Into The Dragon's Den/Drake's Glen Chocolate

Tonight for dessert I'm digging into my Christmas presents.

Spicy Dark Bar by Drake's Glen Creations of Humboldt County, California. I have paired the bar with a shot of Bulleit Bourbon, neat.

Drake's Glen is an artisan chocolatier, distributing their numerous treats around Humboldt County and online. I was given three of their bars for Christmas, and being a lover of dark chocolate, I went straight for the richest bar.

If the gold foil wrapper is a symbol of riches, the drake is right to guard this hoard. Spicy Dark has 72% cocoa solids, and is seeded with tiny pieces of crystallized ginger. The chocolate is smooth and dry, right in my sweet spot of taste. I have a very modest relationship with ginger, but the ginger here gives just a hint of spice and citrus to keep you from succumbing completely to the darkness. I do recommend taking a chaser of your preference, to get the full impact of each bite.

I plan to give the two milk chocolate bars their due very soon. One has cranberries and almonds!

Ferry Building Farmer's Market/A Springtime Lunch Tour

Last Thursday I was in Alameda on business, and I decided to call up Molly Mayhem for a lunch companion (always a good idea.) She guided me to the Ferry Building Plaza Farmer's Market, and its broad variety of treats. We got a burger with some very special sauce, Korean tacos (grilled beef, kimchee, rice, and shrimp in a nori wrap,) and...okonomiyaki.


Okonomiyaki is sometimes referred to in the west as Japanese pizza. It hit me a little more like stuffed crepes. The name loosely translates to "whatever you like, grilled." This food riot you see balanced on my knees is filled with kimchee and covered with onions, soy sauce, and mayonnaise, and it was delicious. Carving into it with chopsticks is a struggle, but however you get this into your mouth, it's worth it.

Fortified for the afternoon, we did some running around for groceries. Molly brought us to a specialty store where I was lucky enough to find a snack I'd been seeking for a while: raw chocolate. As I'd read, the concept behind raw chocolate is that minimally processed cacao in high density is a great health food. Here the focus is not so much on the flavor but the nutrition in raw chocolate.

This is just such a chocolate bar, the Righteously Raw Goji Cacao Bar. The slim, rectangular bar is 90% raw cacao solids encasing a patty of thick goji berry paste. You read me right: 90% cacao solids. Snapping off the first bite, the bitterness of the chocolate is...significant. Pronounced. I think it dried out my tongue a bit. The bar's label declares no refined sugar and I believe it completely. I struggled through it with little comfort from 8 amino acids, 21 trace minerals, and immune-stimulating polysaccharides. This was a unique, healthy experience that I doubt I'll revisit.

Ending the day, Molly taught me how to poach an egg before sending me home with some fresh local spinach and sweet potatoes, and a couple wedges of cheese. For better presentation, I have included one of those cheeses in a salami sandwich:


Molly pointed out the distinct grassy flavor of this cheese, and she was dead-on. The grass cheese (forgot its real name) isn't exactly like faceplanting in a meadow, but there is a hint of vegetation, and it's actually quite pleasant. At room temperature the stuff spreads like butter, and I like to imagine that it's how the cow would have intended:

"It should taste just as it came from the Earth, moo."

Chocolate Chili/Spicy and Sweet...Why Can't We All Be That Way?

Last week there was a lunchtime chili party in my office. Eight of my coworkers labored over their specialties, and while I wasn't an official judge, I still enjoyed the benefits. I'd been in a dietary slump for a few weeks, so it was easy to be tempted by the musical fruit of another. All the chilies were good, but here's my favorite:















Charissa Ramp's chocolate chili. Its entry card proudly declares 48 ingredients, which come together symphonically. The rich dark chocolate is present both aroma and taste; the heat slowly builds and enhances the bittersweetness without overpowering the flavor; finally, it glides away with a buttery finish. It reminded me of one of my favorite dishes, mole poblano, a specialty of a precious family friend, and each bite recalled dear memories to go with the broad-spectrum flavor.