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Chocolate for Breakfast? Naughty, Naughty!

SHOP - February 3, 2010

By Teri Citterman

I love it when my sensual arsenal is alerted first thing in the morning. It's like starting the day with a celebration of spontaneous combustion.

Chocolate for Breakfast does just that.

Chef/Owner of Oak Knoll Inn in Napa Valley, CA Barbara Passino's menus blend sin and creation. And given Passino is an anagram for PASSION, there's no need to expect anything less.

Chocolate-filled Toast Pillows, Chocolate Tacos, Cocoa-dusted Buñuelos with Caramelized Peaches and Dulce de Leche. Just looking at the pictures, one thing becomes certain...you can dust my buñuelos with cocoa anytime!

A dedicated recipe collection for Valentine's Day Decadence makes it easier than sin to not screw things up. And if debauchery is to follow, there's even a two-page spread for making the perfect bed. Not your average cookbook, I'd say - and makes a fabulous gift, by the way.

While chocolate is the centerpiece, pungent flavors explode in the egg-drizzled Lacy Singapore Omelet or the crispy drama of cayenne sprinkled Camembert cheese pancakes.

"I see you sitting there, you minx" begins a poem called Ode to a Chocolate Truffle. You talkin' to me?  It continues..."like a man possessed I grab you."  Are we still talking about truffles? Because we all know, it's a short stumble over the line of passion into the void of obsession.

Teri Citterman is the editor of Best Places to Kiss in the Northwest, 10th edition travel guidebook and writes An Urban Sip Wine Blog.

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