Life by Chocolate

Lafite Rothchild and Bertram Bloch.

2012-01-26T16:59:00.007-05:00

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

Sharon, Bert, Kim, Mark.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Next up, my adventures in cider.

Valentine's day is here.

2012-01-09T14:18:00.003-05:00

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

Cherry Cordial Craziness! Organic, too

2011-12-11T14:13:00.004-05:00

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

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

Hudson River Valley Art Workshops filling up

2011-12-07T11:32:00.001-05:00

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

Marzipan Craziness! Organic no less.

2011-12-05T15:14:00.002-05:00

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

Making Winter Chocolates

2011-11-14T16:30:00.001-05:00

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

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

Gloria Loughman's class

2011-10-28T15:55:00.002-04:00

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

Sheep and Wool Festival, Fall Color, Harvest Distillery

2011-10-15T18:14:00.003-04:00

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

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

We also saw a lot of sheep.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I am making a new truffle, Cinnamon Mocha! Yummer

2011-09-25T13:30:00.007-04:00

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

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

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

Just a quick note to tell you about recipes

2011-09-23T16:46:00.002-04:00

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

Due to Hurricane Irene

2011-09-21T13:39:00.001-04:00

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

Life by Chocolate is still here.

2011-09-02T14:42:00.006-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

New Porch? No, a new old porch

2011-08-13T11:53:00.005-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Broccoli Soup Recipe

2011-08-01T14:24:00.001-04:00

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

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

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

Cauliflower Soup Recipe

2011-07-31T14:12:00.007-04:00

This soup is so easy.

Step 1. Dice some onions and sauté.

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

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

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

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

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

Bottling the Sack Mead and then corking it.

2011-07-30T14:52:00.007-04:00

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

And here is me corking like a fiend.

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

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

Bitter and Esters (formerly The City Brewshop)

2011-07-09T15:59:00.007-04:00

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

700 Washington Ave, in Brooklyn NY.
Phone: 917.596.7261

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

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

Founders.

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Recipe Post on Inn-And-Around

2011-06-28T15:06:00.001-04:00

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

Steampunk

2011-06-24T16:20:00.004-04:00

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

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

Hollywood Magic : Me jumping in the pool

2011-06-20T15:35:00.004-04:00

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

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

Cha siu bao (叉燒包) recipe

2011-06-17T21:22:00.009-04:00

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

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

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

2 eggs well beaten

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

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

Preheat the oven to 350F.

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

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

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

2011-06-17T21:05:00.012-04:00

Step two of the Cha Siu Bao recipe.

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

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

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

Then prep

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

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

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

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

2011-06-17T20:54:00.009-04:00

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

Step one of the Cha Siu Bao recipe.

For the roast pork

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

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

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

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

Nashville Wraps: Another Story about LIfe By Chocolate

2011-05-16T16:10:00.002-04:00

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

Enjoy.

Secondary Fermentation for the Mead Big Step

2011-05-09T13:01:00.006-04:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Making Mead at LBC part 2,3,4

2011-04-28T22:59:00.008-04:00

Getting ready to lift the lid off of these very tight buckets. I got this equipment form City Brewshop. Brew. Drink. Repeat.

After the initial pitching of the yeast and the initial adding of the nutrients and energizer, you have to stir the mead 3 more times and add the nutrient/energizer combination each time. I started out with the mead in the kitchen, along with my Petite Saison d'Été. The weather had been lovely and cool. Then it got hot. The kitchen soon became a very bad place for the mead and beer. In the middle of the day, the temperature rose to around 80 degrees. I moved the three 5 gallon buckets to the cellar where it ranged from 63.5F to around 67F. The mead and beer is very happy down there. I don't think it ever gets above 70 degrees in the cellar. At least, I hope not. I don't have any more places to move it. I wish I had some dry ice, I could always throw that in. It's an old wine making trick.

The golden mead. I used a lot of honey on these two buckets.

First I stir to release the built up CO2. When I did this the first time, the mead, the Dry Mead, actually hissed at me. And then when I threw in the nutrient. It really bubbled up.

Not as energetic the second time. This is from the second day. Or it may have been the third day.

Weighing out the nutrient mix I made up.

Now adding the mixture.

And as you can see, it's starting to foam up.

Stirring. This is the Sack Mead, which isn't quite as energetic as the Dry.

This is the Dry Mead and as you can see, it's bubbling like crazy.

Wow. Will you look at that head. I had to do this once a day for 3 days. I had to sanitize all my equipment and it was a little bit of a pain doing it in the cellar but I managed. The Sack Mead is supposed to be like a great Ice Wine and the Dry Mead, which I'm going to bottle condition and make bubbly is probably like nothing I've ever had. We'll see in 3 months for the Dry and 4 months for the Sweet Sack Mead. I can't wait.

A quick update on the Mead...

2011-04-26T16:30:00.004-04:00

The Sack (Sweet) Mead I was worried about is bubbling away. Not as aggressively as the Dry but it's bubbling. The Dry is going crazy. I also just finished another Petite Saison d'Été. But this time, I put in the Styrian Golding, the entire amount, for 10 mins, .75 oz of the Saaz for 10 minutes and the rest for 2. I also added 3 oranges quartered, everything, rind and all, and a little more than a pound of pineapple chopped up, fresh. no rind about 30 minutes before chilling. I did a very rapid chill. Less than 10 minutes it was about 47F. Fast. Now it's fermenting. In a bucket. Enjoy your beer and chocolate.

I just noticed I never blogged about the Petite Saison d'Été, A shame. It is a great beer.

Making Mead at LBC and other adventures

2011-04-25T18:51:00.010-04:00

A lot of honey.

Well, gentle and gentile readers, I made mead today. No, not just a simple 5 gallon batch and howdy do, ma'am, but rather two different 5 gallon batches with the honey we use in the Bee's Knees bar. As a matter of fact, I used up all the honey that is for Bee's Knees. Well, almost all. I now need another 100 pail of honey as soon as possible. I've called my apiaries. I am going to have to get about 20 hives on this property somewhere in the back. That's right, I need to resurrect my beekeeping.

On Easter Sunday, Happy Eostre Bede, I went to visit my brother Johnny, of City Brewshop fame, and picked up another boatload of equipment. It's been a life long dream of mine to make mead. And now, because of my brother John and the wonderful help of my sweat wife Kim, I'm making two batches of mead. Huzzah!

Two more primary fermenters, with locks, etc, and two new glass secondary carboys, with locks etc. John gave me a great deal. I brought him my new toffee formulation with Pilsner Malt. Really good toffee. On sale soon.

Anyway, this wasn't a very sticky operation, though as you will see by the photos, a lot of water got on the floor. Just a typical brewing and fermenting operation. Now, instead of my kitchen smelling like hops, it smells like honey. Well, honey and chocolate and maybe lamb tangine and pizza.

So, how do you make mead? Well, it's simple. Sanitize everything as for brewing. You glop a lot of honey in a bucket,

17.8 pounds for the Sake Mead, a sweet mead, made with my special local honey and 12 lbs for my Dry Sparkling Mead. Unfortunately, I shorted this recipe by almost 1 pound but will make it up t tomorrow when I add in more nutrients and stir. Making this mead sparkling by bottle conditioning will be a challenge. Think Champagne. Think billions of pounds of pressure. Think explosion. I'm going to have to use Champagne bottles with special caps. Huzzah!

Glopping in honey in water and nutrients.

More glopping and water.

Taking gravity reads.

Add some warm water, nutrients, stir and then pitch the yeast in and cover.

Pitching the yeast.

Covering and praying this works. LOL. I had sanitized gloves and everything was clean and sanitized except for the honey though it's hard to culture anything in honey. I did pitch it a little warn, 79 F for the Sack Mead with Sweet Mead Yeast, which likes it warm, and 76 F for the dry mead, with the Champagne yeast, which does not like it warm. Other than that, I think we are on our way. A two week fermentation and then another 2 month secondary fermentation for the dry mead and a 3 month secondary fermentation for the Sack (Sweet) Mead.

Stay tuned folks for updates.

Welcome Healthy Home Market

2011-04-15T17:49:00.000-04:00

Healthy Home Market in North Carolina now carries the number one premium vegan chocolate, as well as our other wonderful confections. Go and get your Easter chocolate there. If you live in North Carolina, this must be your stop for Easter Chocolates.

Healthy Home Market
221 1st Ave NW
Hickory, NC 28601
Phone 828-322-2148

So, if you life in North Carolina and are a vegan, go to this store right now and celebrate Life, Life By Chocolate that is. Enjoy your Life at this wonderful store. You can also get Life By Chocolate Milk and Dark Easter Bunnies there.

Welcome Ypsilanti Food Co-op

2011-04-14T17:47:00.000-04:00

Ypsilanti has reordered more bunnies and rabbits and other wonderful chocolates. So, go down there and get your vegan, dark and milk chocolate bunnies.

Ypsilanti Food Co-op
312 N. River St.
Ypsilanti, MI 48198
Phone 734-483-1520

So, go to this great store in the great state of Michigan and get your vegan Easter chocolates. Enjoy them and enjoy your Life By Chocolate.

Help us welcome Harvest Health to Life By Chocolate

2011-04-13T17:44:00.005-04:00

Another great store, Harvest Health, in the great state of Michigan is now carrying our vegan Easter chocolates. What does Michigan know that no one else knows? That vegans love chocolate. So, go to Harvest Health and get your chocolates, Life By Chocolate that is.

Harvest Health
1944 Eastern Ave SE
Grand Rapids, MI 49507
Phone 616-245-6268

So, please go and get a life, Life By Chocolate, that is and have a Harvest of Health at Harvest Health.

Edson Farms Natural Foods are joined with us

2011-04-13T14:18:00.000-04:00

To bring you wonderful Dark Rabbits and Bunnies. Please go there and get a life, Life By Chocolate that is.

Edson Farms Natural Foods
835 S. Garfield Avenue
Traverse City, MI 49686
Phone 231-941-5221

Please go and shop at this wonderful store. And please, get all your chocolates, especially your Life By Chocolate, there.

Welcome Common Ground Food Co-op

2011-04-12T14:15:00.002-04:00

Another great Illinois co-op joins the Life By Chocolate family. Help us welcome them by getting your chocolate rabbits and bunnies at this great cooperative.

Common Ground Food Co-op
300 South Broadway Avenue
Urbana, IL 61801
Phone 217-352-3347

I almost when to graduate school at the university there. So, help support the store and the students by buying your Easter Chocolate at Common Ground. Go.

Green Tree Cooperative Grocery, welcome

2011-04-11T14:12:00.000-04:00

I'd like to welcome Green Tree Cooperative Grocery to Life By Chocolate. Now they are not only a wonderful co-op but also a premier chocolate shop.

Green Tree Cooperative Grocery
214 N Franklin Street
Mount Pleasant, MI 48858
Phone 989-772-3221

They have a full like of Rabbits, dark, milk and vegan as well as our cute little bunnies. Go to them and get your chocolates. Thank you. And remember, if it doesn't say Life By Chocolate, it isn't.

Welcome Rainbow Blossom Natural Market in Indiana

2011-04-10T19:25:00.000-04:00

This is our first Indiana store and we at Life By Chocolate are very happy to have this wonderful market. Especially, since it is in New Albany. Wonderful. Please go and get your Easter Chocolates, Rabbits, Bunnies etc., and your chocolate bars there, both our wonderful regular organic chocolate bars and our wonderful vegan bars. Go, buy your chocolate, especially Life By Chocolate at this great store.

Rainbow Blossom Natural Market
3003 Charlestown Crossing
New Albany, IN 40205
Phone 812-941-0080

Please go and enjoy your life, Life By Chocolate, that is. Live a little. Go! You wont regret it.

Spring Cubes for Easter and Mother's Day are going up

2011-04-09T18:33:00.000-04:00

Our Spring Collection is going up on the website. Today I put up our 12 Piece Dark Cube.

We also got reviewed by The Chocolate Priestess on her Chocolate Cult blog. A great review.

Here's my response to The Chocolate Priestess clarifying a few things with the selection I sent her. Enjoy the chocolates and read the review.

Response -

Well, that's a lovely review. On the boxes, we tend to do 3 layers of the same four chocolates. On the Easter, we say we put in the apricot cordial, which could either be the Irish Mist or the Grand Marnier Apricot. The list of what is in the box, is on the barcode on the bottom of the box. But again, it may be any of the two apricot cordials.

We will be switching this year from our non-organic Swiss 38% milk chocolate, the best I've ever tasted, to a 42% organic Swiss chocolate from the same manufacturer. This has been a long time coming.

The white chocolate in the Orange Slice is also one of the best I've ever tasted. We mix that with orange zest and other natural ingredients. And yes, balance is our middle name, as you found out.

The Red Dog bite, the organic peanut praliné with molasses and agave syrup, is one of our most popular bites. We also have a Red Dog vegan bar which is our most popular vegan bar and our third most popular bar overall.

You are absolutely right that dark chocolate should never contain anything but chocolate, but that is not always the case. We strive to make that a reality by our strict sourcing and our strict processes.

We make our chocolates by hand and we do make both traditional flavors, plain caramels etc, as well as more unique flavors, such as our well loved banana saffron caramel or our unique cordials and various unique ganaches.

We sell our boxes wholesale and they will be going up on our retail website this week. Thank you for trying our chocolates. I'm glad you like a small sample of our handmade organic and vegan confections. We enjoy making them.

I should have sent you our other very unique flavor combination, hickory smoked peanut butter wrapped in our organic dark chocolate. '

Enjoy.

Yours,

Mark LaPolla
Chocolatier
Life By Chocolate

Healthy Pantry welcome, welcome, welcome

2011-04-08T17:01:00.000-04:00

Join us in welcoming Healthy Pantry to Life By Chocolate. This great store now carries great chocolate, vegan Easter bunnies, milk chocolate bunnies, bars and lots more. Please go and get your chocolate, especially Life By Chocolate there. Another great Michigan store.

Healthy Pantry
3295 Colby Rd Suite H
Whitehall, MI 49461
Phone: 231-893-3438

Remember, Life By Chocolate is more than just a name, it's a choice and so is Healthy Pantry, the right choice. Enjoy and live a little.

Welcome It's Only Natural

2011-04-07T16:57:00.000-04:00

I'd like to welcome another great South Carolina store to Life By Chocolate. Please go there and get your bars, your Easter Bunnies, your vegan chocolate, whatever you need. Remember, Life By Chocolate isn't just a name, it's a philosophy.

It's Only Natural
10 Sea Island Parkway
Beaufort, SC 29907
Phone: 843-986-9595

Go to It's Only Natural and get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is. Enjoy a little.

Another great review of our Easter Collection

2011-04-06T13:38:00.006-04:00

Well, indeed, they loved the box and the Marzipan. Before I let you see the review, which is fun and interesting, I'd like to say a few things. I'm not only here to give you the best chocolates in the world, but also to help you appreciate chocolate and get the best box of chocolate you can from the store to your home. First thing you should never, ever do is turn a box of chocolates upside down. When we send them out, they are always in perfect condition. Turning the box upside down will only mar the chocolate. I'm not just talking about Life By Chocolate chocolates, any chocolates. That's why we put the name on the outside. So, next time you are in a store, do not turn the box upside down. We do pack them very tightly to minimize any damage but still, this isn't hard candy.

I know, I know you want to see the ingredients list. Well, you can lift it straight up or as Delores was just saying to me, "Get a mirror. Get the compact out and learn how to read mirror writing Da Vinci." LOL. So, do your best and you'll have great chocolates when you get home.

Second thing is a small thing but important, there are 12 chocolates, 3 layers of 4 chocolates. Each one better than the previous. You get 12 chocolates, but each of the three tiers are the same thing. In other words, the top layer is repeated three times. There is three of each chocolate. As you can see in the video, he tries only one chocolate but he loved it. Thank you. You are absolutely right, Nick. We make our Marzipan by hand. We don't buy our marzipan, we make it and then enrobe it in our wonderful organic dark chocolate to bring you those memories on a nice cloud of almond and chocolate. Enjoy.

Here's this fun review. We sent it off to our box manufacturer. LOL. Our box manufacturer got back in touch with us immediately and asked permission to use our images on their marketing. Yes they may. Enjoy the video but more importantly, enjoy the chocolates.

Welcome Rainbow Blossom Natural Market in Kentucky

2011-04-05T16:53:00.000-04:00

These three Rainbow Blossom Natural Market are our first stores in Kentucky. We are very proud to welcome them to the Life By Chocolate family and we would like to urge everyone to go and buy chocolates, especially Life By Chocolate, especially Easter Life By Chocolate chocolates at these wonderful stores.

Rainbow Blossom Natural Market
3046 Bardstown Road
Louisville, KY 40205
Phone: 502-498-2470

Rainbow Blossom Natural Market
12401 Shelbyville Road
Louisville, KY 40243
Phone: 502-244-2022

Rainbow Blossom Natural Market
3608 Springhurst Boulevard
Louisville, KY 40241
Phone: 502-339-5090

Louisville is very lucky to have these great store and now that Life By Chocolate is there, Louisville is doubly lucky. Do not wait and do not hesitate to please go to one of these fine stores and get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is. Spring is here. Go get some a Bunny or two. Enjoy.

Nature's Pantry has joined Life By Chocolate

2011-04-04T21:46:00.000-04:00

Please help us welcome Nature's Pantry in Fishkill New York. Another great store now carrying our great chocolate, our Spring Collection, bunnies and more. Please buy your chocolate, especially your Life By Chocolate at

Nature's Pantry
1545 Route 52
Fishkill, NY 12524
Phone 845-765-2023

Help us help you to some terrific chocolate. Get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is and live a little or live a lot.

Chuck's Natural Food Market, welcome, welcome, welcome

2011-04-03T21:42:00.000-04:00

Please help me to welcome Chuck's Natural Food Market to Life By Chocolate. They have bars, they have bunnies, they have Easter Chocolate. Please go down to this great store in the great state of Florida.

Chuck's Natural Food Market
114 N. King's Ave.
Brandon, FL 33510
Phone 813-657-2555

Get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is and enjoy a little. Please go and get your chocolate at Chuck's Natural Food Market, especially if it is Life By Chocolate.

Food Liberation Hearth Market and Life By Chocolate

2011-04-02T21:34:00.000-04:00

Please help us welcome Food Liberation in the NYC, Manhattan, people. A wonderful state and a great city. They have bars both organic vegan and our organic bars. They have a full assortment of our wonderful bars.

Food Liberation Health Market
1349 Lexington Ave.
New York, NY 10128
Phone 212-348-2286

So, get you down to Food Liberation Health Market and get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is. Enjoy a little. Another NYC store for Life By Chocolate

Weaver's Way Coop has joined Life By Chocolate

2011-04-01T21:30:00.000-04:00

Help us welcome this new store to the Life By Chocolate family. They are carrying our Spring Collection gift boxes, Easter Bunnies and much more. Get a Life, Life By Chocolate, that is, and do it at this great store.

Weaver's Way Coop
559 Carpenter Lane
Philadelphia, PA 19119
phone 215-848-2350

You know you want to and you know you are going to, so get down to Weaver's Way Coop and get some great chocolate for Easter, especially Life By Chocolate. I'm not fooling around. I'm serious. You love this store.

Natural Frontier Market has joined Life By Chocolate

2011-03-30T21:26:00.001-04:00

Please help me give a warm welcome to another Manhattan store, Natural Frontier Market. They are carrying bars and Easter Bunnies. Please go and get your Life By Chocolate there.

Natural Frontier Market
325 3rd Ave.
New York, NY 11010
Phone 212-2289133

Please support this wonderful store in the great city of New York.

Nature's Pantry now has Life By Chocolate

2011-03-29T21:06:00.001-04:00

Please help all of us at Life By Chocolate to welcome Nature's Pantry, a great store. They have your Easter Chocolate needs as well as plenty of vegan chocolates. If you are a vegan, please go to Nature's Pantry and get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is.

Nature's Pantry
142 Route 17K
Newburgh, NY 12550
Phone 845-567-3355

This is a great store in a great town. Go visit.

LBC welcomes Downtown Natural Market

2011-03-28T21:03:00.002-04:00

Please help me welcome this great store to the Life By Chocolate Family. Please go and support them and get some great Life By Chocolate bunnies. This is a store worth visiting.

Downtown Natural Market
1701 Church Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11226
Phone 718-282-0110

This is a great store in Brooklyn, please go and get your chocolates, especially Life By Chocolate. Get a Life and live a little.

A Matter of Health. welcome, welcome, welcome

2011-03-27T20:52:00.004-04:00

Please help me welcome this great store to the Life By Chocolate Family. They are loaded with Easter chocolates. Please go and support them and get some great Life By Chocolate bunnies. New York City, the City, is a great city and this store is a wonderful store.

A Matter of Health
1478 First Ave.
New York, NY 10075
Phone 212-288-8280

This is a great store in Manhattan, please go and get your chocolates, especially Life By Chocolate.

Nancy, my sous Chef, and Fish by Kerby Smith

2011-03-26T17:19:00.004-04:00

Kerby Smith is teaching here. He took some pictures and created this lovely portrait of Nancy. There is still room in his class.

Here you see Nancy bagging chocolate bunnies. She sort of looks like a bunny.

Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, yeah right, reprise

2011-03-23T15:52:00.002-04:00

Well, after bashing Marcel the Show, and rightly so, and the SyFy network, doubly rightly so, I do want to say that the kid has guts to go into catering. Not only is it hard but he's doing new, interesting and fresh food JIT (Just in Time). He has a set on him, he does.

Just think, he could have simple done some bogus show about Diners and Dives or some equally pathetic challenge show. He needs to hire a pastry chef.

Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, yeah right.

2011-03-22T22:26:00.002-04:00

I'm watching Marcel's Quantum Kitchen. Just shoot me now. Where's the SF? It's on the supposed SyFy Channel, right? But where's the fiction? Where's the fiction in these stupid ghost programs. And where's the science in these stupid wrestling programs? We already know they're full of fiction.

Marcel, how about a real hard boiled or soft boiled egg in the nest? How about something simple? You're over-thinking it.

Kim is on Toginet right now cohosting.

2011-03-09T15:20:00.001-05:00

Go to http://www.toginet.com/ Kim is cohosting Mark Lapinski's Creative Mojo.

The Porter Bottling - some ideas, some thoughts

2011-03-05T14:47:00.005-05:00

Good health. That's me drinking the extra beer. From checking the specific gravity. It taste-ah like-ah Porter. As you can see, I gained about 5 pounds. I blame the beer but as my brother Johnny would say, "Don't blame the beer." The alcohol content of this beer turned out to be about 5.8%. Not too shabby.

I know I didn't put the recipe for this Peat-Smoked Porter. While bottling, I came up with a couple of innovations since the last time I bottled. My brother John, showed me how to brew, since then I've brought the paranoia of a chocolatier who used to be a software engineer and the innovation of a hacker to the bottling. No big deal. Well, OK. I've always had the paranoia of a chef. LOL

The first amazing Idea I had was to just put the bottles in the bucket. Put the bottle' in the bucket, Eliza, Eliza. Well, Duh. When I was doing that I found that they just filled up.

Yeah!

This wasn't an idea but I over caramelized the priming sugar.

And that's me as the bottling tank.

I wound up with a half bottle that I capped anyway. I'll let Kim drink it tomorrow because it will be sweet.

Art and Fiber Art Workshops are filling up

2011-02-26T12:39:00.000-05:00

Enroll now! Do not wait. Our classes and workshops are filling up very fast for both Fiber Arts and Painting and Drawing. So, do yourself a favor and call today.

We have a great line up of teachers. It's going to be a great year. People are already signing up for 2012. I'd hate to have you miss out on your favorite classes.

Beer, wine and sangria... What have we been doing?

2011-02-25T14:04:00.014-05:00

The Guilded Otter

For my blog followers and my twitter followers who do not follow me on Facebook, here is a make-up post with all the pictures that are currently on my FB account and the Life By Chocolate FB account. There is even more on the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn and Hudson River Valley Art Workshops and of course our Wee Forest Folk store. So that should be most of what we have on Facebook.

Now, what have we been doing besides making chocolate and brewing beer and of course knitting and quilting? We've been dining and having great wines and beers.

Let me start from most recent. We went to The Guilded Otter in New Paltz.

We tried their sampler and then decided that the Winter Wassail was the one that we wanted to drink. The Crimson Lager was also good as was their Altbier and their Imperial Stout and the porter. Mostly all their beers are good. I bought a growler of the Winter Wassail.

They make a great sandwich. Here is my love, looking at the menu.

We've also been drinking some stellar wines. Here is a montage or rather a pictorial of the wine we've had over the last few months. These will be in reverse order of drinking them, from latest to lastest, if that's a word. Which I know it is not.

Very super yummy.

When I first opened this rosé I thought it was gone. It wasn't. It did take a few minutes, about 30 of them, to open and be delightful. I highly recommend this nice rosé.

One of the wonderful meals Kim made for us. I'm definitely going to steal the slaw. Great. Tasty and yummified.

The Hosmer was good and the Heron Hill was great though I think the Heron Hill needs a lot more time.

Ooooh La La, as my French friends would say, this wine was superb. It had honey and other complex flavors on the finish. Here's what I said about it when I was drinking it. "another stunner from the collection. Sauzet and a 1er cru. A wonderful wine that went well with the gigli we had with cheese sauce. Basically a goat cheese, mascarpone sauce."

These are the glasses we had the wine in.

I couldn't detect the honey and honeysuckle flavors I was expecting on the finish with a trace of caramel. When the wine opened, it was beautiful and delicious with all the flavors you'd expect from a 1er cru Meursault of this caliber.

We've also been making a great drink with the St. Germain and Apple Cider, local good stuff, cinnamon heated. I use almost a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of St. Germain and Apple Cider. Very nice. Sorry, no sangria so this will have to do. It makes a very good winter cocktail of about wine strength.

A most lovely Chardonnay. This was a great drink. I've been taking out wines that I thought might be over the hill because when I opened this Chablis I thought it was already over the hill.

This was the bottle of wine that started all the problems. I thought it was bad. But I was wrong. It just took a long time to open. At least 1 hour. This wine was very gravely and very austere and had no fruit at all but after it had opened, it was a very typical Chablis with plenty of fruit though not as much as other Burgundies.

I'll leave you with two more. This is a great dessert wine and one of Kim's favorites. We had this with Roquefort and other blue cheeses.

I bought this next Sauterne back in the 80's and back when people were more concerned with Terroir than the skill in making the wine. This bottle of wine was sold to me as "contiguë à Yquem" that is the vineyard for this wine was contiguous with Yquem, the greatest Sauterne.

All of Burgundy is an example of this belief that Terroir isn't everything but the only thing and how wrong that can be. Clos de Tart is a particularly great example of how a change in the technique produces a much better wine. My last bottle of Clos de Tart was a 1990, which was superb.

And another great dessert wine. We drank this one with Roquefort and other great cheeses, mostly blue. All of these dessert wines had that characteristic honey and bottle sunlight greatness to them. No Yquem but still worth the drink. I am leaving out the great Champagnes we had over New Years, DVX, Krug etc. But you can see them on my Facebook site.

I hope this post satisfies not only the beer people following me but also the wine people and the cocktail or mixed drink crowd. And I hope it also makes for interesting reading for all you chocoholics out there. Enjoy.

Milk Chocolate Cordials, HO!

2011-02-22T17:01:00.003-05:00

I just made some new, fantastic, yummy Milk Chocolate Cherry Cognac Cordials. Say that 10 times fast!

I also made some wonderful Milk Chocolate Apricot Irish Mist Cordials. The apricot flavor is so intense, it's striking.

Naturally sweet, without being overly sweet and sugary. Just pure milk chocolate to leave a lingering memory and have you wanting more! This milk chocolate is for chocolate purists. If you want the great taste of milk chocolate, this is the confection for you. There is no milk chocolate better than our 38% Swiss Milk Chocolate

Our milk chocolates are created with Swiss 38% Milk Chocolate make from Criollo beans, the highest quality cacao beans. These wonderful beans are roasted in small batches in the traditional manner using revolving roaster which bring out their flavors perfectly. The cocoa nibs are ground on porous stone and the result is conched up to 72 hours, making this wonderful chocolate superior and special. The flavor of our Swiss milk chocolate is without comparison. The full-bodied milk and cream taste is sustained with subtle notes of honey and caramel. The pure and noble cocoa Criollo can be distinguished by the delicate roasting and vanilla taste. This milk chocolate is as sweet as caramel and vanilla, as intense as macadamia nuts, as strong as espresso, and as fragrant as orange blossoms with plum and black currents on the finish.

Enjoy. Get Life By Chocolate and live a little or live a lot.

Making Beer at LBC Step 3, the bottling

2011-02-21T10:54:00.001-05:00

Actually, we bottled at the Greenville Arms. First, as with everything beer, I had to sanitize everything to within an inch of its life. That's what I'm doing above.

The next step is to transfer the beer from the fermenting bucket to the bottling bucket. This is called racking. The bottling bucket has the priming sugar in it. The priming sugar is what will give the yeast that have not been racked, the live yeast, the food to make the bubbles. This is very similar to how you make champagne. With champagne and wine, you're racking off the lees, with beer you're racking off the trub. Both of these means dead yeast cells and other solids at the bottom of the barrel. This helps clarify your beverage. Don't forget, we are making real ale, live ale, with active yeast in it and it will condition as you let it age. I had four yesterday from this batch, still young but a lovely beer.

Stooping over to fill bottles, which I started out doing when I was sanitizing, got old fast.

Ah, now that's the ticket. Yeah. That's the way to go.

Look at that happy face.

After putting the beer in each of the bottles I capped.

Isn't that lovely?

What did I do with the left over yeast? I made bread. The yeast looks like sludge but I can make bread with it. I had to put in a little bit of live baker's yeast to get it to rise fast enough. I wasn't patient.

From sludge to bread and what a lovely hoppy bread it was.

Go to the City Brewshop and learn how to make beer. I'm on my second batch and will do one more before the season begins. Next year I'm going to make mead.

Making Beer at LBC Step 2, the cooling/pitching

2011-02-20T08:24:00.006-05:00

To cool the wort, we decided to put it out in the snow. A bad idea. Not only is it unsanitary but it just doesn't work. I was nonplussed when John suggested this but later when he mentioned that he normally used a bain-marie I asked him why weren't we using a bain-marie instead of the snow since we had to cool the wort down as quickly as possible.

As it turns out, he was trying to save me the cost of ice. John and Carla live in Brooklyn and so for them, ice is dear. I reminded him that we were a restaurant as well as an inn and an art school and we produced about 100 lbs of ice with a 90 minute recovery time. So, we switched to using a bain-marie and that is the way to go to cool down your hot wort.

When all was ready, we strained the beer and added the appropriate amount of water to bring it to 5 gallons. Remember, this is a 5 gallon recipe.

The we had to aerate the beer and pitch the yeast.

Just as with my chocolate recipes, my confections, if you don't know how to make beer, you probably shouldn't even attempt this. However, one quick class at City Brewshop and you'll be golden.

Up next will be the bottling. At this point we are waiting three weeks to ferment the beer. Enjoy.

What is a Hoob and where do I find one?

2011-02-19T16:41:00.004-05:00

When I lived in California, my wife, Kim got for me a birthday present a lesson to make beer at the same place that brewed Pete's Wicked Ale. I went and tried to make a beer I called The Finger of God, a very, very alcoholic, almost barely wine, type of beer with plenty of fermentable. The people at the Make-Your-Own-Beer place ruined it when they put it in unsanitized carboys. I know. WTF? (As in a class 5 Tornado is The Finger of God. So, a super alcoholic beer would be like that, oh yeah.)

So, on my birthday last year, John, my brother, bought me a beer making kits. He sells them at the City Brewshop. He also gives you lessons, too. Take one and start brewing. You wont stop.

When we were little, I walked into a convocation of John's friends, I think it was a band practice or something, and I said, "Who believes me?" or something like that because of something that I've completely forgotten so they started calling me a Hooble as ine Hooblee me.

I loved it and started calling John and anyone else that was acting goofy a Hooblee or for short a Hoob. So, when Johnny gave me the kit, he provided the recipe Finger of Hoob, which came out delish. And it's a chocolate stout because I'm a chocolatier.

Finger of Hoob. LOL. Enjoy.

Finger of Hoob -- The Tasting

2011-02-19T16:10:00.003-05:00

I got out a FoH for tasting, the nice chocolate stout. First thing I did was knock over and break my tasting glass. My friends and family could have heard me on the West Cost or even in Australia. %-( I had to open another one. ^-)

I tasted it. It's surprisingly exactly like a double chocolate stout, say Young's, with a lot more fizz and hops. Not a heavy stout but also not a sweet stout. However, it is highly alcoholic. I wonder if it is 7% with the dosage/priming sugar? It's very fizzy.

I can detect maybe a touch of chocolate but not very much. I also may be fooling myself because Kim can't taste any chocolate at all. Next time 2 lbs of chocolate and 2 T of each of the cocoa powered. I also need some non-fermentable sugar though I like the dry quality to the beer and I do like the non-heavy taste. The hops are very bitter. I think another week of conditioning and some lagering would help. This is almost IPA in its bitterness.

Very, very delish. It'll probably calm down. This is surprisingly light.

Making Beer at Life By Chocolate Step 1, the boil

2011-02-19T07:33:00.001-05:00

Brother John.

Actually, it's making beer at the Greenville Arms. My amazing brother John, talented musician and now beermeistermeister extraordinaire has gotten into making beer and also selling beer kits and giving classes at his store City Brewshop in Brooklyn. Brew, Drink, Repeat! So, for my birthday, he gave me a beer kit and showed me how to brew beer. I'm on my second batch. The following pictures are from the first batch which I have yet to taste but i know will be terrific. We made the Finger of Hoob (see recipe), a chocolate stout using LBC chocolate and some natural and dutched cocoa powered.

The Manual. RTFM!

First we had to make the wort, basically unfermented beer, and boil it and the various specialty grains, malt and specialty additions, such as chocolate.

Way back when, when I was a younger man and lived in California, my wife Kim got me a present of brewing beer at a special beer brewing school. I then attempted to make Finger of God, a VERY strong ale. This, Finger of Hoob, is a childhood nickname that we have for each other, which in and of itself is a LONG story.

While doing all of this, we had to sanitize the equipment. That is something we do very well here at the Greenville Arms.

After sanitizing and doing everything we had to in prep, we mostly drank beer.Let me just mention I am more of a wine drinker than a beer drinker and when I drink beers, I like dark beers and ales. Finger of Hoob is a very dark chocolate stout. Right up my alley.

I am currently doing a Peat-Smoked Porter. And will end with a very light and fruity ale called Saison d'Été, which means Summer Season (ale).

BTW, in all honesty. I did taste the beer several times while checking the alcoholic content. It reminded me of Rochefort 10, a good sign. But I have yet to taste the finished beer because it is still conditioning.

Finger of Hoob Recipe

2011-02-18T19:50:00.005-05:00

Finger of Hoob, is a chocolate stout. A very chocolate stout. I am not going to teach you how to brew beer. For that, you need to take a class at City Brewshop in Brooklyn. If you know how to brew beer, please feel free to give this a try and tell me how it came out. The original recipe said an alcohol of 5.5% but because of the introduction of one pound of 74% Dark Chocolate, it came out move like 6.5%.

John modified a Milk Stout, taking out the lactose because I cannot tolerate it and we added 1 pound of 74% Dark Chocolate, one Tablespoon of Dutched Cocoa Powered and one Tablespoon of Natural Cocoa Powder. You will also notice that this is an extract kit.

Size 5 gallons
Color 47 SRM
Bitterness 27 IBU
OG 1.058
FG 1.015
Alcohol 5.5%/Volume

Our OG came out to 1.062 and FG was, I think, I lost the reading, I know, bad, bad, bad, 1.010. We had more fermentable than the original recipe, namely the chocolate.

Ingredients

Grain

1 lb American chocolate Malt 330L (crushed)
1 lb Crystal malt 60L (crushed)
.5 lb Roasted barley 450L (crushed)

3.3 lb Light liguid malt extract
2 lb Light dry malt extract
1 lb Dark dry malt extract
1 lb 74% dark chocolate (last 10 minutes of the boil)
1 T Natural Cocoa Powder (last 20 minutes of the boil)
1 T Dutched Cocoa Powder (last 20 minutes of the boil)

Hops

1 oz Perele (Bittering) (8% AA, 60 mins.)
1 oz Kent Goldings (Flavoring) (4.5% AA, 30 min.)

Yeast

We used liquid yeast, not the dry.

1 Pkg (11g) Danstar Nottingham Ale Dry Yeast.
(We used Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale)

6 Gallons of water

5 lb bag of ice (I have an ice maker and just used what I needed to use

5 oz corn sugar. We actually used Priming Sugar 5 oz.

We strained it btw.

OK. If you know how to brew beer, this should be more than enough for you to brew it. Normally, this beer required a primary fermentation of two weeks and secondary fermentation of two weeks in a carboy but we just fermented it for 3 weeks in the beer bucket. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in contact with me via this blog. More to chocolate beer posts to come. Enjoy.

Still time to order your Valentine's Chocolate

2011-02-11T10:08:00.001-05:00

If you order right now, you can still get your Valentine's chocolate by Monday in most eastern states. But it has to be in soon. Thank you.

Order here.

More Fine Michigan Stores for Life By Chocolate

2011-01-31T14:38:00.001-05:00

I am proud to announce more MIchigan Stores for Life By Chocolate. Please go and get your Valentine Chocolate there.

The Evergreen Natural Food Market
106 West Ludington Ave.
Ludington, MI 49431
Phone 231-843-1000

They all have a lot of Valentine boxes and other great chocolates.

Manna Foods
6538 N. Lumberjack Rd.
Riverdale, MI 48877
Phone 989-833-777

As well as wonderful organic chocolate bars

Grain Train Natural Food Co-op
220 E. Mitchell St.
Petoskey, MI 49770
Phone 231-347-2381

So, if you life in Michigan, you now have multiple stores to choose from. Go get your Life By Chocolate there. Come on in and live a little.

Welcome Kate's Natural Products in Virginia

2011-01-30T14:36:00.002-05:00

I'd like to welcome Kate's Natural Products in Harrisonburg VA.

Kate's Natural Products
451 University Blvd.
Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Phone 540-433-2359

Please go to Kate's and get your chocolate. Enjoy life. Get Life By Chocolate

Rum Raisin Cordial is Back for a Limited Time

2011-01-22T17:28:00.002-05:00

Rum Raisin will be back during the Valentine Holiday because it is in our mixed heart boxes. Enjoy them while they last. Come February 15th, they'll all be gone.

Welcome For Goodness Sake to Life By Chocolate

2011-01-21T17:16:00.000-05:00

We're happy and proud to announce another great Florida store.

For Goodness Sake
9118 Bonita Beach Rd SE
Bonita Springs, Fl 34135
Phone 239-992-5838

For Goodness Sake is a beautiful store in a beautiful part of Florida. So, get a Life, Life By Chocolate that is, and buy your Valentine's Day chocolate at this wonderful Florida store in Bonita Springs. Enjoy Life and Live a Little.

Life By Chocolate Loves its New Michigan Stores

2011-01-20T17:06:00.006-05:00

And Michigan knows its chocolate. Nothing but the best for Michigan. Three new stores in MIchigan with only the best chocolates, Life By Chocolate, that is. So, get a Life and go to these stores and buy your chocolate there. (Don't forget the vegan chocolates.)

Kweenaw Co-op
1035 Ethel Avenue
Hancock, MI 49930
Phone 906-482-2030

And another great Michigan store.

Nature's Market
1013 S. Washington
Holland, MI 49423
Phone 616-394-5260

And this next one, I took the order myself and Marsha told me about a great organic cherry producer in Michigan. Another great reason to buy Life By Chocolate in Michigan.

Evergreen Natural Foods
106 West Ludington Avenue
Ludington, MI, 49431
Phone 231-843-1000

All of these great Michigan stores deserves your custom. Go and get your Valentine's Day chocolates from one of these great stores. Now you have three more choices, Holland, Ludington and Hancock.

Happy Valentine's Day Michigan

2011-01-17T11:57:00.000-05:00

And Welcome to Life By Chocolate!

Here at Life By Chocolate, we'd like to extend a big hello to our new stores in Michigan. Each on of these gems is unique and beautiful. Please support these terrific stores and get your chocolate, especially your Valentine chocolate there.

Harvest Health
6807 Cascade Road SE
Grand Rapid, MI 49546
Phone 616-975-7555

Looking for Vegan Valentine Gifts? Harvest Health is just the store for you.

Grain Train Natural Food Co-op
220 E. Mitchell Street
Petoskey, MI 49770
Phone 231-347-2381

Looking for unique Valentine Chocolates? Then the Grain Train is just the co-op for you.

Get a life, Life By Chocolate that is and live a little.

Help me welcome these fine store to Life By Chocolate

2011-01-17T00:03:00.003-05:00

We've been busy sending out our chocolates to wonderful health food stores. If you need a Valentine Gift, do not look any father than these great stores. The first new store is in New York, the Empire and Chocolate State.

The Olde Corner Store
133 Factory Street
Gallupville, NY 12073
Phone 518-872-1610

Practically in our backyard, The Olde Corner Store is ready to serve all your chocolate needs.

Kate's Natural Products
451 University Blvd
Harrisonburg,VA 22801
Phone 540-433-2359

Another great store in the great state of Virginia. Please hurry down to Kate's Natural Products and get some of our natural and organic chocolate. Get a life, Life By Chocolate, that is, and live a little.

Happy New Year Sale on until 1/9/11

2010-12-28T14:10:00.004-05:00

Take advantage of our Happy New Year Sale and live a little. Chocolate will make your New Year brighter.

Beef Jerky

2010-12-27T13:31:00.001-05:00

Kim made her famous beef jerky, now the Greenville Arms Jerky, which we don't sell, but forgot to take picture. Recipe will be coming soon on the Greenville Arms blog. Also, stay tuned for all my Christmas recipes with pictures.

Christmas Eve Tree Decorating Pastries - M'hanncha

2010-12-26T15:51:00.011-05:00

We usually get our tree either on Christmas Eve or the day before but no matter when we buy or cut down our tree, we always decorate on Christmas Eve. While decorating we have eggnog and pastries. Last year, I did Chaussons Aux Pommes, well they actually I used Cherries. This year, I did M'hanncha, a great Moroccan Snake Pastry. It is rolled and coiled filo dough stuffed with almond past.

Almond Paste Filling

8-15 sheets of filo dough. I like to use 3 sheets per snake but Nancy, my pastry chef uses 5.
1/3 cup granulated sugar.
2 1/2 cups of blanched almonds
1 tablespoon melted butter
2 tablespoons orange blossom water
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Honey Water

1/4 cup good honey
2 tablespoons orange blossom water

as needed melted butter
as needed egg yolk wash
as needed fried almond slivers. (Fry the almond slivers in butter until golden.)

Fried Almonds. I used slice rather than slivers. I like the look better and that's what I had.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

First get the dough of the refrigerator and over with a damp cloth so that it does not dry out. If you bought frozen dough, and I recommend you buy your filo, make sure to defrost it IN YOUR REFRIGERATOR the night before.

Next, lets make the almond paste. This is very easy. Do not over think this. In a Cuisinart, mix the sugar, almonds, butter, orange blossom water and the 1t of cinnamon. This should take about 5-10 minutes in the Cuisinart.

You may want to make the paste a little finer than the one shown hear.

Next, and really this is all there is to it, roll our the almond paste into a snake almost as long as the filo dough's longest side. Then take 3-5 sheets of filo dough, apply melted butter gently and then place the almond paste snake in the filo and roll as shown in the picture. Create about three snakes.

Mise en place

Note that I am holding the filo in landscape.

And roll.

Roll.

Roll your snake.

Use the melted butter to grease an 8 inch pie pan. I like to use glass. Then coil the snakes into a spiral shape and apply butter and then the egg yolk wash to the coils.

Bake for 40 minutes or until golden brown. While you are waiting, heat the honey until it's fluid. I like it to just start simmering. Keep hot and add the orange blossom water to it.

When you take the M'hanncha out of the oven, drizzle the honey water on top of the snake and decorate with the fried almonds. Then eat.

I also created a pistachio version. To make the pistachio version substitute pistachios for the almonds, rose water for the orange blossom water and I would cut the filling recipe in half.

I didn't and the pistachio was so solid and blocking it was hard to chew and rather lumpy but delicious.

Shape as before. You can see how much more substantial the pistachio is than the almond.

Roll as before.

Bake as before and sprinkle rose water honey water on top. I didn't add any decorations. You may want to add a little raw crushed pistachio. Then eat. Yummer.

Christmas Time in the Country 2010

2010-12-24T17:15:00.005-05:00

Every year, Kim and I make cookies and pastries and then I make my killer eggnog and we decorate the tree. This year, I made traditional M'hanncha and a pistachio and rose water version as well. But first I have to get the tree from off the top of the car and into the house.

Then Kim has to put the lights on.

The M'hanncha are made and decorated. Recipes and pictures are coming.

Cannoli anyone?

2010-12-17T10:48:00.002-05:00

A quick note from Delores, the LBC saleswoman. We were discussing what cheese to use in cannoli. I told her that ricotta was traditional but if she wanted to try mascarpone, she should try it. And I told her to avoid chocolate chips and candied fruit. But that pistachio was just fine and recommended. She sent me back the following note.

"Our Impastata is known as the Cadillac of the ricottas. This fresh delicate cheese, light as whipped cream has the consistency and delicate flavor of soft sweet butter. It is widely used for ravioli and manicotti fillings as well as for Italian Pastries. The famous Ferrara's of New York City uses exclusively our Ricotta for their cannolis, the premiere of Italian Pastries.

The attachment is one of the recipes for Cannoli's with chocolate chips. I think I'm going to take your advice and not add chocolate chips. I do though like the idea of adding the pistachio mixed with the chocolate chips for each end of the cannoli."

And please, no chocolate chips. Don't forget to buy your chocolates.

Christmas Chocolates - There's still time

2010-12-16T16:09:00.006-05:00

There's still time to order your Christmas and New Year's chocolates from Life By Chocolate. End the old year right with some wonderful organic and fair trade chocolates. Enjoy life! Live a little and have a merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

24 piece boxes!

12 piece boxes!

Novelties, quarter pound Santas and smaller Santa Faces as well.

Or order your chocolates individually. If you don't see something, call us and we can help.

Gigi's Raspberry Squares

2010-12-05T12:04:00.000-05:00

To go with your new Holiday Drink, check out Gigi's Raspberry Squares.

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-cup sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
1-cup butter
1 egg
1 10-oz jar raspberry jam/preserves

Heat oven to 350º. In a large mixer bowl combine all ingredients except the raspberry preserves. Beat with a large spoon first then use your hands. Yes, this one gets messy. Once it’s all mixed together split the dough in half. Use one half to spread in a greased 8” square baking pan. Spread the preserves within 1/2” from the edge. You will not use the entire jar of preserves. Just spread enough to your liking. Crumble the rest of the dough over the preserves. Bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until lightly browned.

You could also use strawberry or grape which ever you prefer. You can leave it plain like this or after it has cooled you can put a drizzle of frosting made with confectionery’s sugar and water. Start with about 1/2 the box, or 1 cup, and add just a tablespoon of water at a time. Mix and if it’s still to dry and just a little more water. You don’t want it to be too thin. Then take your spoon with a lot of the frosting on it and drizzle all over the bars. Once this has set – then cut into bars.

Gigi's Holiday Drink Recipes

2010-12-04T11:06:00.004-05:00

This recipe is from a friend of mine and I'd like to share it with you. It's a perfect non-alcoholic complement to Mark's Killer Eggnog Recipe. Thank you Gigi for this great holiday drink.

Gigi's Holiday Drink Recipes - Tea Makes a Healthy and Delightful Drink

A steaming mug of tea is soothing on a cold night. Serve your guests these special teas at your holiday party. A crock pot is handy for making the holiday tea and keeping it warm for guests.

Holiday Citrus Tea Recipe

Ingredients:

12 tea bags - use black tea or green tea
12 cups boiling water
2/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons honey
3 cups orange juice
3 cups pineapple juice
1 orange (unpeeled), sliced
1 cinnamon stick

Directions:

Place tea bags into the crock pot and pour boiling water over them. Cover; and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags. Stir in sugar, honey, orange juice, pineapple juice, orange slices, and cinnamon stick. Cover and heat on low for 2-3 hours.

Serves 16

Amazon Pressured us into it - Cyber Monday

2010-11-28T14:41:00.002-05:00

Check out our website for our Cyber Monday deals. http://www.lifebychocolates.com/

Everything must go. And don't forget, if you are ordering from outside of the US, please contact us about the extra shipping.

Amazon Pressured us into it - Cyber Monday

2010-11-28T14:41:00.000-05:00

Check out our website for our Cyber Monday deals. http://www.lifebychocolates.com/

New Chocolate up on the website

2010-11-19T10:23:00.004-05:00

A whole host of never seen before holiday chocolate are up on the website for your enjoyment. My favorite is the Orange Slices.

It's a beautiful orange ganache which i pipe into a white chocolate shell molded to look like an orange slice. I use annatto seed to color this beautiful orange orange and it's all natural and organic. So, enjoy this orange. I used orange juice, fresh squeezed and orange zest in this confection. You'll love it.

Don't forget the very popular pumpkin pie caramel.

Also the ever popular peppermint cordial.

And the massively popular maple cream. Go buy some now. You'll love them.

Bonus December Retreat

2010-11-09T17:31:00.000-05:00

Come to our Bonus Retreat in December.

Our Retreats are a time for people to get together and work on their own projects with no set program. If you're self-motivated and could use time to concentrate without instruction, or if you have a friend you want to spend time with, or you just want a relaxing art vacation, the Retreat package is for you.

Take advantage of this uninterrupted time to finish your holiday projects!

As a bonus for this retreat, Kim LaPolla, workshop director and fiber artist, will be joining you in the studio and will provide informal lessons on how she designs and creates the rabbits for her quilts. Kim will explain how to create a pattern and templates starting with a photo or illustration. Kim uses both a turned-under applique method and a fused method. Other techniques and processes will be covered, such as the crazy-pieced background.

Come join us for this fun week. Enjoy the 24-hour access for the studio, full country breakfast, afternoon cookies and fruit, and delicious 3-course dinner. Also unlimited coffee, tea, and hot chocolate!

Hula Hooping at the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn

2010-11-02T20:00:00.000-04:00

We have a belly dancer here at the Greenville Arms 1889 Inn and she was talking about Hula Hooping and offered me a challenge, Do the Hula-Hoop for 20 minutes or give her a box of chocolates. What's in it for me?

Here are the pictures of us doing the Hula. Loads for fun here at the Hudson River Valley Fiber Art Workshops.

Let's get this party started.

Hula Hula Hula Hoop.

And here Lola, the pro. Look at the smile.

Fall Colors hitting their stride at LBC

2010-10-25T10:51:00.005-04:00

The Fall Colors are just hitting their stride here at Life By Chocolate at the Greenville Arms. The surrounding country side may be past it's prime, though still very colorful and beautiful, but as you can see, we still have plenty of green leaves getting ready to change, as well as plenty of beautiful fall trees and bushes. Now's the time to come up and visit us.

Welcome Food Fantasies to Life By Chocolate

2010-10-21T15:56:00.002-04:00

I'd like to welcome another new store now carrying the best chocolate and confections, Food Fantasies. Please go right now to Food Fantasies and buy some chocolate. Remember, without Life By Chocolate, it is really a life?

Food Fantasies
1512 W. Wabash
Springfield, IL 62704

Add a little Fantasy to your Food with Food Fantasies and live a little. Life By Chocolate. Please support this wonderful store.

Fall Colors at Life By Chocolate at the Greenville Arms

2010-10-16T14:36:00.005-04:00

Fall is here and HOW!

It is apple picking time. People are coming to the inn to pick apples locally. Our friend Anthony has an apple orchard and dropped off some beauts. We will be going to pick apples again, I hope.

The fall colors are breath taking. As you approach the inn, and of course, Life By Chocolate, you can see the wonderful array of different trees, each announcing themselves with their own hue. We have maples, oak, birch and many more.

The grounds at the Greenville Arms has not yet hit its peak but the surrounding country side is fast approaching it. Whether you come to relax here at the Arms or to buy some maple cream candies at Life By Chocolate, you'll appreciate the beautiful fall colors and our equally beautiful inn.

Pumpkin Pie Caramels now available in ALL weights

2010-10-12T12:27:00.003-04:00

Due to a small technical issue, pumpkin pie caramels were not available in all weights. Now they are. Go buy some today. Enjoy life.

Don't forget our Holiday Cats

2010-10-12T11:02:00.004-04:00

Whether for Halloween or just because you are a cat lover, try our delicious chocolate cats. They come in white, black and brown. Enjoy and live a little.

Holiday 12 and 24 piece sets

2010-10-09T14:23:00.002-04:00

We may have discontinued the 9 piece box sets but we have not discontinued the 12 and 24 piece sets. Don't forget about our holiday 12 and 24 piece sets. Click here for our wonderful Gift Chocolates.

Judy Simmons - Inspirations from Nature, Art Quilting Class

2010-10-07T10:53:00.004-04:00

Judy Simmons - Inspirations from Nature

October 31 - November 6, 2010
All Levels Art Quilting Class

In this week long study, students explore color and texture in their journey to create an art quilt drawing inspiration from nature. Students learn many exciting machine and surface design techniques including machine lace, machine texture, bobbin work, dimensional and off the edge appliqué, creative methods of machine appliqué and using sheer overlays. Surface design techniques include stamping, paint sticks, Angelina fibers and microwave dyeing. If time allows, ways to finish the edge including facings and pillowcase edge will be covered.

There will be several short slide presentations along with many visuals to get creative juices going. Many handouts for reference will be given

Judy Simmons earned her degree in Home Economics from New York State University at Oneonta. As a teacher of sewing and design, creative clothing became her first love later developing into art quilts and wearable art. Judy loves designing and creating “one of a kind” pieces, using various surface design techniques as well as extensive thread work in the form of needlelace, bobbinwork, cutowork and quilting. Her favorite techniques include dyeing and painting with procion mx dyes as well as Turkish marbling. Her newest love is that of image transferring using transparencies, mediums, paper documents and image paper. Combining this with color lifting, printing and screening, allows her unlimited possibilities. Presently Judy is working on a series using old photos and documents to create unusual but subtle backgrounds for her work.

Her quilts have been exhibited and won awards at local, regional and national shows. The American International Quilt Association, National Quilting Association and American Quilter’s Society have honored her quilts with awards. Her wearable art has won and continues to be exhibited on national and international levels including the countries France, Japan, Austria and Canada. Judy is a 7 time designer for the prestigious Fairfield Fashion Show. She has won 7 awards including the Excellence in Surface Design award from the nationally recognized fashion show sponsored by the American Quilter’s Society.

Her publications include: American Quilter, Craft and Needlework Age, Ladies Circle Patchwork Quilts, McCalls Quilting, Patchwork Patter, Patchwork Quilt Tsushin (Japan), Quilt magazine, Quilter’s Newsletter, Quilt World, Sewing and Fine Needlework (cover), and Through the Needle; the Quilt Art Calendar 1988 featured her “Nosegay” quilt which is also part of the permanent collection of quilts at the Museum of American Quilters. The Bernina 1994 calendar features one of her original creations for the month of December.

Judy has published a book on machine techniques entitled Machine Needlelace and Other Embellishment Techniques. It is published by Martingale and Company. Judy’s second book Creative Marbling on Fabric deals with the very old and beautiful art form of Turkish marbling.

Judy has taught and lectured all over the United States as well as the Caribbean, Canada and Japan. She has appeared on the HGTV cable show Simply Quilts.

For more information, click here.

Butternut, Cauliflower and Asparagus soup recipe

2010-09-28T17:26:00.005-04:00

This is a completely new recipe. First you roast about 8 butternut squash after dicing into medium cubes. Then you cover the squash with leftover Cauliflower Soup. Next you add about 1 bundle of asparagus. I use my pencil which makes this easier. Don't forget to trim and if it isn't pencil, chop. I let that simmer for a few minutes.

I then blend, adding vegetable stock as needed. I then add about 1-2 table spoons of Chinese ginger, powdered and nutmeg powdered, to taste. I also season with black pepper and sea salt. Add enough stock to allow the soup to blend. Blend until smooth.

I return the blended soup to a cooking pot and let simmer for about 1/2 hour and serve. This is very complex and yummy.

Here's a little color theory for you. Notice the Day-Glo yellow you get by mixing the orange squash and the burnt umber stock with green asparagus and lightening it with white cauliflower soup?

Halloween Cats. Get some today.

2010-09-28T14:10:00.002-04:00

We sell them year round for cat lovers but now's the season for our Wonderful Cats, the White Cat, the Milk Cat and the Dark Cat.

Lemon Logs, a new zesty delight

2010-09-24T15:32:00.001-04:00

You will love our new Lemon Log. It's a wonderful treat.

Our Lemon Log is a zesty combination of lemon, fondant and white chocolate ganache enrobed in organic and fair trade 73% dark chocolate and then decorated with sanding sugar. Not too sweet and not too sour, this chocolate delight will thrill you and will leave you wanting more. This is a new favorite.

Sign up for our Email Newsletter

2010-09-24T14:49:00.005-04:00

And be eligible for prizes, specials and promotions. Only the people signed up for our Life By Chocolate email are eligible for special email newsletter prizes. Sign up today. (At the bottom of the LBC home page.)

Blueberry Pie Recipe

2010-09-23T19:15:00.000-04:00

This is one easy pie to make. Just follow my directions.

6 cups fresh blueberries (I like lots of fruit in my pies. Depending on the size of your pie pan, use 8 cups and up the recipe.)
1/2 t lemon zest
1 T lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup AP flour
1/4 t cinnamon
2-4 T unsalted butter
1 T Blackberry liqueur (optional)

Preheat oven to 425F.

First prepare the crust and chill pie bottom in the refrigerator.

Mix blueberries, sugar, flour, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice and liqueur in a bowl. Pour into the chilled pie pan (with bottom crust.) Dot with pieces of butter. Put the top of on the pie, fold over the bottom and crimp edges down with a fork to make a seal.

Wisk 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of milk to create a wash. Then gently brush the pie top and make small slices in the top crust for vents. Since I always cut my pies into 8 slices, I like to put the vents radiating out from the center as a marker for where to slice the pie.

Bake the pie for 20 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350F and continue baking for 30 minutes or until the top is a golden brown color. Let the pie cool to room temperature before cutting.

Since I found this pie to be very tart. I like to make a nice Chantilly cream with about 1.5 ounces of blackberry liqueur. I usually just eyeball the amount of blackberry liquor. To make the Chantilly cream I whip together

2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 oz blackberry liqueur

And please, use the expensive blackberry liqueur

Some musings on knives (for the kitchen)

2010-09-22T15:56:00.010-04:00

I have a hodgepodge of knives that I've collected over many years of cooking. Some of them aren't even my knives but my wife's knives. Some of them are cheap pieces of steal that were quickly stamped out and are almost impossible to keep sharp. And some of them are jewels but all of them get used here at the Greenville Arms.

It isn't necessary to go out and get a full set of some celebrity "chef" branded, hard to sharpen knives with special blood groves and racing stripes to cook. Most of those knives are junk and more money is spent on marketing than steel.

All you have to do is get one good knife that is long enough to be a chef knife. What does long enough mean? It means that you have to be comfortable using it and it isn't a sandwich or paring knife. I've had assistants, petite women, who liked my 6 inch Wüsthof utility knife and used that as their primary blade. (Though most chef's will tell you, the longer the better.) If you are going to get fancy, get a paring knife. If you are going to do a lot of chopping, get a Chinese or Japanese vegetable cleaver. Oh and definitely get a Cusinart or a Robo Coupe.

If I had to take one knife with me to a deserted island, I would take the Japanese knife Murray Carter made for me out of blue steel, his recommendation. (Pictured above.) It is a forged blade of blue steal with a cocobolo handle that I can hone to scary sharpness using my two water stones and will hold its edge for a long time. It's not long enough to be a kodachi, a short sword, but not by much. So not only could I cut and prepare any food I want with this knife, I could also defend myself on that deserted island. This is the knife I use more than any other knife.

Murray is a 17th-generation Yoshimoto Bladesmith and certified Master Bladesmith. He made my Chef's knife to my specifications, length, handle etc. His wife made the sheath. Thank you Murray.

I also have a few specialty knives that I love to use. (Now, take a deep breath because I am about to scare, disappoint and shock some of you reading this blog.) One is a serrated pie server from Cutco knives. It makes cutting and serving pies easy. When I was prepping a lot of salmon, I also fell in love with Cutco's salmon knives.

Don't poo-poo Cutco. They're stamped knives and you can send them back for sharpening anytime you want. I'm not recommending you buy any Cutco knives. But even notoriously bad knives have a purpose in life and can be a great benefit if properly used. I don't normally like specialty, one purpose equipment in my kitchen but sometimes you need that level of specificity.

I have a great bread knife that I got in Carmel California. I have a Wüsthof bird's beak pairing knife that is hard to sharpen. I also have a stamped Forschner cimeter, one very long knife, fourteen inches, that I like to use for butchering. And as I said, I have some Sam's specials that are terrible. They are stamped steal with plastic handles and are the first thing I grab when I want to chop nuts or chocolate.

As I said, I'm not recommending any one brand of knife here but If I were to recommend one knife, I'd recommend getting a great forged blade. I've confiscated a set of forged Wüsthof paring, carving and utility knives from my wife. I can keep them very sharp indeed.

Sure, I would love a full set of Damascus steel knives from Murray Carter and one day I'll buy that set. But in the meantime, I'll be using my eclectic set of knives that I have gathered over 35 years of cooking.

Pastry Pie Dough

2010-09-21T16:36:00.006-04:00

This is a recipe for very flaky pastry crust pie crust. This isn't my standard, basic normal flaky pie crust. Rather it is Nancy's. Use this or use mine. Both are very good.

This recipe makes a 9-inch two crust pie.

2/3 cups plus 2 tablespoon shortening (or 2/3 cups lard.)
2 cups all-purpose
1 t salt
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water.

Cut the shortening into the flour and salut until particles are the size of small piece. Sprinkle in the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork until all the flour is moistened and the dough almost cleans the side of the bowl. Do not put in too much water. Nancy like to use a hand held pastry blender.

At this point, gather the dough into a ball shape and divide into two balls, one for the top and one for the bottom of the pie. Take the dough for the top and flattened round on a lightly floured board. Roll out about two inches larger than your pie pan. Put the pan on the dough and invert. Cut off the excess and save to be used for the top.

Roll out second ball for the top.

Cooking in the dark

2010-09-20T20:16:00.003-04:00

The power went out again and so I had to cook in the dark. The only light we had was flashlights and candles. The light in these pictures is candle light or it's flash. This happens once a year. I think it's tradition with Central Hudson Electric.

We were a little discombobulated but we did get the food out and the lights went back on. The diners stayed in the dark and dined by candle light. I'll have to mention to Jonathan not to leave his hoodie laying around, even when there's a blackout.

Lemon Log Contest

2010-09-19T13:39:00.006-04:00

A lemon log

The making of the lemon log

These are a wonderful treat. They are not yet on the website because we have not figured out a good way to ship them. They are slightly bigger than our cups and we don't want them jouncing around.

So, Life By Chocolate is sponsoring a contest. If you can figure out how to ship these 2 inch logs of pure delight, we will send you a half pound of lemon logs.

They jounce around even in the display cabinet and that doesn't move around much.

Look for other log flavors. Orange, Pineapple and more.

Rules and Restrictions and more information.
(Thank you Shane for asking the right questions.)

Rules, well, there are none except I don't want to reform the lemon logs. I want them to ship as is without the problems of getting disrupted. If you give us a solution, we'll test ship to see if it works before awarding a prize.

Restrictions, we'll only ship the prize in the continental US. (Unless you have a really good solution. For example, if you live in Canada and you have the best solution, sure we'll ship the prize.) We also don't want to buy custom forms. This has to be a cheap and clever solution. First one that works, wins.

More information. We normally ship in two types of boxes. Free form boxes, that is, boxes without forms and we also have square forms that the lemon logs do not fit in.

The logs themselves are 1 7/8 inch by 3/4 inch by 1/2 inch tall.

The boxes are 5 1/2 X 2 3/4 X 1 3/4, 7 X 3 3/8 X 2, 3 3/4 X 3 3/4 X 3, 5 3/4 X 5 3/4 X 3 (all in inches.)

We have more sizes of boxes but these are the most popular for shipping. Your solution does not have to accommodate all boxes but the one that accommodates the most boxes and works will win.

I'll be interactive on this. See facebook or twitter if you have more questions. Thanks.

It's a beautiful Fall day in the neighborhood

2010-09-18T14:06:00.004-04:00

The sky is blue. The weather is cool and it's perfect for eating chocolates.

And soon the trees will start to change in earnest. Right now they're just thinking about it here at the Greenville Arms.