COCOBEAT

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog text about recipe with images” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] I live 30 miles south of San Francisco in the area known as Silicon Valley. It is famous as the location of large and small IT companies’ headquarters: Google, Yahoo, Facebook, LinkedIn, HP, Apple, you name it. It does not sound like the center of the organic food world, but we are very close to a multi-ethnic gourmet food culture and surrounded by many organic farms. Fresh organic local produce is available year-round, and many of the world’s best wine regions are located nearby in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. The area also has some of the best weather in the U.S, and perhaps the world. The temperature, at least close to the Bay, is mild year-round, never too hot or too cold. It is similar to Mediterranean wea

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog text about recipe with images” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] Serious chocolate fun has been spreading across the land, but everybody is talking about dark chocolate today – 65%,  72%, 82%, single origin and so on. Higher cacao content is a luxury food fashion. From bakers, dessert book authors and chocolate makers, so many dark chocolates are now available, but I am wondering what happened to milk chocolate – once dominant throughout America. Milk chocolate bars have been maintaining a quiet existence on the shelves in supermarkets. However, the quality has been inching up. Many are now higher in cacao content and lower in sugar and dried milk product. It’s the birth of a new star – “DARK MILK CHOCOLATE” – and this stuff is good! Old-style milk chocolate contained only 15% or less

[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Blog text about recipe with images” background_layout=”light” text_orientation=”left” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”] The weather is getting hot in the Bay Area, especially in the more-inland areas. The days are long, filled with cloudless blue sky from horizon to horizon. This is our usual low-humidity summer – fairly comfortable and pleasant compared to the rest of the country – but still warmer than we are accustomed to. Fruit is abundant in the market, but particularly fresh berries. This smoothie is my favorite – rich, flavorful and refreshing… very satisfying after your workout or exercise of any kind. It is more like a fruit soup – eat it with a spoon! [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” show_in_lightbox=”off” url_new_window=”off” use_overl