Valrhona, a famous French-based chocolate manufacturer, that in my opinion (and many others), makes the best chocolate in the world has a product I recently found that takes their perfect chocolate to a whole new level!

(French for “the pearls”) are tiny little round balls of crispy cookie encased in a dark chocolate shell.  The center tastes and has the texture of a sugar ice cream cone, and the exterior has a thin, hard, chocolate shell, that gives way to a softer chocolate coating.  The combination is amazing and I can eat them by the handful (which is more obnoxious than amazing)!

On my current dessert menu, I am folding them into chocolate frosting, which I use on a classic chocolate layer cake.  It gives the dessert a great crunchy texture, which is similar to the combination of a candy bar and cake.  What could be better than that?!

I recently bought New York-based Pastry Chef, Francois Payard’s, new cookbook, Chocolate Epiphany. I am very happy about the purchase.

His book is a great combination of classic French pastry and good old American comfort dessert recipes. It also includes lots of great photographs (I’m always more inclined to try the recipes that have pictures). So far, I am really liking the looks of the peanut-caramel tart and the chocolate canneles. I can’t wait to actually test them out myself!

Originally from McCall’s Family Style Cookbook (1965), then found again on a blog about retro foodstuffs, these marshmallow creations are so cool that I had to post them!

How great of a project would this be for kids?!

After readings a few articles this week about this new and ever-so-popular dish, then hearing a friend talk about having it on her veggie plate at Daniel, I decided that this idea is actually pretty cool.

Instead of using pasta with carbonara, the uber hip chefs of New York City are slicing paper thin strips of raw asparagus, then tossing them into warm carbonara sauce to gently cook them right before serving.

I haven’t tried the combination myself, but I think it sounds quite tasty, especially as a nice accompaniment to an entree or a lighter take on the traditional Italian dish.

 
At dinner earlier in the week, I was brought a little bowl of coriander cotton candy with my check.   Since there is no way I could I ever stop myself from smiling while eating cotton candy, it was a great way to finish the meal!  But, not only was this treat a fun throwback to my circus spectator days, it’s savory flavoring of coriander tossed with micro cilantro was delicious.   It was an adult version of one of my favorite childhood delights and now I really want a cotton candy machine!

This afternoon, while grocery shopping, I ran into some friends buying a case of EarlyTimes pre-mixed Mint Julep. Well, it is Derby time, almost a requirement to drink Juleps, however, New Orleanians hardly need horse-racing as an excuse to drink Mint Juleps and it was surprising to find someone here not making the drink from scratch.  This couple however are people “of an age” who love a good cocktail, have impeccable taste and they swear by EarlyTimes.  Accordingly, a bottle came home with me and I can attest that this is a darn nice Mint Julep poured over hand-cracked ice and muddled fresh mint.  Cheers!

Kate Hopkins of Accidental Hedonist posted this delicious picture she nabbed from Slog, who nabbed it from How to Avoid the Bummer Life, who found this chocolatey-bacony bit of deliciousness at Marini’s, a candy store in Santa Cruz, California.   All I can say is bacon + chocolate = happiness.

Last week it was scented pencils, this week, meaty pencil toppers for the perpetual kid in all of us.  We’re all ways telling the kids to put some “meat on the bone” of the sentences they write, now the inspirational reminder is there at the end of the pencil.    

Imagine if you will, this image on the front of a t-shirt, tote bag, baby onsie and more. Imagine that you not only have a cool food tee with a sense of humor, but buying one also means a 10 percent of profits donation to organizations that work to teach kids about nutrition. Oh yea babe! Wait till you see all the smart designs. Choosing your vegetables has never been this delicious.

A terrific piece in Time covers the current trend for molecular mixology. What’s so fascinating about these cocktails are the various textures and intense flavors normally seen on the plate that are now also appearing in the glass. The drink that knocked me off my seat - I’m a bourbon gal - is from Seattle’s Vessel, where bartender (bar chef, master mixologist) Jaime Boudreau “…combines orange-infused cotton candy floss and spirits for a new twist on the old-fashioned.” Holy cow, I want to have some of that, don’t you?