Fashion Money-Saving Tips

Shoe-Stretching Tutorial

September 1, 2012 – 8:55 AM

Ok, this next post isn’t about food, but, staying focused on what’s important here, chances are that sooner or later you may have to wear shoes to get to some food. I always thought I was destined to a lifetime of painful modern-day foot-binding in the name of cute shoes, but no more! I tried this out on a pair of nubuck ballet flats last night and now have two more pairs in the freezer; I’m repeating on one more pair that I want stretched out some more.

So if you have shoes that are too tight in the toe box, give this a try, and enjoy your food and your cute shoes next time you’re out. Thanks, Michelle Phan!

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Cooking Food

Kale Gruyere Beef Burgers

August 19, 2012 – 5:39 PM

The other day, I was drying my hair and my daughter came into the room. She looked at the tall red bottle of  Big Sexy Hair Root Pump on the counter, then at my hair, then back at the bottle, and had the startling realization that using a product called Big Sexy Hair does not, in fact, guarantee you Big Sexy Hair. If only I had been equally immune to its marketing.

But it’s way too hot to try to style my hair today. And if I’m not going to do my hair, then I’m not going to turn on the stove either. I’m pretty sure it’s one of the Ten Commandments.

I’m worried that kale’s going to get as overexposed as bacon someday soon, but it does have nutrition going for it. My local farm’s still giving me lots of it, so I’m stealth-stuffing it into everything nowadays.

I recently bought a part of a grass-fed, grass-finished animal from Glacier Grown and have lots of ground beef and bison. Today, I’m using beef.

These burgers are easy, yummy, and full of antioxidants! First, enlist a child for unpaid work separating the kale leaves from the stems. Ensure your kitchen is cluttered to project a prolific culinary image.

 Next, chop up the kale into little bits. Make them smaller if you want to hide the kale.

Mince about 1/4 cup of red onion. Mix it together with 1 lb ground beef and the kale. Add in 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and 1 tsp soy sauce.

Form into patties, and press your thumb in the middle of each patty. This ensures a nice flat burger once it’s cooked, so that you can pile more stuff on top.

Put ’em on a hot grill.

Then flip ’em.

About a minute before you’re done, put a slice of gruyere cheese on each burger and allow to melt on a bit.

Top with tomato, avocado and lettuce, and eat!

KALE GRUYERE BEEF BURGERS

Ingredients

  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1/4 cup minced red onion
  • 2 large leaves of kale, minced
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • 1 tomato, sliced
  • 4 slices of gruyere cheese
  • 4 leaves of lettuce
  • ketchup
  • hamburger buns

Preparation

Heat a grill.

Combine the beef, red onion, kale, salt, pepper and soy sauce in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Shape into four disks. Press your thumb in the middle of each disk to make a slight indentation.

Toast buns for 30 seconds on hot grill.

Put burgers on grill for 2.5 minutes. Turn burgers over, place a slice of gruyere on top and grill for another 2.5 minutes, or until meat reaches 160 degrees.

Place burgers onto bun and top with ketchup, tomato, lettuce and avocado slices.

Serves 4.

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Food Restaurants Travel

{Berkeley, CA} Summer Kitchen + Bake Shop

August 12, 2012 – 10:40 PM

I’ve just spent a week up the in San Francisco Bay area and am experiencing major withdrawal symptoms. Of all the places I’ve ever been, I feel most at home in San Francisco, which is weird because I’ve never actually lived there. But I love the pulse of the city. I love the mindset. The proximity to Napa. And how the people love food! Cheerfully queuing for blocks at a time to experience the latest culinary delight! The way their eyes light up when we talk about eating! I guess the way to my heart really is through my stomach.

We were up north visiting my brother and sister-in-law, who are expecting their first child next month. So, it was going to be my last chance to invade their space for a while. They live in Oakland, in a cute little part conveniently situated near the BART, so the kids and I went into the city quite a bit — and I even got to have a night on the town with some friends sans kids at a Michelen-star restaurant (I’ll save that for another post).

I was planning on going into the city at night, so during the day I took the kids on a 1.3 mile walking excursion into Berkeley.

Estimated wpm (whines per minute): 48.7.

Pilgrimage destination: Summer Kitchen + Bake Shop. Here’s an excerpt from their website:

Summer Kitchens were used for preserving the bounty of the farm before the days of air conditioning. This was where the harvest was transformed into delicious meals and preserves were made to last the winter. These small buildings found behind large farm houses were the center of communal cooking and gathering.

Our Summer Kitchen, in the heart of Berkeley, is a modern interpretation of this classic idea. We strive to be our community’s summer kitchen-a place filled with ingredients from local farms, delicious meals cooked fresh daily, and local food craft created by us and artisans we admire. 

You can see their full menu here.

The restaurant is cozy, cheerful and packed with people of all ages. The girls and I ordered a pizza, half Black Mission Fig, La Quercia Prosciutto, Caramelized Onion, Gorgonzola and Wild Arugula (for me), and half Tomato, Mozzarrella and Fresh Basil (for them…ok, maybe me too). We bellied up to the counter to wait. The crazy look in her eyes is because she’s ravenous. I just started reading The Passage and am pretty sure this is how vampires look when they’re about to go for the jugular.

 Meanwhile, our pizza was being birthed before our very eyes.

These are the deft and capable hands of Paul, one of the owners of Summer Kitchen. Except that at the time I didn’t know him as Paul, only as the guy who I probably creeped out a bit by taking so many pictures.

Here’s a picture of Paul where he’s trying to figure out whether it’s time to call the cops on me. To his right, our pizza baking in the oven.

Wouldn’t this oven look so nice in my house?

I imagine that little elves are back there stoking the flames to optimize the flavor.

And then, our pizza was done.

Isn’t she beautiful? I just had to stare for a bit and take in the aroma (and more pictures).

Let me tell you how good this was.

The sweetness of the figs and caramelized onion were perfectly balanced by the sharpness of the gorgonzola and the saltiness of the proscuitto. The arugula gave a nice peppery tone to the symphony of flavors. And the crust! So thin, so crispy, so aromatic…all the things you’d want to be if you were a girl in Southern California. It was spectacular. The kids devoured their pieces, and my younger one said, “I think this is the best restaurant in San Francisco.” (Which might be true if only it were actually in San Francisco.)

I only got a bite of the Margherita half, and it was lovely.

I would have wept if I hadn’t acted strangely enough already.

We stuffed our faces. We gushed about the pizza. Paul, no longer afraid, came over to chat with us. We revealed that we were from the land of Legoland, and unaccustomed to such culinary delights. He revealed that he and his son once did a day trip to Legoland. As a side note, Legoland has pretty good food for a theme park.

We finished our food and got ready to head out. As a kind parting gift, Paul gave the girls a big chocolate chip cookie which brought them great joy and made the walk home far happier than the trek in.

So if you find yourself in the East Bay, do check out Summer Kitchen. I hear their fried chicken sandwich is to die for too.

Summer Kitchen + Bake Shop

2944 College Ave.

Berkeley, CA 94705

http://summerkitchenbakeshop.com

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Food Restaurants Travel

{Paris} Creperie Suzette

July 25, 2012 – 10:00 PM

Beware, I’m going to gush in the this post. Recently I highlighted a good, solid creperie which I’d recommend if you were in the vicinity of the Centre Pompidou and wanted to get a decent bite to eat. But today, I want to share about a creperie that you should try to go to even if you have to join a flying circus to get there. These are the best galettes I’ve ever had in Paris, and they just might be the best in the universe.

Creperie Suzette is nestled in the lovely neighborhood of Le Marais. What makes it exceptionally wonderful is that there are gorgeous shops and galleries all around, ranging from boutiques where the owners sew the little linen baby outfits to well-known luxury brands. I was able to make a quick pit stop into Yi’Ness (4 Rue de Birague, 750004 Paris), a boutique with funky, affordable clothes where I was able to triumphantly procure two cute little summer dresses in the face of excessive whining from my offspring. Place des Vosges is also nearby, if you’re in the mood for some low-key sunbathing and people-watching in Paris’s oldest public square.

The creperie is cozy — there’s outdoor seating, a tight row of seating on the ground level, and then another room of tables  on the second floor. There is only one restroom though, for men and women, so you can see a line of dancing children forming outside its door.

The service is friendly, really friendly for Paris, and everything on the menu is affordably priced between 5 and 11 euros.

I ordered a galette Pastourelle, which was a buckweat crepe over lettuce stuffed with salmon, cream and lemon and topped with a basil pesto:

Presentation is a key part of any good meal and Creperie Suzette nailed it. My husband got the Carnavalet: eggs, cheese and bacon:

The kids, in a surprising turn of events, ordered a Salade Suzette, which was a beautifully arranged with tomatoes laid out like flower petals along the edge:

There was only silence as we ate, each savoring the complex textures and delicate flavosr of our meals. Except the kids, who were loudly saying, “Mmmmm” the same way they do when they get cake pops. And that’s saying something.

Creperie Suzette
24 rue des Franc-Bourgeois
75004 Paris

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Cooking Food

Crisp Asparagus Salad with Sesame Oil

July 20, 2012 – 9:45 PM

Nowadays, we seem to find meaning in quantifying everything about people: you are your Klout score, Twitter followers, Facebook Likes, Quora answer votes. I may be proud of my eBay feedback score and might have read my eBay positive feedback once or twice to bring me up when I’m feeling down. (I said might. Though I hear that no words give your self-esteem a lift more than “A++++++ eBayer! Hope to do business again soon!”)

Yet another reason that I like food: it’s a bit escapist from all the measuring. People try to quantify the food experience — like through star ratings on Yelp — but in the end, it’s hard to have an objective measure. And perhaps we shouldn’t; maybe we should just enjoy the food experience for its own sake, if only to have a break from the endless barrage of scores and data (which I like, at work. Just not so much in my free time.).

By the way, this post features some of the worst photos that I’ve ever taken. I’d like to say that I was channeling a Siberian gulag experience when I took these, but the truth is that I was hungry and styling was lower on the priority list than eating. On the bright side, think about how good this would look to you if you were in a gulag! So just trust me that this looks much more appetizing in real life than what I’m showing you here.

I got this recipe off of Facebook, through my friend Chris Wood, who may spend as much time with bacon as I do. I haven’t seen Chris in over 20 years, but Facebook has a way of introducing you to the intricacies of people’s diets even if you no longer really know what the people actually look like anymore.

Anyway, on to this nice, easy refreshing summer salad. You’ll be shocked to know that you begin with a bunch of asparagus.

(I know, I know, the composition, the cropping, the lighting! Aargh. Go look at the pictures in another post to recover your eyesight. I’ll wait.)

Prepare an ice bath in a bowl big enough to hold the asparagus.

Blanch the asparagus in boiling salted water until it turns bright green, and is tender but still crisp. (Ok, this next picture is really bad — you can even see the reflection of my overhead lighting in the water! I’m going to say that my 7-year-old took it.) The time will depend on the thickness of your stalks, but for this batch of medium-sized stalks, it took about 2 minutes. Next time I’ll cut the stalks so that they’re prettier, at a nice clean 45 degree angle.

Drain the asparagus and put them into the ice bath to stop the cooking.

Prepare the dressing by combining 1/2 clove minced garlic, 2 TBSP sesame oil, 1 TBSP lemon juice, 2 tsp dijon mustard (someday I will blog on this all on its own but there is only one mustard I ever use, which I used to ask my in-laws to smuggle from France, Amora Dijon Mustard. It is far superior to anything I’ve found in the US (more flavor, less sweet, bigger kick), and I recently discovered to my delight that someone is selling it on Amazon! It makes for phenomenal vinaigrettes.), 1/2 tsp pepper and salt to taste.

Remove the asparagus from the bath and toss with the dressing. I’d recommend adding in the dressing gradually to taste. Chill in the refrigerator.

If someone makes this and sends me better pictures I will post them!!!!

CRISP ASPARAGUS SALAD WITH SESAME OIL (Chris Wood)

Ingredients

  • 1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
  • 1/2 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 Tbs. sesame oil
  • 1 Tbs. lemon juice
  • 2 tsp. whole grain Dijon mustard
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper
  • salt to taste
  • sesame seeds (optional)

Preparation

Blanch the asparagus in boiling salted water until bright green. You want them to be tender but still crisp, about 2 minutes. Immediately drain and put in ice bath to stop cooking. Remove asparagus from ice bath when chilled.
Meanwhile, whisk together all other ingredients and taste to adjust seasoning. Toss vinaigrette with asparagus and refrigerate.
(Optional) Toss with sesame seeds before serving.

Serves 1-2.

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Food Restaurants Travel

{Paris} Creperie Beaubourg

July 15, 2012 – 7:22 AM

Summers in Paris are so lovely from the seat of a creperie. I love how the chairs at the cafes in town are turned unabashedly outward, for better people watching. How the vibe that says to enjoy all the richness in food and life, but to do it in chic measure.

Paris for my husband is about bread: one of his chores growing up was to do the daily bread run for the family, during which he would rabidly consume an entire baguette on his way home. Paris for me is a visual feast of architecture, arts, fashion and of course, food. And when it comes to food, few things make a meal as satisfying as a simple, perfect crepe.

We arrived early in the evening, and, wanting to stretch our legs after the journey through the Chunnel, headed out to the vicinity of the Centre Pompidou in the 4th arrondisement. It was 95 degrees and humid with all of Paris seeming to want to be on the metro at the same time as we did. It was like we were a bunch of sardines who decided to douse ourselves in fly paper glue and get canned together in a sauna.

Out of the metro, we headed straight for the fountain behind the Centre Pompidou.

 Just beyond the fountains is the Creperie Beaubourg.

The creperie has outdoor seating, with a view showcasing a juxtaposition of old and new:

We were thirsty so asked for a pitcher of water; we were treated to a peppery concoction which was surprising yet pleasant (I think it was water, flavored with white pepper. It was unusual enough for me to wonder whether it was an accident, but I’ll assume for now that it’s a signature offering there). I ordered a galette called a Quimper, which is a thin buckwheat pancake stuffed with ham, mushrooms and cheese, and topped with a fried egg.

The pancake was crispy on the outside with nice big crannies, and soft on the inside as it nestled the ham, mushroom and cheese into a cozy little packet. Simple, but good.

Dessert was a chocolate crepe with molton chocolate and cocoa powder, and a Crepe Suzette topped with sugar, lemon and a generous helping of butter:

Both were very good, solid executions of classic crepes.

A meal for four plus the two desserts cost us 46 euros, which was quite reasonable. Average menu items hover between the 4 and 9 euro range.

Is this the best creperie in town? I wouldn’t say so; I’ll be writing a review soon of one that just may be. But if you’re looking for a very good, no-frills, kid-friendly and affordable place to eat near a tourist trap, this is an excellent option. The presentation is basic, and the service is efficient. It does the job it’s meant to do.

Afterwards, we headed back in the heat toward the flat.

Isn’t Paris beautiful? Luckily you can’t see the whining in the picture.

Creperie Beaubourg
2 rue Brisemiche
75004 Paris

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Cooking Food Popular

Rose Petal Jam

June 29, 2012 – 8:59 AM

When we’re in England, we spend a lot of time at my in-laws’ house in the countryside. It’s an old oast house, and my husband says that judging by the plumbing it was built in 200 BC. It’s also rumored to be haunted, which freaks me out, because you know that some old 16th century English ghost is going to take a look at me and go, “Hey look! A Chinese person! I want to talk to her!”

At the oast house lives a dog, Musty. My kids beg me 382.7 times a day on average for a dog, and when we’re over they make it their personal mission to be Musty’s personal trainer, working with him for 90% of the day. They start with a morning run through the fields, during which Musty is required to fetch sticks through wheat, streams and over equestrian-type obstacles.

Here, my father-in-law Chris observes a never-ending game of fetch, shortly before Musty begged for mercy.

I write about Musty to offer these quality personal training services to your dogs. I’m not ready to commit to a pet, so it would be a great help if there are canine volunteers out there looking for some endurance training.

One thing you see a lot of in English gardens is roses.

And these flowers, whose name I forget, so I’m just going to call them St. Agnes Himmyhocks, because it just feels right.

My mother-in-law, Georgina, who is as famous as I am usually famished, had an idea that we should make rose petal jam with the roses in the garden. So she and the girls went around the garden and gathered petals.

They smelled soooo good.

Start by prepping a syrup of sugar, water and lemon juice and let it boil down until syrupy.

Throw in the rose petals — we had mostly pink but some blue (violet) roses which added some nice color — and let them boil 20 minutes.

Once we were done boiling we found that the petals were still rubbery, so Georgie ended up fishing them out of the jam.

I know, that’s not really the right picture for what I just said, but I didn’t get a picture of that.

The result? A brilliant violet-colored jam that tastes like it smells — a wonderful combination of the sweetness of roses and the brightness of lemon. Up top you can see that I had it drizzled over vanilla ice cream with raspberries on top…divine!

There are a number of different recipes online for rose petal jam, some of which involve soaking the petals in advance, or coating them with sugar overnight — they may result in softer petals and perhaps you would be able to leave them in. We haven’t yet experimented with those. But this one was lovely all the same. See how happy Georgina is with the jam?

ROSE PETAL JAM

Ingredients

  • 1/2 lb rose petals, rinsed, brown petals removed
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 1/2 cups water
  • Juice of 2 lemons
  • 3 1/2 TBSP pectin

Preparation

Combine water, sugar and lemon juice and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add in pectin and simmer for 2-3 minutes longer.

Add in rose petals and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Jam will begin to take on the color of the petals. With a slotted spoon, fish out petals, pour jam into jars allowing room for expansion, and cover with jar lid. Allow to cool and use or freeze (tip: if you freeze, use only jam jars with straight sides to avoid glass breakage from jam expansion).

Makes 2 1/2 – 3 jars.

Anyone else experiment with rose jam? Would love to hear your suggestions!

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Cooking Food

Poached Steelhead Trout

June 25, 2012 – 2:01 PM

I procured recently a bottle of omega-3 supplements after reading about how our brains shrink a quarter of a percent (.025%) per year after age 30. The good news is that I probably won’t live long enough for my brain mass to get to zero, but the bad news is that I don’t think I’m getting any smarter year over year, and I kept forgetting to take these memory pills. Wait, who are you again?

My friend Patricia, who is currently using her brain to become a nurse practitioner, told me that you can get equivalent benefits by eating just 3 grams of fish per week. So I’ve been trying to up my fish repertoire since I rarely forget to eat.

I like fish, but:

1. It has to be moist. Eating dry fish is kind of like gnawing on socks.

2. It can’t smell or taste fishy. I know, I’m the same person who doesn’t like protein in her fruit. It also cannot make my house smell fishy.

3. It must be easy to prepare. I am lazy.

Steelhead trout is one of my favorite fish. Check out this blog which talks about the difference between steelhead trout and salmon (in his opinion, there really isn’t any). I actually prefer the steelhead, and it might just be because of the color — it’s a deeper orange-red, which goes a little better with my decor.

Here’s one of my go-to recipes — given the above you can use steelhead trout or salmon and you probably won’t be able to tell the difference — because it’s so quick and easy and comes out perfect every time.

Before you pick your saucepan, make sure that the fish can lay completely flat across the diameter of the pan. If it doesn’t, pick another pan or cut the fish in half so that each half lays flat in the pan.

First, we’ll prepare the poaching liquid. This can be made in advance, which I often do, and I just heat the liquid to a boil when I’m ready to poach. I freeze the liquid after a poach and reuse it again for a future poaching, which makes for a 10 minute meal the next time around. Chop up half an onion, heat up a tablespoon of oil in the saucepan and cook over medium heat until browned, about 7-10 minutes. Add enough white wine into a saucepan to completely cover your fish. Add in a bay leaf, 3 slices of lemon, 3 sprigs of thyme, 1/4 cup dill, 1/4 cup parsley and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer covered for 20 minutes.

Return the liquid to a boil, off the heat and immerse the fish into the poaching liquid, ensuring that it’s completely covered. Not like I did below, because if it’s not in the liquid, it’s not getting cooked. If you underestimated the liquid, you can add a bit more wine to the pan to top it up.

Let the fish poach in the liquid for 10-15 minutes, until the flesh is firm. I like the flesh slightly rare, so pull it out at the 10 minute mark, but let it sit for longer if you prefer it well done.

Remove from the liquid, add salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with dill and lemon slices. It’s delicious served with Lemonaise as a dipping sauce.

POACHED STEELHEAD TROUT

Ingredients

  • 1 pound filet of steelhead trout
  • 1 TSP olive or vegetable oil
  • 1/2 onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 cups dry white wine (enough to immerse filet in pan)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 slices lemon
  • 3 springs fresh thyme
  • 1/4 cup dill
  • 1/4 cup parsley
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a saucepan and sautee until browned, about 7 minutes. Add in the wine, bay leaf, lemon, thyme, dill, parsley and salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Bring liquid back to a boil and off the heat. Put the trout in the liquid, immersing completely (top up with water and bring to boil again if you need to) and poach in liquid for 10-15 minutes, until flesh is firm. Remove from the liquid, add salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with dill and lemon slices. Serve hot or cold. Lemonaise can be used as a dipping sauce.

Serves 4.

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Food

Want Some Protein With That?

June 11, 2012 – 11:16 PM

You think back to the fresh mulberry pie you had last year. You go to your friend’s house and pick mulberries. You wash them inside with your friend who informs you that after soaking, refrigeration drives the maggots out of the berries. You look closely at the berries and watch in vivid horror and fascination the writhing of fruit fly larvae. You cannot unsee this. You put the mulberries in the freezer because Google tells you that this kills the maggots. You pull them out of the freezer and stare at them because you realize that though the maggots are dead, their carcasses remain.

Do you eat the berries? Do you make your pie and jam?

Kathie’s garden: where it began. If you think it looks massive and amazing and like a vacation destination, that’s because it is. In this picture it looks like ancient China to me. Not that I know what ancient China looked like, but that shouldn’t stop me from making similes. Because I’m probably not going to make the jam.

The mulberries have been out of the freezer and in the fridge now for a couple of days. I know we eat two pounds of bugs a year without knowing it. A friend argues that I eat escargot, it is sort of like a really big maggot, but I counter that when I eat escargot,  I am eating it on purpose (and anyway, I haven’t had it since the Great Snail Jihad of 2006, where I battled an infestation in my back yard).

I begin to rethink this whole organic thing. I text Kathie.

ME: Still scared of the mulberries. Want them back? And in other news, a mulberry plant started growing in my yard. It’s mocking me.

KATHIE: If you haven’t eaten them by now, toss them. The maggots are disturbing. Better to sleep well at night.

ME: OK. Read online that we should go for the fruit that’s less ripe. Was reading online that the larvae secrete ripening agents that ripen the fruit. Ewwwww.

KATHIE: Good to know for next year. Just remember, you ate the larvae last year from your friend’s tree. You just didn’t know it until I pointed it out.

I flashback to an image of her trying to pick a maggot off of a berry, but it’s only halfway out. “The rest is stuck inside,” she says.

Ew. Would you use these berries?

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Food Travel

Baker & Olive

June 6, 2012 – 9:10 PM

San Diego is known for its natural beauty, and perhaps even for its artificial beauties, but a foodie haven? Not so much. Having lived collectively in Chicago, New York, Boston, London, Paris and Tokyo before moving here, my husband and I had to adjust to living in a place where people seemed too busy working out to be concerned with food. Which saddened me, because Food, you complete me.

I want to start brewing my own vinegar. That will make for two pets in my home: a 5-year-old sourdough starter named Pete (which is also what my daughter calls the holes in her jeans), and a vinegar mother that will heretofore be known as Wilma. Fermented pets are the best ones.

You can imagine my excitement when Baker & Olive appeared in my neighborhood. You can be excited too, because you can order online.

This is a place where they allow you to drink olive oil and balsamic vinegars out of a cup.

It’s like the land of milk and honey without the milk (but a good selection of raw honey). See those silver things? They’re like kegs of olive oil and vinegar, and when you walk in the staff dispenses these deliciously viscous liquids for straight from the tap. They’ve got beautiful gift sets as well which are a nice way to try a variety of flavors.

Why yes, I do drink gravy, why do you ask?

Back to the vinegars: a nice variety vinegars, both balsamics and lighter ones. I was focused during my visit on the balsamics; you can see some of the varieties here. Their website says that “the density and complexity of our balsamic vinegars are a testament to the fact that they are made in Modena, Italy from high quality grape must, cooked down over an open wood fire and aged in oak barrels without the addition of much else, unlike so many “balsamic-like” products on the market.” Whatever they did, this vinegar is smooth, rich and complex. I bought a bottle of the violet-infused vinegar, which has a lovely fragrant bouquet; I tasted a strawberry balsamic which would be divine over a panna cotta topped with berries.

The violet balsamic, while lovely in concert with olive oil with bread as a convenient carrier, was a bit too floral for my standard vinaigrette — and I make vinaigrettes just about daily, so I need to head back to get a good basic balsamic.

I’m a vinegar novice though, so would love to hear if anyone else has experience making vinegars, or if you have recommendations on particularly good ones.

Excuse me while I have a glass of the violet now.

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