Festive menu,part 3 (all about chestnuts)

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Yesterday I told you about the cheese terrine we had for starters today its all about the chestnuts…mainly so you can make the chestnut stuffing from my festive menu but also so I can share my most recent blog for Francoise Murat Design on Christmassy foods and which also includes a fab chestnut jam and a chocolatey chestnut cake…so here it is….. (first posted 8 December the cakes are actually made now!)

One of the wonderful things about Christmas is the fact that there are lots of chances to cook up delicious meals and food gifts for [...]

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December 23rd,2010 | Tags:,,,, | Category:autumn,baking,british,country/region,dessert,eggs,english,food writing,italian,preserves,preserving,recipe ideas,vegetarian,winter | Leave a comment

A chocolate super hero

Ka-boom. Wowzer. Bam. Pow. OMG.

Wonderful. Amazing. My taste buds and brain are in overload.

I’m at Paul A Young. I’m tasting chocolate. Beautiful chocolate. I’m riding on taste sensation after taste sensation. I thought I knew chocolate but I didn’t know all of this. It’s a whole new set of experiences. How to convey it all to you?

Its passion,its craftsmanship,its huge knowledge. It’s wanting to save the world from bad chocolate and show everyone the way of good chocolate. Its superhero time. Okay so as far as I know Paul doesn’t zoom about wearing a [...]

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October 9th,2009 | Tags: | Category:reviews and recommendations,supplier,tasting notes | 5 comments

Making chocolate:an experiment

A few weeks back Julia at ‘A Slice of Cherry Pie‘was offering 5 Mayan Magic Chocolate kits to food bloggers who promised to blog the experience. Sounded like fun and as I love chocolate I rushed in and bagged one. It arrived a few days later but it sat untouched for a while –I was busy and wanted to do it justice and also blog as much of each step as I could…..so here is what you get and do:

1. The kit:2. What’s inside:

3. The butters:4. The powders:5. My chosen flavours (lavender,[...]

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May 14th,2009 | Tags:,,,,, | Category:blogging,product,reviews and recommendations | 6 comments

Easter chocolate selection

Everyday is a great day for eating chocolate as far as I’m concerned but today there is the extra opportunity for a sneaky bit of chocolate if the Easter bunny has dropped off some chocolate eggs whilst on his/her rounds. I haven’t found any so far but I did try out a different chocolate bar as a special treat.

Today’s chocolate is “The Co-operative truly irresistible Fairtrade dark chocolate with spices and orange oil”. Sounds interesting,and with Fairtrade ethics to boot to ease my conscience while I’m munching away. I’m quite a fan of Green &Blacks Maya Gold [...]

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April 12th,2009 | Tags:,,, | Category:tasting notes | Leave a comment

Another coffee and chocolate pairing

For those of you who haven’t guessed yet I’m a big fan of both coffee and chocolate and one of the highlights of each day is sitting down mid morning for a little bit of both. I like to try different pairings to see what works and what doesn’t. Mostly I like my coffee and chocolate pretty strong and intensely flavoured so some of my favourites won’t be for the faint hearted. I usually have my coffee made in a cafetiere and drink it black no sugar,occasionally I go for the extra hit of an espresso made in a [...]

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April 5th,2009 | Tags:,,, | Category:tasting notes | Leave a comment

More coffee and chocolate

Recently I’ve been trying out a different coffee blend – and some different chocolate. My current coffee selection is Percol Guatemala (fairtrade and organic). Its very different from the Union Hand-Roasted I was drinking (see my earlier post) and at first I wasn’t so keen. It seems to be a weaker brew even though they are both graded as 3 so I’ve been having to use a bit more of the grounds in each pot. Its quite smokey in flavour and when I paired it with Green &Blacks Cherry chocolate it just didn’t quite work. Now I’ve switched chocolate [...]

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February 25th,2009 | Tags:, | Category:tasting notes | Leave a comment

Coffee and chocolate

Its been raining here all day so a comforting cup of coffee and a sneaky bit of chocolate has helped while away some of the time. Mind you everyday deserves a good cup of coffee and some nice chocolate.

Today’s pick on the coffee front was Union Hand Roasted Organic Ethiopia Yirgacheffe which a medium body and fruity brew –a good any time of day coffee. Chocolate wise it was one or two slices of Kshocolat Orange Slices (candied orange coated in dark chocolate) and with the fruitiness of the coffee this was a great pairing. They’re expensive [...]

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February 9th,2009 | Tags:,, | Category:tasting notes | One comment

ideas…

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