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Feel my cocoa beats. Je m'appelle Joe le Lait.
Saturday, March 22
On Saturday, Cari, Matt and I went to Berkeley to go on a tour/tasting at the Scharffen Berger factory. Unlike the last time I went to a chocolate tasting, I was actually able to appreciate the quality chocolate and the different flavors therein. The key is not to use your teeth at all. You break the chocolate into little pieces, then let each individual morsel melt in your mouth, releasing all the fruity undertones that come from the fermentation process applied to the cocoa beans. IT WAS AWESOME. I tasted all kinds of flavors that I don't usually pick up in chocolate. I even liked the bittersweet more than the semi-sweet! It was crazy! It's a good thing they don't sell Scharffen Berger here in town, or I would be broke by now. To Jungle Jim's!
We went to lunch at Café Valparaíso, where we shared humitas and salad and I had my first Chilean empanada in years. Possibly the last one since I went to Chile in 2002!
After lunch, Cari and I swung by the Takara Sake museum and tasting room to learn more about sake. I knew pretty much nothing about sake, so there was plenty to learn. After a while (and after many little tasting-cups of sake) the different types started to run together, but I think my favorites were the lychee-flavored sake and the plum wine. Now you know what to buy me for my birthday!
Next, Cari and I went back into San Francisco to look at some bridge that apparently is pretty famous. We went for a little walk around on one side of the bridge, drove across, walked across, then walked back across to get to the car. It was a good day for steps! I wouldn't let Cari stop anywhere on the bridge, because the one time I stopped walking, I could feel the bridge moving and freaked out.
Cari and I went for a bit of a drive around San Francisco next, exploring the Presidio and Golden Gate Park on the way to dinner at Cliff House, where we met up with Noor and had a nice dinner with a great view of the sunset over the ocean.
After dinner we checked out a new ice cream place in Mountain View that was selling gelato and tart Pinkberry-style frozen yogurt. I got a double scoop of hazelnut and caramel-balsamic gelati. Oh em gee you guys! They were both delicious.
srah - Friday, 4 April 2008 - 5:34 PM
Tags: alcohol, bridge, chocolate, fears, food, san francisco, travel
Comments (6)
pistols at dawn - April 10, 2008 - 10:50 AM - ℓ
I was talking to a Sonoma County native yesterday, and when she started complaining about Asian food on the east coast, I just said, "If I were from the Bay area, I would also think that every single place in the world was disappointing."
"It's a good thing they don't sell Scharffen Berger here in town, or I would be broke by now."
They don't even have a World Market in your town? And here I thought I lived in an uncivilized place.:)