Category Archives: Bakeries

A Doggie Soiree, Wine Dinner, New Bakery, and A Whole Lot More

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A woof-ing good time. (Photo courtesy of the Hyatt Regency Monterey)

Guests of the two- and four-legged variety are invited to have a grand ol’ time at the second annual “Paws For A Cause” party, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 9 at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Resort & Spa on Del Monte Golf Course.

The event for owners and their dogs will feature gourmet dog treats by Carmel Dog Parties for the canines, and appetizers from the hotel’s TusCA Ristorante for the humans. Guests also will enjoy environmentally-inspired cocktails such as Simply Pear-fect Martini and Wild Apple Martini, garnished with garden herbs and presented with tips on helping the environment, and seed packets to take home.

The SPCA for Monterey County will be on hand with adoptable dogs, too.

A $15 donation is suggested for the event, with 100 percent of proceeds going to the SPCA.

One of my favorite Cabernet Sauvignon producers will be featured at the Oct. 2 wine dinner at Seasons restaurant in the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco. The five-course tasting menu will be paired with Napa Valley’s Shafer Vineyards’ varietals. Charming and knowledgeable Doug Shafer, president of the winery, will lead guests through the tastings.

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Can You Stand Another Cupcake Photo?

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Cupcakes from the new Kara's bakery in Palo Alto (clockwise from top: banana, Java, Fleur de Sel)

I had the best intentions. Honest.

But an editor needing a freelance story from me earlier than expected, and an all-around shortage of time derailed those efforts.

You see, I had hoped to go to the new Sprinkles Cupcakes bakery in Palo Alto’s Stanford Shopping Center on Wednesday, the day after it officially opened. Then, I planned to zoom across the road to the 12-day-new Kara’s Cupcakes bakery in the Town & Country Village also in Palo Alto. My plan was to conduct my very own cupcake-war, taste-off to see which bakery had the most irresistible frosting-topped confections. After all, Cupcakes Take the Cake already included a Yelp review comparing the two.

As I rounded the Stanford Shopping Center, it wasn’t hard to spot where the new bakery was on the backside of the mall. The line was the telltale beacon. At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, there were more than 20 people queued up. All of them women. You’d have thought it was a Manolo Blahnik sale, for gosh sakes.

Not having the time or patience on that particular day, I headed to Kara’s instead. And I walked right in. No line. But plenty of cute cupcakes. I chose a banana cupcake with cream cheese frosting, a “Java” (chocolate cupcake with espresso buttercream), and a Fleur de Sel (chocolate cupcake filled with caramel, then topped with ganache frosting and a sprinkle of sea salt). My tab? Just under $10. Gulp.

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Sprinkles Cupcakes To Open Its Doors on Tuesday

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A tower of frosted delights. (Photo courtesy of Sprinkles Bakery)

Get ready for red velvet, chai latte, ginger lemon, banana dark chocolate, and more cute-as-can-be, freshly baked, no-need-to-share treats when Sprinkles Cupcakes opens on Sept. 23 at the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto.

Yes, the cupcake bakery that’s all the rage with Tyra Banks, Oprah, Katie Holmes (Mrs.Tom Cruise), and other celebs is finally putting down sugary roots in the Bay Area. Other Sprinkles bakeries can be found in Beverly Hills, Newport Beach, Dallas, and Scottsdale. You can spot them easily by the lines outside the doors.

It’s only fitting that Pastry Chef-Proprietor Candace Nelson and her co-owner/husband Charles Nelson open a shop here. After all, Candace’s French-American great grandmother, Margaret Craig, owned three successful restaurants in the Bay Area for more than 20 years. Candace and Charles also are two former Silicon Valley tech investment bankers who spent long hours crunching numbers for others while they longingly dreamed of baking cupcakes. (Hey, I would, too!)

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Better Than The Gold Standard In Cookies

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Chocolate gingersnaps -- Yum! (Photo courtesy of Platine)

Munch, munch, munch…

Oh, sorry, I had my mouth full. Chomp, chomp…I can’t stop eating these cookies that arrived in the mail; that’s how good they are.

Platine, the French word for “platinum,” is tres magnifique. These handmade, mail-order cookies from Southern California are the creation of Jamie Cantor, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America campuses in Hyde Park, NY and St. Helena, CA. She then went on to work for several years at the French Laundry in Yountville, before moving to Los Angeles to start her own bakery.

Decisions, decisions. It's hard to choose only one. (Photo courtesy of Platine)

You can taste the premium ingredients from the first bite. Every cookie is baked to order, so when they arrive on your doorsteps, they still taste very fresh. Choose from rich brownies to chewy cookies such as oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodle, and my fave — chocolate gingersnap. In fact, pardon me, while I sneak another one…crunch, crunch…

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