Chocolate Box

So, in a cupboard in my house on a shelf just within my reach I have a little painted tin. And in that little painted tin is chocolate. When this picture was taken my tin contained a lot of vacation chocolates. KK brought me back chocolate from Chicago and I had received a couple candy bars to remember last summer's trip to Norway and Iceland.
Lately I have been trying all kinds of chocolate. I am trying to develop an understanding of what the flavor properties are of the different cocoa percentages, or single origin chocolates, what flavors or seasonings augment the chocolate, and why I don't like the local Taza chocolate.

In a recent trip to the Boston Public Library I took out Alice Medrich's book, Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate. I had no idea how far we have come since the 70's when she started making truffles across from Chez Panisse. If you are interested in learning the basics of chocolate I really recommend looking at this book. She gives personal stories that show how she discovered the ins and outs of chocolate and helped the country discover real chocolate too. Medrich then gives recipes that show what the proceeding story talked about. She opened me up to the possibility that sometimes water may be the best accompaniment to chocolate.
In Brooklyn right now there is an interesting rivalry happening between the Mast Brothers and Fine & Raw chocolates. They both have rich, interesting and idyllically simple chocolate bars to share that are still very noticeably different from each other. The fact that there are these viable little artisanal business is exciting. The revolution around chocolate is still happening! I can't wait to see where we will be in 1, 2, 5, 10 years!

Forget the lemons and the limes...

Here is my newest favorite thing: Nice juicy orange slices in my ice water!

Brotherly Love (Part two)

SSS took me around to some other neat Philadelphia spots.

The first day we went to Reading Terminal Market. There were so many different sellers. Crepes, beeswax candles, cheese, dried fish, sandwiches, pretzel, fudge, candy, tshirts and Amish pastries all in one spot! I even ran into someone from my hometown.



The next day we started by having brunch at Hawthornes Cafe. It was a bright sunny spot on this cold winter day. I ordered S.O.S for the first time and loved it. Highlights of this place include lots of seating, a fireplace that they keep burning (couches near the fireplace), great windows, staff that is enthusiastic about where they work, and great beer selection. The thing about the beer was how it was offered. They had refrigerator cases of very interesting brews with so many local and microbrewery options. So, not only can you choose your drink this way - you can buy them to go - invent your own six pack variety. You can also buy their homemade chips to go. That is a must.
After that we went to the the Italian market on 9th street. It is the United States and oldest and largest working outdoor market. There were so many specialty shops with imported foods, butchers, bakers, discount stores, fires in trash barrels, and lots of vegetables. Luckily, the only parking spot we could find was directly in front of Isgro, an over 100 year old bakery.


SSS brought me to one of her favorite coffee spots, Chapterhouse, for our last stop before dinner. She has a friend who actually picked where to live based on proximity to it. The atmosphere was warm, bright, and stark. It has everything a proper indie cafe should - poetry readings, art exhibits, high class espresso, smoothies made with rice milk, barista's that make their own clothes and lots of different seats.



As a bonus here are some of our other favorite pics from Philadelphia.Elfreth's Alley - America's oldest residential street. It was adorable.

My initials on philly's public transit:

This sign cracked us up:

Brotherly Love (part 1)

This winter I went to Philadelphia to visit SSS while she was on a break from school. I manged to get myself sick as a dog in time for my arrival. Despite my weakened state, sickly appearance and slightly lessened gusto we still had a great time! I was the one in the corner of Independence Hall trying to discreetly drink from the cough syrup bottle....

SSS took me to two Stephen Starr Restaurants. He is Philadelphia's restaurant entrepreneur extraordinaire. He opens the kinds of restaurants that are full concepts and designed from ceiling to floor. From swinging chairs, to couches, to spinning bikes he has incorporated everything. Look at his website and peruse some of the restaurants. The websites are as designed and atmospheric as the places they represent!

The first place that we went to was El Vez. They had golden velvet booths, a giant bar and a revolving tequila display with a glowing moped atop it all. The bathroom mirror was two way, so while you are waiting outside you can see all the faces someone makes at herself in the mirror. We went for margaritas and guacamole. Both were perfect. Refreshing, sweet, and salty. So satisfying after a day of sickly sightseeing! We ended up ordering the street corn and some tacos. They were good, interesting, prepared with great skill. If I didn't know otherwise i would rave. However, I believe that I prefer the house corn and tacos from boston's own La Verdad (surprising I haven't done an entry for that yet...).One of the best parts of this restaurant is that they had a photomaton! SSS was having none of it so I went into the photobooth alone and tried to capture the essence of ill in philly. Of course, after she saw my photostrip she wanted to go! I could do these for days!
The next night we went to a potluck at SSS's friends house. SSS made a surprisingly simple upside down vegetable tart. After dinner we went out for dessert at another Stephen Starr restaurant, Continental - midtown. This place had two floors. The ground floor then had multiple levels. Upstairs was the bar and tables whose chairs were swinging baskets. From the ceiling hung an elaborate light display of many glowing orbs. There were so many interestingly and differently defined seating areas in this giant restaurant.
I didn't realy read the regular menu that claimed to be "world tapas". I went straight for dessert. They had a brilliant thing: Dessert Tapas! We had fried truffles, cotton candy, popsicles, deconstructed strawberry shortcake, somesort of peanut butter chocolate ice cream situation. I'll be honest I don't remember it all. I do remember that they had Sophia Coppola bubbly in a can with a straw.

Chocolate from the Source

In Panama we went to a family farm of ex pats called, Green Acres. They were located on the mainland of Bocas del Toro. When Linda and David Cerutti bought this land they didn't think very much about the cocoa trees that covered it. After reading more about them they learned how these trees are essential to the survival of the Rainforest. They began to cultivate the trees in the name of the environment and chocolate!





In a little tin shed at the bottom of a hill Mr. Cerutti turns the pods into chocolate. He cracks open the giant pods and pops out the 30-40 seeds inside. The he ferments the beans and drys them in the sun. Next he roasts them and chops them into nibs. After that he process them down into a liquid. He puts the chocolate into molds and then freezes them. Voila: Unsweetened chocolate right from the source! Of course this has taken years of experimenting and testing and inventing his own equipment to get all of the timing and technique just right on his little secluded part of Panama. Tranquillo Bay makes all of their chocolates desserts from their neighbor's farm.

Batidos - yet another way to love a shake!

I recently returned from a trip to Panama.

We stayed at Tranquillo Bay," an eco adventure lodge," on an island on the Caribbean side of the country off of Bocas Del Toro. Two American families built and own the place and take care of you every second of the day. They have intelligent, friendly and very enjoyable guides (biologists doing something with their time in the turtle off season) that take you on excursions to explore the surroundings. I have included some pics so that you can get a feel for my time in the jungle!

The food that we had at the resort was for the most part familiar, Salads, curry and chicken rice, salsa and chips, doritos, cookies etc... We were busy in the sun all day and only ate when breakfast lunch or dinner was served. Because of this every meal felt very fortifying. I really felt like I was eating because I needed to it refuel, replenish. We did have a few things that really gave a nod to where we were. We had an appetizer made of plantains, cuban rum and one night we had fish that was from the pacific side of the country. We learned from our host that this is because the Panamanian fishermen on the Caribbean side don't ice their fish but the fishermen on the Pacific side do.

The best thing for me was the Batidos! I had one every morning that I was there. Basically it is a fruit shake (so, no surprise that it was my favorite thing). Fresh fruit is blended with ice, milk, and a sprinkle of sugar and that's it! I had watermelon on most days but they also had cantaloupe, pineapple and banana to choose from. This could be done with any fruits - Mangos, papayas, strawberries. Anything.

I am pretty sure that I have never looked forward to watermelon season more than right now.
The summer of Batidos? Time will tell...

Who doesn't love a dog?

So, we'd heard about it, read about it, dreamed about it, pressured strangers for information about it. KK even tried to find it once.

Finally on Monday the cafe was being renovated (!) and KK and I had to go to a restaurant auction place. Lunch time was coming and since we were already in the car...we went in search of the

SPEED'S HOT DOG WAGON!!!!!

KK bought us dogs and we brought one back for CVW (below).

Here are some of the features of this incredible Half-Pound Hot Dog!:

-soaked in some sort of apple cider situation
-nestled in a hot grilled bun
-grilled to order and split down the middle
-topped with condiments all made especially for this dog at this stand
homemade sweet fruit relish
beanless chili
onions
mustard
-wrapped well to travel and stayed hot.
-it costs $7 - but this was a hefty meal.
-it sits in front of the Katsiroubas Warehouse at 42 New Market Square in Roxbury.
-Cash only.
-they go down faster than you'd think


GO! (it looks like there is coupon on the website but it needs to be updated. ) NOW!

Catching up starting from when I carved it up!

I have been out of the habit of writing, things have been moving so fast!

I hosted my first Thanksgiving and then got caught up in life and fell of the blogging wagon.

My sisters came the night before and we had a fine time relaxing, setting the table, planning our quince theme thanksgiving - turkey basted with quince, butter and white wine; quince stuffing recipe we invented; quince cranberry tart from the cafe!

Family came later in the day with new recipes and old classics!

I think it was in general one of the least stressful holidays for everyone involved in a long time!





Here is a slice of the day and the first time I carved a turkey.




For the past two months I have been-
discovering new ways to be connected on the internet.
Visiting new and old cafe's.
Figuring out how to eat the best food on a more conservative budget.
taking a writing class.
growing at work.
working on recipes.
reorganizing...everything.


I am going to try to jump in again!

Oysters for always.

Last winter I read M.F.K. Fisher's seductive description of her first oyster at her all girl's boarding school Christmas party. I wished that I was excited by oysters so that I could appreciate the passage better.

Next it was oysters at Neptune for KH's birthday in March. Of course I couldn't meet her until after the oysters eaten and I missed the chance. I didn't think of anything of it then, having never had an oyster.

In June, we went to the third Franklin and at KH's urging I got an oyster with her and SEM, not wanting to be outdone or boring. My first oyster was exciting and fresh and unusual and perfect as I was dying for the weather to be hot enough to go body surfing in some Atlantic waves.

By mid July SEM and I had orchestrated a culinary camping trip (all the money was for the food) to Portland, Maine with JP and TM. The point was Fore Street (hopefully I will go again this winter and I will write about it - especially because it may have been the best meal of the season). Our reservations were for very late. We needed something to do in the mean time. JB had ordered oysters before I even realized it. Another mollusk down the hatch. I loved it but still didn't understand it.

Late in July GMA and I found ourselves on a beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, listening to a novel being read aloud by SEM whose protagonist was the best oyster shucker in her family's Whistable Oyster house. We were completely clueless to the fact that we were in WELLFLEET reading about the famous WHISTABLE oysters! In our fog about it all we didn't look for any. We just enjoyed the seals and whales we swam with.

In August SEM ate oysters in Oslo!



Later in my favorite month I had friends in from out of town and they wanted a good food treat on a Monday night. Perfect! We went back to Rialto and had a beautiful plate of 12 oysters on the half shell with four different and refreshing toppings. This was the first time I had more than one in a row. Each one a little rush.

October brought SEM to New Orleans, another town famous for the oyster, but had no time to squeeze a taste of them in. Ah, the good and bad of a business trip...She did find this postcard. At least this time she knew where she was in relation to a good oyster.

Last weekend an impromptu dinner at Rendezvous in central square with GMA and SEM led me to my most recent oysters. They were the highlight of the meal and from Wellfleet. This renewed my newly established longing for them.

I want to know what I missed at Neptune last spring. I want to experience B&G Oysters. I want more oysters. I want the thrill of each one.


Norway and Franklin oyster were photographed by sem.