Chronicle Books Blog

Just in time for New Year’s holiday entertaining, our newest app, Cheese Plate, is available now on iTunes.

It’s written by Janet Fletcher, San Francisco Chronicle’s expert cheese columnist, and author of two Chronicle Books best sellers, The Cheese Course and Cheese & Wine.

Perfect cheese plates are made easy with this app—with themed threesomes, substitutes, and wine suggestions. Having this info on the go makes selecting cheeses foolproof when you’re standing in your local shop or market deciding what will work best for your fête.

Functions and features of Cheese Plate include:
• 150+ identification photos
• Discover cheeses by country, type of milk, country of origin
• Learn how to buy, taste, handle, and store cheese
• Inside-app search
• Social media out-messaging with thumbnail photos to email, Facebook, Twitter (for cheese plates & 150 individual cheese profiles)

Enjoy the “Cheese How To’s” below and let us know what you think about the app after you take a look at the preview. Leave a comment and enter to win a free download (remember, presently this app is for iPhones only, and usable on the iPad).

I wish you all a very happy entry into 2011!

Cheese How To’s

How to Pair Cheese and Wine

In a successful match, both cheese and wine are as pleasing together as they are on their own. Neither one diminishes enjoyment of the other. For the best outcome, consider the following elements when making your selections:

• Texture: Matching buttery cheese with creamy wine is one good approach, but textural contrast works, too. Try a triple-crème cheese with a palate-cleansing sparkling wine.

• Intensity: For delicate wines, choose delicate cheeses. More robust wines can handle aged cheeses with more concentrated flavors.

• Acidity: With a cheese of pronounced acidity, such as Cheddar or a young goat cheese, pair a wine of high acidity.

• Sweetness: Although cheeses are not literally sweet, we perceive some cheeses—such as aged Gouda—as having a sweet or caramel-like finish. A nutty, off-dry sherry or Madeira can be particularly pleasing with such cheeses.

• Mold: The veins of mold in blue cheeses strip most dry wines of their fruit. A sweet wine is almost always a better choice.

How to Buy Cheese

A knowledgeable merchant can guide you to cheeses that appeal to your taste. Seek out a retailer who takes good care of the inventory. A few signs of a good cheese counter:

• Selection: A large selection is nice, but a thoughtful selection is even better. Look for a merchant who supports local producers and small-scale artisans. Does the shop offer cheeses you don’t see elsewhere? Does the selection include many farmstead or raw-milk cheeses?

• Appearance: How does the display look? Do any cheeses look dried out, moldy, sweaty, or poorly wrapped? Is the case a jumble, or is it neat, well organized, and well signed?

• Knowledge: Is the staff well trained? Do employees volunteer descriptions or information about the cheeses?

• Enthusiasm: Do the clerks offer samples, point out new items, or ask questions about what you’re seeking? Try to buy from people who are passionate about cheese.

• Service: When possible, buy from a store with a staffed cheese counter. The best merchants let you taste before you buy, then cut your selection to order and wrap it in coated paper, not plastic wrap.

How to Taste Cheese

As with wine, evaluating cheese calls for the input of several senses.

• Appearance: Is the rind in good condition or breaking down? Is the interior ripening properly, or does it have cracks or eyes that it shouldn’t have? Are the veins in a blue cheese well distributed?

• Aroma: Raise a piece to your nose. What descriptors come to mind? Is it nutty or grassy? Does it smell of warm butter, earth, or sour cream, perhaps?

• Texture: Let a small piece of cheese dissolve on your tongue. Is it creamy, chalky, sandy, waxy, or silky? Try to describe how it feels.

• Taste: Sweet, sour (tart), salty, bitter, and savory (umami) are the five “tastes” that our palates can discern. Some aged cheeses impart a perception of sweetness. All cheese needs salt and acidity but not too much; without them, cheese tastes flat and dull.

• Finish: Do the flavors linger on your palate, as with a fine wine?

How to Handle Cheese

All cheese is perishable, but careful storage can prolong its life. Keeping the storage environment humid while allowing the cheese to “breathe,” or release moisture, is key.

• Cheese always tastes better at room temperature. Flavors and aromas emerge that are muted when the cheese is cold, and the texture becomes more supple, especially in moist cheeses.

• Unwrap the cheese when you remove it from the refrigerator to avoid trapping any moisture released as it warms. Protect the bare cheese from drying by covering it with a cheese dome, cake cover, or overturned bowl.

• Remove any paper or foil wrappers, but leave rinds in place. The rind is a natural wrap and is part of the visual appeal and integrity of the cheese.

• If a cheese is wrapped in plastic film when you buy it, unwrap it when you get it home. Plastic film smothers cheese, making it hard for it to breathe and give off moisture.

• High-moisture cheeses, such as Feta or fresh goat cheese, do well in an airtight plastic container. Otherwise, wrap all but the driest cheeses in waxed paper and place them in a lidded container. You can keep multiple cheeses in the same container, although blue cheeses should be kept separate to prevent their molds from traveling.

Peter Perez
Senior Marketing Manager

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In thinking about the new year and all the good things to come, and the things we could do better, I asked a few fellow Chronicle designers whether they had any design-related resolutions. Here’s some of what this bundle of book designers had to say…

Aya Akazawa, senior designer. Her titles include Silhouette Art, Cath Kidston Masking Tape, and the lovely Open Studios with Lotta Jansdotter. “I resolve to design something that I will print using my Gocco, which has never been used since I bought it more than two years ago (What a shame, I know).”

Allison Weiner, designer. A new addition to our team, Allison designed Money and is currently working on a book about little things you can do to make life better each day. “Make a crazy-looking copyright page.” I’m not sure if that’s even allowed, but what a cute book nerd.

Jake Gardner, senior designer. His titles include The History of Surfing, The Country Cooking of Ireland, and The Moustache Grower’s Guide. “I resolve to get out from behind this screen and take more pictures, draw more with a pencil, and paint more with a brush (a real brush).” Jake is a fantastic abstract doodler in meetings.

Vanessa Dina, design director. Her titles include The Meat Club Cookbook: For Gals Who Love Their Meat!, Whoopie Pies, and Tartine Bread. “I resolve to create innovative app designs for the iPad next year.” Vanessa designed two iPhone apps this year: Art of the Slow Cooker and Cheese Plate. They’re beautiful apps and so well-functioning. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for the iPad apps.

Eloise Leigh, designer. Her titles include Pictorial Webster’s, Little Book of Letterpress, and 642 Things to Draw. “I resolve to come to terms with kelly greens and dark teals, my anti-colors, and try using them in a way I can live with on a project. I resolve to build a new website and find a way to document work more easily and regularly. And I resolve to experiment more with illustrating what I can in projects that I am also designing.”

Emily Dubin, design fellow. Emily is currently working on an awesome book about pirates and another on summertime treats. “I resolve to fill up my brand new sketchbook, and I resolve to take a letterpress class.”

Michael Morris, senior designer. His titles include How High Am I?, The Art of Vintage DC Comics Postcards, and the hilarious Sexy Book of Sexy Sex by Kristen Schaal. “I resolve to add five new fonts to my repertoire. I resolve to stop pouring hot coffee on interns as punishment. And I resolve to reduce my office prank goal by 1 prank.” Okay, those last two aren’t really design related, but we welcome them.

The common thread seems to be a desire to draw more and do more creative things away from the computer. All of us also share an interest in improving our craft, whether it’s by diversifying our go-to typefaces, or as Brooke Johnson mentioned to me, “Paying more attention to the spines.” Or, in my case, more “Kern, baby, kern”—attention to detail with my typography. Love is in the details…

We hope that, come the end of 2011, we’ll have managed to make our resolutions come true. And we might even have a book or two to show for it…

Happy New Year!

Suzanne LaGasa
Designer

On Monday December 6th some amazing readers from Bel Aire Elementary in Tiburon visited our office for a field trip. There were 36 students in grades 3 through 5 (plus 6 adults) who had been selected by the Bel Aire Elementary librarian, Diane Darrow, because they had reached their 100 point reading goal in the Accelerated Reader (AR) system. To reach that goal the kids typically read about 2 books a week. How long were these books, you might ask? Any length, but the longer and more sophisticated the book the more points it is worth. They could read 100 books the length of Ivy and Bean (which are worth 1 point each), or four books the length of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (worth 34 points each), in addition to answering comprehension questions about each book. We dubbed this event the “Amazing Readers” Field Trip to honor their fabulous accomplishments!

The students started the day by browsing in our book store and enjoying their 20% discount.

Soon we ushered them upstairs (it took many elevator rides to get everyone ferried up to our fourth floor).

We started by giving an introduction to what we publish here at Chronicle Books. We talked about a couple of books in each category and about what makes Chronicle’s books distinctive.

We then invited an editor, a designer, and a production coordinator to talk about the process of creating one book: The Worst-Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure: Everest. Julie Romeis, an editor, talked about how this new book is a mash-up of the old classic choose-your-own-adventure books and the Worst Case Scenario: Junior Edition series. But, it has cool graphic novel panels and illustrations throughout, making this book totally unique! Eloise Leigh, the designer, shared several initial cover treatments, and talked about how it took a lot of discussion to figure out exactly which shade of blue to use. Diane and the students couldn’t believe we spend our days talking about things like shades of blue!

Steve Kim, the production coordinator, talked about how the printer prints and assembles the book.

Associate Editor Naomi Kirsten then led the group in a discussion on formats and “homegrown” publishing. She had the kids brainstorm about their favorite activities, and how those activities might translate into successful books. The group voted on their favorite ideas. Two ideas tied for first place: a paperback sports series, and a book about nail art.

In the last session of the day, Eloise Leigh and Aimee Gauthier, two designers, led the kids in a cover critique. Eloise presented two possible covers for the upcoming Worst Case Scenario Survive-o-pedia. Aimee presented covers for the Animals! Matching Game, a new matching game from award winning collage artist Bob Barner. Eloise said “it was so awesome and helpful to get feedback from kids who were super opinionated and articulate. When it comes to making decisions sometimes it’s best to just go directly to the audience since they know what they want!”

When planning this event, and again throughout the day, I kept imagining how thrilled I would have been in elementary school if I’d had the opportunity to learn about bookmaking in an environment like this. I remember a field trip I took in elementary school to see my favorite author at the time, Zilpha Keatley Snyder (author of Newbery Honor book The Egypt Game, among others), at a local independent bookstore. In my enthusiasm to meet her and prove my love of her work I bombarded her with so many questions that she had to ask me to give the other kids a turn to talk. I was mortified, especially since I was normally a well behaved (and pretty quiet) kid, and I certainly didn’t want my favorite author to think I was anything less. Looking back I no longer feel mortified, but see it as evidence of how important books and authors were to me then and continue to be for me now. With that memory in mind I gave the kids plenty of opportunities to ask questions throughout the day, something they approached with an enthusiasm I recognized.

The field trip inspired ongoing conversations here at Chronicle about what kids want from books, and how valuable it is for us to interact with kids and hear their opinions directly. We were incredibly impressed with how well they articulated their reactions and opinions and with how engaged and enthusiastic they were. It was a truly enriching experience for us here at Chronicle and, I hope, for our visitors as well.

Ariel Richardson
Editorial Assistant, Children’s

With the resurgence of absinthe as a cocktail counterpart, we’re delighted to have recently published Absinthe Cocktails. It seemed fitting for us to release this cocktail collection, given that Chronicle published what’s considered the definitive English language history of this formerly forbidden beverage way back in 1988, Absinthe: History in a Bottle.

Our guest blogger this week is Kate Simon (editor-at-large at Imbibe Magazine). Enjoy these festive recipes—absinthe is green after all—and let us know what you think of them by leaving a comment and entering to win a copy I’ll be giving away the week of January 3rd (after our holiday break here at Chronicle headquarters).

I wish you all the happiest of holidays full of festive and beautiful food and drink.
—Peter

And here’s Kate…

Many of us are trying to go green for the holidays with DIY, recycled, or non-material gifts. These festive absinthe cocktails give going green an entirely different meaning!

The minty-hued Absinthe and Old Lace, created by Jackson Cannon at Boston’s Eastern Standard, is one naughty grandma drink! It’s a delicious, absinthe-laced spin on the retro Grasshopper dessert cocktail. Bittermens’ Xocolatl Mole Bitters are well worth seeking out, but in a pinch, shaved bittersweet chocolate makes a suitable garnish.

Absinthe and Old Lace
Makes 1 drink

1 ounce dry gin
1/2 ounce absinthe verte
1/2 ounce green crème de menthe (Jackson likes Bourdeaux-made Marie Brizard’s)
1/2 ounce simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water)
1/2 ounce half-and-half
1 egg white
Garnish: 1 dash Bittermens’ Xocolatl Mole Bitters or shaved bittersweet chocolate

Fill a stemmed glass with ice and let sit to chill. In a shaker, combine the ingredients and shake without ice to blend. Add ice and shake until chilled. Discard the ice from the stemmed glass, shaking out any excess water. Strain the contents of the shaker into the chilled glass. Garnish.

The romantic, aromatic Libertine cocktail, created by Charles Joly at the Chicago cocktail den The Drawing Room, is festive on its own, but you can up the ante by subbing sparkling wine for the Gewürztraminer.

Sparkling Gewürztraminer is a great choice if you can find it, or try another semi-sweet, floral sparkler like Moscato d’Asti. Whichever way you make it, don’t forget to vamp it with some blood-red rose petals. Twilight Eclipse DVD optional!

Libertine
Makes 1 drink

1 ounce absinthe verte (Charles uses Chicago’s locally made Sirène)
1 ounce Gewürztraminer (for festive fizz, try sparkling Gewürztraminer or Moscato d’Asti)
1 ounce sweet vermouth, plus 3 drops (Charles likes Carpano Antica)
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water)
3 drops orange flower water (available at most spirits shops)
Garnish: edible flowers

Fill a stemmed glass with ice. In a shaker, combine the absinthe, Gewürztraminer, 1 ounce vermouth, lime juice, and simple syrup and shake with ice until chilled. (NOTE: If using sparkling wine, leave it out of the shaker and instead pour it gently into the cocktail glass.) Discard the ice from the stemmed glass, shaking out excess water. Strain the contents of the shaker into the chilled glass. Top with the 3 drops vermouth and the orange flower water. Garnish.

Purchase Absinthe Cocktails.

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Gentle Readers,

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Kindness is in the air, along with love, generosity, and a smidge of pollen. People are smiling a bit more, while babies are crying a little bit less, at least the babies that we hang out with. And, if we’ve predicted the weather correctly, snow is currently falling all over the San Francisco Bay Area, covering both the Pointy Building and Golden Gate Bridge in two feet of pristine powder, the first time in dozens of years, if not millions. Truly a magical, historical, pointy sight, we’re sure.

For us, it’s also a lovely time of year because (from what we’ve heard) many of you have given each other All My Friends Are Dead as gifts, whether as a heartfelt here’s-something-you’ll-laugh-at offering, or a passive aggressive you’re-absolutely-going-to-die-someday-no-matter-how-many-wheat-grass-drinks-and-elliptical-machines-you-ingest type of veiled threat.

And however you use our perfect-for-the-stocking (and perfect-for-the-menorah) shaped book, whether as loving gesture or angry promise, we’re just glad that you’ve continued thinking about our circa-2010 creation, long after we, personally, have moved to an island paradise in the South Pacific, never to deal with the struggles of waiting in line — or trying to take a left off Market St., in San Francisco, which is just an unbelievable hassle, who designed these streets? — ever again.

Island-retirement is wonderful. But we’ve digressed. We’re writing this, our second blog post for this website, because we wanted to give something back. You, Attractive Reader, have been so kind to us, what with your purchases (and your impending purchases) of our little, yellow book. So we, in turn, made you some gift tags, featuring some of our most popular characters — Mr. Death, Senior Dinosaur, and Monsieur Yeti, among others — and they’re all saying things related to a.) mortality b.) gifts and c.) gift tags. The usual.

We’re no Martha Stewart(s), but your finished product should look
something like … this!

Follow these instructions very carefully or you might lose a holiday-finger. Here’s what you do with our tags (click on the image below to download the PDF):

1. Read them.

2. Print them.

3. Cut them.

4. Attach them.

5. Sit back and watch your friend/loved one’s reaction.

5a. We apologize if it’s not the reaction you were hoping for.

5b. We were making these on a deadline.

5c. And, after all, they’re free with the price of printer paper and a computer. And who are you to get all high-and-mighty, after all? Jeesh. We’re just trying to do something nice and you’re going to give us grief? What’s with all the grief, lately? Double jeesh.

6. Enjoy!

And don’t forget to pick up a copy or three of All My Friends Are Dead!
We thank you.

Your best pals,
Avery Monsen and Jory John

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