I drove up valley to explore Calistoga today, which, at about 27 miles north of the town of Napa, is the uppermost substantial town in the Napa Valley wine region. It’s known for its waters — not only Calistoga Water, but also for its hot springs and mud baths. It also has lava deposits. The influence of tourists is reflected by the side-by-side folksiness and hipness of the town, and its cottage industry of inns. I’ve been told that it’s the place to go to party (this means that it has more than bar and they are regularly open past 10pm).If I were visiting the region, I would love to stay in Calistoga. It’s such a beautiful town with lots to explore on foot, accommodating all ranges of budgets and tastes. It’s a little secluded (and probably at least an 1 hr 45 mins from the Oakland airport), but at least it doesn’t have the autobahn of Napa–Hwy 29–running in the middle of it like most other towns.

The shops and restaurants are mostly along Lincoln Ave, the main artery of the town.

It’s really hard to take a good picture of a downtown street…

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This could be you.

I would be have been proud to come up with this name.

A restaurant named Stomp.

A couple of trains were converted into an arcade.

A laundromat with a view.

I had just about walked past this little cafe when I saw that they have Killer Brownies. I immediately turned around.

From the moment I saw it, I had my doubts. It was a little too light brown on the bottom and all those air bubbles compromised its density. It tasted like corn syrup with a little bit of cocoa. Not nearly rich or delicious enough to kill. I guess their Dreyer’s ice cream could do that instead.

Then I came across the Calistoga Creamery and Bakery.

At 2:00, they were closing down, but I was able to slip my way in for some treats in the name of Napa culinary research.

Now this is a brownie you can spend some time with. Rich chocolate flavor and fudgy-but-firm texture. I’d drive 27 miles again for it, and that means a lot because I hate driving and I’m picky about brownies.

If the brownie was a classic done right, this little gem was a novel surprise. If you pull up the latch-like piece of dough on the top, it reveals a ribbon of dough that spirals through pastry and ends in a latch on the bottom. Cinnamon-sugar is grainy on the outside and melted soft in the inside. The dough was somewhere between a cinnamon roll and croissant.

And finally, a sort of pecan brittle cookie. Soft on the inside where it’s not packed with pecans. Pleasantly pungent flavor, bolstered by brown sugar.

Anyway, Calistoga seems like a town that I’m going to enjoy exploring more, even if I felt a bit Rachael Ray-ish today. There are, of course, wineries up there, too….

And here is the tasting aftermath:

During a field trip to C&H sugar factory 5 yrs ago, the students asked:
What material is used to filter the sugar into its refined state?
Charcoal.
What is the charcoal made of?
Bones.
What kind of bones?
Cow.
Where are the cows from?
India.

They’re olives.I’ve noticed a trend recently to pair sweet and salty for appetizers and desserts (such as the blue cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon made popular by L.A.’s A.O.C.). Ever since I heard about a candied black olive and basil marshmallow tart that used to be served in San Francisco’s Citizen Cake, I wanted to try olives with sugar.

Ironically, the recipe that I found is not from a newly minted celebrity chef, but from an old French family recipe that makes “scourtins.”

Knowing this old European heritage, I indulged another lingering taste desire: Plugra butter. Plugra literally means “more fat.” Excellent. I’d heard that it can revolutionize your baking. It’s a European style butter that has less water than American butter so that the fat content is about 82% instead of the 80% of standard American butter. It has a lower melting point than regular butter as well as a smoother, richer texture and flavor. This cookie is supposed to be crisp, so that lower melting point would lend itself to that. A warning, though, that it comes in a one pound block without measurement markings, so I guess it’s time to buy that scale you’ve always wanted to measure it precisely.So, how is the cookie? Fantastic. How can I describe it? I dunno…. like olives surround by sweet batter and it tastes good. There was even a lovely sweet-savory smell while it was baking that I couldn’t identify either. I though that the batter would turn a bit purple (I used Kalamata olives), but the olives stayed to themselves and a l m o s t became like silkier savory raisins. They dried out a bit and became a little chewier, but only tasted sweet as a result of the batter. A stray olive bit did not taste sweet at all.

And the batter, as a result of the plugra and the confectioner’s sugar, was on the crisp side with a little bit of rich flakiness.

Pairing these cookies might be difficult… or an adventure for brave souls. I want to put a square of milk chocolate on top of one and melt it briefly in the oven to see how it tastes. The depth of the baked olives just hints at chocolate itself. Another option would be to substitute half chocolate chips to see what happens. At another point, I though that a piece of feta on top, or maybe ricotta or ricotta salata, would be perfect. Milk might be good to drink with it. Or tea. Maybe hot chocolate. Wine. Probably not so much coffee or soda. Probably not many fruits; maybe plums. I was going to add rosemary to part of the batter, but then I forgot.

Olive Biscuits
(Les Scourtins aux Olives de Nyons)

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cured olives, preferably from Nyons, pitted and coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until it is soft and pale yellow. Mix in the sugar until blended, then drizzle in the olive oil and mix until combined. Add the flour and mix gently but thoroughly until the dough is smooth, then add the olives and mix until they are thoroughly incorporated into the dough.

Place a piece of waxed or parchment paper on a work surface, and place the dough in the middle. Cover it with another piece of waxed paper or parchment paper and roll out the dough until it is about 1/4-inch thick (the dough is very sticky, and the paper makes it possible to roll out). Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes, and up to 24 hours.

Cut out 2-inch rounds of dough and place them about 1/2 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Gather the trimmings into a ball and roll it into a 1-inch diameter log. Wrap well and refrigerate, and when you are ready to bake, cut off 1/4-inch thick rounds (this avoids over-rolling the dough).

Bake until the scourtins are golden, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks.

Makes 34 scourtins.

Letter from France
1999
Susan Herrman Loomis

As each dish arrived, he compulsively calculated its cubic contents before lifting a bite to his lips. Otherwise there could be no joy in eating.
–Tesla: Man Out of Time

Since we have 10 school days of our math and science classes, we have a quiz every couple of days, a midterm tomorrow, and then a final on Tuesday. In math, we’ve learned about converting measurements, working with yield percents/edible portion quantity/as purchased quantity, and costing a portion of food.

We have a very useful yield percent chart for common fruits and vegetables, so you can see that you can roughly count on 68% of your whole bananas that you buy being edible, about 50% of your whole melons being edible, and 97% of yourberries being edible (there are usually a some damaged ones). This came in handy the other night when a recipe called for a 2 lb butternut squash to be peeled and cubed. Since butternut squash has a 52% yield, I knew that a one pound bag of Trader Joe’s brilliant pre-cubed butternut squash would be equivalent.

So, this is the stuff I’m studying for the midterm tomorrow.

In Science class, today was dairy day, yesterday was fats day, before that was flour. Today, the chef demonstrated making all kinds of dairy concoctions from butter to ricotta to yogurt to mascarpone to creme fraiche, mostly by using combinations of milk, cream, vinegar, or lemon juice. They all need a day to set, so we’ll see how they set up tomorrow.