The judges’ decisions are final: “Delicious!”

Announcing the results of the 2012 International Chocolate Salon Toffee Competition. In which Marion and I judge four pounds of toffee.

Last year about this time, we were invited to help judge the 2011 Chicago Luxury Chocolate Salon. We were soon almost as stuffed as the seven-pound FedEx package of chocolate that showed up when we said yes. This year, the competition hosts, International Chocolate Salon and Taste TV, wisely broke up the competition into four categories. I chose toffee, and the package we received clocked in at just under four pounds.

The category and I go way back. My first exposure to toffee, though, was inauspicious, to say the least. When I was seven or eight, my friend Susie’s mom took us to a Saturday matinee at a neighborhood movie theater. Rather than pay movie prices for treats, she smuggled in a candy bar for each of us in her purse. As the previews began, she slipped them to us. They were Heath Bars. In the darkened theater, I misread it as Health Bar; I’m sure I scrunched my nose at the idea of some weird, good-for-you “treat” being pawned off on us as candy. Continue reading “The judges’ decisions are final: “Delicious!”” →

Small Bites: Drinking (and dining) with dinos and artisanal ice cream goes big

Wine Enthusiast invades the Field Museum this Friday night with 500 wines and 45 restaurants for Toast of the Town 2012. And on the USA Character Approved Blog, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams keeps growing, but keeps it real.

We are serious museum geeks. Marion refers to the Field Museum’s annual Members Night event as “the happiest night of the year.” Not only do you get to go behind the scenes, talk to real scientists and poke around in their offices—you can do it with a drink in your hand. So when Wine Enthusiast asked us if we’d like to attend Toast of the Town Chicago at the Field, with 500 wines from nearly 60 wineries and foods from more than 45 restaurants, well, let’s just say we were excited. Continue reading “Small Bites: Drinking (and dining) with dinos and artisanal ice cream goes big” →

Top this: Blackberry Thyme Compote tops pound cake, ice cream, waffles, pancakes…

Five ingredients—blackberries, lemon juice, sugar, water and fresh thyme—cook quickly into a compote that can be used to top homemade or store-bought desserts beautifully. Recipe below.

I was surprised when I bit into some fresh blackberries last week. Okay, partly because they weren’t just good, but really wonderful (I guess even the ever bountiful California has its seasonal differences). But the big surprise was that I immediately thought of dessert.

Dessert doesn’t see a lot of action at our house. I mean, we always keep something sweet in the house—dark chocolate bars, rice pudding, the occasional package of cookies. But after dinner, we don’t usually think of dessert as a course, as something that needs preparing. More often, it’s “I could use a little something sweet.” And that need is frequently met with a couple of squares of chocolate or even a piece of bread with some apricot jam (we are never without apricot jam).

In fact, when we’re putting together a small dinner party, we sometimes have to remind ourselves to plan a dessert for it. So that those juicy, sweet blackberries made me think of dessert surprised me. Continue reading “Top this: Blackberry Thyme Compote tops pound cake, ice cream, waffles, pancakes…” →

Fruit as the dessert course: Sautéed Pears with Thyme and Ice Cream

Pear slices sautéed with butter and fresh thyme and topped with ice cream and lemon zest create a fresh, decadent dessert. Recipe below.

Sometimes, dinner parties can be all glossy and elaborate, with candlelight, multiple extravagant courses and multiple opportunities to overindulge. And while this dessert would hold its own in that setting, it came out of the other kind of dinner party. The over-the-top informal kind that can only be shared with really old friends—and that is every bit as much fun.

We spent Sunday afternoon wandering around the Art Institute of Chicago’s Modern Wing with our friend Casey. We’ve known her longer than we’ve known our own daughters, so when we got back to our apartment, we were totally comfortable convening in the kitchen to throw together a simple dinner. Continue reading “Fruit as the dessert course: Sautéed Pears with Thyme and Ice Cream” →

Chocolate Chunk Cherry Brownies and the evilness of squirrels

Bittersweet and white chocolate, a touch of espresso and dried cherries soaked in red wine give these brownies a nice grown-up finish. Make them ahead—they’re twice as good the next day. Recipe below.

BEFORE I EMBARK ON THE STORY OF HOW I CAME TO MAKE THESE BROWNIES, I would like to say death to all squirrels. All squirrels, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

A few weeks back, I was seized by the baking bug and to my amazement found that we actually had ingredients that would make it possible to both bake something delicious and to avoid a trip to the store. The product of that frenzy was double chocolate chunk cherry cookies, which turned out to be rather unexpectedly fiddly to make. Continue reading “Chocolate Chunk Cherry Brownies and the evilness of squirrels” →

Small Bites: Snow cones, cocktails and seven pounds of chocolate

Snow cones going artisanal with small batch syrups is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post. And Marion and I are asked to judge chocolate. Lots of it.

Snow cones are a primal summer pleasure. I remember staring at the spouted bottles of colorful syrup at the snow cone stand as a kid, agonizing over my flavor choice. If the stand allowed you two flavors (or sometimes even three! three!), the decision became exponentially harder.

Now a former Chicago restaurateur is making the decision a lot more interesting. Melissa Yen used to run one of our favorite weekend breakfast haunts, Vella Café. Frustrated by the limited choices in syrups for flavoring coffee for the café, she started experimenting with her own. Out of those caffeine-fueled adventures, Jo Snow Syrups was born. Continue reading “Small Bites: Snow cones, cocktails and seven pounds of chocolate” →

Deliciously grown-up dessert: Meyer Lemon Sage Olive Oil Cake

Not-too-sweet Meyer Lemon Sage Olive Oil Cake balances sweet and tart beautifully, and the sage gives it a nice grown-up finish. Recipe below.

In case you’ve just tuned in, the lovely Christina over at A Thinking Stomach recently sent us a generous box of Meyer lemons grown on her own tree. We’ve been thoroughly enjoying experimenting with them. This cake Marion has now made three times is the best thing we’ve done so far. I’ll let her tell you about it.

A couple of days ago, in one of those far-ranging conversations about things that are delicious and things that are definitely not delicious, my colleague Melody pointed out that so many commercial pastries—and we are talking white-tablecloth-restaurant level, not six in a factory-sealed cardboard box for one US dollar level—are disappointing, just because someone thought it would be a good idea to save five cents by skimping on an essential ingredient. Cannoli rolled in peanuts instead of pistachios. Napoleons made with something that certainly isn’t butter and filled with something not unlike grout. Lemon bars overdosed with sugar to make up for not actually being very lemony.

Well, this is lemony. For some time now I’ve been thinking about a recipe that appears all over the Internet in many forms: Olive oil cake, and this week’s installment of our Meyer lemon festival gave me a reason to try it out. Continue reading “Deliciously grown-up dessert: Meyer Lemon Sage Olive Oil Cake” →

A pair of grown-up Halloween treats: Roasted baby pumpkins, white chocolate with buttery pecans and candied orange peel

An impressive start and finish to an autumn dinner—roasted baby pumpkins filled with mushrooms and shallots, topped with Gruyere for the first course and sinful white chocolate with candied orange peel, roasted pecans and reduced maple syrup for dessert. Recipes below.

Our last Halloween party some years ago was the kind of party that makes us call the police now. Seventy-five or so people overflowing from our apartment into the hall and onto the fire escape out back. About two in the morning, I started turning the music down out of some drunken semblance of courtesy to our neighbors. I turned it down three or four times, in fact. But at 4:30, when the last guests left and I turned it off, it was still impossibly loud.

Still, we have fond if blurry memories of that party—and a soft spot for Halloween in general. Continue reading “A pair of grown-up Halloween treats: Roasted baby pumpkins, white chocolate with buttery pecans and candied orange peel” →

Cornmeal Lemon Cake with Strawberries and Mint: Simply the taste of spring

A simple, not-too-sweet, lemony cake topped with strawberries and fresh mint makes a light, seasonal dessert. Recipe below.

I didn’t grow up in the South, but lots of my relatives did, and they had an influence on my mother’s kitchen. In real estate terms, you could call mine a childhood with Southern exposure.

In spite of that fact—or maybe because of it—I was never a big fan of cornbread. At family gatherings, this was cause for some mild concern, but the “oh-well-more-for-me” instinct swiftly and invariably soothed it. This cornbread/cornmeal indifference followed me into adulthood, despite occasional attempts on my part to overcome it.

What put it back on my radar screen recently and actually made it stick this time was a simple piece of cake at mado. I mention mado here a lot, I know. That’s because owners Rob and Allie give me a nickel every time I do (mado, mado, mado, mado). Continue reading “Cornmeal Lemon Cake with Strawberries and Mint: Simply the taste of spring” →

Logan Square Kitchen Pastry Market on Saturday, April events at Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand

Chicago’s Logan Square Kitchen Pastry Market returns with another one-day event of delicious creations by local small-batch pastry artisans, and Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand features a month of events highlighting food grown or produced within 250 miles of Chicago.

Going locavore in Chicago is sweeter than ever these days. In February, we wrote about a pre-Valentine’s Day Pastry Market at Logan Square Kitchen. Well, they’re at it again. This Saturday, April 10, the Logan Square Kitchen Spring Pastry Market will feature a day of pastries, chocolates, caramels, ice cream and more. Most of these treats are not widely available. In fact, many one-of-a-kind items will be created just for this event.

All the vendors featured at this one-day event are local food artisans, most of whom produce their wares in small batches, many producing seasonal items available for only a short time. Continue reading “Logan Square Kitchen Pastry Market on Saturday, April events at Chicago’s Downtown Farmstand” →