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Greetings!
February is a fun month. For the romantic at heart,
we are hosting a number of Valentine classes and
events. We are especially excited to have Stu Stein
back at In Good Taste. We love his cooking and his
easy-going teaching style, and are eagerly awaiting
his presentation of aphrodisiac foods. Read more
about this very talented chef's class later in
this newsletter.
We've also saved the best for last. Right at the end
of this email, we give you a chance to do some good
while saving money for yourself. Don't forget to scroll
all the way to the end to find out more.
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Blood Orange and Chocolate Trifle
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Maya Klein's Recipe for Valentine's Day
Treat your loved one! Maya has once again devised a
delicious yet simple recipe for you to make this
Valentine's Day. Layers of chocolate, blood orange
curd, and lashings of whipped cream make this
dessert a showy ending to your Valentine meal.
The recipe can be made ahead and will taste better
as each layer merges into the next one.
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Aphrodisiac Foods for Valentine's Day
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with Stu Stein
Stu Stein, award winning chef and author of "The
Sustainable Kitchen", will show you how to delight
your loved ones with a fabulous Valentine's Day
feast. His menu is made up of delicious aphrodisiac
foods, each one building on the previous course.
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Ask the Chef
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Q: How do I select good chocolate?
A: Look for a high percentage of cocoa solids for a
more intense chocolate flavour. Organic chocolate,
such as that used in Dagoba chocolates, also usually
signals a better quality of chocolate. Finally, if you
are going to cook with the chocolate, look for one
that has a lower sugar content.
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Pairing Wine and Chocolate
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by Fred Armstrong
As we embark on one of the most romantic months of
the year, most food and wine people think about the
food and wine pairings that make our heart go
aflutter. Of course perhaps the most popular food
choice to give your sweetheart is chocolate but it
can be difficult to pair with wine. In most cases, a
nice Pinot Noir or Merlot can enhance the flavors of
the chocolate, but what does the chocolate do for
the wine? It sometimes overwhelms the wine and
masks the nuances that make wines so wonderful.
Can it be done? Of course it can. Usually wines that
are a little bit sweeter than the chocolate work best.
A nice California Zinfandel can work well with a
bittersweet chocolate that has a high percentage of
cocoa.
One wine that I found works well with a semi sweet
chocolate is a Brachetto d’ Acqui. A what you may
ask? A Brachetto d’ Acqui is a wine that comes from
the Brachetto grape in the northern Italian region of
Piedmont. Although it is sometimes made as a still
wine, most Brachetto d’ Acqui is a red sparkling that
is slightly sweet. Its bright notes of raspberry,
strawberry and rose petals marry wonderfully well
with chocolate. Although it is recognized as a DOCG
wine appellation, very few producers make a
Brachetto d’Acqui and they can be quite difficult to
find. For your valentine, we have stocked up on full
bottles ($29.95) and half bottles ($14.95). Treat
your loved one this Valentine!
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Back By Popular Demand
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If you've tried to sign up for a popular class only to
find out it has sold out, let us put you on our waiting
list. If we get enough interest in offering a second
class, we will schedule one (if at all possible) as soon
as we can. The one exception is for a chef who
has travelled from out-of-state to teach the class as
their schedules are usually fixed months in advance.
We currently have a number of extra classes
scheduled. These are listed on our web site but are
obviously not in the printed cooking class calendar.
We are also planning on adding other classes so keep
checking back on our web site for the latest listing of
classes. An example of an added class is the Hands
on Tropical Escape Class. This very popular class has
been re-scheduled for Saturday, February 25.
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Review of "Bittersweet" by Alice Medrich
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by Judith Bishop
This month, Judith explores chocolate - in both
sweet and savory dishes - just in time for Valentine's
Day.
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Free Citrus Press Demos
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If you want to eat more healthy foods, we may just
have the right tool for you. It is a very handy citrus
juicer that pretty much does all the work for you.
The juicer is electric so you don't need to apply any
pressure to get all the juice out of your citrus. Also,
the press has been designed to automatically switch
between all sizes of citrus. You can press a large
grapefruit and then switch to a small Meyer lemon
without a hitch.
For the foreseeable future, we will be giving free
demos (and tastes!) every Saturday in the store.
Come and see how easy it is to prepare healthy
juices every day.
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Free Extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting
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Learn from the expert! Liz Smith of Provvista will be
at In Good Taste on February 4th to lead you
through an extra Virgin Olive Oil Tasting. You will be
able to taste some of the new pressings of imported
olive oils as you learn more about them.
Date: Saturday, February 4
Time: From 1 pm
to 3 pm - come any time - no reservation
needed
Free tasting
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Sweets for your sweet ...
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Only the best for your darling ... Dark Gray Salt
Caramels from Seattle's finest chocolatier. These
caramels won
the 2003 NASFT Outstanding Confection Award. Bite
into one and you'll know why. Fran's rich butter
caramels are hand-dipped in 56% pure dark
chocolate and sprinkled with flavorful gray sea salt
harvested off the Brittany coast.
Try them today!
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