Warming up the winter nights

Snow. We had snow here in the Bay Area. People drive badly, freak out -- walk around without proper winter coats. As one who grew up on the East Coast, it never ceases to amaze me how ill-equipped we are for the cold weather out here in sunny California.

At home we created a little oasis by making some French Onion Soup along with a couple of Cilantro-Red Bell Pepper sausages, and finishing up with chunks of Venezuelan El Rey 70% cacao chocolate (El MEJOR chocolate del mundo...), shaved over Straus Family ice cream.

Oh yes, and that little block of cheese is St. Blaise, a grassy not too sweet, washed rind sheep's milk cheese from the Perigord region, this one affined by Herve Mons. St. Blaise... maybe we should have crossed two candlesticks and blessed Eric's throat like they used to do in Catholic school, because now he's got a cold.

Wandering around the store, we also stumbled upon a block of AOC butter from France. AOC? Butter? Well, I'm in. Call me extravagant, call me silly, just don't call me late for dinner.




At the very least, kitty heartily approves of the AOC label.