Monthly Archives: January 2013

From High-Tech to Chocolate

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Shortbread cookies by Kika's Treats that are enrobed in Dandelion chocolate.

After Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring co-founded Plaxo, the online social address book, then sold it for a gazillion bucks, what was left for them to do?

Travel the world?

Catch up on lost sleep?

Compete in triathlons?

How about start a chocolate factory?

Yup, they did exactly the latter in 2010 when they founded Dandelion Chocolate, which moved its factory only last year to San Francisco’s Mission District.

A true bean-to-bar endeavor, it had its beginnings in a Silicon Valley garage, appropriately enough, before moving to its present location, a much larger garage on Valencia Street, the former Excellent Automotive Service and Repair.

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Valentine’s Treats at Baker & Banker, and More

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Red Hot Red Velvet and Strawberry-Champagne cupcakes from Baker & Banker. (Photo courtesy of the restaurant)

Never too Early To Think About Valentine’s Day Treats

Especially when it comes to holiday treats from San Francisco’s Baker & Banker bakery.

While Chef-Owner Jeff Banker will be offering a five-course tasting menu on Valentine’s Day, his wife, Pastry Chef-Owner Lori Baker will be whipping up a bevy of specialty baked goods.

They include an adorable Conversation Heart Cake (red velvet caked with cream cheese frosting or dark chocolate cake with ganache frosting — both shaped like hearts; 6-inch one for $50 or 10-inch one for $85), as well as Red Hot Red Velvet cupcakes ($14 for four), Strawberry Champagne Cupcakes ($14 for four), and a passion fruit cheesecake with guava caramel (a 6-inch one for $30 or a 10-inch one for $50).

Passion fruit cheesecake. (Photo courtesy of Baker & Banker)

Reserve your picks ahead of time to ensure they’re available when you drop by the bakery.

Islands Opens First Bay Area Locale

The beach-themed burger joint, Islands, which started in Los Angeles, has opened its first Bay Area location — at the Crossroads Shopping Center, 20750 Stevens Creek Blvd. in Cupertino.

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Get Your Mixing Bowls Ready: Apple Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

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Moist apple pumpkin muffins crowned with a walnut half.

There are muffins these days that could double as dessert.

You know the ones I mean — the ones we all fall for because they’re covered in irresistible streusel or sugary glaze that we con ourselves into thinking are still perfect breakfast food.

These are not those kinds of muffins.

“Apple Pumpkin Walnut Muffins” are not overly sweet, especially because I was forced to cut the light brown sugar amount in half when I realized my box was nearly depleted and I was too lazy to run to the store. (Hey, what can I say?) But you can use the full 1/2 cup measure of brown sugar plus 1/2 cup granulated and they’d still be far from sugar bombs.

Pinata apples from Washington State.

The recipe is from “The Apple Lover’s Cookbook” (W.W. Norton & Company) by Amy Traverso. The book, of which I received a review copy, has become my go-to source for apple recipes, what with its range from savory apple uses (“Duck Panzanella with Apples and Thyme” to sweet ones (“Rustic Apple Brown Betty”).

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Ineeka Puts Innovation Into Tea

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A new type of tea bag from Ineeka.

It opens up like a miniature grocery bag with handles to sit squarely in your mug of hot water.

Inside of it, organic tea leaves swell and swirl, steeping an exquisitely fresh tasting brew that’s smooth, satisfying and noticeably less tannic.

Take a taste of Ineeka teas, founded by a husband and wife team in Chicago whose families have been in the tea business for generations.

Shashank and Sumita Goel tout their company as the only completely vertically-integrated tea brand in North America. That means they grow their tea on family farms along 15,000 acres in the Himalayas north of India and package the teas, themselves.

Ineeka (“little Earth” in Sanskrit”) grows their tea organically and biodynamically in self-contained systems. For instance, the animals on the farms eat the food grown on the farms. In turn, their manure fertilizes the soil. The company employs 25,000 people who also live on the farms. As Fair Trade certified, the company pays higher than wages than the industry norm, too.

But of course, the proof is in the taste.

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Parsnip Praise

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Parsnips in all their glory with orange juice, butter, cumin and mint.

Parsnips are sweet, starchy and kind of look like albino carrots gone wild.

They’ve been treasured for eons, too. Did you know that the English made parsnip wine in the nineteenth century? That the Irish liked to brew parsnip beer? And that even now, Italian farmers who raise pigs for melt-in-your-mouth Parma prosciutto often feed their animals parsnips to add natural sweetness to their meat?

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