Saturday, June 25, 2011

A Commoner's Guide To Life

an uncommon approach to the common life

the idea of this blog started as we sat around a table eating lunch at Michael Chiarrello's restaurant Bortegga. We were spending a few days in Napa celebrating Rosa,s birthday. In the middle of eating cholocolate molten cake and discussing all of the wonderful places we had been and the fun adventures we had we came up with the idea of this blog.

The Sweet Beginning

it all started at the end- one to never pass up chocolate or coffee Therese suggested we stop into kollarchocolate and get some supplies for the road. The smell of chocolate lingered in the air and drew us in. We sampled white chocolate-chocolate with chili-  and other delectablel treats  Rosa bought a cappuccino therese bought hazelnut nut praline (no bag please) Lesli and Kristen tasted endless samples of gelato

They were very patient with us,  answered a plethora of questions and mentioned they make all their chocolate right there  That's true- we watched Chris Kollar and the other chocolteir making them right before our eyes in a sleek modest prep area  Kristen notes they discourage licking the glass or the wall that looks like a chocolate bar.  Lesli mentioned we could put this on our blog and their eyes lit up behind the counter. You're a blogger they said. And at that moment we knew we were committed. We were bloggers

the uniqueness of this place wasn't just the ambiance but the uncommon artistic display and variety of chocolates that that offered. Chocolates of one of a kind designs and flavors were a feast for both the eyes and mouth.



The fennel pollen flavor was not only a pearly iridescent color, shaped like the rock we would like to wear on our finger -single girls unite -but come on fennel chocolate can you imagine?  The cherry kirsch looked like a Jackson Pollack painting. What does kirsch mean?  We don't know maybe it's French for delicious. Therese had the hazelnut praline and had to say it was tasty

The chocolate palace known as kollarchocolAte wasn't much larger than a shoebox but was able to fit the 2 chocolate officiandos behind the counter and the 2 chocoltiers as they took time to stop what they were doing and come out to meet us and pose for pictures. In all my visits to Ghirardelli’s as I took a number that has never once happened

The commoner in us appreciated the uncommon royal treatment that we received from Chris and his staff at Kollarchocolate. Tyler Florence’s shop? That's a whole other story