So they say love is in the air! I can’t believe I forgot my anniversary last week and I came home empty handed! Oops! I will have to make up for it for Valentine’s Day. Fortunately, the spirit of love is vibrating high at the café. I love it when the holidays and seasons change here at Thyme. The café gets a total makeover with new merchandise and seasonal dishes. The café is popping with red and pink and you can’t look anywhere without running into a heart. The bakery has been busy coming up with new rich chocolate desserts like the Chocolate Ganache Torte with Raspberry-Orange Reduction and the Sour Cream Raspberry Tart is back. To kick off Valentine’s Day festivities Thyme is hosting a wine and cheese tasting here on Thursday, February 9th, featuring some of our new wines. Please come and enjoy in the festivities! We also have pulled together a Gourmet-to-Go menu so that you can entertain at home without the pressure of cooking all day. Be sure to check it out on our website.
Let us know what you are up to for Valentine’s Day.

Thyme Café & Market wants to wish everybody a Happy New Year. Our New Year’s resolution is to commit to posting to our blog more regularly. Thanks to all our patrons for making 2011 a great year. We truly appreciate your business! We are already off to a busy start this year with food travels and new dishes. Some of our new dishes include Quinoa with Feta and Pomegranate Seeds as well Brussels Sprouts with Sour Cherries, Ricotta Salata and Maple Vinaigrette. As for travels, last weekend my husband, Tim, and I headed to the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. We decided to make a weekend out of it and ventured up to Yountville for some wine tasting and restaurant hoping. It was our first trip with Baby Bridget, which added an element or excitement and a little uncertainty.
We arrived at LAX with more luggage than we knew what to do with. We made a few amateur mistakes like forgetting to register Bridget as a passenger! But we did eventually make it through security and off we went to SFO.
We arrived starving and b-lined over the Golden Gate Bridge to Picco Pizzeria in Larkspur. By the way, did you see the Bachelor last week where they walked up the Golden Gate Bridge…..Crazy the things they do for love! Picco has the most amazing wood-oven pizzas outside of Italy. The toppings are all organic and local while the crust has a chewy quality, perfect for soaking up the last bits of cheese and sauce. The goal was to save a bit of room for dessert. Although Picco is famous for its Straus Dairy Vanilla Soft Serve with Olive Oil, I preferred the Vanilla Soft Serve with Dark Caramel and Sea Salt. Yum…we were off to a great start!In Napa we stayed at the Yountville Inn, which we loved, having just been renovated since our last visit. The highlight of the weekend was eating at Michael Chiarello’s Bottega. The Short Rib Meatballs and Pork Chop were delish. We wine tasted at Pride and Cliff Lede. Both were great but I have to say I was on good behavior because of the baby!
On Sunday we headed back to the city, checked into the St. Francis where we just had to have Michael Mina’s Tuna Tartare at Bourbon Steak located downstairs in the lobby of our hotel. I started my culinary career at Aqua, one of Michael Mina’s first restaurants, and the tuna tartare remains my favorite item on his luxurious menus. We retired early to watch the Golden Globes. The baby was a dream in these busy restaurants. Tim and I realize that we might have one more month of pulling this off.
Monday morning we hit the food show early and ate ourselves silly. A hot new item was salt slabs that can be cooked on so the food will absorb the seasoning. I also had to order Justin’s Organic Almond Butter for the café. You will see both of these products at Thyme in the near future.
Let us know what your favorite places to eat are in SF and Napa!
Sources:
Picco Pizzeria: http://www.pizzeriapicco.com/
Bottega Napa Valley: http://www.botteganapavalley.com/index.html
Bourbon Steak: http://michaelmina.net/restaurants/locations/bssf.php

We are surrounded by Butternut Squash .. and that’s a good thing!  Our Customers love this time of year when savory favorites like Israeli Couscous with Butternut, Golden Rasins and Pine Nuts & Roasted Winter Vegetables with Carrots, Parsnips, Squash and Sweet Potatoes make their way back onto the menu.  And it wouldn’t be Fall without our Signature Salad featuring Butternut, Arugula, Cranberries, Manchego, Bacon and Walnuts.  (yes, it is definitely as good as it sounds!)  Taste these and a host of other Autumn-inspired dishes at our Fall Kick Off Party this Sunday from 12-5 @ the Cafe!

We know you’ve waited till the last minute to think about dinner on Monday … and we are here to help!  We’ve held a few spots @ 7:30pm for you procrastinators.  (You’re welcome.)  Email keri@thymecafeandmarket.com to reserve your seats today or over the weekend.  Find the menu by clicking on the heart icon on the homepage.

See you Monday!

Most people have a pre-conceived notion of Valentine’s Day … either you weigh in on the side of ‘it’s a Hallmark holiday’ and ‘it’s way too much pressure and expectation’ or you are blissfully in love and relish the opportunity to bask in it … after all, who doesn’t love a delivery of a dozen roses and an excuse to eat chocolates in the midst of Winter?!

No matter where you fall on that spectrum of opinion, and whether you’re spending the day with your soulmate or your girl friends, you’re bound to be heading out to dinner … and we would love to be your host!  For the very first time, we will be taking reservations for an 8:30pm* seating (the early seating has sold out!) and treating our guests to a decadent Four Course meal.  If you love Thyme for lunch, but have never experienced our custom catering, this is the perfect opportunity to see and taste the other side of what we do.  We think you’ll be surprised, we hope you’ll be impressed … and we know you’ll leave with a smile (since you’ll have visited our Candy Bar on the way out!)

We’ll see you on Monday, February 14th, and we wish you the happiest of Hallmark Holidays!

MENU

Champagne Toast & Amuse Bouche

Starter
Tomato Bisque Soup with Puff Pastry Heart Crouton
-or-
Roasted Beet Salad with Arugula, Oranges, Baked Goat Cheese & Hazelnuts

Entrée
Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with Mint Relish
Twice Baked Potatoes with Crispy Onions and Haricot Vert
-or-
Roasted Salmon with Red Pepper Hazelnut Pesto
Citrus Risotto and Grilled Asparagus
-or-
Vegetarian Wild Mushroom Ragout over Creamy Pecorino Polenta

Dessert
Molten Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Raspberry Coulis
-or-
White Chocolate Mousse Grapefruit Tart with Blood Orange Reduction

Coffee or Tea

Complimentary Corkage

$75 per person
(when reserving your table by email, mention you read about this dinner on our blog and receive a 15% pre-tax, pre-tip discount)

*Reserve your table by email: keri@thymecafeandmarket.com
Please indicate starter, entrée and dessert choices.
We can accommodate up to 8 guests per party.