Category Archives: Great Finds

Sponsored Post: Smack Your Lips Over Sweet and Savory Artisan Products From Clif Family

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Whether for brunch or a midday snack, Clif Family Solar Grown Honey Spreads, Organic Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Almonds, and Rosemary Roasted Almonds & Pistachios, make for a perfect pick-me-up.
Whether for brunch or a midday snack, Clif Family Solar Grown Honey Spreads, Organic Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Almonds, and Rosemary Roasted Almonds & Pistachios, make for a perfect pick-me-up.

A myriad of honeys certainly abound on supermarket shelves. But Clif Family Solar Grown Honey Spreads definitely stand out. Not only do they pack a wallop of flavor, but they are made with honey specifically harvested from bee hives located on or around pollinator-friendly solar farms.

It’s a concerted effort to encourage both clean energy and biodiversity. After all, flowering meadows planted under solar farms not only create cooler microclimates that improve energy efficiency, but foster thriving beneficial insect populations.

Talk about a sweet win-win.

I had a chance to try samples of three different Solar Grown Honey Spreads ($10 for a 5.5-ounce jar), each smooth, creamy, and thick enough to slather on most anything with a knife.

Clif Family Solar Grown Honey Spreads come in both sweet and spicy varieties.
Clif Family Solar Grown Honey Spreads come in both sweet and spicy varieties.

For added oomph, they are blended with spices sourced from Burlap & Barrel, a public benefit corporation that partners with small farmers to improve their livelihoods.

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Where I’ve Been Getting Takeout of Late: Salumeria Ovello

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Rotisserie-roasted duck with oranges to-go from Salumeria Ovello.
Rotisserie-roasted duck with oranges to-go from Salumeria Ovello.

Thanks to the advent of the pandemic, I’ve learned to always keep a cooler in my car. With traveling these days pretty much limited to car trips, it pays to be prepared since you never know what wonders a spur-of-the-moment stop will yield.

Such was the case when my husband and I were in Sonoma a few weeks ago, and spied the sign for Salumeria Ovello.

This charming spot is owned by Chef Andrea Marino, who once had his own Michelin-starred restaurant in Barberesco, Italy. After moving to California and getting married, he opened this storefront about three years ago.

A jar of bolognese plus fresh pasta chitarra -- all made in house and ready to cook at home.
A jar of bolognese plus fresh pasta chitarra — all made in house and ready to cook at home.

Yes, there is house-made salumi. But also, so much more, including panini stuffed with everything from Niman Ranch porchetta and arugula with house-made mayonnaise ($14) to slow-roasted beef tongue accented with salsa verde ($14).

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Dining Outside at Edge Restaurant

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A stunning halibut crudo with aguachile at Edge in Sonoma.
A stunning halibut crudo with aguachile at Edge in Sonoma.

Sometimes the best things hide in plain sight.

And if you’re very lucky, you stumble upon them before the rest of the world finds out.

Such is the case with Edge Restaurant in downtown Sonoma.

Steps from Sonoma Plaza square, this fine-dining restaurant operates inside a renovated Victorian home that you might easily pass by if you weren’t paying attention.

Fortunately, its management team reached out to invite me in as a guest of this sensational restaurant that’s operated by Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards and Winery in Sonoma.

The restaurant is owned by Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards and Winery, just a few miles away.
The restaurant is owned by Stone Edge Farm Estate Vineyards and Winery, just a few miles away.
The front of the restaurant.
The front of the restaurant.

The winery is owned by Leslie McQuown and her husband Mac McQuown, a serial entrepreneur who also co-founded the Chalone Wine Group and Carmenet Winery.

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Presenting Cold-Oven Pound Cake

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The quintessential pound cake made with an unusual technique.
The quintessential pound cake made with an unusual technique.

This recipe is for those who can be forgetful.

The ones who sometimes neglect to add that vanilla extract to a batch of cookies, the ones who somehow didn’t grease a pan before adding the batter, or have hurriedly mixed in an ingredient at the very last second when it should have been stirred in at the start.

Yes, folks maybe like you and surely like me, as I’ve been guilty at least once of all of those things.

Ever forgotten to preheat the oven before sticking a cake in to bake?

No fretting about that with this recipe. That’s because “Cold-Oven Pound Cake” indeed gets slid into the oven before it is turned on. And boy, does this technique lead to one sensational cake.

It’s from “Cheryl Day’s Treasury of Southern Baking” (Artisan Books, 2021), of which I received a review copy.

With her husband Griffith Day, they co-own the Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah, GA. Se is also a co-founder of the Southern Restaurants for Racial Justice that works to preserve the legacy of Black-owned restaurants in the United States.

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My Favorite Cocktail

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My fave Negroni, with a big orange twist.
My fave Negroni, with a big orange twist.

In my household, there is no argument as to what our most favored cocktail is.

But there is disagreement over whose drink of choice it was first.

Let’s just say that I’m convinced I chose the Negroni way before my husband did.

After all, he can’t even tell you why he likes it. But I can. It’s all about that delightful bitter orange taste that does it for me, like that of the prized rind of Seville oranges in marmalade.

So when a review copy of the new “San Francisco Cocktails” (Cider Mill Press) landed on my porch, it was the perfect excuse to make at home the satisfying sip I usually order out.

This fun book is by my friend and colleague Trevor Felch, a Bay Area food and drinks writer who has assembled 100 San Francisco cocktail recipes and the stories behind them. Holy moly, just imagine the tipsy time testing all of those.

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