Vosges Sampler II - Chocolate Truffles

Simple truffles. Smooth and creamy dark chocolate ganache. Paper thin dark chocolate shell. Cocoa powder. Three forms of chocolate in one delicious little bite. Rob makes truffles this way too, and they're pretty on par with his (Rob will add Chinese 5 spice or mint sometimes, yums!). This however was a dedication to tasting pure chocolate on a variety of levels. Resonant and clear.
Tasty Links!
Matcha Chocolate Truffles
White Chocolate Truffles
Dark Chocolate Truffle Cupcakes

The above are some delicious links, but feel free to post your own truffle recipes in the comments.

Chocolatey Surprise from Vosges - Exotic Caramel Tasting

This is going to be the first in a set of posts that will incite the jealousy of all the other food bloggers out there. Now it's no big shock to most of the readers of this blog that I'm an avid fan of the Vosges chocolate company and have developed a few cupcakes based on their very haut couture chocolate.

The last cupcake apparently caught the eye of the good people at Vosges and to help give me some future inspiration they sent a nice little sampler package of their truffles, candy bars, and caramels. Rob and I were to say the least dancing naked on the table super awesome fun time happy. A large thanks goes out to Paige over at Vosges.

Being able to try all of these tasty treats was a real, well, treat. Personally, I always felt such trouble when I tried to pick just one of the bars. I even did one or two Google searches for candy bar reviews when I made an order on-line a year ago to try and figure out which one I wanted. So as Rob and I painstakingly sample and taste each one, we'll try to give you a nice rundown of their flavors in the next few posts.

This one is on the Vosges Exotic Caramels.

Mexican Guajillo Chilies, Licorice Root, Dark Chocolate, Organic Pumpkin Seed - Not too dark, not too sweet. It's delicious. The licorice root, like many of the flavors, is subtle but present though you may have to try to block outside noise so you can focus on it for the full effect. The chili kicks in pleasantly at the back with a bit of mild heat that stays with you for quite some time. It licks and caresses you; it's warming and I must admit, acts as a bit of an aphrodisiac (no exaggeration). As I type this I'm literally and actually feeling quite frisky right now after eating it.

*off screen pause to pounce on Rob*Canadian Maple Sugar, Maple Syrup, Walnuts, Dark Chocolate - I loved this one. Surely one of my faves (nothing beat the frisky caramel). It was familiar and what I expected it to be, but better. Very wintery. Very homey. Very relaxing with grandma over freshly made breakfast caramel. The walnuts and maple syrup were both defined and well balanced.

Pink Peppercorn, Rose Water, Dark Chocolate, Red Rose Petal - Pros: Very distinct pink peppercorn taste making the caramel peppery and fruity. Cons: Much as we tried, could not taste the rose water, and the red rose petal was more for show than anything.

Brazil Nuts, South American Cocoa Nibs, Dark Chocolate - Nice. I like brazil nuts. Very nutty. Nothing to out of the ordinary in my opinion.

Campari, Blood Orange, Dark Chocolate, Hibiscus Powder - "Pretty!" Yes, my first reaction. I like sparkle. I also like the dark flavors in this one. Slightly citric, slightly tart, very fun. Perfect to match with cocktails. The hibiscus powder is deliciously sour. Totally yummy.

Argentine Dulce de Leche, Costa Rican Cashews, Milk Chocolate - Milk and sweet. Caramel had a slight and pleasantly burnt taste. Very cashew-y.

Aboriginal Anise Myrtle, Dark Chocolate - Very subtle anise flavor. Undercurrents the chocolate well, but you forget you're eating a caramel, which isn't bad, but not sure if that's good either. Regardless, I enjoyed it very much.

Hawaiian Red Sea Salt, Milk Chocolate, Li Hing Powder - Red sea salt makes this caramel pop, and when backed up by the li hing (a product of dried plums that has a powerful salty/sweet/sour flavor) creates a very flavorful effect that makes your mouth water. Would love to work with li hing powder myself soon.

Tupelo Honey, Milk Chocolate, Bee Pollen - Meh. I am not the biggest honey fan in the world, and it competes too much with the caramel in my opinion. Rob loved it. The bee pollen, while pretty and offering a slight soft-resistant textural counterpoint, offers no flavor (though I don't know if it really was supposed too).

In Conclusion: All of these caramels do a fantastic job at balance. Nothing really overpowers other flavors. Some are a bit more subtle than others (some lost all together) but as a whole, I can't really fault any of these. At no point do the caramel or chocolate really ever step off stage, each flavor profile is there only to enhance them. The supporting cast make the stars of the show truly shine. All and all, they're superb and still live up to all my expectations.

Also, damn, that chili one goes to your head. Seriously.

Jade. Salt. Pepper. Flavoring food and a reminder of Ojai Grandma.

My grandmother on my mother's side was quite the world traveler, it wasn't uncommon to be getting postcards from Thailand, Germany, or the Arctic from her. Her home was a literal museum of maps carved from ivory, abalone jewelry, paintings from the Middle East, and books from antique book shops from who knows what corner of Europe.

She was one of the first American's let into China in order to explore it after it had securely cut out Americans for nearly 60 years. She was able to see a country that had not prepared itself for the tourist droves that grow larger with every passing year.

There she found a small jade bowl. A trinket that sat on a display shelf for years. Eventually it passed down to me where I kept it on a display shelf for years myself in my bedroom where no one ever really saw it.

Finally though, I've given it use and a place where it can display itself. I keep it in the kitchen.
It contains a good amount of kosher salt mixed with ground Tasmanian pepper and pink pepper. The earthy, pungent flavor of the Tasmanian pepper, and the subtle fruitiness of the pink pepper give a nice balance of flavor. So any dish that needs just a quick pinch of salt and pepper, I just pop the lid off the jar and grab what I need, without fussing into the cabinets.

Beautiful, practical, and a wonderful and constant reminder of my Ojai Grandma - A woman who explored the world, made me fresh orange juice and Lucky Charms in the morning, and was a beautiful, stubborn, loving person who loved her toast burnt to a crisp.

Floral Prints, Frat Boys, and Gum

From the archives...

I wanted to share with you an incident that happened a few days ago...

A young guy, probably about 20 with a frat boy "I'm the king of my universe" look and air about him, was in front of me and opened the door to the restaurant. He then spit his gum out onto the walk to his side. Now this was also directly in the path of a small group of little old lunching ladies who were just leaving, and would now have to maneuver and step over the offending gum wad. I was disgusted by this, but said nothing to the frat boy, deciding to conjure up an image of punching him in the back of the head instead. I was about to warn the ladies when something curious, no... enthralling, happened.

The first little old lady, a timid woman I would surmise was in her 80's and dressed in a simple floral print and cardigan turned to the frat boy and said in a kindly voice, "Excuse me young man, you dropped your gum."

The frat boy stopped and looked at her. Now I only caught her gaze from the side, but you could see that while her face had a soft smile, her eyes said, "You pick up that gum. Now." I can only imagine what the full brunt of that gaze was like for the frat boy. I would assume it was akin to being struck in the chest with a sledgehammer.

"Oh... uh, sorry," he mumbled and bent down to retrieve the wad of gum in front of his floral print and cardigan conqueror. He wanted to tell her no, the annoyance and befuddlement was in his eyes, but what was he going to do? Tell a little old woman to shut up in front of a crowd of people and the restaurant staff for telling him to pick up the gum he had so disgustingly spit out? I think not.

"And with a stomp of her foot, she had vanquished them." The line from Faulkner's A Rose for Emily popped into my head and I smiled. Everyone, except the frat boy, smiled at his defeat. A victory for good manners and respect.

We need more little floral print ladies like this.

Tuesday Eating Calendar

Tuesdays are my suck days. The days I leave at 7 a.m. and get home at 10 p.m. It's a supersonic spiral into gustatory hell basically. Monday nights I get home around 10 pm as well so I can't prepare something the night before for lunch or dinner. It's a day where I just scrounge up whatever food I can possibly find and it's not exactly a balanced diet.

The following is a typical Tuesday:

6:30 am - Bowl of cereal. Maybe. Did I sleep in? What day is this? Goddamn it Rob, if you don't shut up and close the blinds I swear to holy hell I will make sure the sun don't shine anywhere for you ever again.

7:30 am - Apologize to Rob for threatening his life again.

7:45 am - Walk into work and make tea. Healthy wake up food for Garrett. Can now be social and talk to people, and am no longer at risk of going totally bat shit and verbally eviscerating the first person I see.

9:00 am - Desk candy. This candy jar on my Lead's desk is always tempting everyone. It's full. It's delicious. It's got to go.

10:00 am - Get Cheeze-its from the snack machine. Cheesy crackers are my crack, I heart their salty deliciousness. They love me and I need them.

10: 03 am -Warned co-worker that if she sneaks another one of my Cheez-its that I'll stab her in the freaking hand.

10:05 am - Stabbed co-worker in the hand.

12:30 pm - Someone placed bagels and cream cheese in the break room again. I race everyone else there after we learn of these tasty treats and throw myself upon the greasy cheese bagel, and drown it in whipped cream cheese. To balance out a healthy meal, I pour a glass of orange juice to go with it. Go me!

1:00 pm - Two hard boiled eggs with some salt. I did have time to prepare something last night and I'm glad I did. I choose to view it as diet conscious rather than sparse.

3:00 pm - Like Kate Moss, I need to eat a freaking sammich. I find a Soup-at-Hand thing from Campbell's. It tastes horrid. Not from age, but from just nastiness. I throw it away.

4:00 pm - Desk candy one more time. Curse you Satan and your tasty tootsie roll temptations!

5:00 pm - Sit with friends before class. I mooch a small bit of pizza and a slice of cucumber from a salad. Follow up with a short cat nap in a Quiet Room with bean bags. Dunno who thought to put those bean bags and Quiet Rooms there, but give the man a fucking medal.

10:30 pm - Get home. Stress has built again to epic proportions. Thinking of cleaning the dishes in the sink but collapse on couch instead to watch bad reality television. America's Most Smartest Model is on. Yayness, I can look at pretty people wearing few bits of clothes and being totally stupid and validate my own intelligence after listening to classmates who are probably way smarter than me. Rob makes me some fries and a black cherry smoothie. All is good with the world.

11:00 pm - Get into bed. I remember there's a potluck tomorrow at work. Will pick up some bread or something somewhere. People expect cupcakes from me, but too bad. Who wants to bet that there'll be a healthy selection of weight conscious choices designed to fight fat and salt and boost energy? Yeah, don't think so. Bring on the KFC and brownies. I'll make sure to jog home.