Spectacular Chocolate-Covered Strawberries—The Power of Love and Happy Valentine's Day from the Salvation Sisters

by Linda

"It don't take money, and it don't take fame
don't take no credit card to ride this train
Tougher than diamonds and stronger than steel
you won't feel nothin' till you feel
you feel the power, that's the power of love"
~Huey Lewis and The News

   There is a special reason that I am quoting Huey Lewis and The News in case you were wondering. I recently transferred to a new Whole Foods Market® location this past December, where I am meeting lots of new people—team members and customers. One of my most recent acquaintances, is my new friend, Caren, whose sister married Huey in 1983. Huey Lewis and the News had a huge hit in 1985 with the song Power of Love that was featured in the mega-hit movie Back to Future. I have always been very fond of the well-crafted pop tune, because it is not only catchy and upbeat, but the lyrics are profound. Whenever I hear it (which is surprisingly often at work on the ever-popular with our team members and customers 80's channel) I am reminded that love—real love—is in fact a very powerful thing.

My new friend, Caren, who is a Customer Service Professional extraordinaire!
She absolutely showers our customers with love each day. It is amazing to witness.

   We sisters have a big love for Valentine's Day. Over the years we have celebrated Valentine's Day with lovers, friends, our kids—alone even—and I don't think any one of the three of us has ever felt that this is a day made exclusively for romance. In my personal universe, I have transformed the celebration of this day into an appreciation of love at large. 

   Agape is a Greek term that was developed in the Christian theology as the love of God or Christ for humankind. I heart-ily believe that this kind of love is a concept worth contemplating for an entire day at least once per year—that elusive yet all encompassing and unconditional kind of love, that is a rare and extremely difficult to practice—but still worth imagining, striving toward and promoting. It is good, I think, to take time to send up an offering of heartfelt thanks for all the love given and received in a world so full of pain and suffering. It is is also worth contemplating how to be a positive force for good in one's life and community. I am of the opinion that our world and everyone in it most definitely needs all the love that we can create.

   So it's settled then—let's celebrate love! Bring on the cards, flowers, phone calls and the bubbly, and send love from your heart out into the world. Be extravagant with your acts of kindness, with your voice and your smile, and most definitely—spend all your kisses.

She told me that she was buying flowers for her teacher.

   Spectaclular Chocolate-Covered Strawberries

Baker and cake decorator extraordinaire, Suzette @ #mylove_mypassion on Instagram, 
dips long-stemmed strawberries into white chocolate and crushed chocolate
sandwich cookies at Whole Foods Market on Valentine's Day last year.

   At Whole Foods Market when Valentine's Day rolls around, you will find us dipping strawberries round the clock. Our chocolate-covered strawberries have become the Valentine's favorite treat over the years, and our bakers and decorators prep for this holiday like it is the Super Bowl of Love.

Equipment:
1/2 Sheet pans or a cookies sheets
Parchment paper or foil
Bowls for melting the chocolates
A pastry bag and piping tube for striping or a thick-ply plastic bag—for instructions click here.

Ingredients:
Ripe strawberries—long-stemmed strawberries look beautiful, but regular strawberries will work just as well.
Good quality chocolate or white chocolate for dipping. Any kind of chocolate bar will work well. Choose among your favorites—dark, bittersweet, semi-sweet, etc.
Chocolate for striping—any will work, and does not even need to be contrasting.

Ingredients for dipping—small chocolate curls (can be made easily with your vegetable peeler) chopped nuts, toasted coconut, crushed cookies or sprinkles—allow your imagination to be your guide.

Procedure:
Depending on how many strawberries you will make you will need about six ounces of your main dipping chocolate for every one pound of strawberries, and about three ounces of the contrasting chocolate. This is an amount is a loose guide. You may want to make some strawberries with dark chocolate and then do the reverse and dip in white chocolate, so make sure that you purchase adequate amounts of chocolate. 

1. The strawberries should be prepped first. They need to be clean, room temperature and perfectly dry. Note: Chocolate and water are not best friends.
2. Melt your chocolate in a small vessel that will keep the chocolate as deep as possible in order to aid dunking. You can do this in a micro-wave or over a double boiler.
3. Dip your strawberries in the melted chocolate, and then roll them in crushed items when still wet. If not rolling in crushed items, dunk and place on a parchment or foil covered sheet pan or cookie sheet. When chocolate is set (a brief chilling in the refrigerator can speed up the time) re-dunk the tip in a contrasting chocolate or apply melted striping chocolate for the final detailing. I prefer mine served at room temperature. They can sit out of refrigeration for an entire day.

Salvation Sisters' Best Desserts 2010—2014 and Why We Blog

The Memory Keepers by Linda
Photos by Michelle and Linda

"Ohana means family, and family means that no one gets left behind or forgotten." 
                                                ~ from the movie Lilo and Stitch

From left to right and top to bottom—click on the title to link to the recipe: 
Cowtown Chocolate Cake with Ganache Icing, Banana Cream Pie, Steamed Persimmon Pudding, The World's Best Coffee Cake, Maraschino Party Cake, Rose-Scented Raspberry Tea Cake, Ooiest Gooiest Chocolatiest Fudgiest Brownies, Linda's Favorite Cheesecake, Fruit-Filled Italian Rum Cake

      It's hard to believe that we sisters have been blogging for nearly five years now. Originally we had the goal of publishing one post per week, and we have certainly fallen short of that ambition—but that's what goals are for, right? No one's life or livelihood was at stake here, we simply wanted to compile a collection of our best-loved family dishes and tell the story of our lives and family. We felt that others could relate, because let's face it, everyone is slogging through the same sh*t in their own everyday lives. Additionally, our intention was for our blog to be the family resource for the generations to come when they wanted to know about the food and the history of our family, and we hoped that others would relate to our stories and recipes and be inspired to cook and bake.

From left to right and top to bottom—click on the title to link to the recipe:
Chocolate-Prune Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Salted Caramel Sauce, Overnight Cinnamon Rolls, Plum Tart, Root Beer Marble Ice Cream, Amaretto Mousse with Raspberry Sauce, Pumpkin-Apple Spice Cake with Dulce de Leche Glaze, Apple Crostata, "The Total Woman" Creamy Rice Pudding, GF Angel Food Cake

   Eating is one of the most fundamental things we do as humans other than breathing. We are compelled to nourish ourselves and others whether we want to or not. One must feed oneself—it is a fact that I often wonder about. Personally, I believe in a supreme power or energy, and I wonder why we are designed physically in such a way that we must feed ourselves or die. It seems so very extreme to me.

   When Michelle suggested creating a blog in early 2010 (I really didn't know much about the blogoshere at that time), I was taken aback. It was just a few months after a devastating family tragedy, and I could not conceive of what would happen in the ensuing years. In fact at that time, I could hardly fathom getting out of bed in the morning and living through the following week, much less imagining myself five years down the road. And yet here we are—about to begin our sixth year of blogging.

Banana Cream Pie, Homemade Vanilla Bean Marshmallows, Linda's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fun making Linda's The Best All American Apple Pie updated with
Michelle's Absolutely Delicious All-Butter Pie Crust which is gluten-free and gum-free.

   This blog started as an experiment at the urging of Michelle—and Juliette and I went along for the ride. I was numb, just trying to figure out one day to the next after the death of my son, Joshua, who died in Afghanistan in January of 2009. A few months later, Michelle and her daughter Maddie came to California to live with me on a mission of mercy. I look back now almost six years later, and know without a doubt that their combined presence pushed me back into the land of the living. Grief is like that—it can take you down for the count. Luckily, the love of my family pulled me through that very dark time with much sacrifice on their part—but that's what true love is all about.

From left to right and top to bottom—click on the title to link to the recipe: 
Homemade Vanilla Bean Marshmallows, Nana's Homemade Fudge, Kahlua Spiked Tofu Chocolate Mousse, Our Family's Sugar Cookies, Triple Chocolate Meringue Cookies, Delectable Lemon Cake, Vanilla and Chocolate Pudding, Pecan Tassies, Chocolate Silk French Pie

   So please enjoy this compendium of our desserts up to now. While I personally am trying my darndest to leave refined sugar behind, I also recognize that desserts are the traditional way we as a culture celebrate special occasions and mark holidays. I had no idea in 2010 that I would choose to go gluten-free and Paleo two years later, but I have discovered that I feel much better following those diets. My journey along the way is recorded for posterity. I also try and recognize that there is room for almost everything in moderation, and I refuse to be the family killjoy. For example, the recipe for our family's Maraschino Party Cake has been baked by our family for at least the past seventy years. In the spirit of these changing times, for our recipes beginning in 2012, there is a gluten-free version for everything. This year I plan to start experimenting with Paleo desserts, so you will be seeing more contributions from me using no refined sugar.
   Whatever your personal dietary choices are, we wish you time spent with your loved ones in the kitchen cooking, and then sharing your creations together to celebrate the mundane as well as special occasions, because we know this for a fact—the memories carry over from one generation to another. Sharing your love with good food lives on.

From left to right and top to bottom—click on the title to link to the recipe:
Fresh Peach Ice Cream with Amaretto Affogato, Wilkins Family Lemon Ice Cream and
Really Excellent Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream

Heidrun Meadery, Sparkling Mead and Linda's Salted Honey Butter Popcorn

My Traveling Tales by Linda

"The years have passed like swift draughts of sweet mead in lofty halls beyond the West." 

                                                                 ~ From The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

Carly Verhey, Director of Sales and Hospitality, at Heidrun Meadery.

A beautiful tree-lined lane leads to the meadery.

The Heidrun Meadery tasting room is rustic and open air. 

I rejoiced at seeing the meadery keeps its own bees!

   Just a few days after Christmas this past year, I was scrolling through the feed on my facebook page early on Saturday morning, when I noticed a post from Taste Marin. Turns out that there is a meadery in Marin County. Who knew? I certainly did not, and I was instantly intrigued. Mead, in case you are hearing about it for the first time, is an ancient alcoholic beverage. Wine is made from grapes, and mead is made from honey. It is thought to be the ancestor of all fermented drinks with a history dating back to at least 2000 BC.
   Excited with my new discovery, I then called Heidrun Meadery to see if I could arrange for a tasting that very afternoon. There was indeed space available, and so just a few hours later on a sunny winter's day, Mark and I found ourselves traveling out on the back roads of Marin not too far from Point Reyes Station. We turned down a long tree-lined lane and followed the painted arrow to the meadery.

   We were greeted by a most lovely and engaging young woman named Carly, who is the Director of Sales and Hospitality. For the next hour she educated us about mead and the operations at Heidrun. Not only did we taste several kinds of mead and honey, but we were treated to a full tour of the facility and grounds. I was very excited to see the bee hives that we spotted as we drove into the property.
   One of the things that I love about tasting at small facilities (usually wineries), is that you often find people who are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about their products. This was the case with Carly. Her enthusiasm for the mead, her knowledge of its history and how it is made at Heirdrun, was truly inspiring.

  
   The last time that I had mead was on a trip to Ireland in 1997. Our group attended a reenactment of a medieval dinner at Dunguaire Castle, and we all were poured a small cupful of mead, because this is the beverage that would have been served in the middle ages. It was sickly sweet and as I recall, I wasn't in a hurry to try it again soon. In contrast, Heidrun mead was a revelation. The nose of the mead is perfumed with honey and has floral notes, and this mead is also full of delicious bubbles, but it is dry with wild honey flavors that linger on the finish. It is made by using the French Méthode Champenoise, so the sugars are digested in the base wine, and then a second fermentation in the bottle creates the magnificent Champagne bubbles. This multi-step process, which takes four months from start to finish, produces a beautiful beverage that is brut dry and clean on the palate, while retaining flavorful honey notes on the finish. It is rich in aromatics and lightly-scented of orange blossoms, wild flowers or even carrot and avocado flowers, depending on the variety of honey that was used to make it.

    Gordon Hull is the proprietor at Heidrun. The meadery gets its name from Norse Mythology. Odin, according to legend, refused all food for fear of being poisoned by his enemies, and instead existed on mead produced by his magical goat named Heidrun. The business was launched over decade ago by Gordon in Arcata, but Hull desired to be closer to the Bay Area, and five years ago he purchased sixteen acres near Point Reyes and then relocated his family.
   This week when I was writing about our visit in December, Mark brought home the Winter 2013 issue of Flourish (a magazine devoted to sustainable living in California's North Bay), which just happens to have Gordon on its cover, and features a great article about Heidrun. I am attaching a link to the piece which is full of information and beautiful photos. To read the article click here.

Buckets of honey await transformation into mead.

   It takes a lot of honey to make even one bottle of mead (about a half pound). Which brings us to the very timely topic of bees and the frightening decline in bee populations worldwide. In case you have been living in a cave, and haven't heard about the plight of bees, they are dying off in massive numbers. Simply stated, they are in grave danger. It is referred to as colony collapse disorder in the scientific community. The consequences of colony collapse disorder are affecting us now, and Heidrun has had its own struggles with keeping its bee colonies alive and healthy. California, for example, did not have enough bees to pollinate its entire almond crop last year, resulting in an almond shortage. I have a two word solution to help the bees: Buy Organic! Pesticides and GMO proliferation are thought to be major contributors to the crisis.

Custom made fermenters. They are a smaller version of the kinds that are 
used in France for making Champagne.

Carly demonstrates for us how the honey is heated to a workable temp.

The honey is heated by the rod in the barrel. Our group tries a taste.

These boards are called "riddling racks" and they are part of the time-honored way 
that Champagne or sparkling beverages have been produced.

   After our tour of the warehouse, we walked outside and talked some more about bees. As previously stated, Heidrun has its own hives and beekeeper, Brad Albert. Some of the hives are kept in Bolinas and San Anselmo, as well as at the meadery, but Heidrun does not yet produce enough honey to make much mead from it. Carly did admit that keeping the bee colonies alive has been difficult. The aforementioned article in Flourish quotes Gordon saying that the heavy rains in the first years nearly wiped out the young colonies, and one morning this past October the bees had simply disappeared. Therefore the bulk of the honey used at Heidrun is sourced from other beekeepers in California, and to my surprise, quite a bit of the honey comes from Hawaii.

It was heartening to see busy bees working in the winter sunshine.

Carly fields questions from our group about the bees and honey.

   The land that Heidrun Meadery is on, was once part of the well-known Giacomini Dairy. I visited the Giacomini sisters at their dairy in Point Reyes last fall, where they make award winning cheese. I wrote about my visit in a post which we published last November. To read about my trip to Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company click here.

The Heidrun Meadery tasting room was once part of the Giacomini Dairy.

   Mark and I need more wine like Imelda Marcos needs more shoes, but we purchased six bottles of the delicious mead anyway. When we returned home, and I was doing some research for this post, I discovered that there is a renewed interest in mead across the country. According to an article that I found in the New York Times, there is a renaissance  in the making of mead.
   One of those purchased bottles of Heidrun sparkling mead made from California avocado blossom honey was sent to Michelle in Arizona, so that she, Jay and Maddie could taste it. I am sure they are going to love it as much as Mark and I do.
   To purchase mead or to go on your own tour at Heidrun, call the meadery. Tasting is by appointment.

Carly was a wonderful subject to photograph since she is so darn pretty. She was a 
really good sport about me clicking a camera in her face for an hour.

Linda's Salted Honey Butter Popcorn