San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Delectable food baskets brighten the holidays
It looks like a box of cheese. And is indeed a treasure chest of Cowgirl Creamery’s triple cream Mt Tam from Point Reyes Station, William Cofield’s McKinley Cheddar from Sebastopol, Shooting Star Creamery’s Aries sheep milk delight from Paso Robles and Cypress Grove’s Fog Lights goat delicacy from Arcata (Humboldt County). But even better, $10 of every purchase goes to Conscious Kitchen, a nonprofit in Marin addressing food equity, education and access in public schools. Buy at www.cowgirl creamery.com.
Kathleen Inman’s Inman Family Wines is a boutique winery and farm in Santa Rosa, while Jeff and Susan Mall’s Volo Chocolate makes small-batch confections in Windsor. The two have come together for this mouthwatering pack including a bottle of 2018 OGV Estate Pinot Noir and a bar of Volo 62% Dark Milk Chocolate with Figs + Hazelnuts + Almonds. The wine blossoms with raspberries, tart cherry, pomegranate, cola and savory spices while the chocolate tempts with flavors of caramelized milk, browned butter and honey-raisin sweetness. Buy at www.inmanfamilywines.com.
Sparkling wine goes so magically with salty, buttery foods, and this clever pack marries two bottles of crisp, cool-climate, 2019 Blanc de Noirs with two bags of delicious, ready-to-pop popcorn (both grapes and corn are grown right on the Belden Sonoma Mountain estate). The dry, 100% Pinot Noir sparkling is exceptional, made in the traditional Champenoise Method and imbued with hints of citrus and dark cherry. Buy at www.belden barns.com.
The San Francisco nonprofit kitchen incubator helps lowincome, immigrant and women of color food entrepreneurs create their own businesses, and you can select from a range of packages including a marvelous mix of their small-batch sweet and savory packaged foods. Each box is different, but features favorites like melt in your mouth alfajores shortbread cookies from Sabores del Sur, Senegalese Baobab Energy Bars from Teranga, Crisps & Crackles’ moringa or bittermelon chips, Azalina’s Malaysian spiced tea and more. Sale proceeds support the diverse businesses and also the La Cocina organization. Buy at www. la-cocina-sf-store.myshopify.com.
San Francisco’s bean-to-bar craft chocolate factory salutes San Francisco’s historic gourmet food hall. Feast on this pack of five single origin 70% chocolate bars, plus goodies like NeoCocoa toffee brittle sandwiched in Camino Verde Ecuadorian chocolate and sprinkled with toasted black sesame seeds and a pinch of sea salt; Farm Chocolate’s hand dipped, crunchy chocolate orange walnut toffee topped with candied California orange peel and toasted California walnuts; Feve Chocolates’ buttery sea salt caramels and a custom-designed vial of café classic house hot chocolate mix. Buy at www.store. dandelionchocolate.com.
San Francisco chef Michael Tusk is renowned for his premium pasta, and this gift pack brims with housemade fresh and dried pastas in various shapes and flavors. There’s enough to feed two people two full meals, rounded out with produce from Tusk’s farm in Bolinas, homemade sauces and specialty pantry items like olio nuovo, fresh ricotta, Fresh
Run Farm basil, Sicilian sun-dried tomatoes and Italian burrata. You can also add a bottle of recipepaired wine for $35. Pick up at the restaurant at 490 Pacific Ave., or delivery is available throughout the Bay Area for an additional fee. Buy at www.thethirdplace.is/ cotogna-pastificio.
What a lovely picnic awaits, with this beautifully generous collection of Marin French Cheese Co. Triple Crème Brie (8 ounces), Marin French Petite Breakfast cheese (4 ounces), Sonoma’s Laura Chenel Thyme & Rosemary Marinated Goat Cheese (6.2 ounces), a Laura Chenel Garlic & Chive Goat Cheese Log (4 ounces), San Francisco’s P.G. Molinari & Sons Dry Salame (12 ounces), Petaluma’s McEvoy Ranch Tuscan Table Olives, Hayward’s Fabrique Delices Cornichons, Petaluma’s Torn Ranch Gourmet Nuts, Torn Ranch Dried Apricots, seasonal fruit jam and Marin’s Rustic Bakery Sourdough
Flatbread Bites. Buy at www.northbaycreameries.com.
The San Francisco candy maker has outdone itself this year with this impressive shrine to all things sweet. Standing five boxes tall, this assortment tempts with global flavors (Kokak which means “ribbit” in Filipino, in tribute to company founder Carol Gancia’s Asian heritage and love of, well, frogs). New tastes include single origin truffles featuring pumpkin spice, blueberry cheesecake, passion fruit, mango lemongrass, banana caramel and much more, plus an Artist Palette Heirloom 70% dark chocolate bar. Buy at www.kokakchocolates.com.
The Italian Taverna from chef David Nayfeld and operator Matt Brewer is popular in San Francisco’s NoPa, short for North of the Panhandle, neighborhood. So share the love with a subscription to Che Fico’s Pantry, a monthly rotating selection of shelf-stable products including house made dry pastas, sauces, jams, desserts, salumi and more. Buy at www.table22.com/che-fico.
Many of us have gotten a little rusty with our travel habits in the past couple of years, but the good news is that it’s easy to recapture them with a little practice. Whether your next trip is on the road or farther afield, this collection of clothing, accessories, packs and skincare gives you excellent choices for your future travel quiver. Show a little kindness to yourself or your favorite traveling buddy, and make that re-entry easy and memorable.
These stylish sneakers wrapped in premium, full-grain leather makes it easy to dress up or down when you travel. Soft leather lining in the heel and tongue plus a dual-density anatomical PU footbed make the shoes comfortable enough to wear all day long. The drop-in heel design gives the shoes a slide functionality, which is useful when you need to put them on quickly after going through airport security. Men who want something similar should try the Lae‘ahi Li ‘Ili model ($130). Buy at www.olukai.com.