Mark's Killer Eggnog Recipe

Here is my wonderful and tasty killer eggnog recipe. This makes about 5 cups of nog.

Ingredients
6 eggs
1 cup fine rum (I used Bacardi 8 year old rum. You can just use Bacardi dark.)
1/2 cup confectioners (10X) sugar
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Nutmeg to grate over the top of the drink.

This is very simple. First separate the eggs.



And remember to separate them into the right bowls. As you can see here, I separated the yolks into my little 5 qt Kitchenaid bowl and the whites into my big mixing bowl.



I tried to compensate by using my handy dandy immersion blender but no go. So, I washed out the mixing bowl and did a switcheroo. Ah, bliss. Soft peaks here we come. This is definitely going to be a skiing year.





How did I make this mistake? Well, that's easy. Normally, I whip my eggs in my big copper bowl with a whisk. So, while on automatic, I simply do what I always do, put the egg whites into the big bowl. No, I'm not color blind.

Once you've straighten out the bowl arrangements, mix the rum into the egg yolks and let sit in the refrigerator while whipping the egg whites with the confectioners sugar until you get soft peaks.



Next combine the heavy cream the egg yolk mixture.



As you can see, thinking that the immersion blender would do the trick, I combined the cream into the mixture before I did the switcheroo. Next time, I'll abort and switch earlier. Anyway, then fold in the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture.



Now ladle into your serving cups



and grate some nutmeg on top, or not. Kim doesn't like the nutmeg so I leave it off for her.



Now, off to roast chestnuts and watch Fanny och Alexander. Enjoy your nog.

The Traditional Trimming of the Tree

While my older brother Randy is off in Australia in the middle of a Chinese eating and drinking fest and waiting his turn at karaoke and majiang, we have been trimming the tree.

Here's how we do it. First, I make pastries. Second, Kim puts out the crackers from heaven, cheese and pâte and we eat said aforementioned and drink my spectacular and potent eggnog. Here are the pictures.



Crackers of the Gods with some pâte and cheese.






While I'm making the pastries, see previous posts for my recipe, and making the eggnogs (I'll try and post the recipe tomorrow), Kim is putting on the lights. She insists. Note the Dalmatian lights.



And then we put on the ornaments, trying not to drink too much eggnog and fall down.



We got these first two in Vienna or somewhere in Austria. Probably at a Kristkindlmarkt (Advent Market) in Austria.

I think I have a mug from every Glühwein stall in Austria. Rum and Hot Chocolate stalls too.







Now we are going to continue our traditional James Bond Marathon with Tomorrow Never Dies. Tomorrow we'll be opening presents and also watching Fanny och Alexander. I can hardly wait. Now, time to go to the upstairs parlor and revel.

Chaussons Aux Pommes (Apple Turnovers) - Step 3

The final step in our wonderful Cherry and Apricot Turnovers. I made some with apple-butter but I do not think those will turn out well. To be on time for our Christmas Eve tree trimming tradition, I rushed and left out a couple of steps. Much better if you do not do that.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Then continue.

First thing to do is roll out the puff paste. Now I use my bench scraper, my dough knife to cut the size squares that I needed. It was easier that way. That means these turnovers will be a good size. Chill the squares for about 1 hour. Do not stack them but wrap them and leave them on your sheet pan. Don't let them touch. You can get away with 20 minutes if you don't have time but do chill them.



Next, brush the INTERIOR of the dough with an egg wash, that's an egg mixed with water. Do not brush the edges. Leave then naked.



Then fill the interior of the square with your mixture. If you did not add the liquor and overcooked the sugar, chip out the mixture and lay it in the center of the dough.



Then fold into a triangle and press the edges together. Use a fork to make a seal all around the edges. I cut both perfect squares as well as odd shapes. Do the best you can with the odd shaped ones. If you don't want to use the odd shaped ones, you can trim your dough before you start cutting.



Then put the square into the fridge for 30 minutes. When they have chilled, take out, dip them into sugar and put on a baking sheet. Brush with the egg wash and bake 20 minutes at 400F, turn turn down to 350F and bake for 25 more minutes.



Or if you want you can brush with the wash and sprinkle the sugar over the turnovers. Either way. Do not over fill or they will explode and don't forget to press hard when sealing them. However, even if they explode, they'll still taste great.

If you do it right, they'll look like this...

ooh, aaah....

and if you rush, like I did tonight, they'll look like this....

Still a big yummer.

And let me tell you, I've had both and I love them, So no worries if they explode, you'll have to eat those and serve the better looking ones to your guests.

Chaussons Aux Pommes (Apple Turnovers) - Step 2

Who are we kidding? There isn't an apple in site. These are definitely cherry and apricot turnovers. I started out with the idea of using apple butter as the filling since Kim gets jars and jars of the stuff from her mom. She grew up on it. I will attempt to use it but in the meantime, let's talk filling.

To make the filling first we need the ingredients.

Ingredients Cherry

1 cup dried cherries whole
2 T butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 t salt (I like to mix my salt and sugar together.)
Cognac (I started out with my cherries already soaked in Cognac.)
Green Pepper to taste

Ingredients Apricot

1 cup dried apricot diced
2 T butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 t salt
Grand Marnier (I started out with my cherries already soaked in Grand Marnier.)
Green Pepper to taste

I saute the fruit in the butter until tender in the liquor.



Basically, when it starts turning color your good to go. About 5-10 minutes.



I do this on high flame and stir. Next I add the sugar and salt and cook it for about 3 more minutes.



I then add some green pepper.



This is optional but do it, you'll love it. This mixture then has to cool before you use it. Enjoy. That's it. Unless you want to use the apple butter you are done. If you want to use the apple butter get the jar out and let it warm up.

Chaussons Aux Pommes (Apple Turnovers) - Step 1

Actually, I'll be making Chaussons aux Cerises, that is, the same thing with cherries and also with apricot and I'm going to try it with Kim's favorite apple butter.

Step 1 is making the puff paste. Not that hard but it will take some patience. Here is how I was taught. I had thought I'd put this recipe up here already but I can't find it so here it is.

Ingredients -
3 cups AP or Bread Flour
1 cup pastry flour
1 t salt
2 t lemon juice, I use fresh
1 1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons butter

1 pound of butter (take this out to warm up. It needs to be chill but workable.) The best thing to do is use your rolling pin to knead and pound the butter into a nice flat cake shape. Working it like this will warm it up. I like to warm it by putting it in the microwave for 30 second and then leaving it out for 20 mins.

I first blend the flours and salt. Then I add 1 cup of water to the mixture and the lemon juice. I use a 20 qt mixer with a paddle. Then I add the butter a little bit at a time and continuing adding the rest of the water until I get a smoothish dough.

Knead for 8 minutes. I normally do this on medium. My mixer has 1, 2 or 3. Three is an airplane taking off. It's very fast and I mostly use it for brioche. If you are kneading this by hand, make a well, pour in the 1 cup of water and the lemon juice stir and then knead violently. Pound it for 8 minutes. As soon as you have a smooth elastic dough, wrap in plastic and let sit in the fridge for 20 minutes to rest. If you have the time, let this rest 2 hours.

The next step is to roll out the dough as thin as you possibly can. I like to put a little bit of flour on my steel tables and roll it out. Remember, always roll from the middle and only in one direction. When you are done with the first half, flip it over and roll out the other half. You can roll the dough in the width direction if you need to. By one direction I mean, from the middle out and always away from your body.

Once you have it rolled out, put the butter cake in the middle and then fold all the corners up and fold again until you get a nice square and the butter is completely covered. Rolls this out and then do a book fold. That is, fold so that both ends overlap in the center. Rap and put in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes to rest. By the way, if your kitchen is hot, good luck. It's easier to do this on steel or marble. I use a marble rolling pin. You can put your marble in the fridge between folds if your kitchen is hot.

Sorry, I didn't take any picture because I wasn't going to go into detail about making puff paste. I was just going to say, make or buy puff paste and leave it at that but I had a change of heart and decided to give you the full magilla. You can still go out and buy the puff paste. Making päte feuillettée is a challenge.

OK. Secrets time. One of the most important things is, at each stage of the 4 or 5 folds you will be doing is to have it square at the end. Let me show you. When you take your paste out of the fridge is should look thusly...



As you can see, I've already done the covering of the butter and the first fold. Then I roll out.



Now, secret two is, roll out the dough as thin as you can without getting any bubbles or tears. However, if you do tear or get popped bubbles do not worry. Just repair what you can and fold. Depending on how bad it looks, you may want to throw a little and I mean a little flour on the popped dough or if butter squishes out.



I always lightly dust my table top and again I mean lightly. Notice in this picture I got it pretty thin. If I had the time or was making this for my guests, I would have gotten it even thinner. But this is thin enough. It's about 1/8 inch.



Now we fold.



If you do a book fold, that is in 3, with both ends overlapping in the center, then you need to do 5 folds. I normally do a book fold and turn the book sideways and fold up the ends to meet in the center. If you do this, all you need is 3 or 4 folds.



And remember, make sure you end up with a square look to your folded dough.



Then wrap in plastic, I reuse the plastic, and put into the fridge for 20 mins. Repeat.



When you are done, fold and then let rest in the fridge for at least 3 hours, overnight is better. OK. Maybe you can cheat with only 2 or 1, if you want to be a hot dog. Enjoy your puff paste.

What to do with it next. Making cream puffs is easier. Maybe you should go read that post. You can make those in time for Christmas or even Christmas Eve.

Are there Protector Wines, Randy?

Yes, Randy, @TheWineWhore, there are protector wines and they are good. They exist as certainly as love of and generosity towards and devotion to wine exist and you know they abound and give longevity to your collection. Alas! How dry we would be if there were no protector wines in the world. Have faith! Protector wines are not to cheat your friends or yourself out of your sacred collection but to protect it from folly and whim.

Everyone has some protector wines and as a matter of fact, some people have protector cigars. What's a protector wine? A protector wine is the wine that does the heavy lifting. It's your day-to-day wine that can be drunk with your pizza or with your Uncle Harry who isn't going to notice if you pull out a 1989 La Tâche or a decent Chianti. Proctor wines allow you to reserve your 1990 d'Yquem or Climens or great Ice Wine for those special anniversaries or occasions but still gives you the pleasure of drinking good wine.

When we were moving from California to New York, I told my good friend Gregg to pick any bottle from my collection and we'd drink it together before Kim and I left. He chose a 1989 La Tâche. I blanched but, because these wines are for drinking, we did drink it together on our last night in Los Altos. Gregg, who is a Burgundy lover, said it was the best wine he had ever drunk. Personally, I think La Tâche trumps even Romani Conti. The four of us drank heaven in a bottle. We shared it with our wives, even joyously. What did we have for dinner? Hint, potatoes were involved.

I have a whole slew of protector wines for my private collection but that doesn't stop me from drinking my most cherished wines. As a matter of fact, sometimes my protector wines are as good as the wines from the sanctum sanctorum and in rare cases, better and most of the time just as expensive. My private collection is private and in many cases old and rare. But that's easy for me to do because I have a restaurant with an extensive collection of great wines.

In terms of your average wine drinker, protector wines are vin de table protecting that special gift from Uncle Joe who bought you a 1994 Taylor port to put away for another 10 years.

No Protector Wines! Thank Bacchus they live and live forever. Ten years from now, Randy, nay, two times ten years from now, that 1994 Fonseca, perfectly aged, will make glad your heart and please your palate.

Still Time to get your Chocolate Orders in

Just go to Life by Chocolate and order your Christmas and New Year's Chocolates.

Art classes and Fiber art classes are filling fast.

Time to enroll in art classes and fiber art classes for 2010. Get those enrollments in.

Beacon Natural Market is Welcome to Life By Chocolate

Please go to Beacon New York and buy of the the Christmas Chocolates that they have from Life By Chocolate. They have boxed chocolate and a host of assorted good things to eat.

Beacon Natural Market
348 Main Street
Beacon NY 12508
Phone 845-838-1288

Please support the store that support Life, Life By Chocolate that is. Go there and buy them out of all the LBC products that they stock. Enjoy. Live a little with Life By Chocolate and Beacon Natural Market.

Welcome Green Pea Market and Cafe to LBC

Another wonderful store in New York, the Green Pea Market and Cafe in Greenwich, NY. Please go there and buy your Holiday Chocolates. Thank you.

Green Pea Market & Cafe
70 Main Street
Greenwich, NY 12834
Phone 518 692 2103

Please go there and get your Christmas chocolate and some of our wonderful bars. Best in the biz. Enjoy yourself and live a little with Life By Chocolate and Green Pea Market and Cafe.

Another Ohio Store for LBC, yes!

Now you can also go to the Clintonville Community Market for your chocolate fix.

Clintonville Community Market
210 Crestview Road
Columbus, Ohio 43202
Phone 614-261-3663

Please go there and get your Christmas Chocolates as well as our terrific Chocolate Bars and tell them Mark sent you. Or you could just say you were there to get a Life, Life By Chocolate, that is. Please support this wonderful Ohio Store. Go now and prosper.

Winter Wonderland...

These first two pictures are from the first snow.




More than a foot and still climbing...





I'll be skiing, Kim by the fire...

Virginia Garden Organic Grocery and LBC

What could be a better combination? I can't think of one. So, please, if you live in Virginia Beach, you now know where to go for the best chocolate ever and anywhere.

Virginia Garden Organic Grocery
3640 Dam Neck Road
Virginia Beach, VA 23453
Phone 747-427-0378

So, please support this store and be full of Life, Life By Chocolate that is.

Welcome Health Beat Natural Foods

One more jewel in the NY crown, Health Beat Natural Foods is a terrific place to buy your holiday chocolates because they are full of Life, Life By Chocolate that is.

Health Beat Natural Foods
214 Main Street
Johnson City, NY 13790

Johnson City can be proud of this store and can also be very happy to have Life By Chocolate. So, go and buy. Support our wonderful independent stores.

Welcome Blue Hill Co-op

And what a fine store it is. Please go to Blue Hill Co-op and get your holiday chocolates there. They have a fine selection of our dark and milk chocolates.

Blue Hill Co-op
4 Ellsworth Rd.
Blue Hill, ME 04614
Phone 207-374-2165

If it's chocolate you want, you've come to the right place and now Blue Hill is carrying our chocolate. Another store for wonderful Maine.

Welcome Mustard Seed Market and Cafe to LBC

Another great Ohio store joins the Life By Chocolate family and we are very happy to have them. Please go to this store and buy your chocolates, especially Life By Chocolate.

Mustard Seed Market & Cafe
6025 Kruse Drive
Solon, OH 44139
Phone 440-519-3663

They have Christmas and Vegan chocolates from your favorite chocolatier, Life By Chocolate. Isn't Ohio lucky to have these great stores? Support Mustard Seed Market and Cafe.

Our first Florida Store, Ever'man Natural Foods

Welcome, Ever'man Natural Foods to Life By Chocolate. They are getting a bunch of our Christmas chocolates including the 4oz Santas. Wow. Please go to Ever'man Natural Foods and buy some Life By Chocolate. Live a little.

Ever'man Natural Foods
315 West Garden St
Pensacola, FL 32502
Phone (850) 438-0402

They have great stocking stuffer gifts and of course the best chocolate in the universe. Please go and shop there. It's the only place in Florida where you can get Life By Chocolate. This is our first Florida store. It's the vanguard. On the cutting edge of culinary delight. Enjoy Life, especially with Life By Chocolate.

Welcome Whole Foods Cooperative

Indeed, please go and get your dark chocolate Santas, makes a great stocking stuffer, at the Whole Foods Cooperative in Erie PA. They are now part of the Life By Chocolate family. Enjoy the best chocolate and confections from LBC.

Whole Foods Cooperative
1341 West 26th St.
Erie, PA 16508
Phone 814-456-0282

Please go and support this great cooperative. Indeed, everyone should be eating whole foods and good foods but do spice it up with a little bit of chocolate. Enjoy life, especially Life By Chocolate.

Welcome Feel RIte to LBC

I'd like to welcome Feel Rite to the Life By Chocolate family. Please go there and get your chocolate.

Feel Rite
6000 S Park Ave
Hamburg, NY 14075
Phone 716-649-6694

THey have our Christmas collection and other great stocking stuffers. Please go to this great store and get a life, Life By Chocolate that is. Enjoy your chocolate, especially if it's Life By Chocolate.

Christmas Time in the Country

Enter the magic land of Life By Chocolate and see a sampling of Life By Chocolate's new offerings and some old favorites.

I'm going to start you off nice and easy with some simple caramels and our reformulated peanut butter bites.

First the caramels....

Plain...




Our new pumpkin pie caramels, these are decorated for Halloween but we're still selling the ones with the pumpkin decorations. It's fall after all.



And now for the new peanut butter cups. These are now peanut praliné and very, very yummy.



Heavenly.

Next we have one of my favorite chocolates, my orange cinnamon with 25 year old balsamic vinegar. I've been experimenting with 10 year old to see if I could get more punch.



Then we have some seasonal pumpkin ganache, made with pumpkin and wrapped in milk chocolate. Unlike the pumpkin pie caramel, which has the same spice mix that I use in my world famous pumpkin pies, this confection actually contains pumpkin.



We've decided to make the cats year round, not just for Halloween. People love them. We have them in Vegan, Dark, Milk and of course a beautiful White.



Plenty of pumpkin trios left and they're on sale. The orange one has toasted hazelnut marzipan in the middle.



Moving more towards Christmas and Winter, let's start off with our beautiful Hot Chocolate, chocolate ganache on the bottom, cinnamon marshmallow in top, enrobed in dark chocolate and then topped with white chocolate shavings. Hmm. What a treat for sitting around the fire. There's no way to spill these Hot Chocolates.

Melts in your mouth not on Mom's carpets or wood floors.

Next, we have our trees and presents, Vegan, Dark and Milk Chocolate,



And who delivers these wonderful presents but Santa. Our new Santa Faces. These little four inch treats are solid Vegan, Dark, or Milk chocolate. A super stocking stuffer.



And finally, we have our 24 piece, 12 piece and our 9 piece sets. Here's the 12 piece in holiday boxes.These come in Vegan, Dark and Mixed Chocolate.

The Vegan Chocolate Box contains cherry cordials, almond and cranberry, tamarind and agave, and a solid piece of 72% organic and fair trade vegan dark chocolate heaven. The organic and fair trade Dark Chocolate Box contains peppermint cordial, maple cream, cherry cordials and a solid piece of 73% heaven. The Mixed Chocolate Box contains peppermint cordial and maple cream in organic and fair trade dark chocolate and cherry cordials and the solid in wonderful Swiss milk chocolate.




A big yum in a beautiful box.

Fall Colors Redux -- Wowza

It was hard to pick and choose which photos to put into this post. This fall, the colors were electric and, I know it's trite, but the pictures hardly do the trees and bushes justice.

On with the show....







I've got chills. I wish you could have been here.




These photos are just not as good after uploading. Sigh.

Yes, I know. I live in paradise. And all these years, I thought California was paradise.

Next up, chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate. Christmas Time in the Country...

Fall Colors at Life By Chocolate at the Greenville Arms

More to come.

Rappahannock Cellars, Welcome

Rappahannock Cellars now carries your favorite chocolate, Life By Chocolate. So get some wine and get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is. I recommend their 2006 Meritage or the 2008 Norton with Bee's Knees and Red Dog respectively. If your a club member, you can't go wrong with their port.


Rappahannock Cellars
14437 Hume Road
Huntly, VA 22670
Phone 540-635-9398

Go now, buy some and live a little.

Welcome to The Conglomerate

Please help us welcome, by buying up their Life By Chocolate, the Conglomerate. They have bars and boxes of chocolates.

The Conglomerate
331 Main Street.
Middleburgh New York, 121222
Phone 518-827-6696

This is a great store in a beautiful town. Please visit the Conglomerate and welcome them to the Life By Chocolate family by buying our great chocolate there. Enjoy Life, Life By Chocolate that is.

Rainbow Grocery Coop is now one of US

Please help me welcome Rainbow Grocery Coop in San Francisco. Now, all you San Franciscans can get your chocolate fix, your vegan chocolate fix, next week at this great store.

Rainbow Grocery Coop

1745 Folsom Street

San Francisco, CA 94103

Phone 415-863-0620

Please help me welcome them by buying all the Vegan Cats that they ordered. Go now and enjoy your chocolate. Come on vegan's get some Life, Life by Chocolate, that is.

Rebecca's Natural Food is down with Life by Chocolate

I'd like to welcome this great store to our family of stores. Rebecca's now carries Life by Chocolate. Please go there an buy your chocolate.

Rebecca's Natural Food

1141 Emmet Street

Charlottesville, VA 22903

Phone 434-977-1965

Do you need Halloween chocolates, Rebecca's is the place for this perfect treat. Please go today.

Welcome Everything Natural Under the Sun

And now they have Life. Life by Chocolate that is. We'd like to welcome this wonderful store in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Please go and buy your chocolates there.

Everything Natural Under the Sun

3415 Pleasant Valley Blvd

Altoona, PA 16602

Phone 814-943-6330

Please go and have fun at this great store.

Oo la la! and a 4 day Chocolate Class in Chicago!

Oo la la!

Yum la la!


Didn't know I spoke French that well, did you? Oo la la! Well, I don't. Completely out of practice. (Though I did get to practice my Spanish while attending the class.)

What I did was go for a 4 day class at the French Pastry School in Chicago. It was an adventure and a half. The class was chock full of notables, Fran and son from Fran's Chocolate, a woman from Ethel's Chocolate (upscale Mars, Inc. chocolates), a chef from the SF Hilton and a host of people who either owned their own chocolate shops or worked for (LARGE) companies who owned chocolate shops, example, Kohler. (I shit you not. Sorry, Karen, I couldn't resist. $-)

Fran and her son, Dylan. What nice people.

The whole class minus Dimitri, our translator. Everyone was grand.

For many of us in the class, it was a fine tuning or a refresher and for others a pleasant way to spend a week. In other words, a boondoggle. For your intrepid chocolatier, it was a chance to see what the French are doing plus extend my knowledge about this very large and rich subject.

The class was taught by the amazing Franck Kestener, MOF, the youngest person to be named Best Artisan in France for Chocolate. Franck treats every chocolate he makes as if he is in a competition. This level of excellence is breath taking. I learned some great technique from him as well as some wonderful business ideas. (Sshhh! No telling.) And of course, I have immediately applied many of the techniques to my chocolate making. Making my already beautiful chocolates even that much more lovely.

Look at all that space behind Chef Franck. I could start 5 businesses in that space. Sigh. $-)

And helping as translator and assistant, the wonderful and very funny Dimitri Fayard, World Champion 2008. Both of these gentlemen were not only talented but also very personable. If you ever get a chance to take a class by either of these two, do it. Dimitri is on the right. I can't find a picture of him without Franck.

Dimitri actually used the phrase, Oo la la!, in context, naturally and spontaneously. First time I have ever heard this used outside of the movies. Dimitri made this special class even more, well, special.



What did we do? The first 5 hours of each day except for the last, Franck demo'ed various techniques while we took notes and asked questions. It was like heaven. The demos and lectures were all wonderful,

Watching demos.

Using machines. This is a vacuum Robot Coupe.

And using even more machines. A nice enrober.

I only wish we could have had two or three hours of lecture/demo and then 2 hours to put what we learned into practice, followed by two more hours or lecture and demo, etc, repeat. Or perhaps start the class at 8AM rather than, gulp, 7AM and then after lunch spend three hours making chocolates.

Me making pâte de fruit. And yes, I gained 7 pounds, now lost, eating out a couple of nights and getting up early.

Where did I eat out? Lots of places. But the only place I took pictures was at Frontera Kitchens. Nice place. Decent Mexican food but extremely expensive. I've had just as good Mexican in Mexico. Ah, I remember Las Mañanitas in Cuernavaca. Sigh. I need to take Kim there. Now that el Casino de la Selva is closed down, sob, I mourn its passing, I need to take her to the remaining highlights of my well spent, and it is spent, youth. (Don't tell Kim that. %-)

And remember, I'm the guy that called Spago, a good working man's lunch. So, not afraid of $$$$. It's just the context. I wasn't wowed. Good Mexican Food, yes. But then, I love a nice taco con sesos or a taco con cabesa. I probably would enjoy that just as much. Some of those taco trucks have given me a WOW!



And an even more interesting dessert that I didn't take a picture of. And the Margaritas were great.

Just a little while ago, I ate one of the chocolates we made with pop rocks in them. That brought a smile to my face.

What? No secrets or techniques? Nah! Not in this post. This is a what I did when I was in Chicago for a week post.

Look at that nice show piece that Chef Franck whipped up to help display the chocolates we made. Beautiful.

And here's a better picture of the show piece.

Finally, some face time with the two Chefs. (I think I need to get new whites.)





I also got to practice SMR with a friend and I almost went to dinner with another friend. I was so busy after class that I wasn't able to go out to dinner or drinks with the other students. Kim was stuck here making all those wonderful Halloween Chocolates because our sales team was selling like crazy.

If you're interested in chocolate, go to Life By Chocolate and order now.

Welcome Ludgate Farms in Ithaca New York

I'm happy to report that Ludgate Farms has joined the Life By Chocolate Family. Please go there and get your vegan and regular chocolate bars. Yummer.

Ludgate Farms
1552 Hanshaw Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850
Phone 607-257-1765

Please go there and get what you need and I know you need chocolate, especially Life By Chocolate.

Ohio is coming on board! Yea, Life By Chocolate

I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome three new stores in Ohio, each one a gem. Please go and visit and please buy your chocolate, especially your Life By Chocolate, there.

Kent Natural Food Co-op
131 E. Main Street
Kent, Ohio 44240
Phone 330-673-2878

and

Nature's Bin
18120 Sloan Avenue
Lakewood, Ohio 44107-3108
Phone 216-521-4600

and, also,

Squeakers Vegetarian Cafe
175 North Main Street
Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
Phone 419-354-7000

I knew there was a reason that I loved Ohio. Please go there and get your very gourmet Life By Chocolate Halloween chocolates, pumpkins and Black Cats, Brown too. Enjoy and please go and buy your chocolate at these great establishments. Thank you.

Dean's Natural Food Market in NJ

Welcome, welcome and welcome again. Two great stores. I've been there and they are really beautiful and fun. Please get your Halloween, your gourmet Halloween chocolates there and at the same time get some life, Life By Chocolate that is.

Dean's Natural Food Market, Inc.
1119 Route 35
Ocean, NJ 07712
Phone: 732-517-1515

and also at

Dean's Natural Food Market, Inc.
490 Broad Street
Shrewsbury, NJ
07702
Phone: 432-842-8686

Quick, go and buy some Life By Chocolate next week. We are shipping out their order on Monday.

Welcome Alchemy Botanicals to Life By Chocolate

Another Oregon store for Life By Chocolate. Please go to Alchemy Botanicals and get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is. They are having a to-do! A big party. Check it out. Please patronize this store and buy some chocolates.

Alchemy Botanicals
253 E. Main Street
Ashland, Or 97520
Phone: 541-488-4418

Enjoy your life and enjoy your health.

Time Traveler's Wife

My copy of Time Traveler's Wife is missing. If you borrowed it, please send it back as soon as possible as I have not read it. Thanks.

Welcome Penn State to the Life By Chocolate Family

Wow. Penn State now carries our chocolates. They have plenty of (lucky) Cats and Halloween Box Chocolates as well as bars and bark. Another great reason to go to Penn State. Primus, a great education. Secundus, Life By Chocolate.

Penn State University
222 Waring Commons
University Park, PA 16802

No reason to leave campus, you have every thing you need, a great education and beautiful chocolates. Enjoy them, future leaders of America.

Nancy's Sticky Rice Recipe

This is Nancy's (Zhao Xiu Zhong) first recipe that is completely hers. The only contribution I made was to tell her to double the sugar for American palates and of course, serving it with maple syrup. Nancy only used 1/8 cup of sugar in her original recipe. Beware, this is not as ridiculously simple as it may first look. It takes some work.

Yield 14 Rice Cakes (Portion is two cakes per person.)
2 Cups Sticky Rice (This is the very short grain rice the Chinese use for desserts.)
1/4 Cup Sunflour Seeds. (We use raw organic.)
1/4 Cup Dried Cranberry (Again we use organic dried.)
1/4 Cup Sugar
Sesame seeds as needed. (We use raw organic.)

First you have to have a steamer.



Get a good one. A metal one. For this application, forget the bamboo steamers. My steamer is old and cheap but it eventually gets the job done. When we need to make a lot of rice cakes, we use my old steamer and it takes about one hour and forty minutes to steam the rice. When we use Nancy's little, new steamer it takes about 20 minutes to get the rice just right.

Almost just right. This is about 1/2 hour away from done.

Put parchment papers in your steamer and poke plenty of holes in it. Then put the rice on top of the parchment and steam. In the meantime, mix together the rest of the ingredients.



When the rice is done, mix together the now cooked and soften sticky rice and the other ingredients.



Fold the rice into the other ingredients. Be gentle.



Then mold in a ring mold. First put the sesame seeds on the bottom of the ring and pack the rice mixture on top. Then sprinkle more sesame on top. Make sure both the top and the bottom is well covered with sesame seeds.





The next step is to pan fry them in a little bit of canola oil until they are golden brown. Don't use too much oil and make sure it is hot before you start frying. Just enough to cover the pan.





Garnish with powder sugar and some fruit. Serve hot.





We also serve our great New York maple syrup with these cakes for those that need a sweeter treat. East meets, well, Yankees. Enjoy this lovely dessert.

Is it possible for chocolate ice cream to be too chocolaty?

The short answer to that question posed by Sensitive Pantry on twitter is Yes.

RT "@SensitivePantry Is it possible for chocolate ice cream to be too chocolaty? (I thought I'd ask an expert but others can chime in, too.)"

It is always possible to go over the top with anything. I have to remind young chefs that over salting is over salting, to lay off the sugar, to let the natural flavors of the dish they are creating shine through. Too many ingredients, if not well thought out, will muddy. Too much salt will repel the taste buds. One should never taste pepper or salt it should support the flavors. And finally, too much chocolate is a chocolate ganache or milk chocolate not chocolate ice cream. Chocolate should blend in harmony with the ice cream base.

Ice cream is just that, ice cream. It's the American dessert. No matter were or when it was invented, it's still the quintessential American dessert. And what is ice cream? It's a frozen dessert containing sugar and cream and usually some flavoring. So, my ice cream is very rich. I use cream and half and half with lots of egg yolks and some sugar. But when I put in that flavoring, I try to find a balance between the ice cream itself and the flavoring and that include chocolate. The key is balance.

Great food and especially great desserts are a balance of flavors. The Chinese have desserts that are almost savory, salted dried plums come to mind. It's considered a confection. When we make our sticky rice dessert, post coming, I have to sweeten it up for American palates and even provide some maple syrup on the side.

Each culture's flavor balance is unique and this is what defines a cuisine. However, balance is the key.

So, too much chocolate? Is that possible? Yes. Ice cream isn't ganache and it isn't milk chocolate. You have to know you are eating ice cream. Nor should a dessert be super sweet. It needs to be in harmony with it's ingredients. Let me repeat that. The concept, the idea of a dessert needs to be in harmony with it's ingredients. Cherry pie should taste like cherry pie and the cherry must be fresh. Ice cream should taste like ice cream. Tomato soup should sing tomato, not scream it in a salty, peppery parsley voice.

How does one train one's palate to find a refined balance? By eating great food and no, KFC doesn't count as great food. (It barely counts as food. The same for all fast foods.) Restraint, balance and refinement. That's what makes a great chocolate ice cream. That's what makes any great dish.

The Halloween Box Sets sont arrivés!

Here are the new Halloween Box Sets. (I know, I know, it's only August but I'm an overachiever. ;)



First our Lucky Black Cat, we have a Vegan Black Cat as well as Milk Cat and coming soon the very lucky White Cat.



Next we have our very delicious Halloween Box Set with wonderful toasted hazelnut marzipan in white chocolate, colored orange, chocolate ganaches, pumpkin pie caramels, mocha marshmallows, solid chocolates and the list goes on and on. A perfect gift on this fabulous holiday. A festive 9 piece set, complete with a beautiful ribbon. It comes in a black or brown gorgeous gift box.



And finally, but not least, we have our great Halloween Vegan Box Set with yummy vegan chocolates, vegan dark chocolate solids, Goddess Bites, the ever favorite Red Dog Bites as well as Tamarind and Agave and Smoked Bites and the list goes on and on. Another beautiful 9 piece set, complete with a beautiful ribbon. It comes in a black or brown gorgeous gift box.

Chocolate Confection Cake

As I've mentioned before, I base many of my confections on my ice cream flavors, orange cinnamon, banana saffron, and I use my seconds in my ice creams. So, I said to myself, why not use them to make a ganache for my yellow cake? I toyed with using a soft serve ice cream as an "icing" on my cake but decided to make a nice ganache.

To make the yellow cake, please read my yummy yellow cake recipe. And once that has cooled, make the following ganache.

27 oz dark tempered chocolate (I used 27 ounces of my raspberry cordials and my plain caramels.) I like using 73% or better.
3 cups heavy cream
3 oz soft butter

Since I was using a cordial, I didn't feel I needed any spirits. You shouldn't feel that need. But if you want, throw in a shot or two of Framboise. (The eau-de-vie.)

Put the chocolate in a bowl and heat the 3 cups milk to very hot. Stop before it boils. Pour the hot heavy cream over the chocolate chips or the cordials and let stand for 5 minute. Make sure the chocolate is covered. Then gently stir the mixture. I stir from the middle to the outer edges. When the middle looks like it's mixed, I widen my circle. (Sorry, I don't have pictures of this.)

When the chocolate and cream are emulsified, and the ganache is no longer hotter than 90F, add in the butter and massage well into the ganache. At this point, add the spirits if you choose.

Pour the mixture over the cake and spread only if you have to. I like the poured look to my cake. Remember, this is ganache not icing. Use the spatula sparingly.



Let set. You can put it in the refrigerator if you wish. Take it out and cut as desired. But make sure you wipe your knife each time you make a cut or you'll get chocolate on the side of the cake. Depending on how you cut this, you should get at least 12 pieces.

When I made this cake, I made it two layered. I poured the ganache on top of one of my yellow cakes, then I put the other cake on top. Finally, I covered the whole cake with ganache. The little bumps in my cake come from the fruit that was in the cordials. Lovely.

You can finish with a little dollop of unsweetened whipped cream. Yum.

This is the same yellow cake that Nancy used to make her strawberry yellow cake, rather than shortcake. Recipe coming.

Yellow Cake Recipe

This is my basic yellow cake recipe:

2 cup butter
5 cups white sugar
6 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
5 cups milk
4 cups all purpose flour
3 1/2 cups cake flour
1 T and 1 1/2 t baking powder
1 T and 2 t baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F and grease either two 10X12 pans or one big 10 X 24 pan. I use the later.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar.

Beat in eggs one at a time.

Add the vanilla.

Sift together four, baking powder and baking soda. Slowly beat into egg mixture. (I use my mixer on medium to low. You don't want to develop the gluten.) Mix gently and stop when the flour is combined with the egg mixture. Next add the milk but do not overwork. When the milk is incorporated, stop.

Pour into cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes. You can use the toothpick test to see if it is done. If the toothpick comes out clean, then it's done.

Allow to cool before using. If properly wrapped, you can freeze this cake. Thaw before using.

Making Solid Chocolates and Halloween Chocolates

Life By Chocolate, yum.

Making Vegan Halloween Chocolates Today

Look for them on the web and at your favorite stores soon.

Corn Bubble Bread

What's the difference between bubble bread and monkey bread? They're made the same way but monkey bread is sweet(ish), made with brown sugar and raisins. This is a unique corn bread and a unique bubble bread. Use a dough hook for mixing and for kneading. Set your mixer to medium high to high, depending on the strength of your machine. This needs to come out elastic and stretchy. I used fresh yeast in this recipe and it worked like a charm.

6 cups of bread flour, AP is OK.
1 cup of cornmeal, I used white
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of salt
1 1/2 ounce of fresh yeast
1 1/2 cup of water
3/4 cup of milk
3 tablespoons of olive oil
6 oz of butter melted

I used two well greased loaf pans to make this bread. You can use any pan that will fit the little balls you are making. For example, a tube pan or a coffee can. Grease the loaf pan well with butter.

Mix all the dry ingredients together. Heat the water and milk and oil to a medium heat in the microwave. I needed the liquid for about 1 minute. Then add to the dry mixture and mix. Knead for 8 minutes once you get a non-sticky mass. You may have to add a little more cornmeal, about 1/4 cup.

Cover and let rest in the bowl for 1/2 hour. Then divide into 32 or so even pieces. I divide it in 1/2 and then divide each piece until I get 32. if some of the pieces look extra large, divide them again. Roll the pieces into a ball shape with your palm.



Line the loaf pan with some of the larger piece, do not worry about filling in gaps. They'll fill in by themselves. Brush the top of the pieces. Brush each of the little balls with butter and put into the loaf pans. Try to divide evenly.



Cover and let rest in the loaf pans for 1-2 hours. I put it in the freezer first for a 1/2 hour and then refrigerate for another 1/2 hour. That works just great.

Preheat your oven to 375F. While the oven is preheating, take the loaf pans out of the refrigerator and let warm for 20 minute. I put the loaf pan on the stove above the preheating oven. Cover the top of the balls with butter and put into the oven for 55 minutes.



Take out of the oven and brush the tops of the bread with butter.



Carefully take out of the loaf pan and let rest 30 minutes on a wire rack. You can serve this on a nice plate or in a large bread basket. Your diners can pull each bubble off the bread. The corn gives this a sweet taste. A fun bread to make.



When this goes stale, it makes wonderful dog biscuits.

Making more On the Vine Today

On The Vine is a very fun bar with Almonds and Currents and Royal Jelly. Just like O! Sunny Day but with Royal Jelly. If you like Royal Jelly, you will love On The Vine.

Sweet Cherry Pie Recipe

Here is the long awaited Cherry Pie recipe. It's a fantastic and yummy recipe. The crust is light and flaky and the cherries are tasty with a hint of almonds. (See my two apple pie recipes for an example and pictures of making the crust.)

The secret is to use fresh cherries and to gently precook them. Never overcook your fruit. Do not use canned cherries. That is just not done, especially in cherry season and don't be tempted by frozen unless you hanker for a pie in the middle of winter. I use sweet cherries in my pie, Bing or Rainier. If you use Columbia River Tart Cherries, for example, or any tart cherries, you may want to up the sugar a 1/4 or 1/2 cup.

The first step is to wash your cherries. Don't forget to do this.

It's a great excuse for a still action water shot.

Next, pit the cherries. If you want to spend a lot of time pitting these by hand with a paring knife, go right ahead. For one pie, you need to pit about 4 cups.



Or you can buy this handy and very dandy cherry pitter and save yourself a lot of time and agony.



The next step is crucial, cook your fruit.

Mix together:

4 cups frozen cherries, pitted, naturally. Measure these after pitting.
1 cup sugar
4 1/2 Tablespoons quick cooking, not instant, tapioca
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup Amaretto

Mix into cooked cherries:
1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds
Butter as needed to dot. (optional)
Sugar for sprinkling on top of the lattice. (optional)
(Preheat your oven to 400F.)



Cook this mixture over a very low heat until the cherries release their juice. Then cook a little more until it starts to thicken. Do not cook for more than 1/2 hour. Let the cherries cool completely before using. Mix in 1/2 cup of sliced, blanched almonds. This will give the pie some additional texture. I also like to dot the pie with butter before I put the lattice on top.



Roll out your pie dough you made the day before, grease your pie pan well, gently lift the rolled out dough and put it into the pan, use the extra to give your pie a crust edge and then pour in the cherry mixture and cover with a lattice top.

The lattice top is a little tricky. You can simple follow the pie dough recipe for bottom and top and then cut that dough into a lattice or you can first make some marzipan. Then combine the marzipan with a quarter cup AP flour and roll out and use that for your lattice top. Or, finally, you can follow the pie dough recipe, cut it in 1/2 and then add in about a 1/2 cup of marzipan and mix together. You will find that you'll need to add another quarter cup of flour.

Anyway you make it, cut the strips into 1/2 inch widths, lay across the pie, I like 4 strips and then 3 running the other way. Pinch the strips into the edge of the pie. If you are feeling ambitious, you can interlace the strips. I do both. I interlace when I'm feeling ambitious. ;-) I also like to sprinkle some sugar over the lattice if you want. It makes the pie extra special if you do this.



Just a warning, cherry pies, if made the right way, with a ton of cherries, always overflow. So, put this on a sheet pan with, if you have it, some parchment paper underneath. No mess, no foul.

Preheat your oven to 400F. Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce to 350 for about 35-40 minutes. Let this pie cool completely before you cut it. Rack it! As we say in my kitchen. Then, enjoy your terrific pie.

My pie dough recipe

For two crust pie, approximately 8 or 9 inches. (top and bottom)

2 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sugar
4 ounces shortening chilled
2 1/2 ounces butter chilled but not frozen.
1/2 cup ice water or as needed
2 teaspoons vinegar
1 egg, slightly beaten

For single crust pie

1 cups AP flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons sugar
2 ounces shortening chilled
1 1/2 ounces butter chilled but not frozen.
1/4 cup ice water or as needed
1 teaspoons vinegar
1/2 egg (2 tablespoons), slightly beaten

Combine the dry ingredients and mix. As you are mixing the dry ingredients add the shortening and butter until you get a pea like consistency with the dough. Add more butter if needed but do not go over 3 ounces for two crust or 1 1/2 ounces for single crust. Make sure the butter has been siting out of the fridge for 1/2 hour, it should be cold but workable, and that the shortening is chilled as well but not frozen or hard.

Next add the vinegar and beaten egg. Then slowly pour in the 1/2 cup ice water until the dough starts to come together. As soon as it comes together, stop adding the water and stop mixing. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest for 4 hours or better a full day.

Assembly:

Grease the pie plate liberally.



After the dough has rested, gently roll out. To roll out you can either use a piece of parchment on a board or some flour on your baking surface. I like to create a ball and then gently push down the ball to flatten it.





Next roll out the dough. I always roll in one direction only. Be very gentle with the pie dough and don't overwork it.





Measure the dough against the pie plate to make sure you have enough.



Then gently drape the dough over the pie plate.



Then shape the rolled out dough into the plate. You can crimp and decorate your edge if you'd like but with pies that have tops, either full or lattices, the decoration will be lost. Notice, I am doing very little trimming. I stretch the dough to shape it over the pie plate. It helps if you've rolled the dough more or less into a circle slightly larger than the plate.



If you are using parchment, make sure you roll the dough slightly bigger than the pie plate and using the parchment paper, turn the dough over onto the pie plate.

It's easiest if you put the plate onto the dough. If the parchment paper is on a piece of cardboard or cutting board, so much the easier. (If you are making a top and a bottom, roll out about 1/2 for the bottom. See the pie recipe for directions for the top.)

Trim and crimp and don't forget to dock, that is fork, the dough well. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for at least 1/2 hour.

And remember, do not fear your pie dough. And be gentle. Good pie dough is delicate. Butter should be dotted through out the dough. This will make it flakey. You pie dough should not be bread like. This is not bread. Do not over knead.

Bergamot Lemongrass Curry Angel Food Cupcake

Summer 2009 Cupcake Crawl Voting Link Please click on the link and scroll to the bottom.

During the Virtual BBQ and Fried Chicken Throw Down, The Gourmet Girl was tweeting about the Summer Cupcake Crawl. Well, I signed up and here is my soon-to-be-award-winning entry or at least a fun cupcake. Enjoy and remember, "Nothing Says Summer like Lemongrass"!

Nancy helped me with these spicy, yummer irrational cakes. At LBC, we make a great confection using white and milk chocolate and lemongrass curry. I wanted to mimic that in a cupcake. Many of our confectionary flavors started out as ice creams. For example, Orange Cinnamon Ganache Truffle Dark Chocolate started out life as a wonderful ice cream. We also use any seconds or slightly imperfect chocolates we make to create ice cream flavors for our restaurant and the students that come and eat dinner there, closing the loop and bring the creative cycle back to its beginning. Now, I'd like to expand that cycle.

Inspired by our Bon-Bon Bay, a lemongrass curry confection, I wanted to create a light cupcake that had the spicy flavor of curry coupled with the richness of white chocolate. I could not decide if I should use a buttercream frosting or a white chocolate ganache to top this great cupcake, until I remembered that Kim, my wife, loves buttercream frosting. So, I decided to use an Italian Buttercream to top off this spicy angel food cupcake.

NB: I weigh everything. I have converted my measurements from grams to ounces for your convenience. The only thing I left in teaspoons was the salt. Also note, that this was one of the most unforgiving cupcakes I have ever made. Be very careful not to over bake the angel food and make sure it is very smooth on top before baking and fill to the top. Check at 15 minutes and do not for any reason go past 20 minutes. Make sure your oven is preheated. Turn it on at least 1/2 hour before you need it.

Bergamot Lemongrass Curry Angel Food Cupcake

13 oz Egg Whites (about 1 1/2 cups or 12 egg whites)
1/4 oz Cream of Tartar
1/4 oz Vanilla Extract
1/4 teaspoon Salt
3 drops Bergomot
6.5 oz Sugar

7.24 oz Confectioners (10X) Sugar
4.5 oz AP Flour
1/4 oz Lemongrass Curry.

Preheat oven to 350F.

1. Let egg whites stand till room temperature. (About 30 minutes.)
2. Add cream of tartar, vanilla, bergomot and salt to egg whites and then beat to stiff peaks.


3. Gradually add sugar until sugar is dissolved and egg whites are stiff.
4. Sift 10X sugar, flour and lemongrass curry together and fold into whipped egg mixture, slowly. Do not collapse the meringue.

5. Line a cupcake pan with cups and spray lightly. Then spoon mixture into cups. I recommend filling cups to the top. If you don't you'll get mini-cupcakes.

Here Nancy is using a portion scoop, Ice Cream Scoop to you civilians, but later switched to a table spoon.



Bake in the over for 15-20 minutes. I baked the full 20 minutes and they came out nicely. Let the cupcake cool completely before frosting. When the cake is bouncy, it is done.

Naked Angel Food Cupcake.

Vanilla Italian Buttercream Frosting




A brief word about decorating. You can pipe the buttercream, if you like and achieve some wonderful looks, but I wanted a simple, light and airy look to these Angel Food Cupcakes. To me, Angel Food Cake is the epitome of light cake. Nancy, my sous-chef from China, on the other hand insisted that cupcakes had to have a smooth top. So, she made all of hers with smooth butter cream tops and I spiked mine. I prefer the spiked look. It just looks fluffier.

Italian Meringue
1/2 lb Sugar
1/4 lb Water

1/4 lb Egg Whites

3/4 lb Butter, softened
1/2 oz Vanilla (or your flavor of choice.)

1. Combine sugar and water in a sauce pan and heat to 230F.
2. When sugar has reached 230F, start whipping the egg whites on high to soft peaks. (Use the whisk attachment on your mixer.) Continue to cook the sugar until 240F.
3. When the sugar reaches 240F, add to the egg whites. Turn the mixer down to low and add the sugar steadily but do not collapse meringue.



4. Increase the speed to high and continue to whip until the mixture has cooled to room temperature. (It has to get below 85F. You do not want to melt the butter into the meringue.)
6. Add the soften butter a few pieces at a time. You can either cut the butter into chunks or using a glove just grab pieces as I do. There is nothing like the feel of soften butter in your hands.

So, use food service gloves.

7. Add vanilla and continue to whip until there are no chunks of butter and the buttercream is very smooth.


Don't forget to scrape down when needed.



This will come out like silk. Then, the next step is to decorate. Again, you may pipe with a star tip, you may use a mini spatula or a butter knife. Have fun with it.



To see the rest of the Summer Cupcake Crawl entries, click here. Go vote for me, Bergamot Lemongrass Curry Angel Food Cupcake. (You have to scroll to the bottom of the page.) Thanks.

Next post, my Fresh Cherry Pie.




I'd like to thank Nancy for being such a great help in the kitchen and factory.

Eats Natural Foods Co-op: Another VA store

I'd like to welcome Eats Natural Food Co-op to the Life By Chocolate family. They are a terrific store in Blacksburg Virginia. Please go there and buy, buy, buy.

Eats Natural Foods Co-op
708A N. Main Street
Blacksburg, VA 24060
Phone: 540-552-2279

Please go ad buy your chocolate, especially your Life By Chocolate there. Now you have multiple locations in Virginia and this is another great store from the great state of Virginia. Please support these stores.

Lifethyme Natural Market: 1st Manhattan store

We are proud to announce our first Manhattan store, 410 6th Avenue (Between 8th and 9th) 212-420-9099.


Lifethyme: A complete Natural Market
410 6th Ave. (Between 8th and 9th)
New York, NY 10011
Phone: 212-420-9099

This is our first Manhattan store. And what a great store in a great location it is. Please go down there and buy chocolate, especially Life By Chocolate.

Why shop at Lifethyme?

· Large selection of products and produce
· Open 7 days a week, 364 days a year
· 100% quality guarantee
· Friendly staff
· Convenient hours
AND LIFE BY CHOCOLATE, number one reason to shop at Lifethyme.

Store Hours:
Mon. – Fri. 8 am – 10 pm
Sat. & Sun. 9 am – 10 pm

Italian Pan Fried Chicken

Italian Fried Chicken, sauteed spinach and Bhutanese Red Rice.

This is my Italian Grandmother's recipe as seen through my eyes. When pan frying, it's very easy to crisp up the outside of the chicken long before the middle is cooked. The way my Grandmother did this recipe was to pan fry this chicken completely and very carefully. Since I didn't want to spend that much time frying chicken, I reinterpreted this chicken as a baked chicken, which is how I do it for my restaurant. I sprinkle olive oil on the chicken and bake it, turning it once to crisp both sides (or not). I bake the chicken for 30 minutes at 400F. Other than that, it's the same baked or fried. Probably more oil on the baked version.

However, since this is a Fried Chicken Throw Down, I've decided to pan fry the chicken and finish it in the oven. I sometimes do this as well during the summer. I like to pan fry the chicken turning only once, about 4-5 mins per side or until nice a brown. Then finish in the oven for 20 minutes at 400F degrees.

As a side note, normally, when making either of these great chicken dishes, baked or fried, I pound the chicken flat. This evens out the thickness of the chicken breast to allow more even cooking. For this demonstration, I didn't do that. It photographs better unpounded. Either way, this chicken is heaven. If you don't pound your chicken, make sure the center is cooked before serving. The chicken must reach an internal temperature of 160F. Why not 165F recommended by most cookbooks Because the residual heat in the chicken will carry it from 160F to 165F as you let it rest. If you follow my recipe, you'll easily reach 165F.



The important part of making this wonderful dish is to do the dredge correctly. I use a four step process. The second most important part of this recipe is that I use chicken breasts. White meat only people. This is going to be the best chicken you've ever had.



The first step is to put the chicken in a seasoned butter milk, next dredge it in flour, then put the chicken into a seasoned egg mixture and finally coat with homemade bread crumbs seasoned and mixed with dried basil, oregano and tarragon.



I added the tarragon to this recipe. I'm sure my Grandmother did not use tarragon only oregano and basil. All dried, of course.



For my seasoning, I use Chardonnay Smoked Sea salt. I get this from Savory Spice Shop.com. I also use ground white pepper, lots of it. I prefer white pepper because I don't like having black specks floating in my flour or bread crumbs.

For the "Italian Bread Crumbs" I prefer dried to fresh herbs. I think dried sticks to the chicken better and mixes well with the bread crumbs. Of course, I make my own bread crumbs from the bread we bake everyday.

The next step, after breading, is either to put it in the oven with the olive oil sprinkled on top, or to pan fry it. I pan fry using olive oil.



To pan fry it, heat the olive oil up to 350F, watch out that the oil doesn't start smoking, and once hot, to gently lay the chicken in. Lay the chicken down away from you so that the hot oil does not splash on you.



Cook both sides for about 4-5 minutes or until brown.



As you can see, I crowded the pan, just the way Grandma did, and the temperature dropped quite a bit. So, to compensate, I keep the flame on very high all the time. My stove has the BTUs. You may not want to crowd the pan as much as I did. The more chicken you add, the quicker the temperature drops.



I then like to cook the chicken on a rack in the oven at 400F for about 20 minutes. If you time this right, you can put the baked chicken in right before you start frying and have them both ready in 30 minutes.



For contrast, here is two of the fried pieces and some of the baked chicken.



Here are two finished plates, one is baked and one is fried. Can you tell which is which? Hint, the crispy, brown and yummy one is fried. The plate includes sauteed spinach with garlics and Bhutanese Red Rice.



Baked version. Nice and tender but visually not as exciting. Speaking of versions, I also do a gluten free version with rice flour instead of regular flour and chickpea (or a Garfava flour blend) flour instead of bread crumbs. Very tasty. I've only used the gluten free version for the baked chicken. I have not tried to pan fry it. If anyone does, please get back to me with the results. Thanks. Now, speaking of gluten...



And finally, the garlic bread I made to go with this. This bread is very easy. Here's the short version of the recipe. Mix together and kneed for 8 minutes the following. This is a very truncated recipe. Normally all my bread recipes etc. are by weight but I translated this for the home cook.

2 1/2 T yeast
2 t sea salt
1 T sugar
5 cups flower
1 1/2 cup hot water
2 T olive oil.
1/4 cup or to taste minced garlic

Let rise for 1 hour and then put into a two loaf baking form to rise again for 1/2 hour. Bake at 400F for 1/2 hour to 3/4 hour or until the internal temp is 205F. Notice that everything in this meal is baked at 400F? That makes it much easier. This was by design for people who don't have multiple ovens.



When baking this bread, I use steam. I put a cake pan in the over and then about 1 cup of water 5 minutes before I put in the bread.

I served Key Lime Pie for dessert with a strawberry sauce. Perfect.

Please see the following people who are participating in the ThrowDown:

LifeByChocolate
Mark LaPolla, New York
http://www.lifebychocolates.blogspot.com
http://www.lifebychocolates.com
Twitter ID: @LifeByChocolate

LunaCafe
SMS Bradley, Pacific Northwest
http://thelunacafe.com
Twitter ID: @LunaCafe


Gluten Free Sanctuary
Leslie McLinden, Arkansas
http://glutenfreesanctuary.blogspot.com
Twitter ID: @lesliemac59

Fresh Eyes
Jan Richards, California
http://www.jgrichardsresultsblog.com
Twitter ID: @MrsRoadshow


Grandma’s Gluten-Free Baking N Cooking
Joyce Paige, Kansas
http://grandmasgfbakingncooking.ning.com/
Twitter: @SilknPearls or @GFGrandmaBNC


The Sensitive Pantry
Nancy Kohler, New Jersey
http://www.thesensitivepantry.com
Twitter ID: @SensitivePantry

The Main Event: BBQ Beef Ribs

I lived in Texas for nine years and pork ribs just don't cut it for me. Kim, my wife, loves only pork ribs so look for a pork rib recipe coming soon. In either case, I use convection and radiant heat only. No direct heat. (Note the hat.)

When you live upstate, getting beef ribs is a chore and a difficult chore it is. I order only during the summer so I can BBQ them. This year, I ordered my ribs way in advance, making sure that I would get them in time for the First Virtual Twitter Throw Down. But, the best-laid schemes o' mice an' men/Gang aft a-gley. And gang they did and quite aft a-gley it was. Instead of my butcher getting me the beef back ribs I normally cook, he got me the beef spare rib. And, of course, they were huge. Since I was expecting smaller, 6 inch, back ribs, I thought I'd gotten brontosaurus ribs.

So, running short on time for this Throw Down, I went with the spare ribs and fed one per customer. I didn't have the heart to cut them off the bone. I've since corrected this mistake on the part of my purveyor and have ordered the 6 inch back ribs. Perhaps I'll only get stegosaurus ribs this time. Anyone want 20 lbs of spare ribs? Or just come over and help me eat these.

I'll be posting the back ribs next week. I should be able to get the post finished by the end of Monday, the 29th, the last day of the Throw Down. And I've also ordered some pork ribs. However, the spare ribs are wonderful ribs and more than delish. Lots of beautiful meat and rich as all get out. Sooooo, in the meantime, enjoy. The cooking times don't change that much. With pork ribs or beef back ribs you can shorten the time by 3 to 2 hours respectively.

To get more of the back story on the First Annual Virtual Twitter Throw Down, see Luna Cafe's wonderful fried chicken blog post.




The most important part of making great BBQ Beef Ribs or any ribs isn't the sauce, though a bad sauce can ruin them, it is the wood you use to cook them with and how you cook them. I prefer an indirect convection style cooking and of course I use a Mesquite and oak blend of wood or charcoal. When I lived in Texas, I'd just go out and hack down some mesquite and oak and start cooking. We'd put entire tree logs in the BBQ. However, here in New York, I find the best charcoal I can and use that. I usually use Cowboy Charcoal and a good all oak or hickory charcoal and soaked wood chips.

The first box is off the to left.

I do not use direct heat. I use radiant heat and convection. I usually use two fires, one on each side of the meat. However, since these ribs were from a brontosaur, I stoked the firebox full with charcoal and kept the flames away from the meat that way.



After cooking the meat for about four hours, I started applying my BBQ Sauce. I applied it three times as it continued cooking for another two hours.



Then, I brought in the ribs to rest for 20 mins and applied more sauce.



Then I cut them and applied more sauce before serving. I also gave the diners extra sauce to apply at they saw fit. In case you missed it, this is my sauce recipe.





Usually, when doing a BBQ, I make feather bread, but in this case, I had Brian make a nice focaccia:



For sides, I wrapped fresh corn on the cob in alunimum foil, added butter, garlic, smoked sea salt and pepper and threw those in the fire box for 15 minutes. I also served roasted fingerling potatoes. For dessert, Brian made a very nice Black Forest Cake with whipped cream rather than icing. After these ribs, it was deemed very light. A perfect way to end the meal. Or course, we started with my famous apple cider vinaigrette salad. All in all, a tasty treat. And all brought to you by:



My Italian Fried Chicken recipe coming next. I do a great panfried and baked version of this wonderful Italian treat. Yum.

Please see the following people who are participating in the ThrowDown:

LifeByChocolate
Mark LaPolla, New York
http://www.lifebychocolates.blogspot.com
http://www.lifebychocolates.com
Twitter ID: @LifeByChocolate

LunaCafe
SMS Bradley, Pacific Northwest
http://thelunacafe.com
Twitter ID: @LunaCafe


Gluten Free Sanctuary
Leslie McLinden, Arkansas
http://glutenfreesanctuary.blogspot.com
Twitter ID: @lesliemac59

Fresh Eyes
Jan Richards, California
http://www.jgrichardsresultsblog.com
Twitter ID: @MrsRoadshow

Twitter: @LicoriceShrine

Grandma’s Gluten-Free Baking N Cooking
Joyce Paige, Kansas
http://grandmasgfbakingncooking.ning.com/
Twitter: @SilknPearls or @GFGrandmaBNC


The Sensitive Pantry
Nancy Kohler, New Jersey
http://www.thesensitivepantry.com
Twitter ID: @SensitivePantry

Chocolate BBQ Sauce that's to die for

This is my wonderful BBQ Sauce for my BBQ Beef Ribs. It is heavenly with a tough of Natural Cocoa Powder to give it depth and round out the kick you get from the urfa. This is simple to make. First we take stew for 30 mins the following:

25 Romas
2 red peppers

Don't forget to clean the Romas and the peppers and take out the seeds on the peppers and the stems on both. Next we blend. I used an immersion blender.



Then I added

4 T garlic
1 T smoked sea salt
1/2 cup molasis
1/4 apple cider vinegar

2-3 T urfa
white pepper
green pepper
1 T green tabasco
1/8 cup worster sauce
1/2 cup honey mustard
1/4 cup natural cocoa powder

And simmered for about 3 hours or until about a third of the liquid has been lost. I blended again to make it smoother. I actually did this in two stages. I simmered for 1 hour and then let it rest for a couple of days while my ribs were coming in. Then I simmered again until it reduced about a third.



I apply my sauce to the BBQ as I finish cooking. I usually apply about three times over the last two hours of BBQing. Then I apply again before serving and I give the diners some extra so that they can add sauce as they will, in the grand Texas tradition.

Chef Portrait. Paul Leveille, what a beautiful painting

Well, not only was I doing a throw down but I was also sitting for a portrait by one of our teacher, Paul Leveille.

Susan's Natural World, welcome to Life By Chocolate

I'd like to welcome another wonderful store, Susan's Natural World. They are a terrific store in Ohio. This is our third store in Ohio. Yippee. And what a great store it is.

Susan's Natural World
8315 Beechmont Ave
Cincinnati, OH 45255
Phone:513-474-4990

Please go to this store and buy your chocolate, especially your Life By Chocolate, there. Thank you.

Pumpkin Pie Caramels and other Halloween Chocolates

Here are some pictures of our new line of chocolates for Halloween. I'll have them up on the website soonest.

These first three pictures are of the different decorations I was auditioning for the Pumpkin Pie Caramels. Yum.





This last photo has some of the Hot Chocolates in it, that's chocolate ganache topped with cinnamon marshmallow, but also some new decoration for our wonderful Raspberry Double Delight. That's the square one.



That looks yummy. And they are. Very rich and chocolaty.

Knitting in Public

Here's a picture of Kim, she's knitting outside on the bench at the Greenville Arms. The other pictures, she had yarn hair and they looked fun and funny. You'll have to see if you put them on Inn and Around.

Virtual Throw Down: A twitter and blog extravaganza

Recycled Photo. (Do Not Bend.)

This is the first annual Virtual blog and Twitter Fried Chicken &/Or BBQ Ribs Throw Down. Here are the rules. (All rules are subject to change if we feel like it but since I took the initiative, I'm going to assume that all of you ratify this without any problems. If you do have a problem, speak NOW or forever hold your peace.)

1. To be part of the throw down, the post containing your entree has to be posted no later than June 29th and no sooner than Jun 26th. Each contestant will tweet about the post on June 29th, all day long, at least twice, then, and include the link to their post. Smak@Replies are encouraged during this tweet-o-rama. Retweeting by contestants will be highly encouraged. So, if you're in on this, you have to be following the other contestants. Comprendrez vous? Ce n'est pas?

2. There are two main courses that a contestant may chose to do: Fried Chicken or BBQ Ribs. Pick one per blog post. No extra points for doing both but you'll look macho? (Or is that maco?)

3. To qualify, at least one of the dishes, the recipes for one of these dishes, pictures of the making of one of these dishes and pictures of the finished dish, must be attempted. One dish per post. That is to say, Fried Chicken would be one post, BBQ Ribs another. Sides, bread, desserts are not required but will be very favorably looked on. Don't put both of these entrees in one post, please. That'll just confuse the secret committee. (See below.)

3. All Posts must also cross reference the other contestants entries, that is, blogs. Not necessarily the posts themselves but at least the blog links must be included in the posts. It is up to the individual contestants to have those posts at the top of the blogs. If possible, the individual posts should be linked to. Humor and smack allowed.

4. Really try hard not to recycle an old recipe even if it has been published in Rachael Ray's Magazine or in Food and Wine or some other high profile magazine. All photos should be fresh and interesting and cool. Or at least in focus. That's why I'm giving everyone almost a month to do this in.

5. All judging will be done by secret committee using arbitrary guidelines and much subjectivity. (That is, if the contestants can ever agree on who should be on the secret committee or even if there should be one.) Recipe completeness, easy of making, picture quality and overall structure of the post will all count for something. Say, 1 point. The winner will get the Famous NoPrize of Marvel Comic Book Fame. This is not being donated by No One. Any corporate sponsors? @Oprah? @dominosugar? @Anyone?

6. We're leaving Mr. Flay out of this. Please, no one tell him. OK? That's the last thing we need. Sorry, Bobby. But I don't want you showing up with your virtual van with your virtual assistants and virtual cameras making us all virtually famous. No one would want that.

7. There is no rule seven. This rule left intentionally blank.

To register to participate in this madness, please comment on this post and put the URL for your blog, the blog name and also your Twitter ID/Name. If you want participants to link to your post, please put that URL in. And then, on the 26th, come back to this entry and see all the participants that you need to link to. Thank you for your cooperation.

And this, see photo below that I cribbed from another post, will be what YOUR entry will look like after I'm done with it. Oh, yeah. Scored with that one. Oh, yeah. It is SO on.

New Chocolates at LBC for Halloween: The Making of...

Look at these freshly enrobed and decorated Mocha Marshmallow.


I plan to get these up on the blog in the next few weeks. This is our take on Hot Chocolate, that's the round one with white chocolate curls on top and the stripped beauty is Mocha Marshmallow. Both are very yummy. Coming soon to the website. I'll tweet about it when they are up. We have Maple Creams, Hot Chocolates, Mocha Marshmallow, Pumpkin Pie Caramels and the Peppermint Creams. Yummy each and every one. In the meantime, check out the website for our wonderful chocolates.

Here's the Hot Chocolate, pre-enrobed. Doesn't that look Yummy?



Here's a close up of a freshly enrobed Hot Chocolate. It isn't even set yet.




Next post will be a feather bread recipe.

Welcome Health in Hand

Another wonderful store in the Great State of Ohio, Health in Hand in Lancaster, Ohio now carries that wonderful confection we cordially call Life By Chocolate. So, please go to Health in Hand and by your chocolates, especially your Life By Chocolate there.

Health in Hand
639 N. Pierce Ave.
Lancaster, Ohio 43130
Phone:740-687-0306

So, please support Health, especially Health in Hand and get your chocolate there, especially your Life By Chocolate. So, help us support this fantastic store and shop there. They are also carrying our vegan bars as well.

Fresh Air Natural Foods has joined the LBC movement

Another great store in Virginia, Lynchburg, Virginia. Please go to this wonderful store and buy your chocolates here as well. If you live in Lynchburg, you now have Life By Chocolate. Two store now in Virginia and more on the way.

Fresh Air Natural Foods
2264 Lakeside Drive
Lynchburg, VA 24501
Phone 434-385-9252

LBC has arrived in Virginia and so now we need you to support these great stores. Please go and get your chocolates, especially your Life By Chocolate at Fresh Air Natural Foods. We appreciate your support and we appreciate the support of the great state of Virginia. Certain-Lee.

Store hours are as follows:
Monday-Friday: 9am-8pm
Saturday: 9am-6pm
Sunday: 12pm-5pm

Please check the website for any changes. Thank you.

Welcome Whole Health Center

For those of you in Virginia for have been patiently waiting for a little Life By Chocolate to arrive, wait no more but rather get yourself down to

Whole Health Center
611 E. Main Street
Abingdon, VA 24210
Phone: 276-628-3170

Please go and support Cardinal Corner Whole Health and buy all your chocolate, especially your Life By Chocolate there. This is our first Virginia store and we want it to be a success. More stores on the way but in the meantime, get yourself down to Abingdon and please support this wonderful store. They are also carrying our vegan bars. Go vegan.

Thank you very much from your friends at LBC.

Greenville Memorial Day Parade

As tweeted on twitter. Here are the pictures from the Greenville Memorial Day Parade including the cool cars and fire trucks.



No. Not a Pacer that's a DeLorean.

And men with Kilts playing the bag pipes.

What a beautiful day for a parade. Every day is a beautiful day in Greenville.

Our Gardens are Beautiful

And the reason they are is because of Kim and Vera. Kim's in charge of the gardens and Vera helps out once a week. And indeed, that is a deer on our front lawns. Beautiful. Just as nature intended. Kim took that picture.

It's beautiful right now though it got a little humid and, just like in Camelot, it's about to rain to dispel the humidity after which it will be fresh and gorgeous. In Camelot... I should be saying at the Greenville Arms! For more pictures, see Inn & Around, our other blog.

Here's Vera working hard.



Actually, she's taking a break and faking working. She used to work with me in the Chocolate Factory but now only wants to work outside. She would rather pull weeds than wash dishes or make chocolates. To each their own...

Another picture of Vera.

And here's a random picture of Bob, our last art teacher using the beautiful afternoon sun to take pictures of his art work. Bob graciously gave us a wonderful piece of art. For more pictures of the art workshops, go to Innsane. Enjoy.



So, we are not only about chocolate, though, that is a passion of mine and Kim's too.

Rose Water Chantilly Cream Puffs

I have a confession. I don't like cream puffs. They have no taste. I don't like éclairs that are filled with just whipped cream. Even shells filled with Chantilly cream, that is a sweetened whipped cream, I don't like. I just don't like cream puffs. If you feel the same way, then make these beauties. Words fail me.



These are beautifully made cream puff shells, nothing more than pâte à choux piped into puffs, baked, cooled and then filled with a simple Chantilly, not overly sweet and enhanced with a small amount, a teaspoon, of rose water. Go easy on the rose water. I made 20 cream puffs and I use no more than a 3/8ths cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of rose water. Play with the amounts but go easy.

I don't have any pictures of Brian's mini éclairs, filled with Italian pastry cream and topped with colored, yellow, lemon fondant. They were yummified. I love Italian pastry cream. Brian thought of using the fondant. That's sweet but it's a treat and they were only 3 inches. Short, sweet and good to eat.

A beautiful day with Kim and the pups

For more pictures of the inn, go to Inn & Around or to the workshop blog, Innsane.

Here's a picture of Kim on the path we are constructing.

Here's a picture of me with Hudson and Bree.

Here's a close up of my sweet Bree puppy.

Here I am in the lilacs because Kim thought I'd look better in dappled sunlight. Hey, she's the artist, I don't argue. ;-)

And the rest are of me playing with the pups on a beautiful day. See, we don't JUST do chocolates. We do wonderful days, too.



More Wonderful.

Susan Ogilvie: Landscapes in Pastel June 7 - 13

This is a comprehensive workshop for the pastel painter who is interested in improving painting and “seeing” skills, developing stronger compositions, and moving beyond the literal sense of the landscape. By establishing a more personal approach to using shape, value, and color, the student can learn to create a dynamic, sensitive, and unique statement about the subject. Experimentation is the core of this workshop. Each day will focus on a different topic, illustrated during a morning demo/discussion and then explored in the students’ work at the easel. Exploring creative support surfaces and painting in the studio from field studies (both color and value studies) are at the heart of the class. “My goal with each student is to encourage exploration and self-discovery, motivate artistic growth, and act as the safety net!” This class will consist of 70% studio and 30% outdoor. This is an opportunity to explore, experiment, and grow.

· Instructor demonstrations daily

· Individual instruction and critiques

Susan Ogilvie’s creative efforts have resulted in a busy gallery exhibition schedule, numerous national awards, and signature status with the Pastel Society of America in New York. She is a respected juror, accomplished painting instructor, and popular guest speaker. Susan’s paintings are held nationally in many corporate and private collections, and published in The Best of Pastel, The Best of Drawing, and Pure Color: The Best of Pastel. Her work has also been featured in Southwest Art, The Artist’s Magazine, The Pastel Journal, and International Artists. Susan juried the “Landscapes and Interiors” category for The Pastel Journal’s 9th Annual “Pastel 100 Competition.” Gifted with a spirited and motivational teaching style, Susan conducts several comprehensive pastel workshops each year.

Frog Eye Salad: Italian Pasta Ambrosia Dessert

Frog Eye Salad: This is the salad that Nancy made. I helped it along with the Orange Blossom Water and the Cinnamon. I used True Cinnamon or Ceylon Cinnamon. I forgot to take pictures. I'll do that next week and add the pictures later. This is easy and delish. Funny, I taught her how to make Dan Tat and she taught me how to make this great Italian dessert/salad.

With the Cool Whip, this is fat free, you can substitute whipped cream if you like but it is terrific, I can't believe I'm saying this, it is terrific with Cool Whip. Go for it.

1 cup acini de pepe
8 oz Mandarin oranges (or small can.)
8 oz crushed pineapple (or small can.)
8 oz chunked pineapple (or small can.)
(If you use canned fruit, reserve the juice and use what comes in the can, if you use fresh fruit then buy the needed juice.)
4 oz Mandarin Orange juice
6 oz Pineapple Juice
3 eggs
8 oz sugar
16 oz Cool Whip (1 tub)
1 T Orange Blossom Water
Cinnamon to taste as garnish

Boil water and cook pasta about 10 mins. Rinse. Set aside to cool.

Combine juice, eggs and sugar. Simmer the egg mixture until thickens. Take off the heat.

Combine fruit, egg mixture and pasta, folding gently. Cool for 3 hours in the refrigerator. Before serving fold in Cool Whip with the Orange Blossom Water. Garnish with cinnamon and serve. This is heavenly. Enjoy.

Colored Chocolate and Robin's Nest

Today we were experimenting with different coloring techniques. During a break, Kim pointed out that we took down our Christmas Wreath at a reasonable time and our Robins didn't have a place to nest, as they normally do every year. As a matter of fact, she pointed out that the male robin kept checking the Wreath Area.



However, our enterprising robins found another spot. On our croquet mallets. They tried building in the back on the transom but it kept on falling off. Now, they're happy campers. They must have heard that we were decorating chocolate.

Calling all Oil Painters: Leah Lopez

There's still room in Leah Lopez's Still Life Oil Workshop.



Inspired by the oil painting of the masters, this workshop will cover the essential skills needed to achieve luminosity and depth with paint, for the beginner and advanced painter. Students will find their advances made in this workshop will not only produce beautiful still-lifes but will carry over to their other paintings of portraits, figures and landscapes as well. The workshop consists of instructor demonstrations, starting with the conceptual design of the painting to observing and translating the beauty of objects into lustrous paint. Understanding the structure of a painting and manipulating paint, brilliant light, supple color and purposeful edge variations, an artist can create a compelling and distinguished piece of art.

Leah Lopez is an award winning artist whose paintings have been featured in national exhibitions including American Women Artists, Salon International, Allied Artists of America, Oil Painters of America, and Miniatures at The Albuquerque Museum. She teaches painting classes at the New York Academy of Art and workshops at Lyme Art Association, Andreeva Academy, Sedona Arts Center, Barrett Art Center, and Cape Cod Art Association.

Raised in the unique culture and beauty of Northern New Mexico, artists and artisans captured Leah’s imagination and inspired her to explore creative outlets. Her innate love for drawing and painting was a continual source of inspiration and led her to practice traditional techniques through a series of art classes in California and later to attend art classes at the University of New Mexico. At age 23, she began learning her most valuable lessons in art from exceptional artists and teachers Gregg Kreutz, Sherrie McGraw, and David Leffel through classes held in the Southwest and at the Art Students League of New York. It was not long before Leah's paintings received recognition and she was awarded First Place at the Traditional Fine Arts, First Place in Oils at the Best and Brightest, Honorable Mention at Salon International, and Award of Merit at the American Women Artists Show.

Leah still approaches every new subject as an opportunity to learn. She says, “Things are always changing, the arrangement, the model, the light, the appearance of color, and observing all this opens one’s senses to the possibilities.”

Watercolor Workshop: Paul George

There's still room left in Paul George's Watercolor Workshop.




Award winning artist Paul George’s workshops are loaded with great information and are motivating for both the beginner and the experienced painter. You will paint from nature but his focus is to teach you how to approach any subject and design and execute a good painting. You’ll begin with a complete look at values and how to use them to simplify, design and improve your painting. Next you will move into the exciting world of color and explore the reasons why watercolor of all the mediums comes alive and how to use this for more exciting paintings.

Design and composition of your painting is always an important factor and you will return to composition and design and how to simplify, understand and use it to add power and punch to your paintings. Paul will support each subject with talks, painting demonstrations and with personal one on one support and a complete critique each afternoon. It is an exciting and motivating workshop. Weather permiting, you'll spend about 80% of the time painting on location and the other time working in the studio.

“ He is one of those rare individuals that not only a good painter but a committed and creative teacher as well.” International Magazine 2007

Brownie Pie Recipe

I thought I had put this on the blog with the recipe but I have not. The Goddess Eos, you may know her as Aurora, likes chocolate and brownies. Who would'a thunk it. So, for old times sake and because I do need to get this on the blog, here it is.

Now, you can approach this recipe with two philosophies, one is the more pie or cake like philosophy of the original recipe and one is the more decadent dessert like recipe of my recipe. This is Kim's favorite and she likes the original better. I will put the original recipe in (parenthesis so you can substitute.) What follows is my version. The original recipe does not call for creaming butter and sugar but rather mixing the first set of ingredients together. (Sugar, margarine, eggs.)

Cream:

1/3 cup soften butter (1/3 cup margarine)
1 1/2 cup sugar

Add slowly and beat well:

3 eggs

Add:

3/4 cup sifted flour
1/2 t salt

When this is well mixed add gently:

4 oz of melted 72% chocolate (3 squares chocolate or 9 T cocoa powder. If you use the powder increase margarine to 1/2 cup.)
1 t vanilla

And fold (blend) carefully.

Pour mixture into 9" pie plate and bake at 375F for 30-40 minutes (25-30 minutes) or until a skewer pulls out more or less cleanly. You can let this cool and it is great. Chocolaty to the max.

Try adding 5-6 oz of chocolate and have a blast. I personally like to put 6 oz of chocolate and make it very rich. But if you do that, it is more like a molten chocolate cake. The center doesn't really set. Go for it. I love this dessert.

There is still time to order for Mother's Day

Go to Life By Chocolate Gifts and enjoy.

Back to Earth Nutrition Center

Help me welcome the Back to Earth Nutrition Center to the Life By Chocolate movement. Please take the time to go and buy your chocolate there.

Back to Earth Nutrition Center
306 S. Min Street
New City, NY 10956
Phone: 845-634-3511

They have stocked up on what you need. Please go to Back to Earth and enjoy their great store.

Rose Water, Saffron Pistachio Ice Cream

I just love rose water ice cream and I love pistachio ice cream and, well, everyone loves my banana saffron ice cream and their equivalent caramels. So, what better combination than rose water, saffron pistachio ice cream.

To my saffron ice cream base I add, before I put it into the machine, 1/8 cup of rose water and 3 cups of chopped pistachio. I use the Cuisinart to do a very course chop on the pistachios.

Saffron Ice cream base

1 qt heavy cream
1 qt 1/2 and 1/2
1 1/2 cup sugar (normally I use only 1 cup but felt that this should be a little sweeter.)
1 table spoon saffron
2 table spoons vanilla paste (normally in my ice cream I only use 1 bean equiv. This is 2 bean equiv.)
10 egg yolks

Add
1/8 cup rose water
3 cups chopped, toasted but unsalted pistachios. (Do not use salted. I use raw pistachio and then lightly toast at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes.)

Combine the heavy cream, 1/2 and 1/2, sugar, saffron and vanilla into a heavy sauce pan and bring to a boil. Take off the heat. Let steep at least 5 minutes, 10 is better. In this recipe, I use the vanilla paste, 2 T, which is the same as 2 beans. You can use 2 beans or you can use 2 t of vanilla extract. If you use the extract, put it in after you make the custard.

Reheat the mixture and after tempering the egg yolks, add into the base in a thin stream. Stir until either 170-180F or until the custard allows you to put a clean line through it on the wooden spoon. I use a spoon not a whisk. You do not want to put air into the ice cream. Stir all the time.

Strain into a bowl or a metal measuring cup. I strain because I don't want to have saffron threads in my ice cream, just the taste. If you have not done the custard properly, straining will also take out any scrambled eggs. If you don't want to, don't strain, you'll have threads in your ice cream which may not be a bad thing.



Put the ice cream into an ice bath. Now, if you have a great ice cream machine like mine, it takes hot ice cream and churns until done, put in the rose water now and make your ice cream. If you don't have a great ice cream machine and the ice cream has to be cold, then wait till the ice cream is cold from the bath, put in the rose water and then churn. Add pistachio as you churn. I add the pistachio almost immediately. I let it churn for about 30 seconds before I add the chopped pistachios.



It's that simple. I made 3 batches, two with pistachio and one without, that is a saffron rose water ice cream sans nuts. Yummy. Now you can make this at home and pretend you are attending an art workshop or a fiber art workshop at the Greenville Arms.

Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op, welcome.

I'l like to welcome the Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op. Please go there and buy your chocolates, especially your Life By Chcoolate. They have Buttercrunch Toffee and gift boxes and vegan chcoolates and bars and anything you could want out of Life By Chocoalte.

Takoma Park Silver Spring Co-op
201 Ethan Allen Ave.
Takoma Park, MD 20912
Phone: 201-891=2667

Please welcome this newest edition to the Life By Chocolate family. It's a great co-op. Go and buy your groceries and chocolates there.

Welcome Silver Spring Food Coop

I'd like to welcome the Silver Spring Food Coop. Please help us support this great store and get your chocolate, especially your Life By Chocolate there.

Silver Spring Food Co-op
8309 Grubb Rd.
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: 240-247-2667

Please go there right now and buy not only your groceries but also your Life By Chocolate. Thank you.

Welcome Berkshire Coop Market

I'd like to welcome Berkshire Co-op Market in wonderful Great Barrington, MA. We love both the Berkshire Co-op and Great Barrington.

Please go to:

Berkshire Co-op Market
42 Bridge Street
Great Barrington, MA 01230
Phone: 413-528-9697

and get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is and enjoy this fine store. Please help support not only the Berkshire Co-op but also Life, Life By Chocolate. Go. And thank you.

Welcome Brian to Life By Chocolate

Our long awaited new hire has come to LBC and he's a big help. Today we made lots of chocolates, bars, caramels, you name it and he helped wrap bars and put together boxes. We made new vegan truffles as well as other vegan chocolates. It was a full day and then some.

Nancy was also here helping. For his first day Brian, recently graduated from the CIA here in NY, did a great job. I was taking these pictures when we started clean up and not when we were making anything so this is all staged. But you get the idea.

Vegan Fruit and Nut Truffles being made by hand

We still roll all of our truffles by hand before we enrobe or in this case roll in organic, vegan powdered sugar. Yummer. That's not refined by the way, that's natural, turbinado and naturally milled.



In this picture, I am making the Vegan Raspberry with an organic naturally milled powdered sugar and a natural cocoa powder. Yummer. You wont find this anywhere else but at Life By Chocolate.



It's a little messy but not too bad. Lots of fun. Probably the most messy thing I make. And not easy getting the creamy goodness in a vegan truffle.

Mother's Day Chocolates

Check out these great box of chocolates. What better gift for Mommy on Mother's Day? Or wife? Or yourself? Enjoy your life, especially your Life By Chocolate.

Just go to Life By Chocolates. What are you waiting for?

Warm Chocolate Foam Recipe with Pictures.

I use stemless martini glasses with hot water rather than ice in the base to keep it warm. They also have these great swizzle sticks that I put a strawberry on.

This recipe is a la minute. To do it, you are almost making a chocolate pastry cream and then you put it as it thickens, right before it boils, into the whipped cream whipper. I like to get it just as it's about to boil or right on the cusp of boiling. I don't want to actually make a thick pastry cream because I'm going to whip it but I want the eggs to set and the corn starch to just start to thicken.

First Pastry Cream:

1 qt cream (or milk but I can't have milk and cream is better.)
8 oz sugar
6 eggs
3 oz corn starch
1 T vanilla
3 oz butter
melted chocolate to taste. I use about 6- 8 oz.

Combine sugar and cream and heat.



Mix some cream into the corn starch to make a slurry.



When the cream is hot, temper the eggs and then combine with the cream and stir. Add the slurry to the cream and heat almost to a boil. Add the vanilla. Stir off the heat. Add butter. Stir until melted.



Then add the chocolate. Notice that I have a very low flame. That's because I didn't want the chocolate to cool down the dessert. Don't do that. That's playing with fire for someone who hasn't done this dessert a hundred times. Rather, add the chocolate fast and get it into the whipper immediately.



Quickly put into the whipper and immediately squirt into a cup. The whipper will be hot so be careful. I use a towel to hold the whipper. Don't forget to shake it after you put in the CO2.

It's light and chocolaty. You can cut this recipe in 1/2 or 1/4 easily.

Taza Chocolate Bacon Bar

I normally do not advertise other chocolates on my blog but this bacon bar, with the characteristic Taza fruity, floral unconched chocolate mixed with Alan Benton's intense bacon has created a taste sensation, with chunks of teeth picking bacon, that is unique. Fully as good as my bacon, banana caramel with maple flakes, and yet very different.

It's only for special occasions and we got this as a special favor. I just wish they were making this for real forever.

My Foodbuzz inbox is broken. Fix it!

So, be patient and I'll accept your request when I can. Someone sent me two invites and it crashed the system.

ChocoVision Sent the Baffles under warrantee.

I've got to hand it to them. They came through.

Don't forget to follow me on twitter.

Life By Chocolate on Twitter.

Some thoughts on chocolate

I was reading a post by someone one on FoodBuzz and felt that my comment was worthy of publication in my own blog as almost stand alone.

This is my comment to here post about chocolate.

Indeed, you are just starting on this journey. The best Swiss chocolate comes from Felchlin. Max knew what he was doing with Milk and White. That's the chocolate we use at Life By Chocolate. (One can argue that Peters, the people who first made milk chocolate, have a great milk and white but then we're talking personal taste.) For dark, because we make so many vegan chocolates and confections, we use Granada Chocolate company chocolate because it is fair trade, organic and it is vegan. Belcolade makes excellent chocolate as well as does Valrhona and a few others in Europe. Here in the Americas, we have El Rey, Amano,E. Guittard and a few others.

The question single origin vs. a blended chocolate is a very hot topic. Personally, I liken chocolate to champagne or port rather than vintage Bordeaux or Burgundy. The art is in the blending. Even the Krugs knew that they had to give 1/2 the credit to God for their vintage champagne but not to their blended ones. The same with chocolate. Single origin and vintage chocolates are a fad. They may be a fad that lasts but still, the art of making chocolate is the blending. Of course, there are chocolatiers who blend multiple chocolates into one to produce the final blend. (Chocolatiers who make confections as opposed to people who make the chocolate itself.) The same can be said for raw cacao, which isn't chocolate.

Given all that, it's fun to sample all the different products out there. But, as a chocolatier, I find the art to be in making the confections and playing off between flavors of ingredients. The difference here is finding the best carrot and eating it raw, that would be eating chocolate straight, and making a meal that includes carrots and peas and beets and other veggies. That would be a confection.

In either case, the pleasure is in the eating. So enjoy. And no Lindt is not the top dog. Not by a long shot. There are so many better, artisan chocolatiers both here and abroad that I wouldn't bother with the more commercial brands.

Still time to place your Easter order on line

Just go to Life By Chocolate and we'll get it out to you today. It's too late for those in Canada and California but the Eastern Sea Board should be OK.

Happy Easter.

Welcome The Mustard Seed

This cool store even has WiFi. Now, what more could you want than a great natural food market with WiFi and holistic practitioners.

The Mustard Seed
969 Arsenal Street
Watertown, NY 13601
Phone: 315-788=2463

Please go to the Mustard Seed and get your chocolate, especially your Life By Chocolate and then when you're in the store, follow me on Twitter or become a fan of our page on FaceBook. But most of all, shop, enjoy yourself and get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is. Have a bar. Go vegan.

Welcome to Park Slope Food Coop

What can I say about the oldest and biggest coop in New York? I think that that says it all. It's a grand place with lots of love and chocolate. Now they have the best chocolate and the best Life. Life By Chocolate.

Park Slope Food Coop
782 Union Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
Phone: 718-622-0560

My brother lives in Brooklyn, almost on top of the Coop and now he can get his chocolate at this great store and so can you. Please go and buy a bunny or a bar and have a chocolate blast, a life of chocolate, no, a Life By Chocolate.

We are very proud to have the Park Slope Food Coop on board. Just look at the URL, it's www.foodcoop.com. That has to tell you how long they've been on the Internet. This is a national treasure. Go, look, buy and eat your Life By Chocolate.

Natural Storehouse, welcome to Life By Chocolate

Natural Storehouse, a wonderful organic store in Catskill, has joined the Life By Chocolate movement. Please go there and get your bunnies and your Life By Chocolate and enjoy.

Natural Storehouse
28 Grandview Plaza
Catskill, NY 12414
Phone: 518-943-1919

AND the Natural Storehouse in Hudson which is a beautiful store that everyone loves has also come on board. Now, if you live in Hudson you can go to the store in Hudson and if you live in Catskill, well, you have the store in Catskill for you Life By Chocolate indulgence.

Please go and support these store and get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is. ;-) (I've always wanted to say that.)

Natural Storehouse
173 Healy Blvd
Hudson, NY 12534
Phone: 518-822-0790

Please get your Easter Bunnies at these two stores. They also are carrying our vegan chocolates as well.

Picture from the Nyack Chocolate Show

Welcome Spice of Life to Life By Chocolate

I'd like to take the time to welcome Spice of Life from Skowhegan Maine to the Life By Chocolate family. We love Maine.

Spice of Life
3338 Madison Ave. Suite 10
Skowhegan, ME 04976
Phone: 207-474-8216

They are a locally run business carrying a wide selection of products, including many that are organic and minimally processed. These products are created to make our lives better and help keep our planet healthy. So, get your chocolate, especially your Life By Chocolate there. These people understand LIFE.

Green Smart Gifts, Welcome to Life By Chocolate

Green Smart Gifts is an Earth-Friendly store that now has Earth-Friendly chocolate. It has Life By Chocolate. Please go there and get your chocolate.

This is our first Ohio Store and we are very excited to welcome Green Smart Gifts in Lakewood, Ohio.

Green Smart Gifts
14534 Detroit Ave
Lakewood, OH 44107
Phone: 216-712-7980

So, please get your chocolate there and enjoy their other products and gifts. Chocolate, the ultimate gift.

Health Hut of Hickory, Welcome

We appreciate having the great Health Hut's business. As a matter of fact, we love the Health Hut. Please go to this new store in Hickory, North Carolina, and get your Easter Chocolate there. They also have a full line of organic pet products. And now they have the best in chocolate. Get your Easter Chocolate there.

Health Hut
2432 N. Center Street
Hickory, NC 26801
Phone: 828-322-2523

And remember, it's the only store in Hickory with a full line of organic and natural foods. Now they have Life, Life By Chocolate, that is.

Chocolate World Expo 2009: : LBC will be there

Sunday, March 29th from 11:00 AM till 7:00 PM

Show Location:
Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack, NY

For more information on the show, please see the Chocolate World Expo website.

Welcome Newark Natural Food Co-Op

I'd like to welcome Newark Natural Food Co-op, located on main street in Newark Delaware. They make all their business decisions based on sustainability and the impact they have on our earth and our community. Also, based on getting you the best food and other goods. Now they also have the best chocolates, Life By Chocolate, that is.

This is our first store in Delaware. Yippee! Welcome to the movement.

Newark Natural Food Co-op
280 East Main Street
Newark, Delaware 19711
Phone: 302-368-5894

Please go and get your chocolate, especially your Life By Chocolate, there. Thanks.

Welcome Mustard Seed Natural Food Market

I'd like to welcome this gem of a store to the Life By Chocolate family. Please go and get your Easter Chocolate there in Oswego.

Mustard Seed Natural Food Market
18 E. Cayuga Street
Midtown Plasa Lower Level
Oswego, NY 13126
Phone: 315-207-0016

Go to their whole food market for organic, natural foods. Their health food store also carries books on wellness and healthy living.

Store Hours *Now Open Later!!*
Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-9:00 p.m.
Saturday, 8:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m.

And when you are there, get your Life By Chocolate.

Welcome Alameda Natural Grocery

I'd like to welcome Alameda Natural Grocery in Alameda, California. Another great store for California has joined the Life By Chocolate family and they have Easter Bunnies. Please go and get your fair trade or organic or vegan Easter Bunnies there. Support this great store and buy your Life By Chocolate there.

Alameda Natural Grocery
1650 Park St. Unit L
Alameda, CA 94501
Phone: 510-865-1500

Please go and support this wholesome, sustainable and simple store with their wholesome, sustainable and simple produce and now Life By Chocolate. Enjoy.

Welcome Linda's Organic Kitchen and Market

Delores has been going out and getting stores in Queens. So, I would like to welcome Linda's Organic Kitchen and Market in Kew Gardens. Yeah! It's a great store on Leffert Blvd. Please go there and get your chocolate, especially your Life By Chocolate.

Linda's Organic Kitchen and Market
81-22 Lefferts Blvd.
Kew Gardens, NY 11415
Phone: 718-847-2233

Enjoy this great store and enjoy your Life, by Chocolate that is. Go and support this great store in Queens.

The Health Concern in Maryland has joined us

I'd like to welcome another great store in the great state of Maryland. The Health Concern has joined the Life By Chocolate family of Yum Fun. Another wonderful store.

The Health Concern
28 N Susquehanna Ave.
Towson, MD 21204
Phone: 410-828-4015

Enjoy this great store and don't forget to pick up your LBC, Life By Chocolate that is. Yum.

Welcome Bamboo Market to Life By Chocolate

Wow. Another LBC convert in Colorado and this one is in very cool Steamboat Springs. Go skiing and stop off in the Bamboo Market to get some Life By Chocolate.

Bamboo Market
1110 Yampa Street Suite 100
Steamboat Springs, CO 80488
Phone: 970-879-9992

Please go and get everything at this great store but don't forget to pick up your chocolate, Life By Chocolate, that is.