Organic Chocolate Treat

Today I went to a wine, chocolate and cheese pairing at Kakayo Chocolate Company where owner, Colleen Wong-Sala, graciously treated her guests to a tantalizing array of organic chocolate truffles. 

(photo courtesy of sweetspot.ca)

We began by pairing a white chocolate matcha green tea truffle with goat cheese and a fruity sparkling wine.   To participate in the tasting, guests were instructed to lick the cheese to coat our tongue (this gave a couple of us the giggles- the thought of licking cheese is a bit odd but surprisingly effective/fun) followed by a bite of the truffle, a full bite of the cheese and then a sip wine. 

After moving from white to dark chocolate filled with a spicy Mexican chili ganache and a glass of Zig Zag Zin and Beringer’s Third Century North Coast Cabernet Sauvignon, guests were gifted with more truffles and were out the door. 

The quality of the organic chocolate was superb.  Flavour combinations innovative and what’s best is that the chocolate be customized. 

If you are in the market for some chocolate to serve guests at an event or to treat yourself, I would recommend stopping by Kakayo.  I really enjoyed it.

Kakayo Truffles

The Big Question: Wedding Gifts

You have just been invited to your seventh wedding of the year and you are balking under the pressure to give a gift. 

Is there a reliable sum or philosophy that will give you an answer to the question, how much is appropriate to give for a wedding gift?  Sadly the answer is NO, but I have a couple ideas that may give you some peace of mind.

(photo from giggling gertie)

An article was published today in the Toronto Star titled “We asked you answered on wedding gifts” which surveyed Torontonians regarding what people deemed as an appropriate wedding gift dollar value.  The upside is that there seems to be a consensus among the “acquaintance-wedding” gift: $50. 

However one might also subscribe to the philosophy, gift within your means, a philosophy I tend to agree with.  Similalry,there is the traditional notion, to gift the dollar value of the head cost per plate but if you have never planned an event a) how do you know what the cost is? b) the cost depends on the venue, caterer, seasonality of food (and the list goes on) this is not sound means to estimate value c) this is a very utilitarian way of looking at a gift and takes all specialness out of the act. 

I think the best way to make a decision is look at your relationship to the couple and give what you feel is appropriate based on your current financial system.   If you want to do something that doesn’t display a dollar value like writing a cheque, there is always the option to give a present- either off the couple’s registry if there are still items left, or be creative (wine delivered, flowers delivered, charitable donation). 

The moral of the story is that an industry standard could never be developed for  your junior high school best friend’s wedding who is more like an acquaintance than a good friend but you have history and your parents are friends? If you can follow the complexity of that relationship train, you know what I’m talking about. 

Gift within your means so you are not ruminating about it all night.

Best Food Blogs- Event Inspiration

Sick and tired of the same old stuff being served at events these days?

Why not turn to the blogsphere for inspiration.  I have been testing a couple recipes out here and there, giving my cookbooks a break and I have to say, I am impressed with the results.  Soon my cookbooks will become mere coffee table decoration (just joking, I don’t think I could ever abandon/retire my collection!).

To help navigate one food blog from another, the London Times put out a “Top 50” food blog list that I discovered while reading Dori Greenspan’s post last week (her blog was one of those nominated).  I started browsing through the list and I have to say, I was impressed that I was able to recognize a handful (aka 5).  However, the rest are open for discovery, trial and error in the kitchen and sharing new food with good friends.

To check out the list and fuel your new event recipe ideas click here:

Vin Volo

For all you winos out there.  There is no correlation between events and my post on Vin Volo, unless that is you envision having your own wine party at an airport.  Now that I think about it, that may be a really cool, alternative venue.  I digress.

Vin Volo is a wine bar/retail brand that is starting to pop up around the US in airports.  The interior design of the concept is beautiful, modern and clean looking and what is best is that you can have a glass of wine in a nice environment and if you have time to kill can even do a tasting flight between connections! I wish something like this would open up in Canadian airports.  I am excited already to go back to the US just so I can visit a Vin Volo outlet.

Vino Volo exterior (photo courtesy of Food Rockz)

Catering Website with a Sense of Humour

Quick little post on a catering website that I find amusing.  Not in a “hahaha” way, but in a “wow- your smart web design makes me want to call you up and book a tasting if I ever have to organize an event in NYC” type of way.  AKA smart web layout for marketing purposes.

The company is called Creative Edge Parties.  Go to their site and you’ll see what I mean.   On their site you can see all the fabulously creative things they do with food!

Home Page

Pingg.com: Ultimate Soft Copy Email Invitation

Move over Evite.com.  There is a new company looking to occupy the email invitation space that was endorsed by Martha Stewart’s company. 

Pingg.com is prettier, easier to use, has fewer advertisements bombarding the screen.  It allows users to personalize invitations with their own jpeg graphics and has an expansive inventory of already good-looking graphics to decorate online invitations and makes creating online invitations fun and easy. 

Wait…. it gets better.  What really impressed me is that you can also elect to use multiple communication channels to send your evites; to communicate to your guests in the mediums they use- Pingg.com has Facebook+ Twitter tie-ins, allows you to SMS invitations (for a fee) and reminders, build your own event websites and print hard copy invitations (for a fee). 

Additionally, Pingg.com also creates reports to help you track and manage your RSVP list so if you intend to throw a big bash or do something for a corporate event, you have all the data in graphs right in front of you on the screen.  Beautiful- who doesn’t like effortless RSVP list management??!!