When I was in San Francisco a few weeks ago, I met up with my long-time friend and fellow blogger Elise, who very kindly showed up with homemade chocolate biscotti, and a few pieces of fruit from her garden.

Among them was a pomegranate, and I had to pick my jaw up from the floor. To a Parisian kid, pomegranates (grenades in French) are super exotic, the kind of fruit that must grow in some faraway tropical forest with multicolored birds and monkeys flying around, the kind of fruit that should also (once the kid is all grown up and environmentally conscious) be eaten in moderation because of the carbon footprint.

Pomegranate juice is a gorgeous ruby pink color, yes, but do you want it polka-dotting your clothes?

Yet I adore pomegranates. I love biting into their little seeds bursting with tart juice, and I love sprinkling them on stewed vegetables and on salads, especially the raw kale salad with avocado and cilantro that I made a few times in San Francisco.

Showing you how to open a pomegranate

So I received this local pomegranate with great joy, and as I was about to cut it open and harvest the seeds — standing at Heidi‘s beautiful marble counter — I thought I’d take a few quick pictures to share the technique with you in case you’re new to this whole pomegranate opening thing.

(I have only just heard about this wooden-spoon whacking technique, and will have to try that next time, though I have yet to be convinced it saves that much time. Also: the violence of it!)

0. Before you begin, put on an apron and roll up your sleeves; pomegranate juice is a gorgeous ruby pink color, yes, but do you want it polka-dotting your clothes?

1. Using a sharp knife, cut a slice off the top and the bottom of the fruit, just to uncover the seeds. Make four vertical cuts all around the fruit, cutting through the rind just until you reach the seeds but not slicing into them.

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Maxence, Milan and I have recently returned from a positively idyllic, two-week stay in San Francisco, for which we swapped apartments with our friends Heidi and Wayne.

We had a blissfully relaxing, inspiring, and delicious vacation. It was crazy good to be back, catch up with friends and family, and meet some of you lovely readers at my Omnivore Books signing. And now that I am starting to crawl out from under the pile of work that awaited me on my return (not that I’m complaining), I would like to revisit some of our favorite eats and share my best San Francisco recommendations with you if you’re game.

~ Thriving on a diet of (almost) one ice cream a day — mostly from Bi-Rite Creamery on Divisadero (outstanding walnut maple banana ice cream sandwiches); but also from Smitten in Haighs Valley, where the ice cream is freshly mixed and churned in liquid nitrogen before your very eyes (pictured above: TCHO chocolate, and maple brown sugar squash); and, on a slightly less refined, but no less enjoyable level, from Easy Breezy in Noe Valley, where the organic frozen yogurt and toppings are self-serve (dangerous!) and you pay by the weight.

~ Eating kale of all kinds practically every day, and especially loving the red kale salad I made a couple of times with avocado, cilantro, and pomegranate seeds (pictured above).

~ Sampling the best carnitas burrito ever from La Taqueria, thanks to a recommendation from my friend Emily (who is also, unrelatedly, my lovely Pilates instructor in Paris).

~ Starting the day with the buttery, cinnamon-y morning bun from Tartine.

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To celebrate the 10th anniversary of C&Z, I am hosting 10 giveaways throughout the month of October.

Our tenth and final giveaway prize is an Edible Montmartre Food Tour led by yours truly.

For a little while now I have been leading private food tours for small groups of food enthusiasts visiting Paris for the first or twentieth time, often creating itineraries tailored to their interests. I enjoy it tremendously.

One of my most popular tours is called Edible Montmartre: it’s a tour of my neighborhood through the lens of food, and includes visits to the best pastry shops, chocolate shops, bakeries, charcuteries, and cheese shops of the area. It’s a fun visit through one of Paris’ most typical village-like and food-rich areas. I provide stories, cultural notes, food tips from a local’s point of view — and of course, lots of delicious things to taste along the way.

For this giveaway, it will be my pleasure to invite the winner and up to three of his/her friends on this 2-hour private tour. The prize doesn’t include transportation to Paris (sadly), and it is valid through the end of 2014. If you win, we will work together to find a mutually agreeable date and time.

To participate, leave a comment below (in English or in French) telling me about the one thing you most want to see, taste, or experience in Paris, food or otherwise.

You have until Thursday, November 7, midnight Paris time to enter; I will then draw one entry randomly and announce it here. You are welcome to play regardless of your current location, as long as you intend to be in Paris sometime before the end of 2014. Please make sure you enter your email address correctly so I can contact you if you win.

Good luck!

WE GOT A WINNER!

I have drawn an entry at random using random.org (see screen capture below), and I am pleased to announce the winner is Karona, who wrote, “Since I have not been back to Paris since becoming a parent, I’d like to re-discover the city with my 2.5 year old daughter! Also for the experience of negotiating a huge city with a small child. She’d be most interested in the croissants, I imagine…”

Congratulations Karona, and thank you all for entering!

A few of my favorite finds and reads for October:

~ Paris’ very first food coop needs your help.

~ Tempted by these coconut and potimarron squares.

~ Luisa featured my tomato mustard tart on The Wednesday Chef.

~ A behind-the-scenes look at Bones, one of my current favorite dining spots in Paris (see my post about it).

~ Medieval Paris, a before and after.

~ I was a guest on Adam Robert’s Clean Plate Club podcast.

~ Do you fantasize about writing your own French novel? Here’s a cover to get you started.

~ Using whey to extend the life of homemade condiments.