Category Archives: Great Finds

Unreal Candy That Tastes Real Good

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They resemble M&Ms, but they have less sugar.

Is it too early in the month to already start talking about candy?

I think not.

Especially when it’s candy that’s made with better, more healthful ingredients.

Unreal Brands candy is the brainchild of 15-year-old Nicky Bronner, who got so peeved one year that his parents had confiscated his Halloween loot that he decided to come up with new versions of his favorite candies that his parents would approve of.

Of course, it helps that his father is Boston entrepreneur Michael Bronner who founded Digitas, a digital direct marketing company, and Unpromise, which reinvented the loyalty program model. It also didn’t hurt that his father is friends with the likes of Tom Brady, Giselle Bundchen and Matt Damon, all of whom are now Unreal brand ambassadors.

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My New Cards — and A Food Gal Giveaway

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My photos on my own greeting cards -- courtesy of Moo.com.

When you’re your own start-up (ahem, yes that would be me), it pays to have some snazzy business cards — ones that are eye-catching, stand out from the pack, and show off a little of your own personality.

Now, I do — thanks to Moo.com.

Don’t get me wrong. My old cards were fine. But these? Even my husband says I can only give these out to people who are “worthy.” Is that a high compliment or what?

Founded in 2004 by Brit Richard Moross, Moo allows you to design your own custom business cards, mini cards, greeting cards, stickers, stickers and labels — using your own photos or logos.

Recently, the company gave me the opportunity to try out their services for free to see what I thought about them. I decided to create both business cards and greeting cards, using both my Food Gal logo and photos I’d taken that have appeared on this blog.

The results were amazing. First, the quality of the paper is top-notch. These are business cards with heft. The weight of them is substantial, so much so that anyone you hand one to is definitely going to notice. Second, the card can be designed with color images on both the front and back. Third, you can mix up the design in your order, too, choosing a couple of them instead of just being stuck with one. Third, the paper is sourced from sustainable forests. Fourth, for an even more environmentally correct option, you can choose to have your cards printed on recycled paper that’s been manufactured using wind power.

My cool new business cards sure to make anyone hungry for dessert.

For my business cards, I chose to stick with just one image — one of my all-time favorites that I photographed, the modern German chocolate cake created by Pastry Chef Bill Corbett of Absinthe Brasserie in San Francisco. Anyone who knows me, knows my sweet tooth, so it was only fitting.

For the greeting cards, I chose an assortment of food images I’d taken over the years — from my late Mom’s chicken and rice dish to the simple beauty of fresh, ripe figs. The images reproduced beautifully on the cards, which again were quite sturdy and had a nice satin coating.

The cards are not necessarily inexpensive: 100 business cards are $39.98; and 25 greeting cards with envelopes are $39.99.

But the Moo team prides itself on quality design and it definitely shows.

You can put an assortment of images on one order of cards.

Contest: Three lucky Food Gal readers will win a chance to design their own set of 50 Moo business cards for free. One of those three also will get a bonus prize — a chance to design 25 Moo holiday cards for free in addition to their business cards.

Entries, open to anyone since Moo ships worldwide, will be accepted through midnight PST Sept. 29. Winners will be announced Oct. 1.

How to win?

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Hand-Made Biscotti From Sonoma

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Crunchy and dainty biscotti by a woman who sure knows how to make them.

Bonnie Tempesta is no stranger to making biscotti.

After all, you might recognize her surname from the La Tempesta biscotti company she started in the 1980s, then sold in 1997, but not before it became the largest biscotti bakery in the United States.

You just can’t keep a woman away from biscotti for long, though, especially one with a Tuscan heritage.

Tempesta is back making the twice-baked Italian cookies for her new company, Boncora in Sonoma.

The name is a mashup of “Bonnie” and “ancora,” which means “encore” in Italian.

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Sugar Goes Glam and Elegant with Chambre de Sucre

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An elephant sugar hugger. How cute is this?

The Japanese have a way of making everything more precious and special.

Even sugar for your cup of coffee or tea.

Forget the mere cubes or packets of granulated stuff. Think sugar as mini sculptures in shapes of hearts, pyramids, stars, flowers and angel wings — each individually tinted, too.

Chambre de Sucre of Cypress, Calif. is importing these sweet, tiny gourmet sugars that are handcrafted by a family-0wned business in Japan that’s more than 270 years old. They’ve been making these sugars for tea ceremonies for the royal family since the time of the Shogun.

Mini blue sugar stars from Chambre de Sucre.

Lisa Kunizaki, owner of Chambre de Sucre, grew up with these sugars, when she would visit her grandparents in Japan during the summers, where they would entertain with tea, homemade sweets and these sugar marvels.

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Wine 101 at the International Culinary Center in Campbell

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My class "assignments'' at the International Culinary Center wine class.

To get in the mood for this post, open a bottle of wine, pour yourself a glass, take a well deserved sip, then see if you can answer the following:

A) What are the three grape varietals typically used in the making of Champagne?

B) What common drug store item can help rid your wine glasses and decanters of red-wine stains?

C) Cool climate growing regions produce white wines with a tinge of what specific color?

D) What unusual aroma is often associated with Australian and New Zealand Pinot Noirs?

Over the course of a week, I learned the answers (find them at the bottom of this post) to these questions and so much more as a student in the “Wine Foundation” class at the International Culinary Center in Campbell.

The class, which I was invited to take gratis as a guest of the school, stretched over seven nights for four hours at a time. I figured by the end of it, I’d either be an expert or totally tipsy.

Fortunately, it was bordering more on the former. Although, I’d taken one or two wine classes before, they were more truncated. Getting the opportunity to take such an intensive and comprehensive class really gave me a grasp on wines like never before. Indeed, over seven days, we learned not only how wine is made, but wine-tasting techniques, what goes into wine service at a restaurant, the basics of food and wine pairing (complete with food prepared by culinary students), and an overview of what varietals are found around the world.

Our classroom.

It says a lot that the ICC is the first school to ever be approved by the renowned Court of Master Sommeliers. How rigorous is the process for becoming one? Consider that only 3 percent who take the final exam to become a master actually pass — and that’s usually after failing on multiple previous attempts.

Our instructor was a certified Master Sommelier, one of only 197 in the world: Jesse Becker, who began his sommelier career at Charlie Trotter’s in Chicago, most recently put together the wine program at AQ restaurant in San Francisco, and runs his own wine importing business, PWMWINE.com.

Jesse Becker, one of only 197 Master Sommeliers in the world, pulling bottles from the cellar for us to try

There were 10 of us in this particular class, only one of whom was a man. Most had high-tech backgrounds of some sort, too. A few were toying with career changes, but more were there just to educate themselves about a topic that’s long fascinated their palate and mind.

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