This stuff is too cool! It is a cocoa glaze that you can pour over a cake or bombe to give it an intense chocolatey flavor and a glass-like shiny coating!

MIRROR GLAZE:

2 cups water
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
3/4 oz. powdered gelatin

Bring the cream and water to a simmer.
Dissolve the remaining ingredients in the hot liquid.
Strain through a fine-mesh strainer.
Set over an ice bath until cool, slightly thickened, but still liquid.
Pour over cake, just as you would any other glaze.
Let set in refrigerator for approximately 30 minutes.

Cacao nibs (also called cocoa nibs) are one of my most favorite things to use in the kitchen. They are granulated pieces of roasted cocoa beans, and have a rich, chocolate flavor, but are not sweet at all. I sprinkle them over mint ice cream to make Mint Cacao Nib, instead of Mint Chocolate Chip.  I like them over yogurt and fruit in the morning, and over at Emeril’s New Orleans, cocoa nibs are used deliciously as a crust for seared sea scallops.

Although several chocolate manufacturers now sell cacao nibs, I like Scharffen Berger’s best.  Available at gourmet grocery stores all over, they can also be purchased directly scharffenberger.com.

Easter Sunday is just a few days away. Easter is not only a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus but also a celebration of spring. The most common symbol associated with Easter is the Easter egg. It is thought the Easter egg was originally a pagan symbol associated with fertility and new life and therefore with spring, a time of rebirth and renewal. Eggs may also be symbolic because they were forbidden during lent and therefore celebrated on Easter Sunday. Read more »

This is one of the St. Joseph’s altars I visited last week at an Uptown New Orleans church.  There was a bit of confusion this year as St. Joseph’s Day, normally celebrated on March 19th, was moved to the 14th because there can’t be another Feast Day during Holy Week.  This altar was simply beautiful and laden with breads, cookies, fruits, fish dishes, pasta, cakes…The meal that followed was sumptuous with fried vegetables, vegetable casseroles and the star, Pasta Milanese with a sprinkling of breadcrumbs to replicate sawdust.  In addition to church altars there are many private altars built in personal residences.  These will be available for viewing between now and Wednesday (traditional St. Joseph’s Day).  I’ll visit a number of the private altars this week and then prepare for Holy Thursday’s special dish of Gumbo Z’Herbes.

Shamrocks or clovers are a symbol of Ireland and a common motif used for anything Irish especially, St. Patricks Day. The clover is used informally as the badge of Ireland. It is also believed that St. Patrick used the clover in his missionary work to teach the Holy Trinity; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.

In Irish mythology, Leprechauns are a type of male fairy who take the form of a diminutive old man. They are thought to be mischievous and cunning and enjoy their wealth, storing their treasure crocks of gold. Legeng holds that if you can keep a leprechaun captive you can keep his crock of gold. However, if you do not keep your eye on a leprechaun, he’ll disappear.

Shades of green are customarily worn on St. Patrick’s Day in the United States and Ireland. The shades of green represent the “Emerald Isle” for its lush, emerald colored vegetation. Green is the national color of Ireland and on St. Patrick’s Day cities with large Irish populations like Chicago have been known to go to great lengths to dye the streets and even the Chicago River green.

St. Patrick

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland despite the fact that he was Scottish, not Irish.
At age 16, he was taken to Ireland as a slave. He was sent to the mountains to be a shepherd. He spent this time reflecting and praying. Six years later he escaped. Over the next several years he pursued spiritual studies throughout Europe. He returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary and set about converting the pagans. According to legend, St. Patrick is said to have driven all the snakes from the isle and he is often depicted with a staff in his hand driving off the serpents. St. Patrick is probably the most well known figure in Christianity.

St. Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in the United States in Boston but the first St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in New York City in 1766. The parade in New York was a show of strength and patriotism for the Irish who often suffered racial prejudice and persecution for their religious beliefs. On St. Patrick’s Day the Irish were at liberty to celebrate their culture.

After a Plymouth Gin function last evening, everyone present was gifted with “The Lewis” Ice Bag and a bat-shaped muddler. The bag and bat are great for crushing ice for cocktails. Simply fill the bag half-way with ice, pull the drawstring shut and bang away to crush the ice. Famous New Orleans bartender Chris McMillian got a kick out of this special bag because during his stint at a classic cocktail lounge in one of our major hotels, he always used a clean shoe bag to bash his ice. Gadget queen me, I’ve always used a hand-crank ice crusher. Now I’ve got crushed ice in the bag.

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner and here in New Orleans we’ll celebrate for days. This year St. Paddy’s day is on Monday so we have all weekend. There will be several parades in New Orleans this weekend; to start off there is the annual St. Patrick’s Parade in the French Quarter on Friday evening. The Irish Channel Parade rolls down Magazine Street on Saturday and if that’s not enough, there is the Maetairie Road parade on Sunday in Old Metairie. Officially St. Patrick’s Day is on Monday, March 17 and more festivities will be held for the Downtown Irish Club Parade.

If you haven’t heard of the Tap Project, here’s the scoop. UNICEF is launching a nationwide effort in the days before World Water Day (March 22) to help provide safe drinking water for children around the world. All over the country, restaurants are joining in the effort by asking customers to donate $1 for the tap water they normally drink for free during the week of March 16 - March 22, 2008. The end result is that for every dollar donated, a child will have clean drinking water for 40 days.

In case you haven’t guessed, Emeril is right in on this project.

This picture is of mushrooms carved from cheddar, by an artist named Sarah Hoffman AKA ‘The Cheese Lady.” Ms. Hoffman’s cheddar sculptures include likenesses of television personalities, sports stars, city scapes, etc - you gotta see ‘em to believe it. Although an interesting display of talent for sure, I can’t help wondering if this is really a good ideal?