This was a year filled with extraordinary food and beverage adventures.  It was difficult to narrow down a “Best of the Best” list, but here are my picks for 2011:

Best Overall Coffee Experience: Roasting beans and doing a comparative tasting with Scott Miller, owner of Ogeechee River Coffee Company, Savannah, Georgia.

Best new chocolate confection chef: Chris Kollar of Kollar Chocolates in Yountville, California.  Especially love his passion fruit, coconut and peanut butter chocolates.

Best foraging adventure on a farm: La Petraia in Radda in Chianti, Italy, with owner and chef, Susan McKenna Grant.  Foraging was followed by a cooking class and lunch that featured our foraged ingredients!

Best wine harvest experience: Goosecross Cellars, Napa, California. Was such a learning experience to follow Winemaker Geoff Gorsuch during the pressing and crushing of the grapes for their Viognier wine.

Best new chocolate bar: Askinosie Chocolate, Springfield, Missouri.  I absolutely adore their new single-origin bar made with cacao beans from Honduras.

Best organic olive oil discovery: Castelas’ Biologique Olive Oil, Les Baux de Provence, France.  Grassy, aromatic, spicy and delicious.  This is a perfect finishing oil.

Best dish using brussel sprouts: Bottega Restaurant, Napa Valley, California.  Their new crispy brussel sprout salad is phenomenal.  I was upset that they took their shaved brussel sprout salad off the menu but this new salad is truly superior – so full of flavor and crunch!

Best new diner: The Fremont Diner in Sonoma, California.  Farm-to-table, Southern-inspired dishes such as BBQ pork sandwich, collard greens and housemade biscuits.

Best sugar discovery: Wasanban from Shikoku, Japan.  Wasanban is a very fine-grained sugar that is made from a thin sugar cane plant grown in Shikoku.  A friend in Japan sent it to me.  I have been using it to sprinkle on dessert crepes and cookies and to sweeten tea.  I love its delicate texture and sweet flavor.

Best affogato (gelato with a shot of espresso): Poggio in Sausalito, California.  They dress their affogatos up with slices of toasted almonds and candied orange peel.  Exquisite!

Best caramels: Jacques Genin in Paris, France.  These caramels melt in your mouth and dance on your tongue.  The flavors are rich and the texture is perfect.

Best wine education experience: Les Printemps de Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, France.  Was there in April for a tasting of grenache wines from several different soil types and microclimates within the Chateauneuf-du-Pape appellation.

Best new artisanal salt: Jacobsen Hand-Harvested Pure Sea Salt from Netarts Bay, Oregon.  This salt has a wonderful crunch and a bright, clean flavor.  Excellent finishing salt.

Best hamburger in San Francisco: 4505 Meats, San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers Market.  Haven’t tried every hamburger in town yet, but this was my favorite of the ones that I tried this year.

Looking forward to discovering what new “Bests” 2012 will bring!

Note: Top photo taken by Oliver Seidel and Nicky Stich of deliciousdays.com.

When I couldn’t take my scheduled flight to Paris this week due to the volcanic ash issue, I did the next best thing – searched for French-style macarons in San Francisco. 

A macaron (not to be confused with the wonderful coconut macaroon that I adore, as well) is a French sandwich cookie that has a flavored filling in the center.  The cookie itself is made from ground almonds, egg whites and sugar.  It is crispy on the very outside and light and chewy within.  Fillings can range from silky chocolate or vanilla to tangy fruit ganaches. 

After trying three different French-style bakeries in the city, I decided that my favorite macarons come from a shop that focuses specifically on macarons – Paulette on Hayes Street.  The macarons from Paulette were just the right texture – lightly crisp and chewy.  Some of the ones that I tried from other bakers were almost gummy.  Paulette had 16 flavors and I am not embarrassed to say that I tried a number of them.   The fillings were intense – you could really taste them.  My favorite flavors were the passion fruit, caramel, toasted coconut, lemon and Jamaican chocolate.  The passion fruit and the lemon fillings really had a nice “punch” to them.  These macarons reminded me of the ones that I get at Laduree in Paris. 

Paulette SF is located at 437 Hayes Street in San Francisco.

Today I did a cooking demonstation at Napa Style’s flagship store in Yountville, California.  What a lovely, energetic and fun place to be!  I have always been a fan of Michael Chiarello’s Napa Style, but being right in the middle of the shopping and tasting action was a pleasure, indeed.   Today I demonstrated how to make Caramelized Dates with Roasted Almonds and Fleur de Sel (cream-of-the-crop sea salt from France).  I also made some really decadent Chocolate-Cinnamon Paninis for our guests to taste.   

I will be back at Napa Style again on Saturday, April 3rd and Saturday, May 8th.   Stop by and see what we are making on those days!  If you haven’t shopped here before for home, garden and kitchen goodies, you are in for such a treat.  If you have, you know how great it is! 

Napa Style is located at 6525 Washington Street in Yountville, California.

Carpentras has become one of my destinations in Provence.  It is home to one of my favorite restaurants, Chez Serge, to one of my favorite patisseries, Patisserie Jouvaud, AND to the best cheese shop in all of Provence, La Fromagerie du Comtat.  This gorgeous shop is owned and operated by Master Fromager Affineur, Claudine Vigier. 

Claudine is extremely knowledgeable about cheese and is so friendly and nice.  She is always happy to help me choose an assortment of cow’s milk, goat’s milk and sheep’s milk cheeses that are at the perfect stage of ripeness for my events.  Not only does Claudine sell an incredible variety of cheeses from France and other areas, but she is also an affineur, or ager, of cheeses.  Claudine buys cheeses that are very young and then ages them until they are at the perfect stage of ripeness.  Claudine adds her own touches, too – sometimes adding peppercorns or lavender to the goat cheeses to give them a particular flavor. 

Claudine is also quite famous in France for inventing the professional cheese knife, designed with non-professionals in mind, as well.  This knife was created by Forge de Laguiole, a top name in professional knives in France.  The knife is designed to give cheeses a nice, even cut without the cheese sticking to the knife.  The knife has a beautiful olive wood handle and is sturdy enough to cut all types of cheese.   

La Fromagerie du Comtat is located at 23 place de la Mairie 84200 – CARPENTRAS. Tél : 04 90 60 00 17

My fresh Oregon hazelnuts just arrived!  Since discovering the fresh hazelnuts that are grown in Oregon, I have really come to appreciate the flavor and versatility of these aromatic nuts.   I like to use the whole kernels for tarts and for snacking.  I choose minced toasted hazelnuts for salads and for my oatmeal in the morning.  I also use these in my arugula pesto recipe. 

Hazelnuts are high in protein, iron, calcium, vitamin B6, vitamin E and fiber.  Each hazelnut has about 8 calories.  However, you don’t need to use a large amount of hazelnuts in your recipes, as their intense flavors go a long way.   

I order my hazelnuts from Freddy Guys (www.freddyguys.com/), a family run operation in Monmouth, Orgeon.  The folks at Freddy Guys are so friendly and knowledgeable, and the quality of their hazelnuts is first-rate.  The prices are very reasonable, too.  Believe me, you will not be disappointed with the products you receive from them.  Try some of these amazing nuts soon in your favorite recipes.

I fell in love with the breads from this bakery in the 6th Arrondissement near Luxembourg Gardens.  They produce organic breads, full of grains and fruits, English brown bread, scones and muffins.  They have a few tables inside, too. 

Bread & Roses
7, rue de Fleurus
Paris, 75006
33 1 42 22 06 06

This cheese shop on the corner of Rue de Grenelle and Boulevard Raspail has an amazing assortment of cheeses, ripened to perfection.  I didn’t find the staff to be particularly friendly or helpful when I was there, but I quickly forgot about it as I was enjoying the wonderful cheeses that night.  The Brillat-Savarin was at its prime and the goat cheese was superb. 

Barthelemy
51, rue de Grenelle
Paris 75007
33 1 42 22 82 24

Listen to Sherry Page’s interview with Steve Sando of Rancho Gordo on Napa Valley Wine Radio.   If you think that “beans are beans”, this interview is sure to change your mind!

I’m a bean lover of all kinds – lima beans, fava beans, romano beans, pole beans – you name it.  But nothing beats the selection and the quality of the dried heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo. 

I’ve been buying dried beans from Steve Sando’s Rancho Gordo for years  at the San Francisco Farmers market.  I have always been impressed with the variety of heirloom beans that Steve grows.  Over the past few years, Steve has traveled throughout Mexico and Central America searching for unique and rare beans and herbs that he brings to his trial gardens in Napa. Each summer he grows the beans to see if they’d be suitable for production.  The result is that Rancho Gordo has 20 to 30 varieties of heirloom beans for sale at any one time.  And they feel that there are still hundreds of heirloom beans to discover.  The yield on growing some of these heirloom beans tends to be lower than generic beans but the payoff is in the flavor and texture.  My favorite Rancho Gordo heirloom bean is the Good Mother Stallard, which they happen to be out of right now but I was recently assured that they will soon be back.  I also really love the deep flavor and the creamy texture of the yellow Indian woman bean.  The scarlet runner bean has a deep meaty flavor with hints of coffee and chocolate, and I can hardly believe the buttery flavor and creamy texture that the alubia criollo bean has.  In addition to the beans, Rancho Gordo  also carries dried chilis, chili powders and hot sauces, posole and popping corn, red and white quinoa, Mexican oregano, Mexican soft cinnamon and Mexican vanilla. 

You can find the Rancho Gordo stand on the front side of the SF Ferry Plaza Farmers market on Saturday mornings.  They have also recently opened a new retail store in the town of Napa.  For more information visit the Rancho Gordo website at ranchogordo.com.

If you love fine upscale food that is exquisitely packaged, you won’t want to miss Fauchon.  They have wonderful preserves and jams, mustards, teas, coffees, chocolates and wines.  They ship worldwide, too. 

If you really enjoy thick, rich hot chocolate, theirs is not to be missed!  They have a tea salon/cafe that serves the hot chocolate along with breakfast items (pictured above). 
Fauchon
26, place de la Madeleine
75008 Paris
33 01 47 42 60 11

This upscale gourmet shop in Paris is definitely worth a browse.  Here you will find a huge array of fresh vegetables and fruits, olive oils, cheeses, meats, seafood, condiments, wines, spices, chocolates, teas, coffees, fresh flowers and so much more.  A cart with wheels is a nice-to-have if you are going to be carting your goods home from there. 

La Grande Epicerie au Bon Marche
Rue de Sevres at rue du Bac
75007 Paris