Almost anything goes with chocolate, it seems.

Last weekend at the San Francisco Chocolate Salon, I tasted delightful chocolates combined with Guinness, jackfruit, bacon and genmai tea — in separate confections, thank goodness. Even the Van Gogh vodka infused with dusky Dutch chocolate, which I sampled with some trepidation, was lovely.

It shouldn’t be surprising then that dark chocolate and peppery extra virgin olive oil make such a stunning marriage in the almost flourless cake from Fran Gage‘s just-released book, “The New American Olive Oil” (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2009). The single-layer cake is at once dense, moist and amazingly light, with the silky smooth texture of velvet. Just enough of the oil’s pungent bite hovers in the background to highlight the chocolate’s subtly fruity character. I may never go back to butter. (more…)

Yes, it’s the second post in a row about chocolate. What can I say? It’s the season.

There’s no better time to go overboard for chocolate than the week leading up to Valentine’s Day.

Besides, let’s be realistic here: More people are likely to consider baking for the romantic holiday than to make candy, however easy it may be.

So today I offer Espresso Brownie Bites, a cross between a brownie and a cupcake with a firm texture, dusky chocolate flavors underscored by coffee, and a fudgy ganache topping. These are grownup treats for the sophisticated chocoholic — not too sweet and just the right size to indulge oneself with minimal guilt. (more…)

Every holiday deserves a cookie in my book.

Others may associate Halloween with hermetically sealed commercial candy. I think of the cookies frosted in orange icing that my mother and I made when I was a child.

She would roll out the dough and I would help cut out the rounds and bake them. When they were cool, we would frost them with orange buttercream and decorate them with raisins to make jack-o-lantern faces. Then we would pack them up, two at a time, in waxed paper sandwich bags to give to the trick-or-treaters who knocked on our door.

My father was in the service at the time and, although we moved every two years, we usually lived on or near (more…)

Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Aleta Watson and I live to cook and eat. Northern California readers may recognize me as the food writer and restaurant critic from the San Jose Mercury News, but I recently left the rapidly shrinking world of newsprint for the seemingly limitless possibilities of the Internet.

Here, I plan to explore the culinary universe, following my palate wherever it takes me. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.

My primary interest is cooking. While I’m fascinated by exotic ingredients, I feel a responsibility for the planet. That means I’ll be cooking mostly with organic, seasonal produce, often from farmers markets. It’s no sacrifice since that’s almost invariably where the best fruits and vegetables are to be found. I may not be ready yet to limit myself solely to food produced within a 100 mile radius from my home, but I think it makes sense to buy locally whenever possible.

My taste and curiosity are wide ranging. In the past, I’ve written about everything from figs to fava beans, from grits to souffles. Still, nothing makes me happier than a homemade cookie. Bakery cookies just can’t compete and store-bought are rarely worth the calories. So I’m kicking this blog off with a terrific oatmeal cookie I’ve been making for family and friends for years.

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