smile chocolatiers

I have a whole bunch of new posts to write and share.  My week last week did not leave me with much time in between teaching yoga, interviewing and organizing an up coming event so I put blogging on the top of my list of things to do this week.  Here is the first one.  I found this company Smile Chocolatier, that produces a tea infused chocolate bar called Choclatea.   I warmed up to Joanie Freeman’s story (the chef and chocolatier behind the Smile Chocolatier operation) when I read the line that changed her career path from Cordon Bleu chef to chocolate maker when her cousin who had recently purchased a chocolate factory asked her”Do you want to play in chocolate?”  Smile Chocolatier was born.  Joanie’s infusions of Belgian chocolate, herbs and tea resulted in a killer product offering 12 different tastes made of four types of fine chocolate.  To read a review of a couple of the flavours, Katrina from Tea Pages has some good words to say here.

vie the dieline

via candysnob

Dos Palillos at Casa Camper

I think the design of Dos Palillos in Berlin is the way restaurant should be designed- with the kitchen as entertainment and center stage so guests’ senese can be aroused by the sights, sounds and smells of meal preparation in an intimate yet lively setting.  Dos Palillos opened this month (Jan 2010) in hotel, Casa Camper Berlin, a luxurious, innovative, friendly/functional boutique hotel chain that has two locations under its moniker.  If you go to the Dos Palillos website, you can see a video of people sitting at the counter eating and being served.  It looks pretty fun, if you ask me!  Dos Palillos also has an outlet in Barcelona.  They serve asian and tapas food at this hotspot and the restaurant was designed by the Bouroullec Brothers, Ronan and Erwan.

via hello design

via design boom

via dezeen

cookbook

It’s been a busy couple weeks over in this neck of the woods with the holidays ending and getting back into the swing of life.  This week is my mom’s birthday.  My brother, who has never baked a thing in his life has challenged me to a bake off.  I will give him credit, that he is a fabulous cook.  Not only is he creative and has a good sense of flavours, he can cook and invent dishes without a recipe.  For that, I am jealous.  I am a recipe follower through and through.  Maybe it’s due to fear of making a mistake but I typically don’t stray too far away from recipes when I cook which I why I think I am a better baker.  Baking is a science.  Decorating is an art. 

So to compete in my sibling versus sibling bake-off contest, I immediately turned to my wee cookbook collection.  Correction, my vast cookbook collection and skimmed the pages looking for the perfect recipe.   It’s funny how a person can collect so many cookbooks and yet find nothing to bake.  Sort of like looking at your closet full of clothes and finding nothing to wear.   To remedy this roadblock, I searched my Amazon.com recommendations and found a book called Baking at Home with the Culinary Institute of America (see pic below). 

via la dolce vita

And what a book it is.  This week, I have tried two recipes and both have turned out amazing.  Better than amazing.  The book is easy to read, informative (I finally understand why chilling cookie dough for certain recipes produces a better finished product) and there is step by step pictures for the important concepts the book wants you to learn.  I decided to try a yellow birthday cake recipe with a citrus butter cream for my mom’s birthday cake tomorrow.  I just took the two cakes out of the oven and they are cooling on the racks.  There was no question, that when 35 minutes hit the clock, the cakes were done, springy and high. No cracks, no excessive browning.  Just right.  This cake recipe was a high ratio cake, a method that supposedly produces a denser, sweeter cake.  I’ll let you know when we dig in tomorrow night.  So far, I can’t complain with my library book and look forward to trying a couple more recipes before it is due back. 

Happy baking if you end up checking this one out from your library in the future. By the way, if you don’t want to get the book but want to learn the CIA techniques, they have a blog called the CIA Culinary Intelligence with tips, video demonstrations and recipes.

Martha Stewart Weddings features a same sex wedding

via 100 layer cake

floral sculptures

Preston Bailey, who i’ve written about before, is rediculously talented!

Here is a shot of the three floral sculptures Preston created in the New York Public Library for the Monday night gala of Bridal Fashion Week held in October 2010.

via preston bailey

via preston bailey

message in a cookie

Check out these cute cookie cutters from William Sonoma that I read about in Style at Home magazine this weekend.  You can customize a message that will be stamped into the cookie when you cut out the cookie.  How efficient is this invention?