Seattle Bon Vivant

Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon

Chocolate, in all its forms, has always been my weakness. Give me a good chocolate bar, a great chocolate cupcake or a fantastic cup of chocolat chaud and I'm in heaven.

And today, I feel like jumping up and down with the prospect of attending the Seattle Chocolate Salon, the first major chocolate show in the Northwest. It will be held today, Sunday, July 13th, 2008 at the Bell Harbor Conference Center in Seattle's waterfront, from 11am to 5pm.

Just imagine, table after table full of samples from some of the best chocolatiers from Seattle and the country: Amano Artisan Chocolate, Cocoa Chai, Theo Chocolate, Fiori Chocolatiers, Posh Chocolate, Dilettante Chocolates, Oh! Chocolate. The list goes on and on.

Among the activities planned for the day are chocolate tastings and demos, chef and author talks, a chocolate spa and television interviews by the good people of Taste TV

Additionally, I've been kindly invited to be one of a fantastically diverse, interesting and very accomplished Salon Awards Tasting Panel, a group of us tasting chocolate to our hearts content and scoring the delicious goods. The awards will be handed by the end of the afternoon. Its going to be an absolutely delectable task. :)

So if you are a fellow chocoholic or simply want to have a grand old time tasting scrumptious treats and perhaps learning a thing or two, why not come over to the Chocolate Salon later today and join in the fun. Tickets at the door are $20 for adults, $10 for children and kids under 6 get in free.

Seattle Chocolate Salon
Bell Harbor Conference Center
2211 Alaskan Way, Pier 66
Seattle, WA 98121
206.441.6666

Postcard from San Francisco

Brown Rice bowl with Pork Belly, Fried Egg & Bok Choi and Blue Bottle Coffee

We took off from Seattle Sunday morning on a road trip through Northern California, San Francisco and Napa Valley. Today was all about the Ferry Building Market; eating, drinking, shopping and browsing around (more on all that later), then meeting friends for fabulous conversation, photo taking and general fun. Walked to Yerba Buena Park, the new Contemporary Jewish Museum and back to Japantown where we are staying at the lovely Kabuki hotel.

The weather has been glorious, almost too hot and sunny for this girl but hey, I'm not complaining. We are in San Francisco after all! :)

Boulette's Larder

1 Ferry Building Marketplace
San Francisco, CA 94111
phone 415.399.1155
fax 415.399.1177

Gourmet Guides Closing Sale

Earlier today, I received an email from Sandy and Jean Bullock, owners of Seattle's own Gourmet Guides, the online bookseller, with very sad news:

"Greetings Cookbook Lovers

Regretfully after 35 years in the cookbook business Gourmet Guides is
closing it's doors. Cost of freight, competition, distributor bankruptcies
-- they are all factors. The cookbook marketplace & publishing industry have
changed dramatically since 1973 when Gourmet Guides set up shop.

It's time to say goodbye with a super duper sale - you'll find all of our
books at our lowest prices ever. Hurry, first come first serve.

http://www.gourmetguides.com/

Thank you for your patronage through the years.

Sarah & Jean Bullock
GOURMET GUIDES

There are still many lovely books to be had a rock-bottom prices (and some of the lowest shipping charges in the industry). I trust that all of you, dear readers, will log on to Gourmet Guides and help Sarah and Jean close-out on the remainder of their stock in thanks for 35 years of delicious reading.

Gourmet Guides
2025 33rd Ave. S
Seattle WA 98144
shop@gourmetguides.com
Toll Free 800-413-3327
206-726-1958