Top 5 Californian Chocolatiers for Mother's Day

Spring has finally sprung. I'm starting to see the signs around Lake Tahoe. No bright splashes of flowers or birds yet. But the sun is warmer during the day and opening windows to doing feng shui inside and outside is on my mind. While fresh seasonal vegetables, fruits, and salads are stuffed in my fridge, I've got chocolate--the good stuff-on the brain. Blame it on the upcoming New Moon and Mother's Day. Both events can play games on feelings during a time of renewal.
I've been busy at work on my new Healing Powers book (a surprise superfood); and The Healing Powers of Honey (both published by Kensington Books) is due out in September. So, these are my new kids (sort of). And my new blue-eyed male Siamese cat, Zen is doing magic with my Brittany duo. Next Sunday, it's time to celebrate the popular holiday to show sweet appreciation for nurturing caretakers. Welcome to the Golden State's gourmet chocolate....People often ask me, the author of The Healing Powers of Chocolate, "What's the best chocolate brand?" Well, here is a quick glance at some of my fave chocolatiers in Napa, the SF Bay Area, and Santa Cruz--just in the nick of time for you and/or the mom (to two or four-leggers) in your world... Annette's Chocolates : Truffles, creams, chews, nuts, and assorted specialities, plus chocolate sauces infused with cabernet, port wine, and amaretto, are just some of the goodies that locals and tourists can and do enjoy. CocoaBella Chocolates: If you love chocolate, you'll love the wide array of chocolates, chocolate-flavored coffees, hot chocolates, and more. Guittard Chocolate Company: This long-time chocolate company offers healthful 71 and 91 percent 2-ounce chocolate bars. It also has Single-Origin & Blended Bars. Recchiuti Confections: At Recchiuti they infuse a variety of chocolates, pairing them with an adventurous spectrum of flavors, from Bergamot Tea, Lemon Verbena, and Spring Jasmine Tea. Their distinctive confections contain the finest herb, nut, and fruit essences in surprising combinations. Richard Donnelly Chocolates: Their dark chocolate sea salt caramel bars dipped in premium Valrhona bittersweet blend are 100 percent bliss, as are their truffles.
One more thing. To celebrate my late mother, I made a Boston cream cake (she did the classic "pie" from scratch). However, while I turned to a store bought butter loaf cake and instant pudding with fresh organic milk, it was the dark chocolate chips from Ghirardelli from San Francisco that made this decadent chocolate dessert work with some healthy virtues. Its 21st century wonders made me feel like a female octopus busy at motherhood and work. (I inherited the Type A thing from my mom. Hope she's converted to Type B in Parent Heaven. I'm still working on it. "Zen. Hey Zen...")

Valentine's Day Top Nutty Chocolatey Matches

By Cal Orey,

The Writing Gourmet

Years ago, my landlord-friend, a sophisticate who loved Europe and loved good foods, was like a good teacher (like the character in the film Harold and Maude). During our dining experiences she, in her eighties, always ordered one glass of red wine and said to the waiter, "It's good for my heart." And one night I remember we were sharing our tales of chocolate love. She told me without hesitation, "My favorite chocolate candy is the dark kind with nuts." And note, my longtime food-savvy friend is now almost 100.

Too many people who struggle with unwanted pounds and body fat are too quick to say, "No, thank you" to eating nuts with or without chocolate. This is a mistake. I do eat nuts and I do eat all-natural peanut butter with chocolate, especially in homemade cookies--in moderation. Both are high in monounsaturated fat (this is the good stuff like in chocolate and olive oil), which can help satisfy cravings for junk food while they boast essential nutrients. I'm talking about flavonoids, vitamin E, zinc, selenium, copper, mangnesium, and protien.

Nuts are used in candy--like truffles--both for extra flavor and texture. Here are some popular nut and chocolate combos you will find in chocolate, truffles, and baked goods.

* Almonds--combined with hazelnuts. Dark and milk chocolate. Chocolate bars, chocolates, clusters, truffles.

* Cashews--combined with dark chocolate. Chocolate clusters.

* Hazelnuts--combined with almonds. Balsalmic vinegar with dark chocolate and Sicilian hazelnuts. Dark chocolate.

* Macadamia nuts--often solo. Dark, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. Chocolates, truffles.

* Peanuts--often mixed with caramel. Dark and milk chocolate. Chocolate bars, chocolates, truffles.

* Pecans--often solo. Dark and milk chocolate. Chocolates, truffles.

* Pine nuts--combined with chocolate in baked desserts, chocolates, and coffee.

* Walnuts--often mixed with fruits including apricots. Dark and milk chocolate. Chocolates, truffles, baked goods.

So, where oh where can you buy chocolate with nuts for Valentine's Day? One click of your mouse can help you to pick and choose a good-for-you nutty chocolate gift for you know who or even you. Here are a few of my fave chocolate companies that keep me smiling.

Recchiuti Confections

CocoaBella Chocolates

See's Candies

The Comfort of Chamomile-Honey Tea, the Dove & Olive Branch

By Cal Orey,
The Writing Gourmet

Last night I watched the film "Milk" and it brought me back to my days and life in San Francisco--a place of love, hope, diversity and change. I was touched by the acting, true story, one which had a bittersweet ending of tragic loss and earned triumph--which brings me to present-day full of life's ups and downs...
As an intuitive who works often as a phone psychic advisor, you'd think I'd have a built-in wall by now since I deal with peoples' woes from around the globe. Like a cool, calm, collected personality of a healing Indian doctor, I have fine-tuned my emotions, but it's sipping plenty of hot and sweet chamomile-honey that helps me get through the calls and help people feel better and more balanced.

Speaking of loss, today, I finally made the phone call to Gemma Sciabica, my dear cook-bakeress mentor and friend. It was time for me to acknowledge the passing of her beloved husband, Joseph. I could feel her pain and it saddens me. A lot. Meanwhile, I sit her next to her cookbooks and my HEALING POWERS books and see stories and pictures about the late Joseph, who lived to 95 years young. Joseph was an olive oil maker since 1936. His father, Nicola, and he began with grassroots of olive oil production, which he learned in Sicily, Italy, as a young man. In Waterbury, Connecticut, in the 1940s, it was common for Joseph to deliver a load of wine grapes and olive oil to an Italian family in the city. In fact, Nick Sciabica & Sons sold olive oil directly to Italian families from 1936 to 1968.
Fast forward to the 21st century. As I penned in my book, The Healing Powers of Olive Oil (Kensington), Joseph followed the traditional Mediteranean diet--the foods found in each and every one of Gemma's cookbooks--progressive gems that show how olive oil is the primary fat of choice for good health and longevity. I'm also talking fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy, poultry, nuts, and, of course, olive oil. Joseph also had one glass of homemade red wine with his dinner each night. And yes, chocolate played a role in his life, too. He did eat chocolate almonds in moderation.

As I sit here I am sad that we lost a fine man, just shy five years of 100. Joseph was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, and icon in the olive oil world. I keep hearing Gemma's words she shared with me today about looking at the olive trees and thinking of her dear Joseph, a goodhearted man who always treated her like a lady. Joseph led a happy, complete life with a loving wife and family. As a romantic, I am deeply sorry to see an old-fashioned couple (who were together almost 70 years) be separated.

May God watch over these two eternal lovebirds and provide peace of the symbolic dove and olive branch to each of them--and anyone else who endures the bridge over trouble water.

Here Comes the New Fall Chocolate Delights

By Cal Orey

The Writing Gourmet

I miss Chocolate Heaven. Each day I go to work on the honey bee book, I feel like I'm in Honey Bee Limbo and I'm forgetting my last love--chocolate. It's still summer, the season touted for its fresh fruits, salads, lemonade and iced tea. Chocolate isn't a big deal during hot days. But I'm feeling the beginning of fall at Lake Tahoe, and that means baked breads, muffins, casseroles and homemade pies. Best of all, it means chocolate...

Don't get me wrong. I adore healing honey and its healing byproducts. I enjoy working in Honey Land. It's intriguing. But I do miss the day of chocolate, sweet dark chocolate packed in pretty little boxes left by the UPS man on my doorstep, rain, snow, sleet, and shine. No worries. Boxes of honey varietals are still keeping me happy. Tonight I worked on a chapter while nibbling on honeycomb (and sweet memories of chocolate truffles teased me).

Come fall, when The Healing Powers of Honey book is out the door and in flight to New York, I'll remember this night--without chocolate. It is a time of fall hints (it will be 38 degrees tonight and leaves are beginning to turn amber) and the warm day air of summer. It makes me feel like I'm in a wasteland--something like being in between Chocolate Heaven and Honey Land.

I'm thinking the perfect Rx to get me out of this worker bee funk is chocolate--the good stuff like I've savored throughout the seasons. Think New York's Christopher Norman's to San Francisco's Michael Recchiuti's Confections.

Or perhaps I'll bake Cal's Earthquake Cake (the recipe created by Gemma Sciabica--complete with ricotta cheese is in my book The Healing Powers of Chocolate, Kensington 2010). It seems timely as our golden state has been shaking a bit, from the 3.9 south of Gilroy to the 3.5 north of Truckee near me. So, while I'm coping with Earth changes (my dog Seth sensed the last shaker and jumped up into my lap!) and working and talking with passionate and hardworking beekeepers in the midwest and around the globe, a slice of dark chocolate cake with an Italian flair may be the cure. Its feel-good compounds, like serotonin to PEA, page 39, may make this worker bee continue onward. It's time to buzz off and see if I can find a chocolate pistole in the file cabinet.

It's Healthy Chocolate Today--And All Year Long!

By Cal Orey, The Writing Gourmet

I woke up this morning with honey on the brain. After all, it's my new book in progress and yes, I'm busy as a worker bee so I can share the latest honey health buzz. As I write The Healing Powers of Honey (October 2011, Kensington), I still am having a love affair with chocolate. So when I read that July 7 is Chocolate Day it brought back fond memories of the chocolatiers whom sent me chocolate via UPS. Ah, those were the sweetest days in the fall, winter, spring and summer...

Is it time you discover the amazing powers of chocolate. Did you know?...

* Known as Mother Nature's "food of the gods," the medicinal benefits of chocolate were recognized as far back as 4000 years ago.

* Eating chocolate can help boost the immune system, lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes--even obesity!--and increase lifespan.

* A 1.5 ounce bar of quality chocolate has as much antioxidant power as a 5 ounce glass of wine--without the side effects of alcohol.

* Chocolate is chock-full of mood-enhancng ingredients, including phenylethylamine (the "love drug") and serotonin.

* Chocolate can relieve a host of ailments, including depression, fatigue, pain and PMS, as well as rev up your sex drive!

Meanwhile, last night at my friendly Safeway I craved a healthy chocolate fix so I picked up a small package of gourmet dark chocolate truffles. As an author-intuitive I must have sensed that today was Chocolate Day. If you want to give you or someone you care about the belated gift of health, check out the link to one of my fave chocolatiers (everyone always ask me what the best chocolate is)... Today's chocolate of the day in my point of view and past experience(s) is...(drum roll): Lake Champlain Chocolates . Remember, chocolate can be a year-round gift for your health from head to toe.

[The Healing Powers of Chocolate by Cal Orey, published by Kensington, 2010--available at amazon.com (delivered tomorrow!) as well as all online bookstores and your local bookstore]

I Left My Heart--& Fave Chocolate(s)--in San Francisco

By The Writing Gourmet

Here I sit on a Thursday afternoon. Sure, I swam, walked the dogs, made a store run (heart-healthy dark chocolate chips and fresh strawberries for the Tahoe Daily Tribune's Callie's Cabin column), and am working on the new superfood book. Instead of being on a lovely cloud nine I'm fantasizing about my chocolate thing with Recchiuti Confections...

I am craving the awesome, exotic flavors of infused dark chocolates that I have consumed and loved in the past. Right before Mother's Day I received the Rust Box. This collection has a history behind it. As I wrote in The Healing Powers of Chocolate: In 1997, Michael wanted to bring creation to a larger audience and introduce Americans to 'real chocolate.' "This was the first part of a long journey into the world of chocolate," says the creator of Recchiuti Confections. While working at a boutique resort nestled in a small town located in Barnard, Vermont, it gave him the opportunity of having guests taste and critique his confections. "The response was challenging at times,"admits Michael, "which eventually enabled us to nail down a collection of our first eight flavors, which we now call the Rust Box Collection."

My simply favorite chocolates are down to two:

Ginger Heart: "Rich dark chocolate infused with ginger. Cast in a white chocolate coveture and finished with gold leaf." I adore ginger and use it in many dishes that I cook and bake in my rustic cabin with a sprinkles of old Tahoe charm. Ginger and dark chocolate? It's no surprise this is a fab combo.

Kona Coffee: "100% Hawaiian Kona Coffee beans infused in fresh cream and blended with semi-sweet chocolate." Teaming healing java and chocolate? It works for me from head to toe. When I visited The Big Island, one morning at sunrise I shared rich chocolate(s) and a few cups of coffee with a friend. It was paradise.

Recchiuti Confections At Recchiuti they infuse a variety of chocolates, pairing them with an adventurous spectrum of flavors, from Fource Noir, Bergamot Tea, Lemon Verbena, and Spring Jasmine Tea. Their distinctive confections contain the finest herb, nut, and fruit essences in surprising combos. And the elegant packaging reflects originality and presentation. You can place your order online or by phone: 800-500-3396.

So, did I leave my heart in San Francisco (this super video and super song makes me homesick!) I need chocolate. Sometimes I think "yes" that is where I'm supposed to be--the place where I went to school and had plenty of literary friends. But hey, the grass often seems greener elsewhere and others believe Lake Tahoe is the hot spot. I think I'm going to pick up the phone and place an order--and so can you wherever you may be and/or wishing you were in the City--or resort town-- too. I wonder if I can order all Ginger Hearts.

Recchiuti's Spring Motif Comes to Lake Tahoe

By Cal Orey,

The Writing Gourmet

Tomorrow promises to be a day of work and play. The work part is that I'm in research mode for my new super food book. Translation: It's like going back to graduate school and taking several classes--on hands experiences with foods and edgy products, out in the field doing unheard of things, plus lots of reading and networking. In between my studies, I'll sprinkle in a good swim, hot tub, walking the pooches, baking something for my "What's Cookin' at Callie's Cabin" for the Tahoe Daily Tribune--and fine chocolate will arrive on my doorstep...

This time around, these chocolates for me are anticipated for many reasons. One, the artwork is awesome. In my early twenties, I was nicknamed "California Butterfly." Yes, I was a wanderlust at heart. My dog Stonefox and I hitched and hiked across America, Canada, and Mexico. It was a time for adventure, new experiences, visiting different states (from Washington, Texas, Florida and New York); and it was a time for learning and living during my carefree days as a hippie hitchhiker.

These days I'm more of a homebody with two pampered Brittanys (today, Seth, my three year old had his teeth cleaned) and I write about my past life when I was more of a traveling girl. But there are rewards of living in a resort town and being a bit more grounded, so to speak. (Note to self: Reno is on the late spring calendar for research that will be different and full of suprises.)

Enter Recchiuti Confections. It is a standout company from the crowd of competitors because of its skill, as well as its sourcing of the best chocolate, herbs, spices, teas, nuts, and fruits. And putting it all togther with classic French techniques provides an unforgettable product with class that is a cut above others.

The Spring Motif is a collection of burnt chocolate truffles decorated with breathtaking butterflies just in time for spring and Mother's Day (I'm a devout doggie/kitty mom). And I predict that the dark chocolate ganache with smoky-sweet caramel will make a hit in this home and transcend me to chocolate heaven.