Culinary Adventures with Camilla

This is a sponsored post written by me in conjunction with Winesellers, Ltd. Samples were provided for this post and this page may contain affiliate links.     This year the World Wine Travel bloggers are doing a deep dive into the wine regions of Spain. When I offered to host's July event, I had initially picked the topic of the Canary Islands. But wines were tough to source and, then, one of my contacts at Winesellers, Ltd. and I were discussing Spanish hard ciders. I asked the group's leadership if I could pick something still fermented, but not made with grapes; he agreed. You can read my invitation here . And, through Winesellers, Ltd, some bloggers in our group received a variety of ciders to sample. If you are reading this early enough, feel free to jump in on our live chat. We meet on Twitter on Saturday, July 24th at 8am Pacific time. Follow hashtag #WorldWineTravel and be sure to add it to anything you tweet so we can see it.  Here are the articles the writers a...

With each of us having two boys each - three each, if you count our husbands - Jenn, Pia, and I don't get away often enough with just the girls. But yesterday, Pia took us - Jenn for a belated birthday, me for an early birthday - to a tea tasting at Hidden Peak Teahouse in Santa Cruz. Tucked into an alley off the main street, it was almost walking into another world, a relaxing, foreign land of all things tea. One of the things I loved about it: it's a digital-free zone. That means no phones, no ipads, no laptops Nothing. I was hesitant to pull out my camera, but Jenn encouraged me to ask if it was allowed. It was. Phew. We perused the extensive tea offerings and opted for two different teas, served Gung Fu style. At a very basic level, this is a tea ritual that involves just a few variables: 1. quality of tea (extremely high here!) 2. amount of tea (just a tablespoon or two) 3. water temperature (he had it in an electric kettle - I want one!) 4. ...

 A couple of years ago I supported a kickstarter for local chocolate company Mutari . I love supporting foodie start-ups! We tried their hot chocolate mix we received as a perk for making a donation, but we never made it to the storefront...until this weekend. While Jake was working on the pirate armory for our trip to the Renaissance Faire and R was working on a project for his science class, the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf and I drove up to Santa Cruz and headed over to Mutari. We perused the menu and decided to go with one of their tasting flight. The sipping chocolate flight was described as "darker and more bitter." We went with it. Besides, it came with a mini cupcake from Buttercup Cakes . That cinched the deal for the EKE. He loves anything from Buttercup. We tasted their Trinidad San Juan which had a lighter body and a hint of coffee; their Venezuela Cumboto with notes of vanilla; and their Venezuela Ocumare that was tangy with some notes of citus and...

While we were at Millennium on a deliciously fun double date , we, uncharacteristically, opted to order beers versus a bottle of wine. Jake and Brian ordered two bottles of organic chocolate stout from Bison Brewing out of Berkeley. They craft their Original Chocolate Stout with Peruvian cocoa and describe it as "Barry White’s voice in a bottle." While Bison’s Chocolate Stout is not new to us, it is still as amazing as ever! It's rich with voluptuous flavors of dark chocolate and espresso, with a creamy, dry finish. The new-to-us beer was Uncommon Brewer 's Baltic Porter, an ale brewed with two of my favorite flavors: licorice and star anise. Late in the 18th century Britain's great brewing families were striving to break into new markets. For the Baltic Sea ports they created a version of their traditional British Porter. Styled like an IPA to preserve them for the voyage, those Baltic Porters served to ward off the chill winds of that northern se...

While most of the time, my posts are about something that I have cooked. But, every now and then, I have to share about a food experience that is incredible. Amazing. A must-try. This is the case with Buttercup Cakes in downtown Santa Cruz. This was a mere mention on a walking food tour we took to celebrate Fathers' Day. Intrigued, we swung by there after our last planned stop. We did not regret it. We tried... A Double-Double (chocolate cake and chocolate frosting); a Fruit Salad; A Raspberry-Rose; and a (mini!) Blood Orange Cake with Earl Grey frosting. The boys went back inside and told the owner that these were the best cupcakes they have ever had! I have to agree. Amazing.