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Hello readers,
I have a new writing gig and will be do all of my writing/blogging from there. Please go to:

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Thanks!

A Chocolate Trend

A chocolate bar isn't just chocolate anymore. A recent trend is the pairing of chocolate with another ingredient. I remember when I first realized this: I was in Fog City News in San Francisco, on my way to work at Bong Su. My eyes widened at the rows and rows of chocolate bars. My head was in a tizzy trying to decide between a the brands: Vosges, El Rey, E. Guittard... I grabbed a handful of Dolfin squares, each paired with earl grey, cumin, or cardamom. Mmmm. Something for the Bart ride home later.

Some chocolate makers focus primary on these pairing. Dagoba is one, pairing chai with milk chocolate or lemon ginger with dark. My sister loves their Roseberry, a dark chocolate with dried raspberries and rose hips. Not a bad experience for $3 a bar. (Yes, it is expensive, but where are you going to get flavors like that?) If you are into putting some heat into your chocolate, I recommend Xocolatl, a 74 % chocolate with chili powder.

Vosges is one of the companies that have paired chocolate bars. I mentioned them because of a recent culinary adventure with my mom: Mo's Bacon Bar. Yes, it is a combination of milk chocolate, smoked salt, and bits of bacon in it. $7 a bar, even at Cost Plus. My mom loves bacon, so we decided to try it. Well, salt and chocolate work for me, but the bacon didn't. They have a flying chocolate pig available on their website.

Another flavor that doesn't work for me is lavender. I feel like I am getting a mouthful if potpourri. (Sorry, Dagoba, the lavender and blueberry was too much.)

A few other companies of paired chocolate bars worth a try: Dolfin, Green and Black's Organic Chocolate, and Lindt. What do you like paired with chocolate?

The Last Day

Today is the last day of the Scharffen Berger Chocolate Factory. It is a sad day in so many ways. The tours have been long gone, leaving the tour room empty. No longer will the intoxicating smell of chocolate swarm the brick building.

Production moves to Illinois where Scharrffen Berger products will still be made. But will it be the same? I went into the store and picked up a few of my favorites: the milk chocolate with the sea salted almonds and the 70% bittersweet. The retail store in the Ferry Building and Joseph Schmidt's will stay open for a while longer. But, girls in the retail store at the factory all decided to wear their "(extra) bitter" shirts today, a final statement on the situation.

The cafe has an event in a couple of weeks as John Scharrfenberger will host a dinner for all those who have helped along the way. I plan to make desserts from "The Essence of Chocolate" cookbook as a tribute, especially Robert Steinberg's brownies since he past away last year.

All Quiet on the Western Front

Bleak.

That's how I would explain the mood at work today. There was no Spanish music blaring out of the radio. Everyone seemed have their minds elsewhere, the monologue in their minds keeping them occupied.

It took a while for some people to really feel the magnitude of the ruptured economy. For the cafe, there was a whirlwind of holidays and special events that distracted us. With every large reservation and restaurant buyout, a constant hope lingered that money would keep coming in to keep us afloat.

But after a while, after all the dust has settled and the calender starts to look empty, reality creeps its way into the restaurant. It starts with the weekday lunches as less and less people come in. Local business around us in West Berkeley have layoffs, bringing in less traffic.

How does a small business survive during these times?

Well, items on the menu need to be cut, judging by the amount of labor and by popularity. The dishes that take more time to prepare or are low sellers would be on the chopping block. After that the staff is cut, which is perhaps the most painful part. Good, hardworking servers have to be let go and the kitchen staff is also reduced. Instead of two cooks on the line and a dishwasher, there are only two guys in the kitchen.

Then there is pastry. Yes, my hours have been reduced as well. However, the morning pastries are still selling very well, much better than this time last year. But I have to cut out some cakes and some of the cookies.

I do miss those time when the cafe would be packed and there would be a short wait outside the door. The kitchen would be rocking and rolling, making omlettes, French toast, and paninis. Servers would skillfully weave their way around the restaurant with plates and trays with drinks... Hopefully, we will make it through.

Regarding Top Chef (and Other Cooking Competitions)

So Top Chef, Season 5 is over; weeks of grueling (and crazy) challenges all for this one episode. I actually really enjoy watching cooking competitions. I like seeing how people's creative minds work as they think on their feet. I like to watch and learn the different techniques. And, yes, I enjoy cheering for my favorites.

But there is something that I've noticed about the show, and it is not only in Top Chef, but in other cooking competitions as well. In culinary school, one of the first things that you learn is safety and sanitation when working in a kitchen. There have been some behaviors that I've noticed in these shows that go against these basics in common sense of cleanliness. It usually occurs when chefs taste their food. Example: a tasting spoon that has gone into a mouth and then is tapped onto the rim of the pot, tapping off extra drops of food into the pot. You might as well be spitting in the food that you are preparing.

Or perhaps the finger taste test. That is gross, too. With only 15 minutes to make a dish, do you think anyone will take the time to properly wash their hands? But I think the one of the most disgusting things that I've seen is a chef drinking out of a liquid measuring cup. Jessica, what's wrong with that? It gets sanitized. Maybe I get really picky at this point, but I believe that there are certain tools to do certain things and drinking out of a tool that is used to cook isn't right. Do you really want to measure milk in a cup that someone drank out of?

Being a real top chef isn't just about cooking good food; it is about work ethic, attitude, and consistency. A tip for anyone who want become a chef: work cleanly and be sanitary. If you don't have a conviction about cleanliness, than you are missing a block in your foundation to being good at what you do.

Crème brûlée, The Right Way

So, last Monday, Brian and I went to Straits in San Francisco with our friends Dave and Nancy. Dave really wanted to take his girlfriend to an Asian fusion restaurant since it's her favorite type of food.

We had a wonderful meal: lemongrass beef, calamari with kaffir lime aioli, vermicelli noodles with prawns, to name a few dishes. And we had to save room for dessert, that was Nancy's call. Unfortunately, I didn't see anything that interested me on the dessert menu. Perhaps, on another night I may have felt different.

But Nancy saw the crème brûlée and had to go for it. The first thing that I noticed about the dessert was the unevenly melted sugar on top, as I looked closer through the dim lighting, I noticed that they were granules of turbinado sugar.

A cardinal rule of crème brûlée had been broken: It is not a brûlée unless there is caramelized sugar on top, and that means all the sugar. Dave had attempted to tap at the sugar to break it and his spoon went right into the custard.

With that in mind, a few tips about making that nice caramelized sugar topping.

1) The only way to do it is with a blow torch; you can do it with a broiler, but I find that using the blow torch gives you more control.

2) What sugar do you use? It depends on what works best for you. I prefer turbinado sugar only because I feel comfortable working with it. (Make sure that the sugar is melted. Since the granules are larger than other sugars, it will take a little longer to to melt down,) Some people use granulated sugar which is fine, but you make have to sprinkle on an extra layer to get a nice think caramelized top. (I've read of one technique where you use strained golden brown sugar.)

3) Applying sugar. With the blow torch, quickly torch the top of the crème brûlée not enough to burn it, but just enough to get it "wet." (It is a reaction when heat is applied to chilled custards.) Then with a spoon coat sugar onto the custard. Use the back of the spoon to help make the layer of sugar even.

4) Make sure the surface is covered well with sugar or the custard will burn. But do not coat too generously, or you will spend too much time melting the sugar and it ruins the chilled custard.

5) For safety, keep anything flameable away from the crème brûléee. (This includes your free hand that might be tempted to hang onto the ramekin.)

6) Torch it, but keep the torch moving so that you melt the sugar evenly.

Valentine's Day

Sigh. Valentine's Day.

The only time of year that the cafe is open for dinner. Being right by the chocolate factory gave us a great excuse to host dinner since chocolate pairs so well with Valentine's Day.

I began my day, a bit bleary eyed, not quite awakened by my morning cup of coffee. But I was not the only one who felt that way. Edwin, the dishwasher, was already there. While one of the cooks, the barista, and I arrived at the same time at 8 am.

Because Valentine's Day landed on a Saturday this year, my boss decided to take advantage of the weekend and open both Friday and Saturday.With a 10-15 hour work day om Friday, we were preparing for another long day, except this one would be much busier.

Pastries and cookies were prepared and baked off for our brunch service. And after thinking through what the course of the day and the evening would be like, I decided to bake and cook off a few more items for our Valentine's Day menu: a few more servings of pain au chocolat bread pudding, two more quarts of coconut anglaise, and an extra chocolate decadence.

And brunch was busy, as our reservation sheet was packed with names. I took a short break for lunch and was expecting to get a chance to take another break before dinner service. But, for some reason, like with most big nights, time just slipped away. Before I knew it, brunch was over and I had to prepare some pastries for the next day, while setting myself up to plate desserts.

I had only three items on the dessert menu: the bread pudding came with stout anglaise, chocolate sauce, and cherry syrup; the decadence had brûléed banana slices, coconut anglaise with passionfruit coulis; and the chocolate pot de creme with cinnamom palmiers.All chocolate themed of course.

My evening consisted of the sounds of the live band, the radio in the kitchen, and my oven. And since we had no ticketing machine in the pastry kitchen, I relied on hand-written post it notes. Servers and bussers were running in and out of the kitchen, picking up plates and grabbing clean silverware. Near the end of the evening, I saw poor Edwin leaning against a reach in refrigerator, taking a breather.

But at the end of the night was family meal, a chance for us to grab some food, to taste the Cowgirl Creamery cheese plate or the filet mignon: A chance to recooperate after a very long day. But it was 11pm when I had finished wrapping up my products and cleaning my station. And I just wanted to go home and see my husband, who had been so thoughtful to buy me flowers from my favorite floral shop, The Meadow. So, I boxed up some portions and headed out, leaving the control chaos behind, and into the quiet night.

A Comment about Valentine's Day

It's that time of year. Heart shaped boxes of chocolates. Red heart shaped lollipops. Those fun packages of cartoon Valentines Day cards: Spongebob or Sesame Street?

From a pastry perspective, it is definately one of those holidays that you take advantage of. A part of the package of the card and the flowers is something sweet, perhaps even "chocolatey."

I like to decorate cut-out cookies, and Valentine's Day is the first holiday of the year that cut-out cookies are perfect for. I specifically make my heart cookies look like those message heart candies.

In one bakery that I worked at, decorating cakes and cookies were a big part of my responsibilities. It can be pain-stakingly detailed work, but as long as you are organized and work cleanly, it is actually quite enjoyable. Your cookies are lined up in front of you in the shapes of hearts, Easter eggs, four leaf clovers, or maybe even some high-heeled shoes. You have your containers of royal icing, each one a different color. And of course, your piping bags, each one ready to be fulfill its purpose. One thing to note is that the more colors you have, the more time it takes to finish your project. Sometimes it feels like it increases exponentially. Latex gloves are also good to have unless you want your hands to be stained with bright red or deep blue.

I do not usually cover the cookie completely with royal icing, though sometime I have to take advantage of the canvas I have before me. As much fun as it is to decorate, the cookie is still the highlight. Use European-style butter if you can for basic butter cookies and it makes such a huge difference in flavor. Also, no imitation vanilla please!

The (Extra) Bitter End

Today marks a sad day for Scharffen Berger Chocolate fans as it was publicly announced in the San Francisco Chronicle that the factory here in Berkeley will be closing.

I already knew this before today since I work right next to the factory and the restaurant exclusively uses Scharffen Berger Chocolate.

Chocolate is a luxury, and we are reminded of it during these difficult economic times. Another example is during World War II when chocolate was a rare sight in Europe. I was reading some of the comments on sfgate.com regarding the article and there is every opinion under the sun about this factory closing. (Note that there will still be Scharffen Berger Chocolate, but will be produced in a factory in Illinois. )

I keep thinking about all the accounts of artisan chocolate makers that I've read or listened to. It's not about the money. It's about creating something that you are proud to call your own. It's about doing something that you are passionate about. Anything made in its purest form doesn't always come cheap.

I am glad I had a chance to work here and learn so much more about chocolate. It took me a while, but I think I finally learned how to really taste it.

How I will miss the smell of chocolate as I walk in to work, the flocks of people passing by our cafe as they go for a tour, but most of all, I will miss the people: I will miss my brief chats with the folks in the retail store as I pop into buy a few bars. I will miss talking with the employees as they come by for coffee or a chocolate scone.

As for me, who knows what direction the cafe will go. Wherever it goes, I will continue what I am doing and continue doing it well.

Inauguration Day

I saw these on my trip to New York. I thought it would be appropriate to post it today. We are watching the inauguration now (recorded off of our DVR.) Both B and I had to work today, but I got to hear the ceremony the old fashion way: the radio.

Tomatoes Revived

So how does a tomato plant survive?

That's what happened to my hothouse tomato plant that I bought last April. It produced some very delicious tomatoes. Unfortunately, most of them were stolen by the Berkeley killer squirrels (as I call them.)

So when a furry culprit took my absolute last tomato? I gave up. (The worst part is that the stupid thing took a bite and left the rest of the tomato on my patio.)

I stopped watering it and let it go to the summer heat.

For months I left it sitting on the patio. I kept thinking about getting rid of the dried up plant. Then the first rains came in October and I did not want to handle a muddy potted plant. So I waited. When it stopped I finally went out to the patio, a new garbage bag in hand, ready to entomb my dead tomato plant.

I was shocked to see that from the dried and shriveled stems of this once lush plant, grew stalks of green. It was alive! I couldn't believe it and I got right back into taking care of it, though I've moved it to a sunnier part of the patio.

And today, on (suprisingly) warm January day, there are blossoms.

Sprinkles

Am I a cupcake freak or what?

My sister-in-law took me to Sprinkles in L.A. They had quite a selection of holiday inspired flavors on top of their regular selection: Egg Nog Spice, Pumpkin, Chocolate Peppermint and Vanilla Peppermint. Janet and I waited in a line just outside the door.

The teeny cupcake boutique was packed with cupcake-philes. I had a Chocolate Peppermint.
I loved the moist cupcake and the ganache frosting. I like the fact that you could eat the cake and the frosting separately; each component stood so well by itself. I also like how they frost the cake, simply done with perhaps a palate knife. Even after four years of pastry, I still have a hard time with piping skills.

They look huge, but the serving is just right.

The to-go boxes made of recycled paper and wooden utensils here are a plus too.

Cupcakes in New York

I don't know why cupcakes were such a topic for me this year. Perhaps its because they're everywhere!

When we visited New York two weeks ago, I dragged my husband to so many pastry shops, bakeries, any place that involved sugar.

The cupcakes here were big. Much bigger than the ones in California, but not quite as big as a giant muffin.

So my sister-in-law recommended Magnolia Bakery for cupcakes, made popular by a particular women's TV show. I gave it a try. They were very cute, chocolate or vanilla cupcakes, with chocolate frosting or pastel colored vanilla frosting. So I braved the long line to buy one. Yeah, just one. I picked a chocolate cupcake with pastel green frosting. I took it with me to Rockefeller Center, my dessert after a sandwich from 'wichcraft.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed. Dry chocolate cake. I am thinking because it was so late in the day when I bought it. If the cupcakes were baked earlier that day, then it may have dried out a bit since the worker were frosting the cupcakes constantly to meet the demands of the ever-demanding line of customers. (Frosting, besides accenting cupcakes, keep some moisture in.)

I am not sure if I will give it a second try when I visit New York again. There so much to try and taste. I need to remember that if I do that I need to go earlier in the day.

The Sesame Street cupcakes are found at Ruthy's Baked Goods, Inc. in Chelsea Market.

New York: the Mandoo Bar

What is traveling experience without some sort of culinary venture?

For vacation, B and I decided to go to New York. I've never been to the East Coast. It is our third full day here and I have yet to land myself in a pastry shop of some sort and sample a croissant. Trying to see everything that we can in the few days that we have here has made it a little challenging to get to that. But, we have been to some great eateries.

We had our eye on the Mandoo Bar ever since we saw a segment on it on Food Network's "The Secret Life of..." What is mandoo? Mandoo is Korean dumplings, usually steamed or pan-fried. This little hole in the wall has a store front kitchen where you can see the women in the kitchen stuff the different mandoo. Mmm.. fresh mandoo! We ordered two orders of pork mandoo, one friend and one boiled. It was quite tasty, but it doesn't beat my mother-in-law's dumplings.

The Mondoo Bar is in Korea Way, a one block stretch on 32nd Avenue, not to far from the Empire State Building.

A tribute to the Queen

I've never tried the Queen of Sheba cake before this year. But for such a simple cake, it has an intense flavor that you don't want to be without it in your repretoire of recipes. I immediately fell in love with it.

For the first big holiday party of the season, I decided serve this cake for our guests. They had quite a selection for dinner: filet mignon, chicken confit, salmon, and a creamy parpadelle pasta. My boss wanted to have something special served for dessert, so the Queen was the way to go.

Instead of almond and brandy, I replaced it with hazelnuts and rum. Along with the cake, I plated vanilla anglaise, orange caramel, and candied hazelnuts.

To be honest, I had a hard time building this dessert. For some reason, I really wanted to add something orange. I wracked my brain for things that I could do with orange. The only thing that I was not able to get to was the caramel marinated orange segments. With the holiday parties and my vacation coming up, my production just piled on, and I had to cut things out.

But the Queen of Sheba makes a statement for itself. With or without the bells and whistles.

A comment about Thanksgiving

Halloween kicks it all off. Before you know it, you see a worker at Trader Joe's dressed up as a turkey. The Food Network starts to air Thanksgiving themed shows. Bakeries have printed out signs regarding ordering pie.

There is something about this time of year; it makes you stop and think for a moment: of the things that you have learned, in the ways that you have grown, and of the good and bad experiences that you have come across.

Sometime, you get so caught up in life, you forget to be grateful. So here are some things I am grateful for regarding my culinary experience:

* For my supportive husband, for my friends, and family who encouraged me to persevere
* For God for listenting to my many prayers of "Help me! I'm sinking!"
* For my first boss, Joey, who pushed me hard because it was good for me (even if it didn't feel good.)
* For hot showers
*For long oven mints and the Chinese burn ointment my mom gave me
*For being able to do what I love
*For coffee, good and strong and lots of it
*For family meals
*For flat sheet pans, Silpats, offset spatulas, and my santoku knife...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sweet and Spicy

Ever have a chocolate chai tea latte? Is it chai spices in my hot chocolate or is chocolate added to my chai tea?

However you want to see it, a nice warm bowl of it is perfect for a chilly day like today. First you taste the chocolate. Then the spices make their way through your taste buds: the cardamon, the cinnamon, the cloves, and ginger.


Here it is pictured with a double ginger cookie. There is nothing like a good ginger cookie. I finally found a recipe that I really enjoy in Williams-Sonoma's Essentials in Baking. But one thing that I do different is that I candy my own ginger. It is actually quite a pain to do it if you only want candied ginger. (For the time and labor, I would recommend buying it, instead.)

First, I peel and slice gingerroots. They are then placed into a sauce pan with one part water and one part sugar. Then they are boiled until it is syrupy.

The original reason why I started to candy ginger was because I needed to make syrup for the ginger lemon mimosa on the menu. But, since I didn't want to waste perfectly good slices of ginger, I decide to salvage them. I strained out as much liquid from them as I could. Then tossed the ginger with sugar, letting them dry out.

Chocolate chai and double ginger cookies for the spice junkies amongst us.

Change

It's been a bit rugged lately. The effects of the changing economy are apparent during lunch; they are just not as busy as they used to be. This time last year, there were often times where people had to wait outside for a table. Not so much now.

Along with a reach-in refrigerator and a freezer breaking down, we have been forced to be a lot more efficient with our space. But it is frustrating at times, when you find frozen shrimp sharing space with some frozen cookie dough because there is just nowhere else to put it.

As a result, I've taken two of my cakes off the menu: the chocolate stout cake and the midnight cake (chocolate cake with ganache and vanilla buttercream.) Sigh. There just is no space. But, on a good note, there have been requests for the chocolate-cardamom pot de cremes. So they are back accompanied by two petite pistachio cookies.

I've shifted my focus more on the pastry case: the breakfast pastries and cookies. This upcoming week will be a series of experiments of different cookie doughs, maybe a new brownie. Today I baked off some almond apricot chocolate cookies. (I may add oats to it. I taste too much like the regular chocolate chip cookie.) Tomorrow is nibby shortbread. I am letting it sit and chill overnight to let the nibs infuse the dough, a tip I picked up from Alice Medrich's Bittersweet.

I am also brainstorming what I can egg white. Because I am going to be making the pot de cremes again, I will be using more yolks. Perhaps a hazelnut chocolate meringue? I also have a ton of nuts that I have to figure out what to do with. Without our old chill chests, their shelf life is shortened. (I have a five pound bag of pistachios.)

The holidays are in sight as well; I keep in mind cut-out cookies, rugelachs, and flavors of peppermint.

Scones

Interestingly enough, two of my friends came to me over the weekend regarding scones that each of them had made. I thought that was funny since I don't know too many people that would choose to make scones just because. So I was happy to answer whatever questions they had.

Ah, scones. Nothing like a hot cup of coffee and a blueberry scone with a hint of lemon. I didn't really start enjoying them until after culinary school. Crumbly (or flaky) scones. There is so much I can write today about scones, but let's keep it short and focus one of the basics.

Mixing. It is really easy to overmix scones. Unlike, cookies or cakes, scones are mixed until they just come together. What does that mean? Well, it will look like a messy mass of dough with some dry clumps. (There should be clumps of butter.) It should not feel too wet or sticky. You should be able to shape the dough, patting the dry clumps into the wet areas. You can always add more liquid (either cream or buttermilk, usually) as you go.

Why is it important that you mix scones to that point? If you overmix the dough, it becomes dense. The texture feels like a giant cookie, rather than the crumbly (flaky) scone. That texture comes from the small chunks of butter trapped between layers of dough. (Depending on the shape, scones can vary in texture. A crumbly scone is made when you make a rough lump of dough for each serving. To make a flaky scone, the dough is rolled out and then cut with a knife or with round cutters.)

A good tip in adding fruit to scones: I usually just add dried fruit. But if you want to add real fruit, like berries, for example. I recommend frozen berries only because the frozen berries won't bleed when you mix them in. Also, fold the berries in toward then end of our mixing so you get hunks of the fruit rather than having just swirls of fruit through the dough.

Happy Halloween!

"Death by Chocolate" Cupcakes.