Ya Think or Ya Want? Italian Attitude

Our daughter Naomi translating for us

I have recently realized that I am a researcher and thus an explorer. Whether I am trying to find a great ingredient for a basket or wandering into the hillsides of Italy, I am always searching for insight. Perhaps it is where a certain chocolate comes from and how that affects the taste. It can be why Balsamic Vinegar ages best in the attic, as I learned on one of my Italy trips from a woman in Modena who was kind enough to give us a tour of her Balsamic Factory. We spent a scent filled morning in her attic, while she explained the traditions of Modena and the vinegars while showing us around her barrels of balsamic, some going back more than 100 yrs. We sampled vinegars that had been aged 8, 12, 25 and 40 years. Understanding the process helped to better appreciate the product, which is perhaps the crux of why I like to research: appreciation.

My favorite aspect of travel is the ability to savor and recognize all the creation that goes on in the far corners of the earth. I get the opportunity to experience first hand the culture, history and the incredible people that inhabit this planet. Cultural and personal idiosyncrasies abound. I have found a great advantage to sitting back and enjoying the show.

Travel allows one to connect the dots as it were. I could see during my first trip to Italy where the so called New York attitude originated. So many Italians immigrated to the east coast in the early part of this century and brought their customs and attitudes with them. This explains the neighborhood feel of New York, where you buy your groceries from the market on your block and eat at the same pizza place at least once a week. I find many Italians have the same gruff, ” whaddya want” attitude New York is famous for. Once you get past that there is a warmth that is increased if you make any attempt to speak Italian at all.

The attitude and the manners change by region of course, much the same as in the United States. But throughout, there is an honesty in the demeanor and in the food of Italy that I find refreshing. The Italians can take 3 ingredients and make a dish with depth and texture. I can still remember a simple mixed green salad I had in Rome. It was only a bowl of mixed greens with olive oil and salt. As I write this I can still smell the greeness (if that is a word), the freshness of the olive oil and taste the crunchy salt. Pretty intense. Which I think sums up Italy.

Watching the world go by, Florence

One of my favorite travel stories illustrates this attitude perfectly. We had just landed in Venice with that wobbly tiredness that comes from a long flight and not nearly enough sleep on the nights preceding our trip. Hungry and wanting to explore the city a bit before passing out, we wove our way through the labyrinth streets. We ended up at a small place just at the foot of a bridge.

In Italy many of the waiters are older; this is a career after all, not something you do while waiting for something better to come along. We had this gruff older waiter, your quintessential tough Italian, salt and pepper hair, craggy face, bulbous nose, and somewhat squat.

We were trying to make our way through the menu. It was printed in 4 languages and we were having a hard time focusing much less reading even the English version. Did we want a Primi Piatti (usually pasta), Contorni (vegetables), or a Secondo (meat or fish dish), the list of choices went on and on. You see, most Italian menus are broken down into many categories and you put your meal together. With so much to choose from we were taking a little longer than the waiter wanted.

He comes to take our order and my husband, Wally, orders an antipasto with the intention of ordering something else. The waiter starts to walk off and Wally says, “Wait, I think I’ll have the Spaghetti Bolognese.” The waiter fixes him with a steely stare and barks out, “You think or you want?” Wally, eyes wide and a bit startled yells back, “I want I want!” “Okay” grunts the waiter, with the appropriate hand gesture and takes off.

We almost fell on the floor we were laughing so hard. This was the perfect introduction to a country we have come to love. We all decided that was a very good life lesson. Do you think or do you want? One needs to be definite in this world. I appreciate the lesson.

View from our room, Bellagio

Expansion Amid Contraction

2009 will be remembered as the year of the great depression – both economically and emotionally. I know I have spent my share of the year feeling sorry for myself, my business and my friends. What are we going to do, how are we going to survive, poor us. Yes, yes, there is plenty of reason to feel down and I don’t mean to trivialize it. Sometimes I feel mired in this mud and no matter how hard I try I can’t lift my feet to take a step in the right direction. I’ve pretty much ruled out sleeping the year away. So now what?

After twenty years in the food business, I was ready for change. I wanted to volunteer more, get out of my small sphere and start looking at ways I could have a bigger effect: help kids struggling in school, make people aware of how ethical food choices can have an impact, have the time, energy and money to contribute to causes I believe in. Unfortunately the current business climate seemed to have dashed those dreams. I had to reduce my staff to almost nothing and work harder than ever just to keep the business from going under, much less make a profit. On good days I feel like a hamster in a wheel; I keep going round and round, but not getting anywhere. I’m not even getting a good physical workout, just emotional. Could I survive another year like this?

Well, to quote Nat King Cole (who didn’t write this song, but I hear his voice in my head giving me this advice), “Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again.” And so help me, I do have moments where I do just that, and guess what? There is plenty of help needed out there and many ways to do it.

I have a shop, I have wine and cheese, darn it, I can have fundraisers! The first one was in February and benefited Side Street productions, a company I personally love that has these big woodworking buses they take to schools and teach kids basic skills in woodworking, being responsible, cleaning up their space, and envisioning something and then creating it. Powerful stuff. You can find out more about them at www.sidestreet.org click on the Alternate Routes woodworking bus. We were able to raise enough money to last them through the month when grant money would be coming in. Plus, and to me more importantly, we were able to allow over hundred people to see what Alternate Routes does and won them many fans. Yay. I was feeling better already.

May 1st we are hosting another fundraiser. This one is for the Farmer’s Kitchen, adjacent to the Hollywood Farmer’s Market. I find this one fascinating because I envisioned something like this years ago, and here they are putting it all together. The Farmer’s Kitchen is a 1500 sf teaching and retail kitchen and cafe. It will give local farmers another outlet for their produce, prepare low income residents for jobs in the food industry (local chefs will be teaching classes), teach moms and caregivers how to prepare healthy meals with fresh ingredients and cater to the community at large with a cafe and retail store. Nice! For only a twenty dollar donation you can sample at least 6 wines, partake of a California Cheese Buffet, meet vendors from the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, sample chocolates, olive oil and an array of food. We are giving all the proceeds to the Farmer’s Kitchen.

This was all well and good, but what else could we do to help? I am serious about this. One day a woman walked through my shop door and we began to talk. Turns out she was one of my competitors, and a fierce one at that. She was closing down her shop and wanted to know if I wanted to buy any merchandise. We enjoyed the type of conversation you can only have with someone in the same business as you. We spoke several times that week. I came to admire her immensely and we formed a bond. Turns out she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It seems so unfair when a disease like that hits. I lost my mom to cancer many years ago, as well as some friends in the last few years.

Our Think Pink Gift Basket, 10% of the proceeds are donated to breast cancer treatment

Feeling hopeless against an opponent this large, I just felt sad. Then I picked myself up again and began to investigate. Turns out we could design some gifts and give 10 percent of the proceeds to the fight against breast cancer. Yes, it might help my business – I do want to stay in business – but I can create beautiful things, make someone happy who receives them, and help with early detection of breast cancer. We can help fund mammograms for those who can’t afford them. With early detection you can save lives.

Life became a bit more exciting to me. Yes, the day to day can be a struggle. But to quote Maya Angelou, “When you do nothing, you feel overwhelmed and powerless. But when you get involved, you feel the sense of hope and accomplishment that comes from knowing you are working to make things better.”

Exactly! Thanks Maya. With this in mind I volunteered to bring and serve the wine at “I Dream to…” a photojournalism event for StepUP (www.suwn.org), an organization that empowers underserved high school girls. When you hear the stories of these girls and how their lives are changing because of opportunities they now have to go to college and expand their own sphere, I guarantee you too will tear up as I, and everyone else does, every time these girls speak of what they have planned for the future. This event will showcase the photography of the girls in the Stepup program. It begins at 7 pm at the Helms Bakery on Saturday night May 2nd.

There are so many opportunities. I went to an event recently for RootDownLA that take students from Manual Arts high school in south central out to the McGrath Family Farm, gets them picking the vegetables, cooking with them (even having a cooking contest) and encourages them to lobby for better food in their cafeteria. As one participant from the school told us, “Eating better helps you live longer, just because we don’t have a lot of money doesn’t mean we should have a shorter life. We deserve healthy food too.” Amen. Stay tuned for a fundraiser for RootDown, and I plan on getting my husband Wally out to help them get a vegetable garden planted near the school.

Giving back won’t solve all my problems, it may not pay my bills, but it will allow me to play a bigger game and expand in a year of seeming contraction.

-Terry August

The Terroir of Chocolate

As I sit at my computer thinking about this article I’m nibbling on a chocolate bar, 61% cacao from Venezuela. mmmm… I’m enveloped by the sharpness of the criollo cacao beans, followed by a slightly earthy and nutty flavor that mellows to a long full finish. Venezuelan Chocolate may be my favorite. Although I do have one from Ecuador in my shop that is richer and somewhat fattier tasting than the Venezuelan, a slight taste of green banana and I swear I can smell tropical flowers. Yet both these chocolate bars are only cacao and sugar. Why the extreme difference?

Chocolate will vary tremendously depending on where the cacao is grown. It too has terroir, much like wine. There is no good English equivalent for the word terroir. It refers to the characteristics of the region in which something grown. Soil is a big part of it, but it includes the air, the humidity, the sun, fog, the flora and fauna. All of this affects the taste of the fruit.

Cacao is grown within about 20 degrees of the equator, which is why you won’t find fields of cacao plants in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The only place in the United States where cacoa is grown is Hawaii. What do you think of when you think of that band near the equator? Tropical Rain forest? Volcanos? High Humidity? Yes, and a variety of other factors depending on whether the cocoa is grown in Africa, Madagascar or Mexico.

I am talking about pure cacao which is used for single origin chocolate, not candy. There is a huge difference, chocolate and candy aren’t even in the same food group. I am not making less of a Snickers bar, but a candy bar is cheap cocoa mixed with a lot of sugar and other fun ingredients to make a confection. There is no terroir in candy, just as there isn’t in a cheap jug wine. The jug wine may be okay with your pizza, but you don’t expect it to have the complexity of a great Bordeaux; just two different things entirely.

Cacao is traded as a commodity on the exchange in New York and London, so people making chocolate generally just buy a container at a set price. Even when a region is specified you don’t know exactly where or how the cacao was grown, quality can be spotty and labor practices not inspected.

A movement has developed in the last few years of specialty chocolate makers who are directly involved with the plantations from which they buy. These artisan companies make single origin chocolate, with the cacao coming from only one plantation or a small group of farmers, producing some of the most interesting chocolates out there. They have a range and depth of flavors that make them stand out from your ordinary supermarket chocolate bars.

Since most chocolate is grown in or near the rain forests of the world, it is vital to be sure the chocolate we consume is coming from companies that promote the sustainability of the environment, including organic growing, as well as fair wages to the workers. This is important for a number of reasons. When farmers are underpaid for their product they have to grow huge amounts of it to make a living. In doing so they will overgrow on the land, deplete the soil and cut down more and more of the rain forest so they can grow more and more cacoa, resulting in a less flavorful cacao bean. Sadly slavery exists on some of the cacao plantations, especially those in Ghana and the Ivory Coast; the two countries that produce the largest percentage of the world’s cocoa

On the other hand, there are fair trade and direct trade merchants who not only pay appropriately, but give back to the communities where cacao is grown, by developing programs that enrich the area in many ways. Many farmers are aware of the quality of their beans , they can – and do- command high prices for them when they deal directly with the manufacturer. This allows them to control their destiny as well as giving them the wherewithal to continue to grow prized beans such as the criollo I was just enjoying. So you can eat your chocolate with a clear conscious and open taste buds.

My suggestion is go out and gather some bars of chocolate and perform a tasting. Some brands I recommend are: Taza, Pacari, Claudio Corallo, Chuao, and Malie Kai ( this last being one of the few single origin Hawaiian Chocolates). For these manufacturers chocolate is a labor of love: they hand pick the best beans directly from the growers, most are organic, and Corallo grows and manufactures his own chocolate on the island of Sao Tome off the West Coast of Africa.

When tasting good chocolate treat it like tasting good wine. Go slowly, notice the texture of the bar, take a small amount at a time, allow it to melt a bit in your mouth – warmer chocolate will give off more flavor- make sure it hits the various parts of your tongue to get the most out of the flavor, and exhale through your nose so you pick up the nuances through your sense of smell. Also be aware of the finish. How long does the flavor last after you swallow it? You’ll find you need much less of good chocolate to satisfy you than you would if you were eating a sugar and additive packed candy bar. Next time you are at a good gourmet store, look at the chocolate shelf, notice the single origin and organic chocolates and give yourself a treat. Warning: once you start down this road there may be no going back.

Terry August, 323/466-7654, terry@fancifull.com

Take a Seat at the Table

Take A Seat At The Table
Part of the Continuing Series: The Art of Appreciation

Do you ever have one of those rambling conversations? You know the kind that starts with one topic then links to another, then allows you to jump to another place entirely, miles away from where you began? I have those kind of thoughts in my head all the time. As a matter of fact I just had one, lucky you, that I’m going to share. It reminds me of my travels, starting in one area and then being guided by something that catches our eye – an interesting storefront perhaps – and off we go down a street not on our map.

My mental journey today started simply enough by reading my friend Camerone’s blog theworldandmeandyou.blogspot.com. This entry, The Valet, told the tale of driving her son to school while wearing her pajamas, and of course the potential for disaster. This instantly brought up memories of a friend who had a horrible “pajamas out of bounds” experience (hereafter named PJOB), and my own PJOB with my daughter while in Mont. St. Michel, France.

I won’t go into the details of it all, but suffice it to say we did not expect bright floodlights and hordes of tourists when we slipped out of our hotel room on a quiet alley wearing our pajamas and a coat, certain that the whole village was dark and asleep by now. We had meant to go out to the parking lot outside the walls of this cars prohibited village after dinner to view this national treasure rising from the sea with its abbey perched atop, lit up and twinkling like a Christmas tree. Alas, we forgot until we were climbing into bed. We decided to make a run for it. Our coats were donned mainly to steel us against the wind, and a feeble attempt to hide our plaid pajamas. The lights were blinding, the tourists aghast, and we were laughing. Who knew that nightly viewing was so popular that they had after sundown tours that brought hundreds of people to this tiny hamlet.

As I reminisced I thought that I bet almost everyone has a story of being caught in P.J.s (PJOB), dressed badly, or just being caught in a moment of fashion indiscretion. You know, the moments when you feel you have to explain yourself and why you happened to have your stained sweat pants and ill fitting Class of 85 reunion shirt on, and of course sans any makeup. I swear the only time I run into people I know is when I am dressed in similar fashion and run out late at night to quickly get one thing.
Happens to everyone (I imagine).

Mulling this over, I jumped to a conversation I had with a woman at a gathering a week ago. We were discussing how all of us on this planet are probably more the same than we are different. She had experience working with people in the Middle East and noted the similarities between warring factions and believed if they just sat down and ate a meal together and talked they would find out how much they have in common. Isn’t that true?

Take a look at most religions on this planet. Aren’t there many common goals? The Golden Rule, a version thereof, is something embraced by all sane people. We may worship differently, but basic tenets such as: treat others well, help others, love your children, live an honest life are all common threads. I’m not talking about the minority of radicals who think it is okay to kill another for religion. They have a whole other purpose in mind.

At this point in my mental wanderings I make another turn and end up on a different street and as I walk down it I am thinking about sitting people down to a meal and having them talk. Sharing food and conversation is part of just about every religion, culture, or pleasurable activity on the planet. The food may vary, the reason for celebration can change, but the breaking of bread is a common thread among cultures.

An Italian woman was in my shop the other day and she was telling us of the custom in her region of Liguria of eating goat for the holidays. I saw the smile on her face and the light in her eyes and could see the memories of previous holidays parade past. Whether the occasion is a Jewish Seder, Christmas Dinner, Fourth of July picnic, Id-al-Fitr (feast after Ramadan), Day of the Dead celebration, a wake, or just a birthday party- food is an integral part of the festivities as is enjoying the pleasures of the table and of each other.

It is no wonder that I joined Slow Food USA. I resonated with their belief in returning to the pleasures of the table(have I turned another corner on this conversation?). This isn’t to trivialize all that Slow Food does to make sure food is good, clean and fair. But the image of all of us coming to the table, together, was enough for me to join.

As I took my walk yesterday, clearing my head of the daily bad news I ingest , wondering how we were going to keep our business together and other gloomy thoughts, I looked back to when my husband and I were first married, 30 years ago. We didn’t have a lot of money. Entertainment consisted of friends coming over, bringing some food, playing cards, talking, laughing and of course, eating. They were great times.

Maybe we all need to return to simpler pleasures. Talk to friends and neighbors thus forming stronger connections, sit around a table eating fresh foods from the farmer’s market, everyone contributing something, offering comfort and conversation, maybe open a board game. Have fun finding all those things that we do have in common, the bonds that tie us together, and raise a glass in a toast to all that is good in humanity.

Art of Appreciation – Goodness Graciousness

It’s 7:10 am and as I run out of the house into the early sunlight of an unusually warm October day, I’m thinking, “Damn, I’m late.” I hate being late as early as 7:10 in the morning. It just seems wrong. But I am off to the flower mart and per their standards I am late. I should have left at least an hour ago; the bigger guys get there much earlier.

I grumble as I hit the heavy traffic, which leaving at that hour brings, and the blinding sunlight that whites out the lanes, I can’t see a thing-the lines, the cars, pedestrians. I pull over to get my bearings and to find my sunglasses, which I have to wear over my regular glasses because I was too tired to put my contacts in. This is a great look. I am incensed at the guy who literally tries to merge into my car and find myself heaving long and heavy sighs as my car inches along on the Hollywood Freeway.

As I traipse around the mart, trying not to ram my oversized cumbersome cart into the people idly gazing at all the flowers, I am thinking about my weekend and complaining inwardly about having to go to two plays this weekend, with dinner attached. Life seems too packed in, no space. The flowers aren’t speaking to me today, but in my mood I wouldn’t necessarily speak to me either.

I find myself at G.M Floral and visit with Oscar, who has been on vacation for three weeks. We laugh about him and Pablo, the taller and calmer Mexican to Oscar’s animated Filipino personality, and how Pablo pined for Oscar while he was gone. The cashier joins in and we find ourselves laughing. Perfect sunflowers beckon me from a very small stall, and I am surprised to see the homegrown zucchini being sold by the proprietor. Four for a dollar, how can I resist? I don’t even realize now that I am smiling.

I go to buy my lilies from the Willie Sanchez booth and am warmly greeted by the cashier. I look at her bright polka dot shirt and think to myself, “that shirt is as happy as her personality.” She is always a ray of sunshine, enjoying her perch right at a busy intersection of the mart, greeting shoppers as they go to and fro. We exchange pleasantries, complaining about our printers, and I have forgotten how rushed I am. The same occurs with Victor the plant guy. Plants are admired, laughs are exchanged, and I move on.

As I get off the freight elevator to return my borrowed cart to its proper home the sunny cashier from Willie Sanchez waves as I walk by and I feel the warmth of her personality. She is such a beauty. I realize what a dolt I can be. How can I complain about the onerous task of going to the theater not once, but twice this weekend, spending time with people I love?

The flower mart is a microcosm of the world at large.
The daily civility of human kind is what keeps us going, keeps the machine oiled and us all connected. It isn’t just about me and my schedules. There is a world of people out here, we are all doing our jobs, working hard – most of the workers at the flower mart were here by 3:00 am-yet there is always time to share a laugh, to compliment someone, to enjoy life. I am not talking about grand gestures; just saying hello or recognizing that there is someone who is ringing up my groceries. The day-to-day activities of life: taking the kids to school, eating lunch, buying flowers, all can be graced with human kindness. We have it in all of us, allowing ourselves to move beyond our own space and into the world.

These are times of upheaval, and those that be would prefer to have us in fear so they can seize upon the opportunity. Yes, the road ahead is rough, at times scary. But it won’t get better by succumbing to hate, by being afraid, and by not reaching out. It is our goodness and decency that binds us. In this troubled time, we need to be more connected than ever; raise each other up with a friendly smile and possibly be grateful for what we do have. As for me, I am going to relish every moment of my weekend.

The Art of Terroir: A Fancifull Series – A Visit to The Cowgirl Creamery

Artisan Farmstead Cheese, much like wine, has a definite terroir. The land, the air, the weather and the feed of the animals influence its flavor. It is shaped at the hands of an artisan who cares for the animals, the land, and the people who help her craft each wheel. Below is a story of our visit to Cowgirl Creamery and its distribution arm Tomales Bay Distributing, where we buy many of the cheeses for Fancifull. Their purpose is to support the fine art of farmstead cheese making from small scale producers, so we can enjoy a wide range of distinctive cheeses that are full of nuance and flavor, help to insure jobs in rural areas, and contribute to the protection of farmlands from development. This was a pilgrimage.

“Today I am making Red Hawk Cheese with the help of a few friends,” said the scrawl on the blackboard as we walked through the swinging doors in the refreshing cool of Cowgirl Creamery. We arrived early so we could survey the scene.

We knew this to be the home of one of our most popular cheeses, the first organic cheeses in California. What surprised us was that Tomales Bay Distributing is also housed here along with a wonderful market filled with fruit, cheeses-duh-, and a whole deli section where we found some flavorful cold tomato and cucumber soup that we brought to a picnic at Hog Island Oysters. If you are up in the Bay Area, Point Reyes Station is about 30 minutes north of San Francisco, it is worth the stop just to see cheese being made and to talk to the friendly and knowledgeable people who make up Tomales Bay Foods.

If you decide to take the Cheese Tour you will be greeted by Ranger Nan, a former park ranger who is bursting with pride in the Creamery. Reminiscent of summer camp we sat around the wood table under the window that looked over the two-person cheese making operation and listened while Nan regaled us with the history of the Creamery. We were given the opportunity to help make the cheese (I got to stir the curds), as well as taste all the varieties. Yum! I am personally hooked on the creamy punir, which I am working to bring into the shop; it has a very limited shelf life. Beginning with their cottage cheese and advancing through to their washed rind Red Hawk we savored up each sample –or samples since some of us are piggier than others -as Nan explained the cheese making process of each one.

What I didn’t know is that Cowgirl Creamery is the brainchild of Susan Conley of Bette’s Diner in Berkeley (the best pancake mix on the market) and Peggy Smith who was a chef at Chez Panisse, trained by Alice Waters. Sue had sold the diner and decided, abruptly, as it is told, in 1997 to make artisan cheese. She talked to the Strauss Family Farm, the only producer of Organic Milk in that area, and the rest is history. Of course there is the traveling through Europe to visit cheese makers, converting the old barn to a creamery and then setting up a distribution system so other artisan cheese makers would have an outlet for their cheese.

After our tutorial, it seemed the whole cheese department was up for grabs. We tried aged Gouda, Irish Cheddar, local goat cheese; all distributed through Tomales Bay. The generosity of the staff seemed unending, their enthusiasm contagious. So stop by and grab a little of this artisan cheese for yourself. We are enthralled with the flavors and textures as well as their commitment to the planet and the people on it.

Terry August

Surprising Green Facts – Recycle!

Recycling is so important it can’t be overstated. It takes a lot more energy to make things from scratch than it does using recycled products. Recycling cuts down our need for virgin material, such as petroleum for plastic bottles. It is no secret that our landfills have been overfilled, so we need to do what we can to cut down on waste. Here are some numbers for you:
80-100: Years a can will stay in a landfill before decomposing
700: Years needed for a plastic bottle to decompose
1 million: Years needed for decomposition of a glass bottle (yikes)*
By recycling just one aluminum can you save enough energy to run a television for about 3 hours. That is just one can. Multiply that by all the cans used in the United States and you start to get an idea of the magnitude of savings possible.
Even if you are out and about, don’t throw those cans and bottles in the regular trash. Save them until you get them to a place where they can be recycled.

Statistics courtesy of bottlesandcans.com
Click here to view our line of green gift baskets

The Art of Appreciation

Appreciation: Recognition of the quality, value, significance or magnitude of people and things

Appreciating life and the people in it is one of my favorite activities.
By showing appreciation we are in fact acknowledging another, whether it be thanking someone for a job well done or better understanding an artist and what his artwork conveys. It’s why intro art classes are often titled Art Appreciation. The end product should be one who better understands art and its process while keeping, and perhaps expanding, one’s own personal aesthetic.

The world might be a better place if we taught Life Appreciation at schools.
It spans every area of life. Just by recognizing the quality of a well-prepared meal, the value of a good friend, or the significance of an action makes living on this planet a lighter activity.

One of my favorite aspects of Fancifull is I get to help others send out packages of appreciation daily. I think of them as bombs of goodness landing on desks and in homes throughout the world. People send gifts to show gratitude, congratulate, send good wishes, and generally let others know that someone is aware of them and what they are doing or going through. The package is sent and then, sitting at a desk just working the day away, this person is surprised with a gift telling them how wonderful they are. How cool is that? And I get to make it happen.

Appreciation comes into play in another sphere at Fancifull; we love to make the acquaintance of great products. Sometimes I think maybe I recognize quality a little too much – I certainly acquaint myself with a whole lot of great food. Discovering a company that turns out a terrific product and also has integrity is a highlight of my job. We talk to the people who make the chocolates, who bake the cookies, or came up with a great idea. We get to know them and how they operate. I find it exciting to learn how items are crafted, the traditions that get handed down generation after generation, and the cultures these gifts spring from.

I could go on and on. As one becomes more aware one tends to appreciate everything more. For example, when you raise your own child you better understand your own parents. As I meet more and more craftsman my world is expanded by the nuances of their creation. Whereas chocolate all tasted the same when I was a teenager, now I can taste olives in some, berries in another. I truly appreciate the hand made fresh truffles that have such an intense chocolate flavor. I notice the lack of additives and the pureness of the flavors. In another arena of life I also find myself admiring my employee who goes to school each night, bettering her life and that of her son. Going back to the definition of appreciation above, I do recognize the significance and magnitude of her and those around me.

Once you start appreciating things your world just keeps expanding. It is never ending. At least I hope not.

Terry August

Exercise: Today find something you can appreciate. It might be as simple as a person letting you in their lane while driving. It could be a friend, a parent, or your child. Find the quality in just one thing. Then if you feel like it, do it some more. Spread the appreciation around, like good compost, it will make relationships blossom. Post it as a comment here!

Fancy Food Show 2008

Oh My! That is usually our reaction as we enter the Summer Fancy Food Show at the Javits Center in New York and view all the booths that seem to stretch out into infinity. We only have three days to visit more than 1500 exhibitors, not to mention the 60 specialty pavilions representing 81 countries.

We know we won’t make it through the whole show so we have to be focused and organized. If not, you tend to get sidetracked and then you start sampling items you don’t need to, and before you know it you are feeling a bit queasy.

But we did focus, so headed straight to the Organics and All Natural Pavilion. We had decided we were going to continue our search for great foods from responsible companies as well as looking for more authentic green products. We were also on the search for local companies. We want to support our local economy, have accessible products and cut down on petroleum used in delivery. Here are some of the highlights:

Chocolate continues to be an expanding market. We were very excited to find a few local chocolate companies that produced outstanding chocolate.

Especially interesting was one company that did a very select single origin chocolate bar that focused on particular plantations in Ecuador. It is similar to terroir in wine. One vineyard can have very different characteristics than another that is merely a few yards away. There are various regions in Ecuador where chocolate is grown. As a result the chocolate from the desert region was much different than the ones from a more tropical area. Fascinating.

But this is why we go – to taste and learn and see for ourselves what works and what doesn’t.

It was heartening to see the amount of Organic and Fair Trade being offered. There are many people stepping up trying to treat the earth and the people on it fairly. This can be found in a variety of foods we will be bringing in as well as some great containers we will have on hand this holiday season. These shows, while tiring at times, give us an opportunity to talk to vendors and get a sense of who they are and how they operate. From the woman who just started her tapenade company (absolutely delicious by the way) to the couple in North Carolina with their wonderful toffee cookies, and the Chickasaw Nation turning out fine and fun chocolates (white chocolate covered Bugle snacks) we thoroughly enjoy being the conduit by which their dreams, creativity and enthusiasm reach you.

A Taste of Fate: Meeting Winemaker Jacky Blot

Many of my vacations truly are “working vacations”. Yes, we spend three weeks in France, but we are visiting wine makers, cheese producers and the like. Yeah, I know, tough job but someone has to do it. I can’t complain. I do work at hunting out products . Much like the truffle pig, I am always sniffing around, looking in local shops, watching what the locals are eating. Of course this often means eating and drinking many things to be assured of quality – I never just take someone’s word for it- but that is another story altogether.

When I eat a cookie I like in Italy, I will find out who imports it to the U.S. I am quite vigilant. This is just the best way to bring my customers items they might not find otherwise, such as many of the wines we have in our shop. Sometimes I find them through a focused tasting or meeting wine makers. Sometimes greatness just falls in your lap, almost like Divine Intervention.

Forces were at work when we discovered the lovely wines of Jacky Blot: Domaine Taille aux Loups (whites) and La Butte (red).

The Intervention came by way of a kindly Paris wine shop owner, Christophe Vidal. While we were buying some wine from his shop, I noticed some odd whiskeys from Japan which started up a conversation (and some sampling of said whiskeys, did I mention how nice this guy was?). In our discussion of the wine business, we mention that we are planning to visit a winemaker or two in the Loire Valley. As we are about to leave we hear a shout. He comes running up to us with an open bottle of wine. Turns out that the winemaker, Jacky Blot from the Loire Valley, had been in his shop earlier for a tasting of his wines. Jacky had left an open bottle but Cristophe didn’t need it, perhaps we could take it back to our apartment and enjoy it. We took our Taille aux Loups wine, happily skipping back to our apartment and marveling at the kindness of strangers.

The wine is a delightful surprise. Chenin Blanc grapes, light, crisp, wonderfully balanced. What a nice gift! Wally, ever diligent, looks up the winery and I can see he is contemplating, actually becoming determined, to find the winery in our travels. We move on to the Loire and are having dinner in the city of Tours when, lo and behold, the Taille Aux Loups is on the wine list by the glass. We have to order it, and yes, it is as good as we remembered. Okay, that settles it, we have to find this winery.

After a few days of trying wines in Chinon and Saumur (both great cities to visit and sample wine), we track down the winery Taille Aux Loups. We drive along curvy roads, follow the river (because we don’t know exactly where it is) along the south bank of the Loire east of Tours. Eureka, we find it! Jacky’s daughter Françoise greets us warmly as we come in from the rain, and sets up quite a tasting for us. We try sparkling wines, the whites that we love, and reds from nearby Bourgueil. It is quite fantastic, especially since we don’t even have an appointment. Jacky pops in and gives us an exuberant hello, but he is quite busy with a bunch of clients in another room. We write down the name and phone number of their distributor in California and buy some bottles to add to the collection we have amassed during the previous few days. We high five ourselves once we get in the car, feeling the excitement of another successful hunt. We rub our hands in anticipation of tasting this wine for our clients back home, and hope that the distributor, Adventures in Wine, carries the wines we want. We have never bought from them before, or even heard of them.

We return to our Paris apartment a few days later with our cache of prized wines. I really want to serve Jacky’s wine at our upcoming tasting in two weeks. I need to email my assistant Dave to find this company. As I am looking in my purse to find the business cards from the wine makers we visited, I find a card for Adventures In Wine! I have no idea how it got there. I don’t remember ever meeting the person whose name is on the card. There is no other business card from America in my bag, having cleaned it out before we left. Françoise at the winery did not give me a card, she just had me write down the name in my notebook. But here it is. Magic! That did it. We were obviously destined to have this wine in our shop.

The importer has the whites I want, not the reds, but they are ordering them for me. So with this happy set of circumstances, I am able to offer this fantastic wine to our customers. And it all began because I had noticed some odd whiskeys at a Paris wine shop and started asking questions.

Terry August