What to Drink

Ooooh, brand new batch of elderflower bubbly just in....just in time for Easter Brunch....

And click here for a yummy little elderflower champagne cocktail recipe.

Sunday suppers

 

I admit, I was totally seduced by the linen fabric cover but now I'm hooked.  The tradition of a big lovely Sunday meal is a wonderful one with deep traditions in lots of cultures.  I love Sunday Suppers (and brunch too)!

Best Maple Syrup Ever

We are having so much fun sampling out this FAB maple syrup, we think we'll do a little sampling tomorrow too!  Because now we're open Sundays through the holidays! 
I admit, I was seduced by the packaging  (in fact I would like to design an entire retail store around this one item but we'll leave that to fantasy island), but the taste is what takes it to the next realm.
Style and substance!  That's how we like it at Passionflower!

How to Spice Up Your Pumpkin Pie this Thanksgiving

We've started carrying more cookbooks and we've been dabbling in more food this year at Passionflower. I went to the Fancy Food Show and heard artisan foodmaker Robert Lambert dishing food and recipes with the folks from Oakville Grocery in Napa.  Tried his stuff and have been hooked ever since.  It's all small batch and seasonal.

  And just in case you're thinking Hot Ginger Caramel Sauce is just for ice cream, here's a link to his recipe for pumpkin pie using his wonderful caramel sauce.

Because it seemed like with that big holiday dedicated to food and eating, you might be looking for something to spice up your pumpkin pie recipes.  

Happy cooking and have fun putting your Thanksgiving menu together.

Click here to buy the caramel sauce online.

Falling in Love Again

 

Can you fall in love with a restaurant?  Because I have.  And now we are 3,000 miles apart.

But I have arranged for a menu to be sent of our evening together.  

And when it comes, I will savor each delicious bite.

Visiting Buvette

I'm posting early today because it's a long day of shopping and then I'm going to Buvette for dinner tonight so it's now or never if I'm going to do that post a day. My pal Ted Watson is always raving about it, and besides, with a menu this beautiful, how can one resist?  Although when Ted tells me, "It's really tiny, don't bring a big bag", I wonder just how tiny. Stay tuned for gastronomic reports.

Image courtesy the lovely Buvette whose website you can see by clicking here.

What's on Your Summer Table

Kale chips, mango salsa, prosciutto and melon, edamame humus, need I say more.  Cookbooks have been such a fun addition to the store and this Forest Feast is one of my favorites.

Exactly What is Shoo Fly Pie and other Foodie Questions

 Summertime, and the living is easy....

 It's pie and ice cream and watermelon and berries and peaches , oh my.

Lots of food inspiration at Passionflower these days.

A Lovely Cordial for Easter Brunch.

 

So happy to have this back in stock.

Chocolate Love for First Friday

We have some great customers at the store who, every now and then, bring us goodies.  Top on the list of beloved gifts are CD's (amongst which we find one of the store all time faves Rod Stewarts' Great American Songbook - who knew?) , champagne, and yes sweets!  And  top amongst the sweet givers is our pal Davey Wendt.  When he's not masquerading as our occasional handyman, he's busy whipping up chocolate confections for Rye Restaurant.  You can see their  chocolates list here.  And, enfin, finally we've put together a little event which is happening First Friday.  Davey is going to demo chocolate tempering and talk about combining flavors.  I have always wanted to dip strawberries in chocolate and I think dried pears dipped in chocolate would be exquisite.  But I had a bad experience in my youth and have always been a little wary. So please join us and learn the secrets and taste some chocolate goodness too.  Plus shop some Valentine goodness too.   
photo courtesy Rye Restaurant

More Posts from the Golden Gate

 

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, bells going off in my head, in love with the Marketplace at the Ferry Street Bldg in San Francisco.  It's one long walkway of food fantasticness- one great big homage to the small, local, (even slightly obsessed) artisan vendors who lines its halls. 

 

 Honeys, cheese, wines, lavenders,truffles, salami, fish, oils, syrups, and oyster shooters, each booth  a singular vision joined up in a larger whole.  If I wax poetic, it's because, it's pretty wonderful to see a place thrive that supports lots of  people doing one thing and doing it really well.

It's also a huge commuter hub where people go to catch ferries that go all over the San Francisco Bay.  So it's beautiful in that way too because it's by the water.  And they have a farmer's market outside the building three times a week.  I bet that's something.  But I was happy to be able to kind of have it all to myself at a not very busy time of day.  It was so fun to explore.  The mushroom booth was my favorite.

The Thanksgiving Table

Because my love affair with the camera has become a thing of the past (Seriously , what's with that? I remember a time in the not too distant time before now when we were wedded at the hip.  ) I must resort to trolling the internet for visual treats for you.  And I suppose that's none too shabby an option because there's a lot, a lot, of great stuff out there.  So, should you want a little Thanksgiving table inspiration you may go here to this lovely Swedish (?) blog with 17 inspiring table ideas.

 Oh, and this one here really slayed me -

 

Laura Zindel Ceramics

 

'Tis the season, and by all reports it appears to be a good one.  Almost everyone I know who has gone mushroom picking is coming home with bucketloads. When I first moved to Oregon , I became friends with a guy who grew up near Mary's Peak (the highest mt in the Coast Range).  He would take me chanterelle hunting out in the woods and we would bushwhack our way through the hinterlands.  I learned about using downed logs like ladders, following deer trails, and how to survey large swaths of terrain for clues about mushrooms. And then come early afternoon, he'd pull out a skillet, a stick of butter, and some utensils and we'd make a fire and fry up the chanterelles, right out there in the middle of the woods. I pretty much thought I'd died and gone to heaven.  Nowadays happy to fry them up at home with a bit of garlic and eat them over toast on a foggy Oregon morning.

The Joy of Eggs

I have been known to spend copious amounts of time researching the best ways to hard boil an egg.

And my egg obsessed friends and I once had a taste off with chicken, duck, and turkey eggs. And we can all agree, there is really nothing quite like eating a farm fresh, soft boiled egg for breakfast. And because, it's that crazy shade of terra cotta orange, I just had to have this lovely cookbook for the store and I think for me too.  How To Boil an Egg seems like it belongs on the shelves of any serious cook.....or anyone who raises chickens....or a kid just starting out ...or anyone who likes simple, basic, rustic cooking.  And once I get through it, I may change my mind but for now I'll stick with Deborah Madison's tips for hard boiling an egg: bring the eggs (doesn't matter how many) to a boil in water for 1 minute, turn off heat and cover for 6 minutes, then plunge in cold water.  Works like a charm, everytime.

Figalicious Love

 

 

 

Remember I promised you some more fig happiness?

 

 

It's my new favorite tablecloth in the store.  Not that we haven't had it before.  It's just that it has moved into favorite position.  Because, in between dreaming of grapes, it's figs that have captured my imagination.  And a big thanks to Tiffany Norton, from Party Dowtown, who took me even deeper into that  figalicous dream world.  I brought her a whole slew of figs from my tree.  She halved them and roasted them, drizzled a little honey and put a dab of creme fraiche on top plus a  mint leaf

and we served 'em up at our Becky Going Away Party.  How cool is that?  You bring the chef food from your garden and they cook it up for you.  Gotta love Eugene.

 

bottom photo courtesy Couleur Natur

There is no bad fruit, just people who don't know what to do with it....

I

I have lately been a little obsessed with food preservation.   Well I guess it's that time of year.  And, no this is definitely not a food blog.  Like if you read about my little experiment drying figs in the convection oven, remember, experiment is the operative word.  That was mostly disaster unless you wanted to pulverize the dried fruit and use it like wierd sugar or something.  So when I finally lucked into a fig chutney recipe (thank you Terry Narva!) my world was made complete.  Finally after 15 plus years I have discovered something delicious to do with the figs growing outside my door .  I think one of  the trick with figs is the riper the better.  Stay tuned for more fig obsession.

Starting to have a thing for Purple

 

I made some grape juice the other day....it was super fun and easy although ultimately a little sticky.....I just piled the washed grapes in a steamer and let it do it's magic.  And there was a little dionysian mystery involved as the first batch came out, what my friend described as, looking like paintwater when she watercolors.  That's code for muddy greyish, greenish, brown....and then the second batch came out looking like.....well pretty dang delicious. I could go on and on and thank goodness this blog is providing an outlet, as I have been banned from discussing any  more of the intricacies of making grape juice at my house.  And I think I've developed a fondness for drinking grape juice warm!!

 

 

Plus wondering how lovely it would be to drink the grape juice from this Juliska pressed amethyst  glass goblet?  Which begs the question, how exactly do the utensils you use while dining change the experience?  Off to work as I ponder the question for the day.  And fairly soon here, we shall be finished our fall reset and shall have some photos for you.

 

top photo courtesy Ms Becky Tonkin and bottom photo courtesy Juliska

John Derian Melamine Plates

I told you that the camera and I haven't been spending too much time together.....hence going back in the photo bank to some shots from the New York Now show....John Derian melamine plates...in stock now and may we say looking pretty fun and fabulous....I'd love to eat a big green salad on this floriferous plate. 

What I'm Having for Dinner

You know that little rule I have for myself, where I don't let myself cherry pick anything one of a kind or super fabulous - the rule that says I have to leave it in the store for a while and give the customers a chance.  Well people , you had your chance, and now it is mine:  handmade, big thick slab of myrtlewood fashioned into a cutting board from sustainably harvested wood out at the coast.

Fruit, a chunk or two of cheese, and some roasted nuts on this baby will make desert on the deck taste pretty good.

Fleshy Fruit and other Tales of the Dubious Flowering Fig

I haven't been blogging much.  Because it's summer.  And I cannot lollygag about the house drinking morning brews and tapping away because.....well dang it's hot and I'm spending a lot of time watering and opening windows and turning on fans and closing windows and moving sprinklers and picking figs and plums and chilling with my houseguests   And , well,  you get the picture.  Plus I haven't been using the camera much lately either.  Like at all.  I can barely remembered the last time I picked up a camera.  So you'll have to settle  for  a picture of figs from last year.

 

 

Figs are one interesting plant, They're odd in the world of flowering plants because they flower on the inside (you know how most flowers open up , well figs, kind of open inwards when they flower) and they're pollinated by a tiny wasp that goes inside the budding fruit.  They're a kind of flower that never sees the light of day.  Which is odd. Really odd.

 

 

  It's a good year for figs and I'm getting a spectacularly good early crop.   I'm going to try drying some in my convection oven and using them in granola.