Happy New Year!

Thanks to all of you who stopped by for gifts or just to say hello during the holiday season.   Now that the holidays are over, we all look forward to slowing down and taking a breather after the December rush.  And how do we do this you might ask?  We think of food and cooking of course!  This time of year is perfect for long, slow cooked meals such as stews and braises, risottos and soups.  They are warm, satisfying and with some simple technical foundations, easy to put together.  We have several books to help you learn these techniques, including Braises and Stews by Torie Ritchie; Braise by Daniel Bouloud; and the classic on it’s subject, Risotto by Judith Barrett and Norma Wasserman.  And if time is not on your side, we have solutions for that as well.  Pressure Cookers are a great way to get those great, slow cooked flavors in a fraction of the time, and I will be doing a demonstration with them on February 16th.

We also continue to look for new items, and I am pleased to announce that the new crop of Olive Oils will be released sometime around the end of the month;  the next batch of Katz' Gravenstein Apple Cider Vinegar should be available around the same time.  We also are eagerly planning our next cooking class, which promises to be as tasty and fun as our previous classes.  Stay tuned for a special email with the details on that.

Knife Sharpening services will continue the first and third Thursdays of the month...please drop off knives to be sharpened by 6:00 PM the day before. All of us here at Toque Blanche -- Charles, Pauline, Max, Jake and I -- wish you a very happy and tasty 2008!  We look forward to serving you and all your home cooking needs any day of the week and seeing you at our Saturday events.

Stuart and the Toque Blanche Staff.

Have Fun Cooking!