BINGO!

Forget what you’ve heard… or what you remember… about Bingo. No blue hair, or balmy Floridian breeze. No eyeing your neighbor’s card suspiciously, wondering who will be the first to yell that silly word victoriously? Who will get the prize? This is Bingo brought to San Francisco standards. Its takes some smarts, its tech-savvy and every bingo wins a little something.

La Boulange Bingo takes our followers through the city and tests their trivia talents. And there are some sweet rewards to take home if you earn a bingo. (Think signed cookbooks for all bingos and a chance to win a Napa getaway.) So, if you are not following us on twitter, then perhaps this is a good time to start. We will be tweeting a trivia question daily (subjects range from San Francisco, Baking, France, and La Boulange) and players will visit a sequence of Boulanges to answer the question and earn a sticker for a square on their bingo card. Once you’ve visited the right combination of stores to fill a line on your card, then BINGO!

Find the full details by following the BINGO link on our website http://www.laboulangebakery.com/ (Rules will be posted as of March 1st and the game will last the entire month of March.)

And click here to follow us on twitter @laboulange

Study up! And leave your daubers at home.

DIY

Secret to Happiness? Never be afraid to eat more chocolate.

One of our friends was feeling inspired to bake at home and chose our chocolate gateau as her project. Her final pic looked so delicious we just had to share...and thought in case someone else got the itch to take it on, we'd post the recipe as well:

GATEAU FONDANT au CHOCOLAT
(Bittersweet Chocolate Cake)


12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (approximately 2 cups)
4 ounces (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
4 extra-large eggs, separated
2 extra-large egg whites
Pinch of salt
½ cup sugar
½ cup chocolate ganache

Makes one 10-inch cake


1. Preheat the oven to 325. Spray a 10-inch spring form pan with vegetable oil spray and line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Set aside.

2. In a large, heat-resistant bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks to break them up, and then whisk into the chocolate mixture. Set aside.

3. In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites and salt on a medium speed until foamy. Increase the speed to high and gradually add the sugar. Continue to whip to medium-firm peaks- the peaks will droop slightly when you lift up the whisk. Stir the egg whites, rather vigorously, into the warm chocolate mixture, until there are no white streaks visible. You need to be gentle, as this cake is best without a lot of air incorporated into it. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, smooth it out, and pour the ganache on top. Using a spoon, or your fingers, marble the ganache into the batter.

4. Bake in the center of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until the center of the cake no longer looks shiny. The cake will be puffed up and wobbly in the center but set on the edges. It’s a soft cake that will firm up as it cools. Cool the cake completely, on a wire rack, before removing the side from the pan.

5. To slice the cake (easiest when it is chilled) , run a long knife under hot water, then wipe it off with a towel, and cut the cake into 12 slices. The cake can be kept 3 days at room temperature or up to 5 days if refrigerated.

from American Boulangerie, Pascal Rigo

Green is the New Blog

Green…the color of luck, the color of money, green with envy, a green thumb, Kermit the Frog, the sexy green m&m….all great reasons to be fond of being green, but we’re talking about the idea of lightening our carbon footprint, putting things in the right container (Blue? Green? Black?) and in general, using less…using only what we need...and prolonging the life of the planet.

In an attempt to carbon tip-toe, and hopefully set the example, we are upping the ante by becoming “green certified.” Our Cole Valley and Noe Valley stores have already passed the test. This title requires a little work up front and a process of approval, but once our stores come out on the other side, they are basically biodegradable. Not really, but close. We already recycle or compost almost everything. Our paper products and to-go containers are all ready for a green or blue bin, our light bulbs burn less energy, our toilets flush with less water, plastic to-go bags are a thing of the past. Behind the scenes, our checklists are laminated so they get wiped clean and used again and all of our cleaning products are environmentally friendly. Soon, the rest of our stores will be green certified, too.

When all is said and done, we hope that folks will see our efforts, appreciate and think about their own footprint, and pay it forward with their own habits, or look for other businesses that are making the same strides.

Go Long

So, with Superbowl Sunday fast approaching, we couldn’t help but try and think of ways to franco-fy what is probably one of the most American days of the year. “Football,” with players padded from head to foot, and as much commercial airtime as there is actual game-play, it’s tricky for ze French to wrap their brains around. However, it is also a day centered around getting together with friends and enjoying some good food and drink, which we can certainly get behind.

Enter….Le Superbowl…(let’s say it together….luh……soo-pearh.…bowl) Tres Bien! So we took our baguettes, made one loooong sandwich, and paired it with our house-seasoned chips and some Dame Blanche (petite cream puffs filled with whipped cream), which, let’s face it.........are a touchdown in anyone’s book.

So, whether it will be the Saints or the Colts for the win (we’re not choosing sides), we intend to be well fed and content watching the festivities in South Florida on a big screen somewhere. And like all of you, I’m sure, hoping that The Who does not suffer from any wardrobe malfunction.

It Just Takes One

One voice, one idea, one person to start something good, and to build the momentum it takes to make something happen. And then one calls another one, and pretty soon, you’ve got eleven…Boulanges that is…coming together to do something big.

When Callie, one of our employees, approached me and told me she was thinking about the situation in Haiti and really wished there was something she could do to help, she had the idea that she could donate a day’s worth of her tips to help in the relief efforts. And then thought, what if the whole team donated a day of their tips? And then what if all of the teams at all of the Boulanges donated a day of their tips….that would be something. So I told her to ask her team….see what they say, and I would help by putting feelers out to the other stores and I’d let her know what kind of feedback I got. I was touched by Callie’s idea and overwhelmed by our staff. I sent an email to managers at each of our stores and throughout the day received calls, texts and replies that yes! The staff was totally into it.

So now we pick a day and go for it….what day should we pick? A day where we’re busy and get a lot of tips! Sunday! Who should we donate to? After a little research, we’ve decided to contribute to Doctors without Borders. Callie likes them because they have been in Haiti for 19 years and know the systems and have some roots established and they need the funds to keep doing the work that is needed so much now that crisis has struck. And to add a little fuel to the fire, La Boulange is going to match what the staff earns that day.

So when you are on your Sunday stroll, recovering from a Saturday in San Francisco, come on in and know that whatever you give the staff that day in thanks for their smile and service, will be doubled and shipped, on the double, to a great cause.

The Twelfth Night...

Most of us have slipped back into the daily grind of things at this point. The new year has started, and everyone has turned over a new leaf…if you need evidence of this, just go to any gym at 5:30 and wait your turn for the elliptical with the rest of us. But for Frenchies and Francophiles alike, today, the Epiphany, is the official close to the holiday season. Traditionally, the Epiphany is intended to celebrate the "shining forth" or revelation of God to mankind in human form, in the person of Jesus. The feast is also called Twelfth Day, as it is the twelfth day after Christmas, or Three Kings Day, because as the story goes, it is the day the three kings visited the baby Jesus. And to celebrate this, many tables this evening will be completed by the Galette des Rois, a golden crown of puff pastry filled with almond cream. A tiny feve, or trinket, will be secretly placed inside and the lucky family member who finds this prize will be crowned “king for a day.” And think of all of the fun that this implies. So if you aren’t quite ready to accept the new year and need one more reason to celebrate, or if you just want to try your chances to win the right to rule the roost, and claim control of the remote, then you know where to go to get your very own Galette.

A Month of Resolutions

Kisses at midnight, Auld Lang Syne, black eyed peas for good luck…..and resolutions. I’m not really sure what happened to 2009, but in mere days we’ll be ringing in the new year. And since everyone is thinking about what they want to accomplish in 2010, we came up with a list of ideas…a whole month of them. And we’ll be tweeting them to you daily in January (starting January 2nd). We hope everyone will want to resolve to come in and check out some of these great and delicious deals. Follow us on twitter @laboulange, retweet to all of your friends and look for the buzz words you’ll need to know each day to collect on fun resolutions like these:

Resolve to eat dessert first! Today, purchase one regular entrée (salad or sandwich equal or greater than $8) and we'll give you a slice of our Galette des Rois

Resolve to use less gas! Today, show us your valid muni pass or bus transfer and we’ll give you 10% off your total purchase.

Follow us on twitter!