Monday, April 27, 2009

Chocolate and Chef Bear

Chocolat, by Stephan Lagorce, is a chocolate lover’s handbook. I bought this book on a whim. Why? Well, because when I was looking through the cookbook aisle at B & N I saw what looked to be an enormous chocolate bar sitting up there on a shelf. I mean BIG!

I pulled it off the shelf and sat down on one of their comfy chairs and started leafing though it. Goes without saying, I paid for it and brought it home.

The information contained in this book is total heaven for us chocoholics.
Some of the items you will read about in this delightful book are:

1. The types of chocolate available.
2. A detailed manner in having a Chocolate Tasting party.
3. Tasting with your different senses: sight, taste, sound, smell.
4. Having a drinking chocolate tasting party.
5. A tasting glossary.
6. How chocolate is paired with alcohol and various spirits.
7. Chocolate and coffee.
8. Chocolate and spices.
9. Ganache types.
10. Decorating with chocolate.
11. How to store chocolate.
12. How chocolate is made.

And of course there are the recipes.
* Chocolate waffles
* Marble cake
* Viennese hot chocolate
* Pound cake
* Butter chocolate squares
* Chocolate Madeleine’s
* Éclairs
* Chocolate Soufflé
* Iced Chocolate
* And many more

I will be baking some of these recipes and posting about them in future posts. I can hardly wait!
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Meet Chef Bear. I crocheted Chef Bear over the holidays when I needed to “escape” from reality. Boy was I surprised to find out she had developed a personality of her own. She dreamt of traveling and meeting other foodies like me (her mama) and learn from them as well. So I decided to send her to Gloria Chadwick from Foods and Flavors of San Antonio. As you can see in the picture, she traveled with her best (handmade) apron and chef’s hat, a journal so that she could keep a diary of her travels, and her trunk. In her trunk, she carried a small assortment of souvenirs from El Paso to her new friend Gloria. From San Antonio she is to travel to her next destination ( a birdy tells me it would be Tiersa from Chef Bliss). In the interim, Chef Bear sent me some souvenirs from San Antonio.
How lovely is that! I’ve asked Chef Bear to mind her manners and to be friendly and courteous to all she meets. I hope you get a visit from her. She’s well behaved and has a strong desire to learn. I miss you Chef Bear. I hope you’re having fun and learning a lot. Hugs and kisses, Mama Bear.

7 comments:

Pavithra Elangovan said...

Waiting for ur recipes..Nice blogc

Megan said...

I love Chef Bear! Hope he can visit me someday. :)
Sounds like a pretty cool book. Cant wait to hear more.

Claudia said...

Oh Chef Bear is so cute. I love how you escape from reality. Cannnot wait to see what you cook up from your new cookbook...

Reeni said...

The chocolate book looks great, can't wait to see some goodies from it! How lucky Chef Bear is to get to travel! I hope he is having a fun trip!

Ramya Vijaykumar said...

I love chocoloates I guess either I should get one oon or peek in to take more recipes from you... The bear looks awesome I just love him...

Gloria Chadwick said...

I bet you're in chocolate heaven with your new Chocolat book. Can't wait to see what you cook up.
Chef Bear and I had so much fun together. She's a really great cook and taught me a thing or two about making Chicken Parmesan. She did mind her manners while she was here. But hey, Mama Bear, you forgot to mention that she likes to cook with wine. :)

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