Category Archives: Great Finds

FigCello is Fig-A-Licious

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A new brandy made from black Mission figs. It's heaven in a glass.

Fig fans are sure to go wild for FigCello di Sonoma.

I know I sure did.

FigCello is one smooth liqueur made from black Mission figs blended with a hint of citrus, various botanicals, and distilled Wine Country grapes.

It’s the newest product from Sonoma’s HelloCello, a small artisanal distilled spirits maker. You may know its debut product, Limoncello di Sonoma.

The fig brandy, with 30 percent alcohol by volume, came about when Sondra Bernstein, owner of the Girl & the Fig in Sonoma was on the hunt for a fig liqueur for her restaurant. She approached Fred and Amy Groth of HelloCello, who were eager to take on the challenge.

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Downtown Bakery — A Must-Stop in Sonoma County

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Dig into the tomato-Asiago focaccia at the Downtown Bakery & Creamery in Healdsburg.

If you ever happen to find yourself in the vicinity of Healdsburg, make a beeline pronto to the Downtown Bakery & Creamery.

You will not regret it.

And your stomach will thank you profusely.

Started in 1987 by three Chez Panisse alums, this bakery makes everything from scratch — breads, ice cream, cookies, and pastries. There’s even a cafe menu if you want to sit for a spell to enjoy breakfast pizza, cheesy scrambled eggs or a Croque Madame that’s a croissant topped with herbed ricotta cheese and ham.

The famous sticky buns.

My husband and I can never resist the sticky buns ($2.25 each). This version is simply sublime — a flaky, buttery croissant-like dough formed into a muffin shape that has a crunchy topping of sugar. You also can buy them frozen to bake up fresh at home.

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A Pampering Experience at the Farmhouse Inn in Sonoma County

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Wake up to fluffy oatmeal pancakes with apples at the Farmhouse Inn.

From the moment you arrive at the bucolic Farmhouse Inn in tiny Forestville in the Russian River Valley, you know you will be in good hands.

After all, Charlotte most likely will be the first to greet you.

This is one friendly, adorable black cat you will want crossing your path. The inn’s resident pet, Charlotte, keeps pests in check on the property. But she’s also not above sneaking into your room to take a snooze.

And what rooms these are.

Eighteen rooms, cottages and suites ($345 to $745 a night) dot the property, whose centerpiece is a pale yellow 1873 restored farm house. The farmstead has been owned for the past decade by siblings, Catherine and Joe Bartolomei, whose family has farmed in Sonoma County for five generations. Recently, my husband and I were invited to be guests of the inn for an overnight stay that included dinner at the famed restaurant on the premises.

Although it blends in perfectly with the 1800s property, this barn is a new structure housing gorgeous suites.

The rustic and thoroughly chic look of the suite.

Notice the pillow on the bed that looks like a certain cat?

The room's double-sided fireplace can be enjoyed from the deck, too.

We stayed in an upstairs suite in the newly built barn at the back of the property. The suite definitely has a rustic vibe — but one attuned to Ralph Lauren.  Bright, airy and chic, the suite featured a four-poster bed adorned with a pillow decorated with a black cat in homage to Charlotte, of course. A double-sided stone gas fireplace sat across from the bed and could be enjoyed from the other side outside on the deck, too. The bathroom featured a jetted tub, separate steam shower and radiant heat floors to toast your tootsies on chilly mornings.

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Pure Pizza Dough Heaven — The Recipe From Pizzeria Mozza

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Pizza nirvana.

Hands down, this is the best pizza dough recipe — ever.

I don’t say that lightly, either. And believe you me, I’ve tried many others, some quite good.

But the one from “The Mozza Cookbook” (Alfred A. Knopf) by baker extraordinaire, Nancy Silverton, and her chef, Matt Molina, and food journalist Carolynn Carreno, is truly astounding.

It’s got so much character and developed flavor that I could eat the crust plain. How many pizza crusts can you say that about?

As Silverton explains in the new cookbook, of which I recently received a review copy, it’s not an exact replica of the one served at her Pizzeria Mozza in Los Angeles that she owns with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. But having enjoyed the real deal at Mozza every time I’ve visited Los Angeles, I can attest that the recipe in the book makes a pretty darn close approximation to the pizzas that come out of the restaurant’s ferociously hot wood-fired ovens.

They both sport one of the most varied crusts around — at times crisp, chewy and airy. Each bite of crust brings a new texture — from the edges, which puff up in the blistering heat of the oven, to the patchwork of air holes like that of a wonderful ciabatta to the cracker-like center. The flavor is that of a great artisan bread. And no wonder since Silverton practically single-handedly started the gourmet bread trend in Los Angeles when she opened her landmark La Brea Bakery.

I’ve loved this pizza crust from the first time I ever sank my teeth into it years ago in Los Angeles. I can’t be more thrilled to know that I can duplicate it at home now, too.

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A Decorative, Delightful Food Gal Giveaway

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My dining room, all spiffed up with a canvas made from one of my photos.

I can’t stop staring at the newest addition to my dining room.

See that artsy canvas hanging on the wall with the two cherries?

That’s actually one of my photos — enlarged and printed on a 30-inch-by-40-inch canvas frame. You might even recognize that particular image from the post I did awhile back about baking “Cherry Focaccia with Rosemary.” Here’s what it looked like:

My original image of the cherries.

How cool is that?

The free canvas came courtesy of EasyCanvasPrints, which offered me the chance to try out the photo-to-canvas process. All I had to do was pay the shipping cost.

The company offers a range of images to choose from. But of course, it’s way more fun to use one of your own photos.The larger the canvas, the higher the resolution your photo will need to be. The EasyCanvasPrints folks are great at getting back to you, too, if a sharper image is needed. You also can choose from various borders for your canvas, as well as color effects and retouching services.

I chose my photo of cherries because I liked the simplicity of the image. It’s not so fussy that I’d get tired of looking at it quickly. And when enlarged to that scale, it has a real presence in the room. Plus, it matched my deep red dining room walls so well.

I couldn’t be happier with the results. In fact, I’m already toying with turning another one of my photos into a large canvas for another wall — even if I’ll have to foot the bill for this one.

But hey, it’s a small price to pay to be so thoroughly mesmerized by my once plain wall, isn’t it?

Contest: One lucky Food Gal reader will win the opportunity to design a free 8-inch-by-10-inch canvas, courtesy of EasyCanvasPrints. Entries, limited to those in the continental United States, will be accepted through midnight PST Sept. 25. Winner will be announced Sept. 27.

How to win?

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