided on the Lincolnshire Poacher (this link goes to the "Cheese Library" on the Cowgirl Creamery site, which is well worth checking out) from Neal's Yard Dairy. Even though it is associated with cheddars, it reminded me of a parmigiano-reggiano, but with a softer tooth, and with smoky and bacon-y notes, though it is a not a smoked cheese; it's like the Chardonnay of assertive cheeses.

It was only after we left to drive up the coast that I realized that I'd wanted to buy a cheese actually made by the Cowgirl Creamery. I guess next time, or when I make my way to the Ferry Building at the San Francisco Embarcadero, maybe I'll pick some up the Cowgirl Creamery Cheese Store that they opened in 2003.

The only dark spot of our visit was when we got home and opened the cheese from its paper wrapping. There were two small veins of blue mold. Such mold wasn't on our samples, but I feel like the counterperson must have seen them when giving us samples and when she cut it; so it should have been acceptable? At least, I hope. Since we weren't warned about it and don't seek out mold to eat, I had to cut those veins, and then some, out.... which made me feel a bit deprived. And ripped off.

I just tried Googling about this issue and Lincolnshire Poacher in general. The mold issue doesn't come up. BUT it is actually made of unpasteurized milk, which I thought was illegal in the US. It turns out that cheeses made of unpasteurized milk are only illegal if they are aged less than 60 days. Lincolnshire Poacher is aged a minimum of 18 months.

Hm...They are next open on Wednesday..... I may call to ask about the mold. I'm curious.

Point Reyes Station

2006-02-06T17:00:00.000-08:00

Point Reyes Station is the town with the largest commercial area along the Point Reyes National Seashore, which looks like this on the map, with our drive from the French Marin Cheese Co. To the west, the park is supposed offer hiking and a beautiful lighthouse. I hadn't heard found anything about the pastries in that area, though, so pfft.... we reserved that for a separate trip.

We walked around the cute town itself, whose commercial streets pretty much form an "I" shape.

Isn't it amazing that this seems to work so well?
This was one of two markets in town, nicely arranged with a range of whatever they choose to sell....
Whether it's the largest display of organic chocolate I've ever seen....
Or an inviting assortment organic produce....
Or a curiously large pet care section...
Plus, I couldn't help noticing that Point Reyes Station is home to the most charming dentist sign in the world.
There are also a few restaurants in town, and the Cowgirl Creamery..... which was our next stop.

Bovine Bakery - Point Reyes Station

2006-02-06T16:03:00.000-08:00

We continued along this route and next visited the coastal town of Point Reyes Station, and walked into the Bovine Bakery.

You could spend all day ooh-ing and ahh-ing over their wholesome display.... Including Bear Claws, Cranberry Cream Cheese scones, Chicken Pesto (and many other) croissants, Blueberry Whole Wheat Muffins.... Cookies... There were two touches that I especially appreciated: a board with daily specials (including muffins and scones) and vegan versions of certain items. I'm not a vegan, but both of these touches show an eagerness to adapt to different styles and a creativity with ingredients.

After much deliberation, we decided on the morning bun, and....
the chile cheddar cheese scone.
The morning bun had a syrupy softness on the bottom and a crispy caramelized top. The scone, as Chad said, was like a muffin and omelet in one. The occasional bits of juicy tomato were surrounded by an ever so slight egg-iness from the batter while the rest of it was a more dry cheddar and chile flavor. Combined, the sweetness of the bun and the savoriness of the scone were a perfect combination.

The bakery has a small counter with stools facing a large window, as well as ample room to hang out outside. There's a small bike repair unit next door, and the outside was hopping with swarms of bikers fueling up on pastries.

Marin French Cheese Co - Petaluma

2006-02-05T15:05:00.000-08:00

We set out from Napa at about 8:45am, and by 9:30am, we reached our first stop: the Marin French Cheese Co on the rural outskirts of the town of Petaluma (Marin County is the county to the west of Sonoma--which is to the west of Napa--so the drive looks something like this).

The Marin French Cheese Co sells under the label Rouge et Noir, and they have been making cheese in the same location since 1865. They specialize in soft cheeses such as brie, camembert, chevre, and quark. Their cheeses are said to be hand crafted in the French style. All their cheeses are pasteurized, though, unlike the some of the illegal-in-the-US unpasteurized cheeses made in France.
They open at 8:30am, but I think we were the first customers on this winter Saturday morning. As we quietly browsed the cheeses, jams, and wine accoutrements (plus a truly gorgeous martini gear carrying case), a worker quietly opened packages of their cheeses to put out as samples.... Probably about 12 in total. This was one of our first breakfasts.

Just as I am not a wine aficionado, I am not a cheese one either, although I do enjoy it immensely. What I've noticed from wine tasting, though, is that a winery will often have a certain style that goes through all their wines--certain flavors and tones that permeate throughout its products. At Marin French Cheese Co, the flavor of the farm permeated, in the best way. A brie or camembert might begin with its creamy freshness, but by the end, notes of grass and hay of a farmhouse linger, as if the cheese had its own terroir. Oui, comme les fromages de France.

It was hard to choose among the cheeses, but in the end, I ended up getting their yellow buck chevre with its grassy notes and their fresh blackberry quark, which was rather purple-ish and jammy and sweet--too sweet for Chad, who said he couldn't even taste the cheese. But I've always liked to mix cream cheese with jam, and this was the apotheosis of that combination. There was also a buttery "Breakfast Cheese" that was tempting.

Outside, there is also a duck pond to spend time at for a picnic. They sell sandwiches and wine and there's a small deli section, but of course, you can bring your own breads and wines, too.

The above picture suggests a somewhat busier landscape than there really is....

1 Day, 237 Photos, 11 Food/Wine Places, ??? Calories

2006-02-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

After Chad arrived on Friday, I let him in on my madcap scheme to do a day long Cheese, Wine, and Pastry Tour of Sonoma and Marin counties on Saturday. I'd spent an afternoon plotting out the stops and the route. We didn't get to all of my 16 choices, but 11 was certainly enough--well, probably too much--for our brave stomachs. So, instead of one monster post, I think I'm going to have to parse this out over the week. Stay tuned. :)

Meet Taylor

2006-02-04T22:21:00.000-08:00

Taylor likes purple dough best.

Lattice Pies

2006-02-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

Mint Sherbert

2006-02-02T17:15:00.000-08:00

Sorbet is so light. Ice cream is so heavy.
Sorbet is so pungent. Ice cream is so creamy.
Why can't there be anything in the middle?
Oh, but there is.
Sherbert.

Those pastel rainbows sold in plastic tubs at supermarkets have tarnished what is really a very pleasant dessert. Like homemade sorbet and ice cream, sherbert can be made with any variety of natural flavorings. Usually made of milk (and sometimes cream), fruit juice/puree, and egg whites, sherbert has a snowy consistency, which melts into a creamy milky pool. The mint sherbert that I made also had a sprightly fresh mint flavor to boot.

It's hard to find a satisfying dessert that is neither too rich nor too lean. The choice is usually between something in either the chocolate cake camp or the bowl of berries camp, or mixing the two together for balance. Sherbert already has that balance, so you can have a bowl and feel good--neither stuffed nor unsatisfied. That's not to say that it has to be served alone. It's recommended that the mint sherbert that I made below should be served with warm figs in Chartreuse and honey. No dice on figs this time of year, though in the fall, during fig season, it would be a wonderful choice.

There is the raw egg white factor to consider, but sherbert is no more dangerous than ice creams that contains egg yolks. You can either get pasteurized eggs, or as I did, use fresh eggs from a trusted supplier whose healthy chickens are fed organically, are cage free, fed Omega-3, and generally live the good life. Alternatively, Lebovitz suggests simply excluding them.

By the way, this is the first time I used my ice cream maker. No longer will I be thwarted by recipes with that cliffhanger, "freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions."

Mint Sherbet with Warm Figs in Chartreuse and Honey
6 Servings (about 1 Quart Sherbet)
from Room for Dessert by David Lebovitz

The mint sherbet:
4 cups milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed fresh mint leaves, (about 1/2 large bunch), crushed, plus a few extra set aside for chopping and folding into the finished sherbet
3 egg whites, at room temperature

The figs:
14 fresh figs (about 1 pound)
3 tablespoons green Chartreuse
2 tablespoons honey

1. To make the mint sherbet: Warm the milk, sugar, and 1 cup mint leaves. Remove from the heat, cover, and steep for 1 hour.

2. Strain the milk, squeezing the mint leaves to extract all the flavor. Discard the leaves and chill the mixture thoroughly before freezing.

3. To freeze, whip the egg whites until they stand in soft peaks and fold them into the chilled mint-infused milk. Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

4. Finely ship the extra mint leaves and fold them into the just-frozen sherbet.

5. To bake the figs: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

6. Slice the figs in half and place them in a baking dish. Add the Chartreuse and honey and toss to coat the figs. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes, until the figs are cooked through, tossing them in their liquid once or twice during baking. Serve warm with scoops of mint sherbet.

Note: If you have concerns about using uncooked egg whites, make the sherbet without them.

Blueberry Marshmallows, Rocky Road-Style

2006-01-31T22:00:00.000-08:00

Ever since I got a suggestion to pair the blueberry marshmallows with lemon white chocolate, I knew I had to make it. Rocky road-style seemed cool -- cutting the marshmallows up into cubes so that they turn into lavender pockets within the white chocolate coating.

I had every intention of tempering the chocolate. But 1) I did not have enough chocolate to let 25% of it go to "seeding" the chocolate during tempering and 2) I did not have enough chocolate to fill the bowl to reach up to the immersion line of my thermometer. But, it's not like I was going to sell them.... I just wanted a taste....

So, with a lazy determination to approximate tempering without any concern for accuracy, I simply melted the chocolate over a double boiler, added a large pinch of Meyer lemon zest, waited for it to cool down and thicken a little, heated it a little more, and mixed in cut up marshmallows and spooned them out into rocky road-like clusters.

After chilling them in the refrigerator, I looked for the unsightly signs of untempered chocolate, but they looked appealing. The finish is a little bit matted, but there are no streaks of cocoa butter on the surface. If anything, the coating is a bit uneven in places, but it's rocky road.... It's supposed to be rough.

And it's good.

The white chocolate, and occasion tinge of lemon, mostly overpowers the blueberry, but for me, it's worth the look of it and the texture that alternates soft marshmallow and comparatively crisp chocolate several times in one bite before it all melts slowly away.

The Goodies

2006-01-31T21:05:00.000-08:00

In the entertainment industry, I would sometimes get random free film/TV paraphernalia. An Amityville Horror crew jacket. A "Watching Ellie" Season 2 1/2 baseball cap. A satin robe with camouflage print dotted by faces of Animal, the Muppet.

In the food industry, the free stuff is a little different.

Now I start the search for a toasted flax seed recipe....

Your Job is Secure, Alton Brown

2006-01-31T18:34:00.000-08:00

Today we had our finals. We had a 25 question Math final that we had 90 minutes to do. Multiple choice. It was a mellow redux of things we've been doing every day in class, and I mastered it. We had practice tests and homework all along, so by this point, I could spend a whole day converting one amount into every unit known to man, one by one.

Next was Science. 40 questions in 60 minutes. Also multiple choice. After being given such a wide molecular picture of the universe occupied by fats, flours, leaveners, sugars, ovens, and eggs over the course of the past 10 days, I knew that Science was trouble. We had no practice tests to work the material into our minds, and only our re-readings of notes and books to memorize everything. I took as many facts and principles to heart as I could and planned to become better acquainted with the rest as I got more experienced. So, when asked questions such as "what is the enzyme present in pineapples," my most honest response would have been "I promise I'll know it when the time comes when it matters." Or, "I'm going down in flames." Instead, I chose "c." Because it was there.

Anyway, the first couple weeks turned out to have a fair bit of work involved-- reading and math problems every night, about 10 quizzes/exams cumulatively, one 4-page paper, one Excel cost sheet, and a 1-page paper.

We begin our 3-day ServSafe certification class tomorrow, to learn how to handle food safely. Then Monday is our orientation to the kitchen, and Tuesday, we bake!

Della Fattoria

2006-01-30T16:31:00.000-08:00

I wish that I could go to Della Fattoria every Sunday morning. The streets of Petaluma, in the southern part of Sonoma county, may be a bit overbleached by the sun, but inside Della Fattoria is the coziest cafe you could want. Colorful, but mellow.
You can come with friends to linger and sip from large bowls of coffee or hot chocolate, or come alone, as I did, to enjoy the communal table and read the newspapers that are strewn about or read a Wine Spectator to understand wines just a little bit better, as I did.

There are cases of pastries... and shelves of bread... and jars of cookies and candies for sale, though it is a rather small space. I chose the Breakfast Bread Pudding made with their polenta bread and bacon and sundried tomatoes and cheeses. The rich aroma matched its creamy consistency, and thank goodness for the apple to provide some tart contrast.
The cinnamon bun, on the other hand, was a sweeter contrast. Much more like rolled up croissant dough saturated in butter so that the swirls were slightly crisp on the outside and almost juicy with butter on the inside, it was also a rich pleasure.
Many of the pastries and breakfast items are much less indulgent, so don't be put off by the festival of butter above.

I was tempted to buy a poached pear tart to take home with me, but I bought a loaf of their Meyer Lemon Rosemary Campagne bread instead. I was a bit disappointed with it. When I tried it at home, the interior and crust were too gummy for me too enjoy, and the interior was a bit dry. It is, perhaps, a sign of control on the part of the bakers that they only TOP the bread with the lemon and rosemary (and olive oil and coarse salt), but some flavoring in the rest of the bread might have masked the consistency problem. This may be how it normally is, how it is on off day, or if they gave it to me while it was still warm and put it in the bag, it could have been softened by steam on the way home; this happened when we made breads at CIA, and I took a loaf home that hadn't cooled completely. I didn't notice it being warm at the time, but who knows. Their breads are baked in brick ovens heated with wood fires, so I would be willing to give their breads another try... after a sampling of the poached pear tart.

Oh, and breads such as these should have almost translucent spots that show that the starch gelatinized properly. I tested it. This one passed.

Sonoma

2006-01-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

Like Napa, Sonoma is a town, a valley, and a county. When I woke up this morning in Napa, it was a little foggy, but I thought it might make for atmospheric drive so I aimed for the town of Sonoma. As if I'd wandered into Oz, Sonoma was surprisingly clear and sunny, with a mostly blue skies and rolling green hills.
This is just outside the town of Sonoma. I know what the word means, but I don't know what the sign means.

The downtown is centered around a square, which has a park and City Hall in the center.

I was just on a morning mission to scope out the town, so I just walked around the lovely square, which is lined with shops on the outside.
Sonoma Cheese Factory is a landmark on the square. They've been making cheese since 1931, and are known for their Sonoma Jack.
Lots of jack. Lots of free samples. After I tried them all, I settled on the hot pepper one.
Adult cheese whiz!
Although it's great fun to drive around wine country and visit what you find in the greens hills and valleys, a benefit of stopping in towns is that there are often stores operated by wineries that have tastings. Drunk driving is a big problem here, so such stores let you drink and rest and explore until you can drive again. In contrast, killing time in a rural winery's parking lot is little fun.
I was excited by the popular Basque Cafe.
But I was in the mood for walking and the display was a little too monochromatic for me, so no tastings were made. I am curious about what they put in that gateau basque on the upper right, though...
The square is quite large, and it was a good stroll to see the variety of establishments. I was impressed to see an art house movie theater.
I was also impressed by the prospect of a quilt shop... or maybe the idea of it--I didn't seek it out.
And how to get them hooked young....
The girl & the fig is probably the best known restaurant in town, and you'll see their products, such as spreads and sauces, everywhere in the valleys and beyond.
With so much competition, having an historic garden can't hurt.
There were also quite a few arcades around the square lined with little shops. Yes, this one has a store called Scandinavian Trends with a gnome in front of it.
Sonoma reminded me a lot of Healdsburg, which is a town in northern Sonoma County that is also centered around a square. The weird thing is that, despite the variety of stores and architecture, these towns also remind me of New England, with their modern quaintness and traditional quirkiness and assortment of jams for sale. The main difference is that New England rarely ever gets this dry and sunny.

An Open Letter to Fellow Wine Country Drivers

2006-01-29T14:18:00.000-08:00

I'm sincerely sorry, but half the time, I simply don't know what the speed limit is. It changes about 10 times during my 20 mile drive to school, and every other street here seems to have its own special speed limit(s). Signs such as "End 50 mph zone" or a lone "speed monitored by radar" do not help me. The speed limit is often on my mind, and yet I see the cars behind me more than I see speed limit signs. Or I see one, but it gets jumbled up with all the other speed limits around. Unless I'm sure, I tend to average it out at 45 mph. I think this is fair. I know that this dips a little when I glance at beautiful scenery or look for a turn off. You're all very nice about it--I've never noticed an unkind look or gesture (and I'm not offended if you pass me and think that I'm a tourist)--but I want you to know that I'm aware of the problem and am working on it. I also want take this opportunity to apologize for revving my engine when you fail to immediately go when a red light changes to green.

Mexican Wines at COPIA

2006-01-29T07:10:00.000-08:00

COPIA is the American Center for Wine, Food, & the Arts located in downtown Napa. Yesterday, they had a free Wines of Mexico walk-around wine tasting. Paired with its free admission to COPIA for the month of January, it drew a large crowd, despite the persistent rains.

The show featured the wine-growing region of Baja, California, which is comprised of three valleys near Ensenada, about 60 miles south of San Diego. Thanks to an Arctic current that pulls cold water up from the depths of the ocean to create a Mediterranean-like micro-climate in this area, it has become a wine growing region. Wine has been made their on and off for the past 300 years. Oddly enough, in 1905, it was a colony of Russians who had arrived and revived its vineyards, which have been producing and multiplying ever since.

The show was exceedingly well done. The tables were arranged on the perimeter of the room, so that all you had to do was walk up, wait for a few people in front of you, and then have a choice of about 4 wines to try. One table even had grappa. There were a few food tables and plenty of room. None of the wines were for sale, it was just a tasting. I have to admit, I felt like I was stealing--so much free stuff so graciously offered.

I wish I'd liked more wines, but I was jolted by a zinfandel with a syrupy sweet start.... a sour cabernet sauvignon.... a puckery syrah. I guess I like balanced wines, so if a strong flavor bursts out, I retreat. But I did enjoy the refreshing, crisp Chardonnay Reserva 2004 at Vinicola L.A. Cetta.

Cavas Valmar was my favorite, with its Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 and a smooth, subtly spicy Tempranillo 2003. I would have liked to buy a bottle.

Upstairs, COPIA has its museum exhibits about food and wine (including a wall of Julia Child's pots and pans--soooo much copper).

There was also an exhibit of art made from recycled materials/junk for some reason. Outside there is an Edible Garden that I didn't see because of the rains. Its restaurant, Julia's Kitchen, looked like rather superb fine dining.

So, is COPIA worth its regular $12.50 admission? Maybe its the modern architecture that makes it seem like there isn't much there for the large space (although it is beautiful), so my advice would be to go when there is an appealing event. If it's as classily done as the Mexican Wine Tasting, it's a great value and a lot of fun. And luckily, they have events going on all time. But no matter when you go, there is wine tasting included in your visit--for instance, even yesterday, in addition to the profusion of Mexican wineries, Sonoma's own La Crema was featured at the Wine Spectator Tasting Table.

In Pursuit of Boo-berry

2006-01-28T12:16:00.000-08:00

I made strawberry marshmallows a few weeks ago, and I thought that it would be fun to try blueberries instead.

They turned out satisfyingly bouncy and are slightly denser and moister than store bought ones. Blueberries have a mild flavor, esp when added into recipes, but I like the subtlety of it. Blueberries paired with chocolate is good, so I may cover a few of them in tempered melted chocolate.

If you really want a fruit flavor, though, go with the strawberries. Or perhaps, raspberries.

Marshmallows are considered a somewhat advanced confection to make at home, because it involves boiling sugar to about 240 degrees, setting the mixer to high, and pouring the hot liquid in. The only trick is not missing the bowl and pouring onto the side of the bowl, not the whisk. I find it empowering. I swear, the mixer won't explode. I guess it also involves actually having a stand mixer and a candy thermometer. It'd probably hurt a handheld mixer to do this.

The recipe here has been halved. The marshmallow mixture in the mixer grows as it get firmer, and the original recipe made too much for my 5 qt mixer--I had to bail out about half of it from the bowl so that the pink blob wouldn't take over my kitchen.

Strawberry Marshmallows

These are a variation on a Martha Stewart recipe.

2		envelopes gelatin
1/4	c	strawberry puree (or raspberries or blueberries; frozen is actually better than fresh unless you have access to very flavorful local berries)
5	oz	water
1.5	c	sugar
5	oz	light corn syrup
1/8	tsp	salt
1/8	tsp	orange flower water (optional)
		powdered sugar and potato or corn starch for dusting

Lightly butter or oil a shallow baking pan, about 13 x 17, and sprinkle with sifted cornstarch. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment.

Mix the strawberry puree, orange flower water (if using) and 1/2 cup of the water in the bowl of a stand mixer and sprinkle the gelatin over to soften.

Put the sugar, corn syrup, remaining 3/4 cup water and salt in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook until it reaches the soft-ball stage (234-240 F).

With the mixer at full speed, pour all of the hot syrup slowly down the side of the bowl. Be careful as the mixture is very liquid and hot at this point and some may splash out of the bowl - use a splash guard if you have one. whip until the mixture is very fluffy and stiff, about 8-10 minutes. pour mixture into the prepared pan and smooth with an oiled offset spatula so that it's level. Allow the mixture to sit, uncovered at room temp for 10 to 12 hours.

Mix equal parts powdered sugar and potato or corn starch and sift generously over the rested marshmallow slab. Loosen the sides with a spatula. Turn it out onto a cutting board or counter and dust with more sugar/starch mixture. Slice with a thin-bladed oiled knife or oiled cookie cutters. Dip all cut edges in sugar/starch mixture and shake off excess. Marshmallows will keep several weeks at room temp in an air-tight container.

Variation - Chocolate Marshmallows:

Replace strawberry puree and initial 1/2 cup of water in mixing bowl with 1/2 cup of cocoa disolved in 1/2 cup boiling water in a separate bowl. Soften gelatine in an additional 1/4 cup cold water in mixing bowl. Add cocoa mixture to mixing bowl and procede with recipe as above. This will produce a marshmallow with a strong chocolate flavor, but somewhat denser than the strawberry version. To get a lighter texture as well as a lighter chocolate flavor, reduce cocoa to 1/4 cup.

Variation - Vanilla Marshmallows:

Replace strawberry puree and initial 1/2 cup of water in mixing bowl with 3/4 cup water and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or the seeds scraped from 2 vanilla beans.

Laminated Dough Photos

2006-01-28T08:42:00.000-08:00

Conversion, via Prune Gateau Basque

2006-01-27T23:02:00.000-08:00

Having all the ingredients for a recipe if half the challenge of baking. Almost having all the ingredients is frustrating, but at least lends itself to some innovation.

I've been wanting to make this Prune Gateau Basque for quite a while. Prunes have become a pariah in the world of dried fruits, unless they are specifically bought for their digestive properties. But sometimes I get bored of all the common flavors, and the prune seems like a candidate for some innovative uses. It is, after all, a dried plum, and I like plums.

There is a movement now to market them as dried plums, but I think this new move is confusing an issue. Prunes are always whole dried plums, but what's marketed as dried plums can either be whole dried plums or plums that have been cut in half and dried; and in some case, completely different varieties of plums are used depending on the wholeness or the halfness. In the world of apricots, Turkish apricots are whole dried apricots while California apricots are apricots that have been cut in half and dried. So, I am going to put my foot down and think that prunes are to turkish apricots as dried plums are to California apricots.

Anyway, in this case, prunes were in order, and since I'd bought a bag of prunes a while ago, I thought I'd use that. And this is where my journey into conversion-land began. The recipe calls for 8 oz, and I had 6 ounces of rather dry organic prunes. That's 75% what I need. When you put the filling in, you're supposed to leave a 1/2 inch border, so I figured I would just have a wider border and thinner fruit layer.

Then it calls for armagnac, rum, and anise liquor. I didn't have any anise liquor. Ok. Cointreau seemed like a very assertive substitution, so I settled on maraschino liqueur. It has a floral, almost pistachio-like flavor, even though it's made of cherries, and is great in a cocktail called an Aviation. And since I used 75% of the prunes, I cut the alcohol by 75% each. There are 3 tsp in every tbs, so I used 2 tsp instead. I don't like alcohol to overpower desserts, so I was ok with the slight decrease. I did increase the water, though. I boiled the mixture and let it cool, but the prunes still seemed very tough, so I set it back to boil and added yet more water to compensate for the water that had steamed off. Eventually, they were soft, and I was happy.

Until I looked at the almonds. 1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds. I had whole almonds and almond meal. This is why measurement by weight rocks while measurement by is shaky ground. I googled the weight of the almonds called for, and found 40 grams. So I substituted 40g of almond meal since the almonds were to be pulverized in the food processor anyway.

I also used the Plugra butter instead of regular butter, but I decreased the amount just a touch, because it does have higher fat content, and I didn't want it too saturated with butter.

I also used less almond extract and more vanilla extract, which in total equaled 2 tsp, because I like vanilla better than almond and knew that the almond flavor would be plenty prominent anyway.

I was able to follow the rest of the recipe without a hitch.

And Gateau Basque is a cake traditional to the Basque region of France, which is by the northern part of the Spanish border. The first time I bought one in Biarritz, I didn't know what it was. It just looked like a flat yellow cake. It turned out to be a senstation of ground almonds and cherry preserves. They seemed to be made differently at every bakery; sometimes filled with pastry cream, sometime dense, sometimes light. So, filling it with prune fits in with its adaptable nature.

This one turned out very well. A moist, flavorful almond cake and deeply flavored, almost gooey prune center with delicate floral notes. I also had plenty of filling, despite the 75% quantity made.

Prune Gateau Basque
one 9-inch cake
from Ripe for Dessert by David Lebovitz

Prune Filling:
8 oz pitted prunes, quartered (about 1 cup)
3 tbs Armagnac or brandy
1 tbs rum
1 tbs anise-flavored liquor, such as ouzo, pastis, or anisette
Grated zest of 1/2 orange
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Dough:
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup sugar
8 tbs butter (1 stick), unsalted, at room temp
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract

Glaze:
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp milk or cream

To make prune filling: Heat the prunes in a saucepan with the armagnac, rum, anise liquor, orange zest, sugar, and water. When the liquid comes to a boil, remove them from the heat and let stand until the prunes are tender.

To make the dough: In the bowl of a food processor, process the flour, almonds, baking powder, and salt until the almonds are finely ground. Add the sugar and the butter and process until the butter is in tiny pieces. Add the egg, the egg yolk, and the almond and vanilla extracts and process until the dough is smooth.

Divide the dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Wrap each piece in plastic, shape into a disk, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until firm.

In the bowl of the food processor, pulse the prunes and their cooking liquid together until the mixture forms a slightly chunky puree.

Position the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan, and tap out any excess.

To assemble the tart, remove the larger disk of dough from the refrigerator. Heavily dust both sides with flour, and roll out between 2 sheets of plastic wrap into a 10-inch circle. Remove the top sheet of plastic wrap and drape the dough, unwrapped side down, over the springform pan. Gently press the dough to fit into the bottom and partway up the sides of the pan. Peel the other piece of plastic away from the dough carefully to avoid tearing the dough (if you do, dip your hand in flour and pinch any tears together).

Spread the prune filling over the dough in the springform pan, leaving a 1/2 inch border uncovered.

Dust the remaining disk of dough with flour and roll it out into a 9-inch circle between sheets of plastic wrap. Remove the top sheet, invert the circle of dough, and center it on top of the prune filling. Peel away the plastic wrap. Trim any excess dough from the bottom circle where it goes up the sides of the pan and fold the edge of that circle back over the upper piece of dough, pressing down gently to seal in the filling.

To make the glaze: Beat the egg yolk with the milk or cream and brush the top of the gateau. Make a crosshatch pattern in the top by raking the dough with the tines of a fork.

Bake the tart for 40 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely before removing the sides of the springform pan and serving.

Angwin

2006-01-27T22:00:00.000-08:00

Angwin. Such a great name that makes me think of an ancient and noble hamlet nestled into the Welsh countryside. Instead, it's a town of about 2500 people at about 2000 ft elevation that is nestled into the Napa countryside 7 miles northeast of St. Helena. It fuels the Angwin Reporter.

I'm still trying to figure out what happened on my visit.

After a beautiful ascent up the side of a hill, careening soooo close to steep dropoffs, I saw the decorative "Angwin" town sign. Then there was a strip mall with a such things as grocery market, a laundromat, and a post office. I'd heard that there was a college named Pacific Union College here, and across the street, its campus started. At the next intersection, there were signs for college buildings to the right. I continued straight in search of downtown, and found myself driving through a tunnel of evergreen trees. A sign warned me that there would be curvy roads for the next 4 miles. So, I made a left and eventually circled back through a residential area to the strip mall, which I guess is Angwin's downtown. And that was it.

Back when I was desperately looking for an apartment, I almost looked at one in Angwin. My desperation would have remained. It's not a bad town, but I think I missed exactly what people do there.... where people go.... where people are....

I wanted to take pictures, but the sun wasn't right for the strip mall itself, so this is the view looking across the street....

I descended back down the road, and hopped out of the car at a turn off.

There were other turn offs with great views of the valley, but I was too busy keeping track of the curves to stop in time for them.

I took the Silverado Trail back to Napa, which runs parallel to Hwy 29 on the east, and is somewhat of a locals' road. It's slightly curvy, right on the fields, and people drive really fast on it. Part of it looks like this.

The mustard is starting to come up, and soon the valley will be blanketed in yellow. It's a big deal here. The Grand Opening Event of the Napa Valley Mustard Festival is being held at the CIA this weekend, and word is that it will be packed.

Calistoga

2006-01-26T17:21:00.000-08:00

I drove up valley to explore Calistoga today, which, at about 27 miles north of the town of Napa, is the uppermost substantial town in the Napa Valley wine region. It's known for its waters -- not only Calistoga Water, but also for its hot springs and mud baths. It also has lava deposits. The influence of tourists is reflected by the side-by-side folksiness and hipness of the town, and its cottage industry of inns. I've been told that it's the place to go to party (this means that it has more than bar and they are regularly open past 10pm).

If I were visiting the region, I would love to stay in Calistoga. It's such a beautiful town with lots to explore on foot, accommodating all ranges of budgets and tastes. It's a little secluded (and probably at least an 1 hr 45 mins from the Oakland airport), but at least it doesn't have the autobahn of Napa--Hwy 29--running in the middle of it like most other towns.

The shops and restaurants are mostly along Lincoln Ave, the main artery of the town.

It's really hard to take a good picture of a downtown street...

This could be you.

I would be have been proud to come up with this name.
Who knew?A restaurant named Stomp.

A couple of trains were converted into an arcade.
A laundromat with a view.
I had just about walked past this little cafe when I saw that they have Killer Brownies. I immediately turned around.
From the moment I saw it, I had my doubts. It was a little too light brown on the bottom and all those air bubbles compromised its density. It tasted like corn syrup with a little bit of cocoa. Not nearly rich or delicious enough to kill. I guess their Dreyer's ice cream could do that instead.

Then I came across the Calistoga Creamery and Bakery.
At 2:00, they were closing down, but I was able to slip my way in for some treats in the name of Napa culinary research.
Now this is a brownie you can spend some time with. Rich chocolate flavor and fudgy-but-firm texture. I'd drive 27 miles again for it, and that means a lot because I hate driving and I'm picky about brownies.

If the brownie was a classic done right, this little gem was a novel surprise. If you pull up the latch-like piece of dough on the top, it reveals a ribbon of dough that spirals through pastry and ends in a latch on the bottom. Cinnamon-sugar is grainy on the outside and melted soft in the inside. The dough was somewhere between a cinnamon roll and croissant.
And finally, a sort of pecan brittle cookie. Soft on the inside where it's not packed with pecans. Pleasantly pungent flavor, bolstered by brown sugar.
Anyway, Calistoga seems like a town that I'm going to enjoy exploring more, even if I felt a bit Rachael Ray-ish today. There are, of course, wineries up there, too....

And here is the tasting aftermath:

Holy Cow Char Sugar

2006-01-26T17:13:00.000-08:00

During a field trip to C&H sugar factory 5 yrs ago, the students asked:
What material is used to filter the sugar into its refined state?
Charcoal.
What is the charcoal made of?
Bones.
What kind of bones?
Cow.
Where are the cows from?
India.

Those Aren't Chocolate Chips, Those Aren't Raisins

2006-01-25T23:25:00.000-08:00

They're olives.

I've noticed a trend recently to pair sweet and salty for appetizers and desserts (such as the blue cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon made popular by L.A.'s A.O.C.). Ever since I heard about a candied black olive and basil marshmallow tart that used to be served in San Francisco's Citizen Cake, I wanted to try olives with sugar.

Ironically, the recipe that I found is not from a newly minted celebrity chef, but from an old French family recipe that makes "scourtins."

Knowing this old European heritage, I indulged another lingering taste desire: Plugra butter. Plugra literally means "more fat." Excellent. I'd heard that it can revolutionize your baking. It's a European style butter that has less water than American butter so that the fat content is about 82% instead of the 80% of standard American butter. It has a lower melting point than regular butter as well as a smoother, richer texture and flavor. This cookie is supposed to be crisp, so that lower melting point would lend itself to that. A warning, though, that it comes in a one pound block without measurement markings, so I guess it's time to buy that scale you've always wanted to measure it precisely.

So, how is the cookie? Fantastic. How can I describe it? I dunno.... like olives surround by sweet batter and it tastes good. There was even a lovely sweet-savory smell while it was baking that I couldn't identify either. I though that the batter would turn a bit purple (I used Kalamata olives), but the olives stayed to themselves and a l m o s t became like silkier savory raisins. They dried out a bit and became a little chewier, but only tasted sweet as a result of the batter. A stray olive bit did not taste sweet at all.

And the batter, as a result of the plugra and the confectioner's sugar, was on the crisp side with a little bit of rich flakiness.

Pairing these cookies might be difficult... or an adventure for brave souls. I want to put a square of milk chocolate on top of one and melt it briefly in the oven to see how it tastes. The depth of the baked olives just hints at chocolate itself. Another option would be to substitute half chocolate chips to see what happens. At another point, I though that a piece of feta on top, or maybe ricotta or ricotta salata, would be perfect. Milk might be good to drink with it. Or tea. Maybe hot chocolate. Wine. Probably not so much coffee or soda. Probably not many fruits; maybe plums. I was going to add rosemary to part of the batter, but then I forgot.

Olive Biscuits
(Les Scourtins aux Olives de Nyons)

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cured olives, preferably from Nyons, pitted and coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until it is soft and pale yellow. Mix in the sugar until blended, then drizzle in the olive oil and mix until combined. Add the flour and mix gently but thoroughly until the dough is smooth, then add the olives and mix until they are thoroughly incorporated into the dough.

Place a piece of waxed or parchment paper on a work surface, and place the dough in the middle. Cover it with another piece of waxed paper or parchment paper and roll out the dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick (the dough is very sticky, and the paper makes it possible to roll out). Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes, and up to 24 hours.

Cut out 2-inch rounds of dough and place them about 1/2 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Gather the trimmings into a ball and roll it into a 1-inch diameter log. Wrap well and refrigerate, and when you are ready to bake, cut off 1/4-inch thick rounds (this avoids over-rolling the dough).

Bake until the scourtins are golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks.

Makes 34 scourtins.

Letter from France
1999
Susan Herrman Loomis

How Tesla Ate

2006-01-24T18:30:00.000-08:00

As each dish arrived, he compulsively calculated its cubic contents before lifting a bite to his lips. Otherwise there could be no joy in eating.
--Tesla: Man Out of Time

Classes Now

2006-01-24T18:15:00.000-08:00

Since we have 10 school days of our math and science classes, we have a quiz every couple of days, a midterm tomorrow, and then a final on Tuesday. In math, we've learned about converting measurements, working with yield percents/edible portion quantity/as purchased quantity, and costing a portion of food.

We have a very useful yield percent chart for common fruits and vegetables, so you can see that you can roughly count on 68% of your whole bananas that you buy being edible, about 50% of your whole melons being edible, and 97% of yourberries being edible (there are usually a some damaged ones). This came in handy the other night when a recipe called for a 2 lb butternut squash to be peeled and cubed. Since butternut squash has a 52% yield, I knew that a one pound bag of Trader Joe's brilliant pre-cubed butternut squash would be equivalent.

So, this is the stuff I'm studying for the midterm tomorrow.

In Science class, today was dairy day, yesterday was fats day, before that was flour. Today, the chef demonstrated making all kinds of dairy concoctions from butter to ricotta to yogurt to mascarpone to creme fraiche, mostly by using combinations of milk, cream, vinegar, or lemon juice. They all need a day to set, so we'll see how they set up tomorrow.

Foiled by a Frame

2006-01-22T21:59:00.000-08:00

During a trip to LA this weekend, I went to the Getty Museum. Like most people who go to the Getty, I used it as an opportunity to re-think and re-invigorate the way I'd like to plate desserts.

I originally conceived of the idea with a modern art museum in mind, given the often abstract designs that desserts are presented in, but I try not to pass up chances to go to one of the most beautiful spots in LA. The white marble buildings and gardens of the Getty form a sort of campus that overlooks LA and the Pacific.

So, my problem with many desserts is unnecessary adornment that is either impractical or trite. The star tip used in piping icing epitomizes this for me. It's the standard decoration for a cake that looks silly without being especially charming. Because so much frosting is used, it's usually a mediocre frosting that nonetheless piles itself up on cakes' borders so that it can leech itself onto all-too-much-suspecting victims. The increased surface area of the ridged icing means that more will be dried out. So much of this stuff is scraped aside by cake eaters.

And on the other hand, desserts presented with random splotches of color or lines also make me question their relevance to the situation at hand.

I think that dessert design should, of course, be fun (that's what desserts are all about), but also use a bit of form and function logic. Rather than relying on worn out designs, it's more interesting for the pasty chef to adapt the design for the individual dessert and its intended effect, like a Frank Lloyd Wright or Maury Rubin approach.

I thought about what is necessary and what is beautiful as I looked at the Getty's collection of 1700-1800's French and Italian paintings. Classical works, in which everything had a purpose. A portrait would have a person in an appropriate space with relevant personal objects. A scene from a story would have the characters and details of the action. Great. That makes sense. No anachronistic splotches of color or squiggly lines....

until I noticed something as my eyes drifted from one painting to another....

Oh my god.

Okay. It turns out that even paintings have their form of star tip absurdity. I guess humans like to frame artistic creations with bold lines. Like a frame is needed to hold a painting, an icing border is used to cover the corners and layers of a cake. Fair enough. But why not explore a larger variety of designs? That's all I'm asking.

In other news, I liked applying the ideas of using color on the entire canvas and creating perspective on flat surfaces. That can be worked into desserts. The decorative arts wing also offered new ideas on the depths and colors and designs that make up a whole three dimensional piece of art.

Anyway, it was a fun new way to go through a museum, and I think I will also try a modern art museum.... There are, after all, way fewer frames there.

The Road to Oakland Airport

2006-01-22T21:57:00.000-08:00

The closest airport to Napa is Oakland, and under ideal conditions, it takes an hour to drive those 50 miles. I learned that if you go during rush hour (Friday at 3:30, apparently), it takes one hour and forty-five minutes.

Sacramento is about 10 miles more, but I think it should be less congested. I may try that out.

If There's Art, There's Science

2006-01-21T10:00:00.000-08:00

Many people think of desserts as colorful and delicious artistic creations, but for the first three weeks of my program, I have two classes: Culinary Math and Culinary Science & Technology. We have 6 hrs of class that starts at 7am and ends at 1:30pm, which will be the same time frame we'll use when we get into the kitchen in our toques and chef's uniforms (right now, we're business casual). We are also have a rather gourmet lunch (after two weeks, they haven't even served the same protein twice) with desserts made by a class that started 6 months ago.

I often like to think of baking and cooking as science experiments, so I'm eager to build on what I've learned from Alton Brown. It is hard to sit in class for such a long time, but when I think about the Chef Instructor who teaches for 6 hours (standing the whole time), I try to sit up a little straighter and stop a yawn before it starts.

We also do experiments that would be appreciated by home bakers if they had the time, materials, equipment, and employed a full time dishwasher. For instance, as part of our lesson on starches, we made a slurry out each of six starches: cornstarch, potato starch, arrowroot, clear gel (a derivative of cornstarch), tapioca flour, and flour. A slurry means that you whisk the starch in a small amount liquid (in this case, water) to dissolve it before adding it to the larger amount of liquid so that it doesn't clump up. We then combined each with hot water and whisked --some for a few seconds off heat, some for a few minutes boiling on heat -- until they turned clear and gelatinous. After they cooled, we took tasting spoons and sampled each starchy result. They looked like pie fillings without any flavorings, and tasted as good or worse than you can imagine that tastes..... but it was a good lesson to see what these materials do before we play around with them in recipes. That way, we can anticipate how a recipe can and should turn out, and we can decide whether we want to use the suggested starch for a certain application or not, depending on our preference for taste, texture, and how we want it to react with other ingredients. Flour also contains starch, so it explains the gloss that it often takes on when heated.

I Love My Commute

2006-01-20T00:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, there are palm trees in wine country.

Why is the Microwave faster than the Oven?

2006-01-19T20:34:00.000-08:00

The microwave's waves penetrate through food. The oven's heat warms only the surface of food, so the heat has to conduct through the inside molecule by molecule.

Bouchon Bakery

2006-01-19T19:27:00.000-08:00

Note: I have revisited Bouchon Bakery.

Bouchon Bakery is one of the many bijoux bakeries between my home and the school, albeit in the town of Yountville, not perched on the teeming asphalt of Highway 29. Bouchon Bakery was opened in 2003 by Thomas Keller, of The French Laundry and Bouchon, and is known for its wonderful breads and pastries. Despite the size of the building, the sales space is cozy and packed full of goodies. Another Bouchon Bakery is opening soon in NYC in the Time Warner Center, where Keller also has Per Se. Keller, by the way, is a Napa icon. They probably sell posters of him.... somewhere.

I started off with their Pain de Campagne.

It was chewy and hearty, with excellent crust and crumb (which is the term for the inside matter, not the crumbs that fall off). As I read in one my books last night, the three colored crust, irregular gas cells, and the glossy sheen caused by the gelatinizing reactions of starch are indicators of quality bread.

Then I got down to desserts.

This is a small sampling of what they had. A madeleine, vanilla macaron, st honore pastry, chocolate chip cookie, bouchon, and cheese danish. The cookie was good--the chocolate is in very small pieces, so it has a uniform flavor. There are some sugar powers at work, too, giving the dough an almost caramelized flavor, and the outside inches have a bit of a caramelized top. I liked this unique added sweetness.. Usually a chocolate chip cookie with a high percentage of sugar spreads very thin and gets crispy, but this one was thick and chewy; maybe bread flour was used, which has higher protein and stays firmer. I thought I tasted hints of hazelnut and liquor in the chocolate, but that could have just been my taste buds gone wild.

I try to be excited by madeleines, but they're too dry and bland for me. This one wasn't a revelation. Maybe their chocolate cherry brandy one is.

The cheese danish was one of the best I've had. The cheese was a lemon flavored cream cheese-y concoction enrobed by a muscular danish dough. It's dense and makes you feel strong working your way through it.

A "bouchon" was labelled as their signature item--a moist and dense brownie-like confection laced with chocolate chips. The outside had an ever so slight firm chewiness to it that wasn't quite a crust. Now, a bouchon is a certain type of French cafe.... so since this rather un-French and I can't locate a reference to a dessert named a bouchon on trusty Google, I'm going to guess that this is an original (let's all ignore Brownie Bites).

The St Honore was my favorite, largely thanks to this little flavor bomb.

There are three of these around the tart -- three mini profiteroles filled with pastry cream and encrusted top and bottom by crunchy caramelized sugar. Think about biting into that for a second. Your teeth crackle through the caramelized sugar and into what seems like straight pastry cream... as your teeth lift up, the slightly chewy choux pastry asserts itself as mangled into this mass of hard sugar and soft cream.... it tastes like cream, vanilla, rich caramel, and pastry are all one, and it's expanding in your mouth. You want to savor it, but you also need to breathe. Before you know it, it's gone.

Whenever possible, buy St Honore pastries.

La Religieuse is a closely related pastry also made of choux pastry that has fondant icing instead of caramelized sugar. They're supposed to look like French nuns, hence the name; they have one small profiterole atop a larger one, so I guess they look a bit more austere but they taste very similar. I've had them in mocha, lavender, rose, chocolate, and vanilla. Whenever possible, buy them, too.

The vanilla macaron. Eh. Flavor was a little weak, texture was a little too chewy when it should have been dissolving delicately....

.... but this one had glowing powers.

Bouchon Bakery
6528 Washington Street
Yountville, CA 94559
707.944.2253 (BAKE)

Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake with Grapefruit Cream Cheese Frosting

2006-01-17T21:46:00.000-08:00

Grapefruits sometimes seem like the forgotten citrus fruit. While lemon, lime, and orange juices and zests slip their way into any number of sweet and savory recipes, the grapefruit tends to sit apart, almost invisible to shoppers despite its girth, waiting for a little attention until it can spring its sprightly juice and turgid segments onto the wise few. My pet theory is that while oranges and lemons have flourished for generations in such culinary cradles as France and Italy, the grapefruit, native of wonderful yet distant Barbados, has been the citrus errant (Hm... Founding Father Alexander Hamilton was born in Barbados. He never got to be president).

In any case, this leaves the field wide open for some serious grapefruit innovation.

When I saw this recipe in Gale Gand's Butter Sugar Flour Eggs, I was thrilled. Cake. Grapefruit. Must eat.

It turned out okay. The cake part is verges on the dryness of a sponge cake, but still has enough spring and moisture to qualify as something more. Despite the juice and the zests, it had only a faint citrus flavor. It just seems like a decent yellow cake. It is low fat, though -- only a 1/4 c oil and 3 eggs for an 8 serving cake. As for the high fat frosting, I halved it. I didn't want to buy two packages of cream cheese (which would end up in may stomach). My creative icing solution may look weird, but it leaves open the possibility of a second topping. Stay tuned after the break.

The frosting is probably my fault. I whipped it up all fluffy in the mixer, but somehow misread "2 tsp of grapefruit segments" to be mixed in as 2 tbs and didn't even halve it. The frosting went from frosting to something more like grapefruit cream cheese spread. Very glossy. A bit oozy. The difference in water and maybe acid between the two measurements must have been the cause. It's still provides the bulk of the grapefruit flavor for the cake, but doesn't do much to add to the average cake itself. Since there is that spare tire around the icing on top, I may try brushing simple syrup, or perhaps a kind of honey syrup on top. A coating of syrup would probably taste good under the frosting, too.

I feel like a grapefruit cake could work very well, but either someone else can have better luck with the recipe or it needs a little tweaking. I was a bit irked that it calls for using the mixer 3 times when 2 would be sufficient--yolks can be hand mixed--but that's spoken by a single mixer bowl owner.

Anyway, for a nice grapefruit fix, you could always just put this frosting on a yellow cake or cupcakes for similar results. Or maybe add another flavor in or on it for a flavor bounce. Or eat a chilled grapefruit plain.... more flavor, less fat and sugar.

Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake with Grapefruit Cream Cheese Frosting

For the Cake:
3 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1/4 c vegetable oil
1/4 cup fresh grapefruit juice
3 tbs freshly grated grapefruit zest
1/2 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
1 1/2 c sifted cake flour
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

For the frosting:
2 grapefruits
12 oz cream cheese, slightly softened
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest
3/4 c confectioners' sugar

Heat the oven to 350. Butter, flour, and parchment a 9 inch cake pan.

CAKE
Whisk the egg yolks in a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or using a hand mixer). With the mixer running, drizzle in the oil. Drizzle in the grapefruit juice. Add the grapefruit and lemon zests and mix.
Sift the sifted flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Add to the egg yolk mixture and mix.
Whip the egg whites in a clean dry bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold into the cake batter. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake until dry and springy in the center, 25-30 minutes. Let cool in the pan 15 minutes. Run a spatula around the edge of the cake, turn out onto a wire rack, peel the paper off the top, and set aside to finish cooling.

FROSTING
Using a paring knife, cut a slice off the top and bottom of each grapefruit to expose the flesh. Cutting from top to bottom and following the contours of the fruit, remove the peel and white pith completely. Cut the grapefuit sections free of the membrane and set aside to drain on paper towels, turning occasionally.
Beat the cream cheese in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer) until smooth and fluffy. Add the lemon juice and zest and mix. Gradually add the sugar and mix until smooth. Chop 1 or 2 grapefruit sections to measure 2 teaspoons, add to teh frosting and mix.
With a long serrated knife, cut the cake in half horizontally. Lift off the top layer and transfer the bottom layer to a serving plate. Frost the cut side and arrange half the remaining grapefruit sections on top. Replace the top layer of the cake. Frost the top and sides and arrange the remaining grapefruit sections on top.

Makes 1 cake

Napa Premium Outlets

2006-01-17T21:11:00.000-08:00

This serves as my local mall. I was happy with it. A good variety of clothes and assorted goodies for fair prices, and the salespeople were extremely friendly. I mention this because when I was looking for an apartment here, I was a bit concerned about some of the sketchy neighborhoods I visited. The town of Napa has not been known for being a particularly idyllic place to live, but most like to say the town is undergoing a renaissance, which I take to mean that it's improving culturally and restaurant-wise (technically, the idea of a rebirth doesn't make much sense because I don't think it had a glory period, other than as a place to stop for gas to get up Up Valley).

Anyway, all the people I've met in Napa have been very friendly and down to earth so far, and I'm becoming charmed by the city itself.

I've also become a new supporter of a store that understands that sometimes I just want to wear khakis without boots, heels, or extreme low rise.

Well, it was sort of the first day of class...

2006-01-17T20:43:00.000-08:00

I attended the week long Career Discovery class last week where you get to be in the kitchen and get an overview of the sort of things that you'll do in the 30 week program--so one day for creaming method, one for foaming method, two for bread, and one for chocolate. I miss the kitchen. In honor of that fond memory of being in the kitchen and the joy that is baking bread, here is my first pic on the site:

I still have to practice my food photography. This one is even less pretty, but I couldn't eat all that bread at once....

First Day of Class!

2006-01-17T20:24:00.000-08:00

It started off oddly. I managed to sit with people from the other class underway at the school for breakfast, but after some advice and mentally kicking myself, I slipped away to my group. There are sixteen of us, with ranges of experience--some already with associate's degrees in culinary arts, some have come from restaurants, one with a food business in the family, one who worked at a food magazine, some fellow refugees from corporate America....

It was mostly a parade of administrative duties--reciting school policies and schedules, trying on chef jackets and pants, taking ID photos, issuing books (finally I have my own McGee!) and kits (finally I have my own bread knice!), touring the grounds, and introducing ourselves. I found myself wondering how I got through 18.25 yrs of classroom education, but I know I'm in for something quite different than what I'm used to.

I did the reading for our Culinary Math class tomorrow, and am preparing to memorize conversions between tbs, cups, oz, and perhaps a bushel and a peck. I learned that a fluid ounce (which is on Pyrex measuring cups and sometimes labelled as merely ounces) is a volume measurement, not a weight measurement, which makes complete sense after a half a moment's thought. Silly Americans--even what seems like a weight measurement is actually volume. My baking has improved so much since I got a scale and measure in grams that I shudder at any other way. A recipe that calls for "1 cup sifted flour" just kills me because I have to do it by volume and transfer it from a parchment paper to a measuring cup to boot.

Ah well, it's a beginning... It was still nice being in the gorgeous school with our charming Chef Instructor and anticipating what we'll get up to in the next the 30 weeks.

Four Wineries

2006-01-16T21:02:00.000-08:00

Now, the idea of my reviewing wine is a little absurd. I could live on Charles Shaw alone, or at least, instead of wines up to $12. But I'm in wine country. And my comments aren't so much reviews as guides.

Our 10:30am reservation for an in-depth tour at Cakebread turned out to be brilliant. By the time we had our tasting at 11:30am, it felt kinda normal to drink. Note that the winery is by appointment only. Cakebread was started 30 years ago, and today remains a family business. Our friendly tour guide, Todd, certainly acted like a proud member of a happy family, and by the time we tasted, I was ready to buy myself a bottle full of their good life. The 2004 Sauvignon Blanc hit us with its oaky, smoky notes; non-fruity wine lovers were smitten. The 2004 Chardonnay, though mellower, also downplayed its sweet notes, but in favor of a mineral finish. The 2002 Merlot charmed with its vanilla and plum flavors, probably the most fruity that we tried. The 2003 Pinot Noir started off with a cherry-ness that turned into a tea-like finish. The 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon continued to dry out the mouth with its acid strength. The wines seemed geared to a very certain kind of palate--the drier, less fruity palate, which, unfortunately, is not mine. I left empty handed.... but toasted.

In an adult version of my drunken Burger King runs in college, we went to the Oakville Grocery. Free samples.... Sweet! Steak chimichanga shaped like a burrito.... Perfect! Yes, warm it up! We're in a rush to get to our next tour appointment, so we're going to eat in the backseat of our friend's car.... Mmmm.... Steak chimichangas are hot and juicy! Nice car!

I love Frog's Leap (so will you if you go the website: you get to catch flies). Our affable, organic-vibed guide started us off with wine as we sat at a table on the second story of their barn. As we walked around she checked our glasses and filled us up for our next taste when it felt right. Brilliant. The particulars of the wine are a little hazy. I liked all of them -- Zinfandel, Sauvignon Blanc, Rutherford, Syrah... Mellow flavors, yet often just skirting a fruity fullness. The Rutherford, my favorite, was $65 a bottle. I whispered it goodbye. My boyfriend and I couldn't quite agree on another varietal. In their grand tradition, we all took a shot at their crooked basketball hoop with an under-inflated ball. Add my twice-over tipsiness, and you bet I made it. Granny-style. I am now the proud owner of the best ever winery poster, which will be framed and prominently displayed in my new apartment.

We then went on to Pina Cellars. They only make cab's. One very good cab available to taste. Served atop a barrel in their, um, barrel room. Our pourer also graciously sucked their soon to be released cab from a barrel, with a device that would probably work just as well extracting gas from a car. It had depth, though I think it was too refined for my wine-soaked mouth. I put down half the glass, and was almost knocked over by my friends' eyes that bugged out. So, I finished it.

Then to the fourth winery. St. Supery. They sold no solid food--and I looked everywhere--but their wines were quite charming. It was the biggest, busiest one we had been to all day. We were momentarily stunned when the pourer said that they no longer honored our friends' lifetime tasting cards. We were stumped.... a lifetime means... a lifetime.... Then he laughed at us, and we were off and drinking. I ended up buying the 2000 and the 2001 Dollarhide Cab. I'll have to drink them again to remember how they differ.... and next time remember to pay the same attention to detail at the end of a wine tasting day as at the beginning.... And for goodness sake, eat breakfast and let middling wines go unfinished.

Napa!

2006-01-15T18:54:00.000-08:00

I moved to Napa a week ago today. After five days of testing out culinary school and one day of wine tasting, it's still hard to believe that... I LIVE IN NAPA. I do believe, though, that if I wasn't living in Napa or attending culinary school, I'd be curious about both. So, this blog is born.