My fiance is a former chef and a big time foodie. Despite being a vegetarian for the last two decades, he loves to explore new restaurants, check out food trucks or try one of the many local purveyors of great food. You see, we live in one of the best places in the world to be a "foodie", Sonoma County, California. I share this passion with him, but unlike him, I'm an omnivore.
I often find myself the official taste tester. "You want me to try wild boar salami? Sure, honey." The tables often turn too. Me "Honey, can you make me a yummy lamb chop tonight?". Him "Coming right up, baby!" It's a perfectly symbiotic relationship, although I am occasionally reminded of the story of "Jack Spratt".
Between his experience in the kitchens of some of San Francisco's finer restaurants and my wide ranging travels for work we share a pretty broad knowledge and exposure to cuisine. Short of Provence or Tuscany, there's not a single other place we know of where the environment, climate and demographics combine to produce a better situation for a foodie.
Within steps of our front door we have first rate cheese makers, the finest bread bakery in the US (according to Bon Appetit magazine), a great wine shop with daily barrel tastings, a micro brewer making award winning beers, three gourmet ice cream manufacturers and a distillery making great local grappa, port and other spirits. We have an option of over 28 different CSA's in our area that will deliver everything from fresh seasonal fruits to seafood right to our door, two farmers markets within walking distance, several dairies that deliver local products, the USA's first organic chicken distributor and an all season garden from which we're currently harvesting lots of root vegetables, greens and snap peas (it's February).
This is definitely no culinary backwater. This is Sonoma County, CA!
No comments:
Post a Comment