i wanna spice you up, tyler florence!

Has anyone visited Tyler Florence’s new shop in Mill Valley? We stopped by yesterday on our way home from a quick staycation at Nick’s Cove in Tomales Bay. It has some serious eye candy for cooks, bakers, real foodies and wanna-be’s. I would have loved to buy a TON of things but newly under the influence of the Zero Waste Family (more on that another day), I resisted the gorgeous utensils, gadgets, cookbooks and other kitchen paraphenalia.

However, I could not resist my cute son’s plea for this stellar celery salt. He is a huge fan of what we call “Mimi’s Pizza”. (Mimi is the nickname the grandkids call my mother) Years ago, my mom invented a quick snack for the kids – basically Danish Havarti cheese melted on a slice of bread and topped with a bit of celery salt. Tate has loved this for years; we even have a stunning photo of him holding a Mimi’s pizza from our 2009 family photo shoot with Calvina (enormously talented, Calvina made the snack look exquisitely gourmet – take a peek at her photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?fbid=217953619465&id=126644049465&a… – if not, I think they are on her blog: http://calvinaphotography.com/2009/12/the-besser-family-sunnyvale-ca/ ).

Of course, we thought it would be fun to take his basic snack up a notch by investing in organic, locally sourced celery salt. It smells incredible, by the way. Tate is looking forward to using it this week; we just have to get some fresh cheese and bread.

We also decided to try the French herb salt since it has so many classic spices merged together: sage, thyme, sweet marjoram, rosemary, lavender AND thyme/lavender essential oils. Can’t you just see it on olive oil roasted potatoes? Or maybe chicken under a brick? We’ll report back after we try both!