Easter Chocolates are here

Easter Chocolates have arrived at Life By Chocolate.

Lafite Rothchild and Bertram Bloch.

We were happy and surprised when Bert Bloch, my music teacher from Elementary School and Junior High School, well, Middle School, called up to say he and his wife, Sharon, were going to be in the neighborhood. Sharon was at SUNY Stony Brook when I was there during my undergraduate and graduate years. We met, Bert, Sharon and me, one evening at a party in one of the dorms in Stony Brook. I had dragged my good friend Donna Lombardi along to this party and who was there but Bert Bloch. What a blast from the past.

Sharon, Bert, Kim, Mark.

It was great to get together with my old mentor. Bert was responsible for my love of wine and all things enological. He's also the reason I became an oenophile.

Bert and Sharon came over after they dropped Emma, their youngest daughter off at New Paltz. Kim cooked a wonderful meal and I pulled out the wine stops, as it were.

Bert and I went down into the cellar and chose two fabulous wines, a lovely Meursault, a 1er cru white Burgundy from Marquis d'Angerville, 1995, and a terrific first growth Bordeaux, Lafite Rothschild, Pauillac, 1995 as well. I was not worried about the Meursault at all, it was most probably ready but I was worried about the Lafite. I was wondering if it might be drinking. Sharon had never had a Lafite and I was curious about whether it was ready for wholesale drinking.



We started the evening with the white and some hard sausage and Roquefort. It was a marvelous pairing but I couldn't help think that I would have preferred having the cheese after dinner with an Yquem. We then switched to my Petite Saison d'Été and my peat smoked porter that I had made. The beers when well with the vinegary spinach salad with candied walnuts. I had decanted the Meursault and it was very tasty indeed.



When the main dish came along, sort of like a Chicken Française, but not as lemony, I uncorked the Lafite, forgot to decant it and had to run upstairs to get our Bordeaux wine glasses. Kim and I used to have all Riedel, Grand Cru, the big ones, wine glasses. But all we had left was a hodgepodge of glasses. I gave the one Riedel Bordeaux glass to Bert and the second best glass to Sharon. Kim and I had the other two. I wound up only decanting about a quarter of the bottle. Next time, I think I should decant the wine from the get go. In any case, it was beautiful.

Bert said, during the dinner that the bouquet of the wine said France to him. I thought the wine was lovely, very feminine but also very closed. It opened and changed throughout the evening. It had a slight vegetal nose, almost celery, but was pure silk on the finish with enough acid to refresh the palate. Delicious with a hint of tobacco, just a hint, and perhaps rose. I'll have to try a glass in about ten years, maybe twenty. It was that closed.

We had a great time talking about the "old days" and what was happening now. Kim and I enjoyed the evening. It was great for me to see my music teacher and to find out what he had been doing with himself. What more can one ask for? Great company, great food and wonderful wines.

Oh, and of course we talked about art. Bert's family was/is dedicated art collectors. We showed them our collection and talked about our two art school. This part of the evening was an eye opener for me. I hadn't even realized that Bert was interested in art, forget about collecting. There was more to Bert than just the cello. I originally started out playing the cello in third grade and later, in forth grade, switched to bass when the head of the orchestra said that he needed a bass player. I later came to regret my decision and went back to playing the cello and taking lessons. I always blamed the switch on Bert but as it turned out, he had yet come to the elementary school until a year after my horrible decision. Sorry Bert. There's more to people than we suspect.

For instance, one of the stories Bert shared was one time, when he was coming back from Europe with his father on a ship, he put notes in a bottle and corked them, taped them up and threw them overboard. Some were found and he heard from one young man and started writing to his new pen pal. In the end, it turned out that the boy didn't find the bottle but his younger sister but at that time, it was unseemly for a young man to be writing to a young teenage girl. So, her brother kept the correspondence and wrote what she told him to write. The great part was that one day, Bert, the bottle boy, met up with the brother and the sister.

They stayed the night and left the next day. Too bad that they couldn't have stayed another night. It would have been great to spend another day with Sharon and le garçon bouteille célèbres.

Oh, unfortunately, out camera lost the pictures that I had taken of each course. Sorry. I had to retake all the wine bottle pictures as well.



Next up, my adventures in cider.

Valentine's day is here.

We're making plenty of hearts and boxed chocolate in beautiful boxes. Please go to our Valentine's Gift Section on our website. Enjoy your chocolates.

Cherry Cordial Craziness! Organic, too

I've been making cherry cordials in all flavors, milk, dark and vegan. The vegan cordials use agave syrup and don't have alcohol. Order now.

I realize now I should have said Marzipan Madness and Cherry Cordial Craziness. But either way, enjoy your chocolate, Life by Chocolate, that is. Live a little.

Hudson River Valley Art Workshops filling up

So, if you are thinking of taking a painting class or an art quilting class, enroll sooner rather than later.

Marzipan Craziness! Organic no less.

I've been making marzipan like crazy. Large orders coming in left and right. So, if you've been thinking of getting some, do not wait. Order now.

Making Winter Chocolates

Making peanut praliné today. All organic. Made with organic peanuts and organic dark chocolate.



Chili chocolates on the left and cinnamon mocha on the right. Yummer.

Gloria Loughman's class

Gloria Loughman's class is wrapping up and people are already signing up for 2013. Can you beat that? If you missed the workshops this year, there's always 2013.

Sheep and Wool Festival, Fall Color, Harvest Distillery

Oh, yes, we had a very busy day and it wasn't all about chocolate this time. Though, at the Sheep and Wool Festival, Kim did get an Aztec hot chocolate. I got a soy latte. Mores the pity. The Aztec hot chocolate was pretty good. Taste Buds was a decent coffee and dessert venue.

We went to the amazing Sheep and Wool Festival, for Kim's photos go to Inn&Around. These are the highlights. We saw a lot of Sheep and Alpacas and Llamas, as well as some goats.

We also saw a lot of sheep.



I have a ton of pictures on Facebook. So, follow me on Facebook and you'll be able to see them all.

One of the highlights was the sheep shearing. Here's a sample video.



I hope that that works on Blogspot. It may not.



We also went to Golden Harvest Farms and the Harvest Distillery where they make wonderful Rare Pear Brandy, very expensive but worth every drop, as well as very nice Apple Jack, pretty good grappa, and a wild apple vodka, Core Vodka.





I tasted all of their products. The Grappa was good. The Apple Brandy, zero years old, was harsh but nice, the Pear Brandy reminded me of zero aged Scotch and I bought the very beautiful Core Vodka, made from apples, the Apple Jack, aged 1 year. I already have the Rare Pear, aged 2 years. Wonderful.



On the way back, we were treated to a wonderful fall colors display.

I am making a new truffle, Cinnamon Mocha! Yummer

It isn't yet on the website, I'm making them today. This will be fantastic. People have been buying our Tea Truffles and I thought, time to make a coffee truffle. This will have some Maracaibo coco nibs. These are vegan truffles, the only kind of truffle we make.

They are made with 72% Organic Dark Vegan Chocolate coverture, the highest quality chocolate and you'll say it is the best you've ever had. It contains wonderful natural coffee and is covered with a blend of organic Sucanat ("Sucre de canne naturel") sugar, Maracaibo cocoa nibs, and organic cinnamon. This big and beautiful handmade vegan truffle is made without animal products or by-products. Very rich and very intense.

Sucanat sugar has a rich molasses taste. This truffle is sweet without being overly sweet and has a strong mocha flavor. Kim calls it the Caffeine Punch! Enjoy the flavors and live a little.

Just a quick note to tell you about recipes

If you click the recipe link you don't seem to get all the recipes. So, if you want eggnog, search or click on that link. And so on.

Due to Hurricane Irene

We are a little late on making Halloween Confections but only for wholesale. We are open for retail purchases for cats.

Life by Chocolate is still here.

We survived the flooding of Tropical Storm Irene with some damage but chocolate production has not slowed. Even though we had and still have some major clean up to do, the flooding has not affected production or quality.

This is our creek. This is our creek on Irene! Any questions. Enjoy the video. I think the creek saved us. It provided great drainage. Plus it helped that we didn't get that much rain.



So, go to Life By Chocolate and get your favorite confections now. Thank you for your support. It means a lot to us.

Our hearts and wishes go out to everyone in Greene County and the surrounding counties. It's been a rough couple of days here in the Catskill and Capital Region.

On side note, we've been having problems with our blog and this is the default template. I hope to get our blog back up and looking pretty in the next few days.

New Porch? No, a new old porch

Life By Chocolate and the Greenville Arms porch got a face lift. We have struggled, over the years, with a cracking porch floor. As soon as the porch was painted, it would start cracking. This year, we decided to strip the porch completely and then paint it.



However, during the stripping and sanding process, we saw that the wood under the porch was magnificent and beautiful. We still have not positively identified the wood but we have some guesses and they include, mahogany, yellow pine, maple, white spruce, white fir and fir.

Here's a close up of the wood, take a guess yourself. Both of these shots are after sanding, the light is a little darker on the second picture.





Mahogany is a typical deck wood and so I'm going to stick with mahogany because this deck is in great shape and the pine stairs had to be replaced. If anyone has a guess, or better, actually knows what wood this is, please comment.



After stripping the porch flooring, we realized that we had a treasure on our hands and decided not to paint.



The polyester deck paint that we had was just horrible. Battleship gray is not my favorite color. So, we decided to stain the porch using a Sweet Rose Red stain, semi-transparent to show the grain, age and various imperfections in the wood; good choice that. I think our painters were relieved that we chose to stain it. After all their labors, we could not cover up this beautiful wood.



Now, we have a new porch. The whole porch and surrounds have been painted and the stairs have been fixed. It feels like a new inn; simply beautiful.

Broccoli Soup Recipe

This soup too is easy. And it is almost exactly like the Cauliflower Soup Recipe. The only difference is you need to use 3/4's broccoli and 1/4 cauliflower.

Step 1. Dice some onions and sauté.
Step 2. Cut the flowers only from the cauliflower and broccoli. Use 3/4s portion of broccoli and 1/4 portion of cauliflower.
Step 3. Barely cover the onion and the cauliflower with vegetable stock. Add garlic to taste. This last step is optional. If you use a prepared vegetable stock or broth, you may not need to add salt. If you have fresh stock, then salt to taste.
Step 4. Cook for 1 hour at a simmer, no longer.
Step 5. Blend in a blender until smooth. This takes a long time. I blend for about 10-15 minutes. I like to add some white pepper corns. I add 5-10 for about 3 gallons. You can add 1 or 2 and taste. You can always add more but you can't take away.

Then keep t he soup warm until you are ready to serve. And remember, the better your stock, the better the soup. I serve with a paprika garnish. I use sweet smoked paprika. I already published this soup recipe.

Cauliflower Soup Recipe

This soup is so easy.

Step 1. Dice some onions and sauté.

Step 2. Cut the flowers only from the cauliflower. Sauté the cauliflower in olive oil. Finish with butter if you wish.

Step 3. Barely cover the onion and the cauliflower with vegetable stock. Add garlic to taste. This last step is optional. If you use a prepared vegetable stock or broth, you may not need to add salt. If you have fresh stock, then salt to taste.

Step 4. Cook for 1 hour at a simmer, no longer. I usually cook it for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

Step 5. Blend in a blender until smooth. This takes a long time. I blend for about 10-15 minutes. I like to add some white pepper corns. I add 5-10 for about 3 gallons. You can add 1 or 2 and taste. You can always add more but you can't take away.

Then keep the soup warm until you are ready to serve. And remember, the better your stock, the better the soup. I serve with a paprika garnish. I use sweet smoked paprika. I already published this soup recipe. Or go to this page for the original recipe.

Bottling the Sack Mead and then corking it.

Oh what fun we had. I lost the connecting tube for the bottler but cut some of my racking tube and used that. You've seen the pictures so I wont bore you with the details. Here's the porter bottling. And here is the dry mead bottling. You've seen one, you've seen them all. The new thing for this bottling was I used wine bottles and I used real honest to goodness cork. Here's me bottling.



And here is me corking like a fiend.





And we are DONE!! Look at that nicely corked bottle. I got a few muffin tops but I'll just hammer them in with a rubber mallet.



The essence of bottling, this time, is the corking. And this is my hand corker. I may need a Portuguese Floor Corker if I get into making mead, which is very possible. This sweet mead, with lovely flavor, came out to an impressive 9.51% alcohol content. It's a beautiful Sack Mead. I'm laying this one down for ages.

Bitter and Esters (formerly The City Brewshop)

No this isn't about a Folies Bergère star performer but rather this is about my brother John's new store for all things alcoholic. Or rather for all things about making alcoholic beverages. It used to be called The City Brewshop but they changed it to Bitter and Esters.

700 Washington Ave, in Brooklyn NY.
Phone: 917.596.7261

It's an amazing space. Beautiful! And they crammed it will all the things you will need to make, bottle and enjoy your beer, wine or mead. And take it from me, it's worth making your own bear or mead or even wine. They also have a great space for teaching classes. So, if you aren't a beer, wine or mead maker, you can become one.



John is on the left and Douglas, the other owner, and the mead, cider and wine expert, is on the right. John is the beer expert. Carla, John's main squeeze, is in the middle.

Founders.

They even have a cool basement. I was not allowed to take pictures. Hush, hush, big secret plans for the basement. They have a patio too, which is amazing for Brooklyn.



But I did sneak a picture of their grain storage bin. They're putting in some organic dark chocolate that I brought into the bin for safe keeping.



One reason I went was to visit my brother and Carla as well as to see their new shop. They had a soft opening. The other reason that I went to Brooklyn was to pick up bottling material for bottling my mead.



I listened to Doug and I bought the white champagne caps to go with the champagne bottles I had gotten and I also bought some corks to bottle the still mead and a corker to put the corks in. I also bought baskets for the champagne bottling.



What fun. I tried the mead, this is the high alcoholic, not sweat mead, mine is somewhere around 10% Though it may be as high as 11.5%. I'm hoping that 10% is enough alcohol to keep the mead from turning. We'll see. I may have put in too much water on start up. But even so, the mead tastes pretty good. The Sack Mead, which I'll be bottling soon, is much better.



I was going to try and use my 29mm caps but the capper I have is strictly for beer bottles. If I'm going to make Champagne or sparkling wine, methode Champenoise, or very sparkling mead, I'm going to have to get another capper.

New Recipe Post on Inn-And-Around

Kim has posted her pancake muffins on Inn and Around. Enjoy it.

Steampunk

I am beginning to think people have the wrong idea about Steampunk. It's not a fashion movement nor is it putting together interesting and fun objects with brass fittings, though by all means, enjoy doing that and have fun. Rather, I look at Steampunk as imagining a world that starts in the mid 1850s to 1900s, with all the technology of that error and try to create today's society by branching that timeline and avoiding all the advances in physics and perhaps biology and chemistry that occurred in the twentieth century. Though the parameters have to be nailed down somewhat, this wouldn't include say, Steampunk lightsabers but rather, would include, say, a steam powdered analog computer, no solid state. Or perhaps an electro-mechanical computer, like the mark 5 that is steam powered, or a combination of electrical and steam power. Or it could be a completely mechanical computer, powered manually or physically. And by all means, don't spare the brass fittings.

The important thing is, where are you branching, before or after electricity? And what are you avoiding in this, our current, time line wrt ideas and technology? What would the political landscape look like? What would the dress code be? What would technology look like? Would it be more biologically based or more manually based?

Hollywood Magic : Me jumping in the pool

Using the Magic of Hollywood and good illusory narrative, here is me jumping in the pool doing a cannonball. This is completely fake. Just another bit of camera magic direct from Greenvillewood.











Remember, no running or jumping in or around the pool area.

Cha siu bao (叉燒包) recipe

This is not a steam bun recipe but rather baked. Here is the steamed bun recipe or part of it, that we used when making the beef bao. Rather, this is a baked bao recipe. However, you can use the roast pork filling with the above steamed bun recipe as well.

This is Nancy's recipe bun recipe. Nancy is my sous chef, for those new to this blog. And the filling and roast pork recipes are Kim's recipes. There they are all together to make cha siu bao (叉燒包), a childhood treat. If you want them plain, then just don't fill them. I just had a nice egg sandwich using the plain bao.

1/4 cup warm water
1 T sugar
1 1/2 T dry active yeast (1 commercial packet)
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups bread flour
1 cup and 2 T milk warm
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup 1 T sugar
3 T unsalted butter softened
1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 T water

2 eggs well beaten

Combine the water 1 T sugar and yeast and dissolve. Set aside some place warm to let bubble.

Stir the flours together. Combine the yeast mixture, warm milk the remainder of the sugar, butter and yolk mixture until well blended. Then stir the flour mixture into the result, one-half at a time and mix until you have a soft dough, about 3 mins. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm location. Let the dough rise for about 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Turn the down out onto a floured cutting board and with a sharp knife divide the dough into 15 roughly equal pieces. Roll a piece of dough out onto piece of dough out a floured work surface to a 4-inch circle. Place 11/2 T of the pork filling in the center of the dough. Gather up the edges of the dough over the filling and twist them down to seal. Place the bun seam side down on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat.

Brush tall exposed surfaces of the buns with the beaten eggs. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes. Serve warm if possible. They're also good cold or you can heat them up in the microwave in 20 seconds.

Cha siu bao (叉燒包) recipe -- Roast Pork Filling

Step two of the Cha Siu Bao recipe.

This is my wife's recipe and usually my sous chef Nancy make this for me. Last year we did steamed bao containing beef short ribs.

First roast the pork as directed. Then make the filling by combining the following ingredients with a whisk.

1/2 cup chicken broth
2 T oyster sauce
2 T ketchup
5 t granulated sugar
4 t cornstarch
1 T dark soy sauce
1/2 t salt
1/4 t white pepper

Then prep

1 small onion (diced 1/2 cup)
1T Shaoxing rice wine
11/2 sesame oil

Next mince the roast pork to make about 1 1/2 cups or 6 oz. Heat a wok or pan on high for 30 seconds and add peanut oil to coat. When it just starts smoking, add the onion and reduce the heat to medium. Cook until brown. Then add the wine. Stir well.

Pour in the sauce that make and stir until mixture thickens, about 3-4 minutes. Add the sesame oil and mix well. Refridgerate. The filling may be made in advance.

Cha siu bao (叉燒包) recipe -- The Roast Pork

This is for the roast pork you need to put inside the bun. This will make a lot of buns or you can use it as part of another dish.

Step one of the Cha Siu Bao recipe.

For the roast pork

1 2lb bonless pork loin roast
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup oyster sauce (you can pick this up at almost any supermarket or Chinese market)
1/4 cup hoisin sauce (you can pick this up at almost any supermarket or Chinese market)
3 1/2 tbs double dark soy sauce. You can make this by reducing regular soy sauce by 1/2.
3 1/2 tbs regular soy sauce
3 tbs Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing)
1 2/4 tsp Chinese five-spice power
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Combine the honey, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing, double dark soy sauce, soy sauce, and the Chinese five spice powder, 1/2 tsp salt and a 1/4 tsp of ground white pepper in a bowl and power over the meat to coat well. Refridgerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Pre oven to 450F. But the meat on a baking sheet, line with foil if you wish, and bake. Spoon the marinade over the pork and roast until it reaches an internal temperature of 30-40 degrees. During the baking process, baste the meat from the pan at least 4 times.

Next, if you have a broiler, broil the meat until it has a char for flavor. About 2 mins. Let the pork cool and refrigerate until you are ready to use for the bao (bun) filling.

Nashville Wraps: Another Story about LIfe By Chocolate

Nashville Wraps, a wonderful company that sells packaging products, did a blog post about our workshops, inn, and chocolate businesses!

Enjoy.

Secondary Fermentation for the Mead Big Step

It's simple you rack the mead into a secondary glass carboy and you put the rubber stopper in and that's it. Well, it may sound simple but it isn't. As you can see by the pictures, we did this in the basement in the laundry room. Lots of space and I don't have to carry a slippery glass carboy weighing a ton up and and especially back down the stairs. The basement is nice a cool.

I lost the stopper into the mead and didn't have an extra. So, always buy at least 2 extra. Also, if you want the stopper to stay down in the mead, you make sure it is BONE DRY. Kim found this out by looking on the internet. She's a lifesaver. Also, when you put the stopper on, if you have to lock in the stopper, take off the top and the bell, put the stopper in and then put the lock back together. If you do that, everything will be very simple. I screwed up on the Dry Mead, which doesn't taste anywhere near as good as the Sack Mead which I did like clockwork.



I also used a little duct tape to hope the stopper down. I hope this doesn't contaminate anything. John suggested aluminum foil. Well, I don't think the duct tape will be any more contaminating than the open air.

More mistakes. On the Dry Mead, I had way too much mead, about 16 oz more than I should have. On the sweet mead, I had too little, about 32 oz too little. I used water on the latter and drank the former. I just hope this works out.

I filled the carboy up to the tippy top leaving only a 1/2 inch for the collection of CO2.

I didn't use any fining agent, egg whites, clay or anything like that. I just hope it clarifies. The Sack (Sweet) Mead is a lot clearer than the Dry Mead

Next day. The mead is fermenting like crazy and the mead is up in the lock. The pressure is very high and it forced the mead up into the airlock.