Cooking
Photo ©Abigail Huller
Since the 1800's, the Bay Area has been a delicious environment for chocolate. Early on immigrants like Guittard and Ghirardelli made their fortunes not in gold, but in chocolate and their companies exist to this day. Our cool climate is particularly very well suited to making confections and I don't expect chocolate will ever be out of style.
Great locally crafted chocolate came into my consciousness back in the late 70's and early 80's when Alice Medrich was selling her chocolate truffles and decadent chocolate cakes all over the Bay Area. Over the years her cookbooks have not only been a source of inspiration, but a showcase of innovative techniques and approaches to chocolate and other high quality ingredients. Her latest book, Pure Dessert was one of my favorite books of 2007. Not surprisingly she has also inspired many artisanal chocolatiers in the Bay Area.
Come to a book signingtomorrow to meet Alice Medrich, hear her experiences working with chocolate and try some locally made chocolate confections at Charles Chocolates. A visit to the Charles Chocolates retail shop is always a treat, because it is attached to the chocolate factory where you can see practically everything that goes into creating chocolates. Proprietor Chuck Siegel is also a chocolate innovator, creating beautiful edible chocolate boxes filled with chocolates and reinterpreting classic and new chocolate combinations.
I hope you'll join me at Charles Chocolate for this event with Alice Medrich, please RSVP here, to guarantee admission.
Thursday, January 17th, 6-8pm
Charles Chocolates Chocolate Bar
6529 Hollis St.
Emeryville, CA
This event has had to be postponed due to illness, I will let you know as soon as it is rescheduled, which is likely to be early February.
- Fall Chocolate Salon Tickets Giveaway!
The Fall Chocolate Salon at Fort Mason in San Francisco offers a fantastic opportunity to try, buy and learn about chocolate in many forms from bars to confections to beverages. I've participated many times as a judge for the awards and moderating...
- Pure Dessert
I've said it before, but I'm in awe of Alice Medrich. She was an early chocolate evangelist in the Bay Area, who brought us luscious desserts and truffles, inspired by what she had tasted and learned in France. Over the past few years she has...
- Charles Chocolates News
Last month when I visited Charles Chocolates in Emeryville I got a sneak peak at what the future held, including tastes of a few delicious new chocolates not quite launched yet. Today I can tell you the new chocolates are caramels and marzipans. The...
- Favorite Things: Charles Chocolates
You probably think you know what this is, right? A box of chocolates, with some missing. Oh, but it's so much more than that. First of all, this box of chocolates is a box of Charles Chocolates. If you're lucky enough to have had Charles Chocolates...
- Bittersweet Cookbook
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Cooking
Meet Alice Medrich at Charles Chocolates POSTPONED
Photo ©Abigail Huller
Since the 1800's, the Bay Area has been a delicious environment for chocolate. Early on immigrants like Guittard and Ghirardelli made their fortunes not in gold, but in chocolate and their companies exist to this day. Our cool climate is particularly very well suited to making confections and I don't expect chocolate will ever be out of style.
Great locally crafted chocolate came into my consciousness back in the late 70's and early 80's when Alice Medrich was selling her chocolate truffles and decadent chocolate cakes all over the Bay Area. Over the years her cookbooks have not only been a source of inspiration, but a showcase of innovative techniques and approaches to chocolate and other high quality ingredients. Her latest book, Pure Dessert was one of my favorite books of 2007. Not surprisingly she has also inspired many artisanal chocolatiers in the Bay Area.
Come to a book signing
Charles Chocolates Chocolate Bar
6529 Hollis St.
Emeryville, CA
This event has had to be postponed due to illness, I will let you know as soon as it is rescheduled, which is likely to be early February.
- Fall Chocolate Salon Tickets Giveaway!
The Fall Chocolate Salon at Fort Mason in San Francisco offers a fantastic opportunity to try, buy and learn about chocolate in many forms from bars to confections to beverages. I've participated many times as a judge for the awards and moderating...
- Pure Dessert
I've said it before, but I'm in awe of Alice Medrich. She was an early chocolate evangelist in the Bay Area, who brought us luscious desserts and truffles, inspired by what she had tasted and learned in France. Over the past few years she has...
- Charles Chocolates News
Last month when I visited Charles Chocolates in Emeryville I got a sneak peak at what the future held, including tastes of a few delicious new chocolates not quite launched yet. Today I can tell you the new chocolates are caramels and marzipans. The...
- Favorite Things: Charles Chocolates
You probably think you know what this is, right? A box of chocolates, with some missing. Oh, but it's so much more than that. First of all, this box of chocolates is a box of Charles Chocolates. If you're lucky enough to have had Charles Chocolates...
- Bittersweet Cookbook
In Berkeley there are two famous Alices. One is Alice Waters, executive chef and owner of Chez Panisse, the great proponent of organic and sustainable food production and then there is Alice Medrich. Alice Medrich revolutionized the way way we think...