A Word on Olive Oil

A great olive oil can transform a salad. If the oil is good, a salad really doesn't need anything else other than a sprinkling of salt (Malden, if you please). I like a grassy, buttery oil which has very little tanin. My love affair with great olive oil began when Peter went on a business trip to Milan and brought me back a bag of goodies from a very exclusive foodshop (olive oil, dried porcini, and proscuitto... Aren't I a lucky girl?) This bottle of oil (Biondi Santi--Peter remembers the name because it is the name of a wine) was amazing...drizzle a little over steamed green beans...and mmmm I was in heaven. Sigh, since my days of jaunting to other European cities for food items --Darling, we are out of tea; Let's go to Paris this weekend-- are sadly over (Why? Kids...and um...moved to the USA), I have had to scour the shops here for a good one. And lucky for me, California does not just grow grapes, but olives too. I found a fabulous local oil: Stonehouse Silver Medal Blend, which you can conveniently purchase online at www.stonehouseoliveoil.com,if you can't go to one of their shops. They also have a lovely garlic infused oil which I use when I am too lazy to fry up some fresh garlic. The other scented oils taste good, but I have yet to figure out what I might use them for, since if I want lemon in a dish, I would just squeeze some lemon on it...