Culinary Muse

ANNOUNCING: THE CHOCOLATE KNITTING TOUR

Do you love chocolate?  Do you knit? Are you planning a visit San Francisco?  Join the Culinary Muse, Karletta Moniz, for a few hours devoted to your favorite past times – knitting and eating chocolate!

Here's a sample tour: Your day will start with, what else, hot chocolate and pastry.  While you sit back and knit you will learn about the differences between chocolates with a cocoa content of 70 per cent versus 64 per cent, the difference between a single-estate and single variety chocolate and what the names Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario relate to.

We will then travel to the San Francisco neighborhoods that tourists usually miss. At the best knitting shops you will be dazzled by the vast array of luxurious yarns and innovative patterns available to the urban knitter.

Each tour is private and limited to three persons. Cost $275.00 per person.  Contact me for further details on this day of bliss in the world’s most beautiful city.  It doesn’t get much better than this….

Karletta Moniz is a San Francisco based Food Consultant/Chef whose client list includes Disney, Earthbound Farms, Nestle, Kraft, Jamba Juice, Sunset Magazine and more.  Her recent introduction to the world of knitting has caused her to plunge head first into this magnificent obsession.

Marin Farmer's Market, San Rafael

Thursday mornings at the Marin Farmer's Market at the Marin Civic Center is my favorite time to shop. It is a lot less crowded than Sundays, which gives everyone a little more time to chat. Here are some highlights from last Thursday.

Overheard at a stall selling gorgeous tomatoes: Farmer to Chef "Oh good, glad that you are paying in cash today because your restaurant never pays its bills on time." All heads turned to stare. No, I don't know who the 30-something chef was. But he did have the good manners to look sheepish and apologize. I have the feeling that the accounts payable department got an earful that morning...

Walnut Oil

I have always loved walnut oil.  But it is one of those ingredients that I forget I have on hand – probably because I store it in the refrigerator and who remembers they have oil in the refrigerator until it is too late and it becomes rancid? And then, like most things, out of site (pantry), out of mind. I was reminded of this wonderful ingredient recently when I read that La Tourangelle Roasted Walnut Oil had been inducted into the San Francisco Chronicle Taster’s Choice Hall of Fame. La Tourangelle, California Gourmet Oils, as the website tells us, is a partnership between Les Huileries de la Croix Verte et la Tourangelle based in Saumer, France and California Oils Corporation based in South Richmond California. The oil mill is in Woodland, California. 

East Bay Fast Eating

The Muse has had to venture across the Bay Bridge this week and through the Caldicott Tunnel to the sweltering environs beyond. (People really live in that kind of heat, do they? Well, better them than me). After one too many bad burgers at overly air-conditioned theme restaurants in the burbs it was pretty clear by the third day that I would have to fill up before heading east. Can anyone say DONNER PARTY???? I also just needed the comfort of really delicious and familiar food. All of these places are an easy detour off of Highway 24.  Please feel free to share any other recommendations you might have for this area.

Playing with Your Food for Fun and Profit

Imagine my surprise when the Food Network contacted the Muse with an idea.  For a fee, if I wrote up a little something about these Iron Chef spots they would pay me.  Well, after seeing the spots I must admit that I ALMOST feel guilty for taking their money.  These spots are really funny.  The catfish one, in particular, brought back memories of late nights during chef school when we would form a chorus line of dancing, dead chickens.  Only other culinary students would understand...

Coffee 101 at Whole Foods

I have shopped at Whole Foods on California Street since the day it opened, nine years ago. Not every day but at least once a week.  It is my corner market.  And while my friends and family joke about how expensive it can be, no one can deny the high quality of their merchandise and the professionalism of their staff.  They are the grocery store equivalent of Nordstrom's.  If you don't like it, they take it back (with receipt), no hassle, no questions asked. 

I finally took one of the many classes that they offer. Coffee 101.  It was great.  Lots of interesting information presented clearly by the well informed Peet's Coffee supervisor Rick Nelson.  They also gifted everyone with a pound of Peet's coffee beans.  Can't beat that!