I just ate the most delicious steak. Tender, marbled with fat, and with an intoxicatingly deep beefy flavor. And I feel good about it: grass-fed, organic beef from a local rancher. I sampled it (and became obsessed with eating it again) at the opening of the new Farmer Joe's Market on Fruitvale in Oakland.

I first started going to Farmer Joe's when I moved to the Laurel District nearly 10 years ago. Then it was a tiny mom-and-pop market, a gem in an undiscovered neighborhood. Since they opened in 1994, Joe and Diane Tam have grown their business, though hours and hours of loving labor, into a cornerstone of the neighborhood, active in the development and blossoming of the increasingly desirable Laurel.

The new store, located on Fruitvale Avenue in what was previously an Albertson's, was originally a movie theatre back in the 1950s. You can almost envision the black and white movies being played in the cavernous space with the offices, formerly film rooms, overlooking the busy floor.

Walking into the new store on the day it opened, I could feel the excitement of a community. Not only does the new Farmer Joe's promise new jobs and offer a wealth of delicious local and international foods with a conscious, but it is a symbol of an independent, family-owned business that is excelling in our community; a rare thing in our increasingly corporate-ruled society.

This thriving, diverse area now has access to foods we previously had to travel to other well-stocked, high-end markets for, like Berkeley Bowl or even Whole Foods.

Some of the highlights of the new store include:

A blissful array of fresh, organic produce.

A huge, expanded bulk foods section, complete with bulk Delizia olive oils, vinegars, and other specialty oils.

A well-stocked tofu and veggie section complete with fresh Chinese noodles, marinated meals, and more tofu options than you could think possible.

An amazing variety of condiments, including imported olive oils, vinegars, mustards, honey, and more.

An entire end-cap devoted to PG Tips (along with an incredible array of teas and coffee options).

An expanded meat department that includes Rosie chickens, Niman Ranch beef and pork, an impressive array of sausages, and Panorama grass-fed beef.

A well-stocked international selection of Asian, Indian, Latino, English and other international wares that are hard to find in most stores.

Wine. Beer. And Spirits! A big new boon to the store.

A sushi bar that includes not only daily-made sushi rolls and nigiri, but fresh pickled ginger, goma ae (spinach salad), tofu salad that looks really yummy, and fresh edamame.

A hot burrito bar from La Cascada with all-organic meats. Their products, including amazing fresh salsas, tortas, and to-go pre-packaged dinners are actually available in the refrigerated section of the store as well.

A deli stocked with Molinari salamis.

There are a few kinks to work out. It would be nice to have a better selection of fresh-made deli salads, cheeses, and fresh baked goods. But overall, I have nothing to complain about. The nice thing is that Joe and Diane and the employees of the store have always listened to the wishes of their customers, so all you have to do is go in and ask, and they will do whatever it takes to find what their customers want.

I've already been there 3 times in the first week they've been open. Of course, I will continue to go to the "old" store, just down the street. I feel a natural affinity to frequent it, but the new "big Farmer Joe's" is certainly a draw.

So I thank you, Joe and Diane, and all the workers of Farmer Joe's, for your dedication and belief in our community and helping to make it such a delicious beautiful place to live.

Farmer Joe's Marketplace (new)
3426 Fruitvale Ave.
Oakland CA 94602

Farmer Joe's Marketplace (original)
3501 MacArthur Blvd
Oakland, CA 94619
(510) 482-8178

Photos by Wendy Goodfriend

Big news in the mousehouse: the eagerly anticipated Washington D.C. Cowgirl Creamery branch flung wide their smelly doors to the politico-public on June 12th.

The press from the Washington Post has been fairly constant and complimentary -- perhaps to make up for the fact that they were scooped by the New York Times last year? -- with such choice tidbits as: "Cowgirl Creamery looks like something airlifted from San Francisco, all buffed wood floors, clean white walls and fresh-faced staff eager to help you select from among dozens of mostly domestic cheeses" from Post food critic, Tom Seitsema. Additionally, Erin Hartigan in the Post's "Going Out Gurus" blog raved, "[w]ith all of the delectable goodness in one spot, the Cowgirls should have locals leaping onto the Creamery bandwagon in no time."

Of course, such praise is old hat to us blasé San Franciscans, but it's nice that the word of our eventual world dominance is spreading. Of course the dispiriting thing about the new store is that it will no longer be impressive when I fly eight hours with a bag full of cold-packed Coolea, Pleasant Ridge Reserve, or Panache d'Aramitz to present to my mother-in-law in Northern Virginia.

I'm currently praying to Cheesus that the Cowgirls will start to make cheeses just like Mt. Tam, Red Hawk, St. Pat, and SF Drake, but use local milk from Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. That way, they can give them names like Government Cheese, Filibuster Fromage, Hanging Chad Cheddar (yeah, I'm still not over it, so?!), or, dare we hope, Barat Obama? I'd so vote for that cheese.

How did this post suddenly become all political? Must be the District influence. Anyway, Cowgirl! D.C.! Yay!

Cowgirl Creamery
919 F Street NW, between 9th and 10th Streets
Washington, D.C.

Tuesay-Friday 10 am-8 pm
Saturday 9 am-6 pm

What do Fergus Henderson and Charles Phan have in common? Both were trained as architects before turning to the culinary arts. I'm sure if you look, you'll find more cooks and chefs with a background in or even just a love for architecture. There are some definite commonalities between the fields. But The Lever House Cookbook published by Clarkson Potter is the first cookbook I have come across that focuses on both.

A spectacular all-glass skyscraper, the Lever House is a sleek and sophisticated building. The cookbook does not give it short shrift. The building is documented in photos and in an essay. Nor does the book ignore the philosophy of the chef, Dan Silverman. Despite the fact that this is a "restaurant cookbook" it is clearly meant for the home cook. The food philosophy section serves as a pep talk, giving you the confidence to take on the recipes. The use of seasonings and vinaigrettes is covered in detail, both of which are crucial to becoming a great home cook or chef.

Many restaurant cookbooks, while beautiful are not particularly suited to the home cook. Not so with The Lever House Cookbook. Many of the recipes have 10 - 12 ingredients, and quite a few have even less. The recipes are not for beginners, but they are not complicated nor do they require a sous chef or preparation that begins ten hours before serving a meal. The recipes are mostly confined to one page, with gorgeous photos to help you with plating. The meticulous instructions are aided by seasoned co-author Joann Cianciulli.

There are some luxury ingredients used, such as foie gras, lobster and truffles but there are also many straight-forward recipes inspired by seasonal ingredients. I can't wait to try the Cranberry-Pecan Tart in the fall and also the latest object of my affection, pork belly, the Lever version is braised with soubise, a rich white sauce enriched with butter. This book would make a fabulous gift for fans of Dan Silverman's cooking, New York or just great food.

Roasted Asparagus Salad with Shaved Manchego and Marcona Almonds
serves 4

20 large asparagus spears (about 11/2 bunches)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 pound baby arugula, rinsed and dried
1/2 cup marcona almonds, lightly toasted
1/4 cup Sherry-Dijon Vinaigrette
(recipe follows)
4 ounces Manchego cheese, shaved

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Cut or snap off about 1 inch of the tough bottom stem of the asparagus and discard. Set aside 4 of the asparagus spears. With the remaining 16 spears, use a vegetable peeler and shave off the outer skin of the lower half of the remaining stalk, keeping the tops intact. Put these spears in a mixing bowl and coat with the oil; season with salt and pepper. Spread out the asparagus in a single layer on a sheet pan. Roast the asparagus for 10 minutes, until tender but not brown. Reserve the roasted asparagus at room temperature.

Shave the remaining raw asparagus spears into long ribbons using a vegetable peeler or mandolin. Fill a mixing bowl with ice water and soak the asparagus ribbons in it for about 5 minutes to crisp them up Put the shaved asparagus in a salad spinner or pat with paper towels to dry well.

In a large bowl, combine the arugula, shave asparagus ribbons, and almonds; season with salt and pepper. Dress the salad with about 1/4 cup of the sherry-Dijon vinaigrette (salads are best well dressed, where each leaf is filmed with vinaigrette, not drenched) Toss the ingredients gently using your hands to combine.

To serve, arrange 4 spears of the roasted asparagus on each of 4 plates. Put a large handful of the salad on top, trying to equally distribute the arugula and the goodies for each portion.

Sprinkle the shaved Manchego on top of the salads and finish off with final grind of black pepper.

Sherry-Dijon Vinaigrette
makes 3/4 cup

2 large shallots, finely diced
Generous pinch of kosher salt
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Generous pinch of freshly ground black pepper

To prepare a quick vinaigrette for the asparagus, put the diced shallots in a medium mixing bowl and sprinkle with a healthy pinch of salt. Let them sit for 5 minutes to allow the salt to draw out the water from the shallots; this will ultimately help hold together the vinaigrette. Add the mustard and vinegar and whisk with the shallots to combine. Slowly add the oil in a stream while whisking to emulsify the vinaigrette. Add a pinch of ground black pepper to balance it out. Keep any leftover vinaigrette covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

This month has been one of discovery. We have some fun new food items in our household, and there are a lot of new things going on out there in the food world. I thought I'd share a few of my highlights with you today.

SELTZER SISTERS WATER

Seltzer Sisters is a Bay Area company that has been around since 1984. The company carbonates Hetch Hetchy water, puts it into reusable spritzer bottles and delivers it to your door. We are new customers, and are loving having seltzer water in our house. Bottles that we receive from Seltzer Sisters keep the water carbonated, so the water doesn't go flat once a bottle is started.

Seltzer Sisters offers you a choice of a 26 ounce glass bottle, shown above, or a 50 ounce plastic bottle. Both plastic and glass are priced at $2.50 each, so the plastic bottle is a more economical -- if not as pretty -- choice.

Though I have known about Seltzer Sisters for years, I finally was pushed to try their delivery service after lugging home another case of one-time use bottles of sparkling water from the store. The choice to have seltzer delivered instead is a more environmentally friendly one, and the water is just delicious. Many of their customers are New Yorkers who are nostalgic for the taste of egg creams or other seltzer drinks from home.

You may have tried Seltzer Sisters water in restaurants around the Bay -- their water is being offered at Elite Cafe, Slanted Door, Flea Street Cafe, and Cyrus where the seltzer is offered as a palate cleanser between two courses.

Their deliveries cover the entire Bay Area, including deliveries to Santa Cruz, Walnut Creek and Healdsburg once a month.

FRA' MANI SALAMI

After what seemed like an interminable wait, Paul Bertolli's new line of salumi started showing up in local markets a few months ago. The line includes sausages, salumi, and salumetti so far, and everything that I have tried has been delicious. Bertolli was formerly the chef at Oliveto Restaurant in Oakland, where he was known for his "Whole Hog" dinners and his deft treatment of all things pig.

The salami shown above is a hefty 1.5 pound salami that measured over a foot long. When I called Cowgirl Creamery last week, I stupidly asked if they had the "large Fra' Mani" salami in stock. What I meant was a smaller salami that I had bought there a few weeks ago that was larger than a salametto, but only about 6-8 inches and under a pound in weight. I laughed when the woman brought out this giant salami, and decided to take it home anyway, as I have people in town this week who can help me eat it. The salami was about $29 -- a price that is not too outrageous when you consider the size.

The salami Gentile is marbled with fat and is seasoned with only salt, pepper, and white wine. Every taste in the salami is deliberate and clean. Eating this salami makes me realize what salami should taste like, and how many fillers I taste in other salumi that I have eaten in my life.

Anytime you see one of Paul Bertolli's offerings, I highly suggest you taste it as everything I have tasted from the new Fra' Mani line has been fantastic.

THE NEW CHOWHOUND

In January, as part of a post about restaurant review sites, I implied that while Chowhound has some of the best content around, their software and site management made the site almost impossible to use. Much of that has changed, as Chowhound was recently acquired by CNET and has completely changed their software platform.

The transformation occurred over the past few days, so I have only had a chance to briefly look at the software. My current evaluation of the site is one of cautious optimism. The differences between this site and the old are vast, and the new platform is very user friendly. There is a search that works, and the content going back to at least 1999 seems to have all been migrated successfully.

The new chowhound site is well worth a few minutes of your time. After almost a year of not paying much attention to Chowhound at all, I believe it may once again become a part of my browsing ritual.

photos by: flourphoto

The New York Times devotes quite a few column inches to the situation of the poor lobster today -- does this hail a return to Howell Raines' directive to "flood the zone"? Both the Week in Review and the Business section carefully consider the plight of the lobster.

All this, of course, is predicated on the events of the week: Whole Foods proclaimed that they would stop selling live lobsters, because the conditions they were kept in -- crammed in tanks with little room to flail their lobstery limbs -- were inhumane.

As Frank Bruni notes in his Week in Review piece, the lobster situation dovetails with the question of foie gras -- recently banned in Chicago and legislated into obsolescence in California as of 2012. But, he notes, are lobster and foie gras really the issues we should be focusing on?

Bruni, naturally, turns to Michael Pollan for guidance -- as we all seem to do these days. "Foie gras and lobster are not at the heart of the real tough issues of animal welfare, which are feed lots and pigs and cattle and chickens and how billions of animals are treated," says Pollan. The issue of "free range" chicken is touched upon -- Bruni correctly calls it "a less sturdy assurance than many people believe."

The question of how, exactly, one would kill a lobster "humanely" is addressed by Eric Ripert, chef at Le Bernadin. He slices off their heads. "I feel good about doing that" is the amusing quote Bruni teases from him.

If slicing off lobster heads doesn't make you feel good, consider the CrustaStun, detailed in Sunday's NYT Business section. It's an electric chair for lobsters created by a British barrister named Simon Buckhaven. The story details the trial-and-error process that Buckhaven navigates to get to ultimate lobster domination; the final product "resembles a high-tech waffle iron."

Some have accused Whole Foods of using the lobster as a PR move. It does seem like there are more pressing issues at hand -- like the free-range chicken standards that Bruni only touches upon. Meanwhile, the idea of a live lobster ban has the live yogurt culture lobby in an uproar.

With brushed steel tables and napkins cinched with metal fittings thingies (Hey, I'm a foodie not a welder!), Town Talk Diner on E. Lake Street is steaming as much with industrial chic as it is with the scent of good food.

Although the menu features such tempting State Fair items as "frickles" (deep-fried pickles. Wait, let me say that again, DEEP-FRIED PICKLES!) and Carr Valley Cheddar Curds (CHEESE CURDS!) slathered with a caper-scallion batter and served with house ketchup, the three of us opted to share the Forest Mushroom Tart and a special smoked salmon roll.

The Forest Mushroom Tart is built on a thin flat of semi-puff pastry coated with melted leeks and has velvety cubes of summer squash orangeing up the pile of juicy mushrooms. Not that I've ever had the option, but I could eat a boatload of those tarts.

A hip and homey Scandinavian influence is felt up and down the entire menu. For instance, the smoked salmon roll, served with a dill yogurt dipping sauce and sliced-within-an-inch-of-transparency pickled cucumbers, is rolled in lefse. More of that famed Scandinavian potato bread could be tasted on my main course of "Grains and Greens" salad. The salad itself was composed of tea-smoked wild rice (studded with cherries and roasted mushrooms), and there on the side of the bed of dressed greens were mini rolls of lefse. Inside? Spread with butter and cinnamon-sugar. God, the hyper days of my sonic youth just came sugar rushing back.

But aside from the entrancing menu was the poundable wine list. People, people, people! When was the last time you could get a glass of wine for $3.65? Okay, when was the last time you could get a glass of good wine for $3.65? Am I right? You know I'm right. Speaking of libations, Town Talk also has these awesome "Adult Malts/Floats" like the Dreamsicle (vanilla ice cream, orange juice, Triple Sec, and Grey Goose Vodka) and totally retro cocktails such as the Diamond Fizz (sparkling wine, lemon, and whipped egg white) and the Stinger.

Yeah, I think Thornton Wilder would be inspired to write a few acts about this place.

Town Talk Diner
2707 E. Lake Street
Minneapolis, MN 55406

612.722.1312

I have a lot of great links for you today. The food blog world is a happy, happening place these days.

Pim at Chez Pim was invited to be a guest blogger in Aspen at the Food & Wine Magazine Classic. Her adventures so far have been outlined in three posts, and include stalking Tom Colicchio (she says it's not stalking, but I suspect differently), tasting wonderful Bordeaux wines, and taking harrowing plane flights.

The Food & Wine staff was mostly there, and everyone went out of their way to make me feel well looked after. I was tickled for being introduced so many times as 'This is Chez Pim' as though it was my first name. Even more tickled -- if not downright discomfited -- was when Dana Cowin, the stylish editor herself, pulled a 'OMG you are Chez Pim' when she saw me. How does one respond to that, with a bashful 'hi' and and little wave?

You can read the posts in Pim's words by clicking the links below:

Live from Aspen: 24th Annual Food & Wine Magazine's Classics in Aspen
Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen: Day One
Food & Wine Magazine Classic: Publisher's Party

Joy from Confessions of a Restaurant Whore has a review of Nihon, a newish Japanese restaurant near Rainbow Foods.

The Goma Ae is fast becoming our favorite Japanese salad. It's like your traditional spinach with sesame dressing salad but this one adds asparagus. Add to that the freaking GENIUS idea of having three different kinds of sesame paste (regular, with ponzu and spicy) and you've got yourself a deal. Jon and I went nuts for the spicy dressing, but to be honest I don't know how they can get away with serving it without a warning.

A special thanks to both Biggles at Meathenge and Sam at Becks and Posh this week. Because of their posts, I knew I had to get my hands on some Fatted Calf bacon this week and it is fantastic. Taylor, of Fatted Calf, has a new smoker and he has been working on changing the bacon. Additionally, he has changed his bacon source and is now buying Red Wattle pig from Heritage Foods In Biggles' words:

I would suggest you make a point of picking up some bacon, no really. It looks as though Taylor has hit a sweet spot with the cure & smoking process. It's some damned amazing stuff. Plus it's cut nice and thick so you can get a handle on it and not worry about over cooking it too damed fast. You get bacon, ya hear?

Meanwhile, Bay Area Bites contributor Shuna has been busy over at her blog Eggbeater. She recently had the opportunity to stage at Manresa (to stage is to got to a restaurant kitchen and either observe or help out on a volunteer basis).

I met a few of David's cooks and he said I should stop in and say hi sometime. I didn't tell him that driving through Los Gatos wasn't part of my commute to anywhere I ever went. I was polite, I said, "Sure."

Read the rest of the post here.

It's voting time over at the SF Bay Guardian. Go vote between now and June 27 so that your voice can be heard on 33 important food categories such as best cheese shop, best bloody mary, best Turkish restaurant, and best independent coffeehouse.

Proof that we are as spoiled as many of the children who went on the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tour in Roald Dahl's consummate book, a new chocolatier has entered the already remarkable Bay Area chocolate scene.

With an eye for design and an understanding for the importance of formal re-introductions, the Charles Chocolates website explains how the company seemingly sprang up from no where, "Chuck (Charles) Siegel has been a part of the San Francisco chocolate scene since 1987 when he started his first premium chocolate company, Attivo Confections, at the age of 25."

No newbie to the sweet scene, Chuck has found a new dedication to candy making. "He uses only the finest ingredients, including some of the world's best chocolates, organic herbs, fruits and nuts as well as Organic cream and butter from Strauss Dairy."

And recently, a choice few of the local press were invited to taste these decidedly rich confections, take a gander at the spacious factory where they were created, and hear the Charles Chocolates story from the inspired mouth of the man himself.

We wandered into the cavernous kitchen of Charles Chocolates, early as usual. Fortunately there were already choco-philes milling about. Practically before our warm greeting, both by Chuck and the heady scent of chocolate perfuming the air, we were offered our first "welcome" taste, the almond cluster. And the night carried on from there.

Taste 1: Almond cluster.
Chuck has worked endlessly on the nut cluster and raised this Americana sweet to sophisticated, balanced perfection. The Charles Chocolates almond cluster is spot on when it comes to real crunch, sparse but milk chocolaty coating and sculptural integrity. With a thin caramelized glaze enrobing toasted, slivered almonds, it's the kind of candy you could eat continuously without the guilt of consuming too much chocolate. (Really, though, is there ever too much chocolate?)

"One of my pet peeves is when nuts aren't toasted enough and/or the chocolate that goes with it is so gloppy you can't taste the nut inside," Chuck explained.

Taste 2: Dark chocolate honey-lavendar truffle.
This round little truffle packs much flavor into its compact size. Infusing Organic lavendar into fresh cream, the candy is nicely balanced with rich chocolate flavor and just a whisper of the potent herb. Even the delicate flavor of the honey is not masked by the often-overpowering tastes of chocolate and lavendar.

Taste 3: Peanut butterfly.
A good play on words, and one of people's favorite tastings of the night, the butterfly is like an adult Reese's peanut butter cup.

A thin dark chocolate shell bursts forth with crunchy, outspoken, natural peanut butter flavor. It's secret? Peanut butter pralinee! Mix caramel with peanuts, grind it up and you get a crunch that lasts. Our only desire was that it had a hint more salt.

Taste 4: Chocolate-covered almond.
Surprisingly this almond was not blanched. Although I appreciate the thought behind this choice, the papery almond skin was the last thing in the mouth and it detracted from the toasty nut taste and generous coating of dark chocolate and natural cocoa powder exterior.

Taste 5: Mojito heart.
I didn't think I'd like this. I mean, I was ready to try it, with an open mind, but I just couldn't imagine how you could pull this one off, all the strong flavors: spearmint, dark Jamaican rum, lime juice, chocolate. That's what I get for thinking. This was heaven. Again, as in previous tastes, the flavors of this candy were perfectly balanced. How does he do it? Superb.

Taste 6: Earl Grey truffle.
The flavor of tea was so subtle it was barely there in the second cream truffle of the night. Rich and delicious with a slight bergamot perfume, simple and delicious.

Admittedly following on the heels of just about every European and American candy maker in the last few years, Chuck pulled out his two versions of salted caramels. Gorgeously redolent of the Strauss butter mounted into the caramel for a rich emulsion, everyone sighed in unison after biting into the Charles Chocolates' version. Some of us diverged from the maker's deliberate choice concerning how much and where to place the trace amount of the exorbitantly expensive French salt.

Taste 7: Fleur de Sel caramel.
Here's where it all comes out and where I differ from Chuck. I love. Love. Love chocolate and salt and caramel. The Spanish know what the hell they are doing. (A staple Barcelona treat is a slice of baguette with melted chocolate, a sprinkle of salt, and a drizzle of olive oil. oh god.) Give me a drizzle of some olive oil and I'm swooning. I digress.

One of Chuck's newest additions to his line of chocolates differs from many of the other fleur de sel caramels I've tried by local and boutique chocolatiers. Many of them make what's known as a "wet" caramel; sugar cooked to caramel and then mounted with cream and or butter. Chuck has developed a "dry" caramel; sugar cooked with all the ingredients until the correct temperature thus creating a more toothsome, smooth and less chewy interior. I prefer the chewy wet caramel, and I just wished for more salt. Flakes of salt. I actually dipped my salty caramel in more fleur de sel. Lest you think I'm a salt junkie, I'm not. But this just was not my favorite taste of the night.

Taste 8: Chocolate-fleur del sel caramel.
More of the same as above but with dark chocolate added to the caramel.

Taste 9: Poire Williams caramel.
As far as I remember, and by this time I was drunk with chocolate, this was actually not part of the original tasting line-up, but Chuck was so inspired, he whipped out a tray of these lovely little delicacies, flecked with edible gold leaf.

Taste 10: Marzipan chocolate.
For those of us closing the party we got to try a few more examples of the new line-up. Having read about Chuck's marzipan on the website and I was really hoping to try them. I love alomonds. Give me anything almond and I'm happy. Marzipan, it's right up there. And, as per his style, Chuck took that marzipan and made it his own, having a great story to back it up. While he himself is a big nut fan, Chuck has bad childhood memories of sickly-sweet marzipan. He's hated it. But with enough goading from his crew, he decided to make a marzipan confection that he could actually appreciate. Add a bit of orange zest to this, a little lemon zest to that, and voila! A perfectly balanced bittersweet chocolate-coated candy with just enough ooh-la-la to take the edge off the sweetness. Heaven.

Chuck Siegel is boldly entering a fashionable Bay Area scene with highly designed packaging and a line of unique candy bars and filled chocolates. He has a tough act to follow as Scharffen Berger put California on the world map of a fiercely competitive chocolate making field, and Michael Recchiuti tempted and fed us into submission with his innovative, rare and seasonal, hand dipped chocolates. It could be said that they are cornering the market.

But with the open mind and expansive palates we Californians are known to have, I think there's room for a newbie but a goody.

Where to find Charles Chocolates:

Charles Chocolates
You can purchase a full range of chocolates on the website, including the fresh candies described above.

Due to quality and freshness considerations, the stores below generally only carry chocolate bars, righteous on their own of course...

Bi-Rite Market

Bittersweet Chocolate Cafe

Whole Foods
Select stores only.

Poulet Deli

post by Shuna Fish Lydon and Kim Goodfriend
photos by Wendy Goodfriend

Hangin' out on the Champ de Mars at the Eiffel Tower

Hangin' out. Like tying a scarf, the French have elevated hangin' out to an art form. I think it's in their genes. People here just hang out. Everywhere. All the time. Parks. Cafes. Squares. After two years here I still struggle with this concept since in Silicon Valley it is considered the eighth deadly sin and I am sadly engrained with that insane need to work constantly. The thought of simply taking a book to a park to read for a few hours is the last thing that comes to mind on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Luckily I have friends that have never come within 1000 miles of San Francisco nor a hi-tech company and they are much better at this hanging out thing than I am. Today it was a picnic at Champs de Mars, the park in front of the Eiffel Tower, and last week it was just hanging out in the Jardin de Luxembourg.

One reason that people spend so much time outdoors is that the cafes and parks are an extension of one's living room. Most apartments are very small and kitchens even smaller so people socialize outside. How a French person can make a 2 oz espresso last three hours is nothing short of remarkable. Once again, I am convinced it is in their genes.

Also, picnics are not the normal picnincs that I grew up with. I was too busy eating and too in awe of the fact that I was eating under the Eiffel Tower to take pictures of the food, but most picnics here consist of a chilled rose wine, great cheeses, chorizo sausage, bright red cherry tomatoes, a huge bowl of the most delicious deep burgundy cherries and the sandwiches are not just your regular ham and cheese on rye, it is white ham with camambert on a just-baked whole wheat baguette. For me it was too hot to do much of anything so I hopped across the street to Patisserie Pinaud and crazy Jean-Marc, zee spreeeng cheee-ken, and bought an assortment of mini pastries which weathered the subway ride relatively well.

Here are some shots of Parisians just hanging out. If you are reading this from the Bay Area, give it a try. It will feel strange at first but you'll get used to it pretty quickly. You might even catch yourself uttering a French phrase or two or craving a baguette. Trust me on this one. :-)

Hanging out at Cafe Delmas on rue Mouffetard, one of Hemingway's hang outs...

Hanging out at Cafe Contrescarpe across from Cafe Delmas at Place de la Contrescarpe...

Hanging out at the Champ de Mars under at the Eiffel Tower...

An artist at the Jardin de Luxembourg painting the fountain...

Hanging out at the fountain at the Jardin de Luxembourg in from of the Senate. They show movies here during the summer on a huge screen. You can see the bleachers set up in the background...

Hanging out at the Jardin de Luxembourg on one of the few grass areas that allows people on it...

Hanging out at the Jardin de Luxembourg under the palm tree facing the fountain...

More people hanging out around the main fountain at the Jardin de Luxembourg...

Catching up on the day's news at the Jardin de Luxembourg...

An impromptu concert at the entrance to the Jardin de Luxembourg...

On this trip home to Minnesota, I overcame three more more of my childhood phobias -- wild rice, lake fish, and road trips in an RV.

After a four-hour drive, during which I made my parents listen to Stephen Fry's rendition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to pass the time in the cavernous RV, we arrived at the lapping shores of one of the Great Lakes.

My first few days back in the Midwest were spent on the edge of Lake Superior in Bayfield, Wisconsin -- a tiny lake-swept town filled with sailboats, farmhouse architecture embellished with Victorian delicacies, and superb food. Our first stop was to take my parents' lumbering -- and travel-stenched -- RV to the Gourmet Garage where we picked up apple and blueberry turnovers for breakfasts and apple pie for dinner. Judy Faragher, the baker, literally runs a bakery out of the garage connected to her house. She offers hearty fruit pies, various cookies, sugar-crusted doughnuts, flakey turnovers, and authentic pasties made from her Cornish mother-in-law's own recipe.

On the way out, I sampled her applesauce cinnamon doughnuts and took a snap of this hysterical (because it's true) cartoon. The doughnuts were crisped on the outside and fluffy on the inside, and made me, sitting there getting my nose and shoulders burnished in a buttery Midwest summer sun, long for autumn and crunchy leaves.

A day of sailing around the Apostle Islands at 5 knots brings out some pretty hale and hearty appetites, so it was lucky I had convinced my parents to take me to Mary Rice's newest culinary offering. Mary Rice, a woman so larger-than-life that she deserves a column entirely devoted to her, has recently opened Wild Rice (get it? Midwest? Wild Rice? Her last name is Rice?) in Bayfield. Wild Rice -- along with the flamingo-stuffed Maggie's and the minimalist New England-y Egg Toss -- is Mary Rice's third restaurant in the area. It's also the most expensive. Not that price should deter you from this beautiful woodsy location, architecturally sensuous building, and distressingly tempting local dishes.

Once I stopped goggling at the the Chihuly in the lobby, the glassed-in "wine tower" with hanging library ladders, and the high blond wood ceilings crisscrossed with red metal struts, I tackled my amuse bouche of roasted red and gold beets with cubed gorgonzola, basil oil, and truffled vinaigrette.

My mother doesn't normally like beets, but I do believe this dish converted her from the "beets are always too sweet" school of thought.

After the beet salad went down way too quickly, I selected an appetizer of prosciutto-wrapped roasted white asparagus and steamed green asparagus with a balsamic glaze. The long, fat vegetables were accented by a tiny crispy fish cake sitting on the bank of a pond of capered hollandaise.

My parents shared sautéed truffled morel mushrooms (very local) served en casserole with Parmigiano-Reggiano flan and toast. The whole dish was a poem, but the Parmigiano-Reggiano flan was an entire sonnet.

Determined to overcome my distaste of overly fishy freshwater catch, I chose a main course of Superior lake trout. The firm blushing fish was crusted over with toasted nuts and dry-popped wild rice and nestled happily in a bed of saffron risotto and juicy fiddleheads (again, very local). Although I could have contentedly eaten myself into next week on such a generous portion, I did finally have to stop and leave some behind. And I'm still sad.

Clearly, I was not too full for dessert as I sunk my fork into a warm pecan-wild rice cake with homemade cinnamon ice cream. I felt cozier with each swallow. The cake had this entrancing chewiness resulting from the genius addition of wild rice. I think I'm going to have to find that recipe before I die.

All in all it was a great success with me and my parents. Even my dad, who has been known to throw out blood oranges, thinking the they were rotten because "they didn't look like normal oranges," was content, and, more importantly, adequately full. Except there was a slight contretemps over the wine. Dad, with his white wine glass filled with Pinot Grigio, was concerned that my red wine glass filled with Pinot Noir actually netted me more wine than him. Although we managed to keep his issues from the wait staff, we never managed to convince him that he was imagining things, crazy, or just greedy.

Gourmet Garage
85130 Hwy 13
Bayfield, WI 54814

*The cheesemonger in me has to note that while I didn't order from it, Wild Rice has a superb cheese plate, and I was thrilled to see them include St. Pat from Cowgirl Creamery.