Megan Blocker

My grandparents recently moved out of the house they've owned in Connecticut for the last thirty-odd years. As the most culinarily inclined grandchild, I received a decent number of goodies (some All-Clad pots and pans, my grandmother's rolling pin , and so on). One thing I got, but that none of us present could identify (my grandmother is down in Florida right now) was the one pictured below. Now, the group assembled for the packing adventures were all fairly prolific cooks and well-traveled folks. But we'd never seen this tool before. We think it's some sort of tool for removing fresh pasta from its cooking water (specifically, ravioli and tortellini). Do you know? Any thoughts? Help! It's definitely well-made and lovely, but I have no idea what to use it for!!! Front view: Back view: Tag: The tag reads: Re Inox/Aeternum/Made in Italy.

What good are you, Ling? Just kidding! If you do find the recipe, that would be great. Especially, if they're pairing it with the wines - it would be fun to do a dessert pairing at Christmas for my mom (she shares my love of all things...wine-y.) Thanks for the info on Quady...and gold leaf! I wonder why the lady said it wasn't edible...I was very confused, having definitely ingested truffles dusted in gold before...maybe she uses special poisonous gold to keep greedy chocolate show hands off of her truffle tree! Seriously - Lisa and I overheard a few exchanges about how "we shouldn't go to this booth or that booth" - because the samples weren't big enough. I can't imagine waiting in those kinds of crowds only to get chocolate samples, rather than to experience the whole thing and learn a bit. Seems very odd to me...

Delicious meals, all! Tonight I had dinner at a friend's house, and he made a Moroccan-inspired pizza! It had ground lamb browned with cumin, curry and cinnamon, roasted tomatoes, havarti, mozzerella, caramelized onions and garlic. Yum! Dessert was (courstesy of yours truly) Ina Garten's brownie tart. Just what I need today - MORE chocolate.

Thanks, Curlz! It really was a lovely wine...I'm going to buy some more of it when I can actually lug it home. And I am going to try and visit them in Madera in December, when I have to make one of my bi-annual pilgrimages to Fresno, land of the raisin. That's right - I didn't mention those! Oops. I avoided the books because, a) books of any kind are my biggest weakness, and I could easily have dropped hundreds of dollars on things I don't need, b) it's cheaper online and c) my company has a 10% off program with B&N if you buy from the website. Plus, I do love to buy on Amazon through eGullet! But, yes, the books were lovely, and smack in the middle, right in front of the fashion stuff. And how could I forget? Here's a pic I shot of a real cacao pod. This was part of the Felchlin Switzerland display of all things historically chocolate.

Tom, I didn't make it to the Peanut Butter & Co. stand, but only because I usually end up visiting them every few months. I tried to make an effort to visit booths of chocolatiers I was unfamiliar with (Weiss, Cluizel and Torres being exceptions to this rule!). However, I have had many of their peanut butters, and all have been good. As promised, here are some links to the spots mentioned above! Trois Crepes Serendipitea Dagoba Chocolate Lillie Bell Farms Jaques Torres Chocolate Haven Institute of Culinary Education Gotham Wines and Liquors Quady Winery Mary's Chocolate Japan Michel Cluizel Pralus (In French) And, to the Chocolate Show itself: Click!

Good question! Pretty cool - especially for the size of the crowd. I definitely didn't feel overly warm at any point, so I'm thinking it was kept somewhere in the low 60's (Fahrenheit). I will add that I have spent many furious, overheated sample sale hours in the same space, and it was nice to finally be in the Metropolitan Pavilion and not have to slug someone for the last Marc Jacobs bag.

Thanks, Trishiad! You HAVE to go - it was so much fun! There is TONS for sale. Lisa and I were very conservative (the wine was $11/bottle ), but we could have gone a lot crazier. There were tons of different confections for sale at Trois Crepes (would have spent all day there - the ladies were lovely, and full of tips in a very "French Women Don't Get Fat" kind of way), including caramels and some really delectable-looking confitures (one I almost bought was watermelon, quince and...oh, crap, something else - it sounded really yummy). Pretty much every booth was selling something - I got the feeling that these are places that might normally be wholesale (selling to retail, for instance, or doing weddings only), but were taking the opportunity of the chocolate show to get their wares directly to the public. There were some exquisite chocolates for sale by a place called Anna Shea - Lisa said they were the chocolate equivalent of Tiffany's jewelry , though I might place them more in an H. Stern category - classic, but certainly not dull. They were beautifully packaged and actually lookd bejeweled. Sandeman Port had a booth right next to Gotham, but I don't think they opened till later in the afternoon (They had a "Happy Hour" scheduled for 4-6 - odd to think of starting the evening with port!), and Gotham was selling lots more than just the Quady wines. You could actually sit down and order online right there in the booth, which is what I did - free delivery. I should mention that all the places I bought from had websites...I'm headed out for the evening (have to run off and make myself purty), but will try and post some links later tonight or tomorrow! Aren't they amazing? They're not entirely made of chocolate, but there's a lot of chocolate involved, and more in some (the vampire, the Aztec) than in others (the blue dress). The shoes looked like regular shoes coated in chocolate...Lisa and I were thinking they must get dressed in an insanely cold room and stay there until the runway walk, and then de-robe immediately. Refrigerated models!

On my only visit to Danube (about a year ago), I ordered the Wiener Schnitzel and was disappointed. It seemed merely competent, and for a $30 entrée I expected something a lot better. I also ordered the double foie gras that Megan referred to, and I considered that more successful. I'm going back to Danube in December and will try something else. ← Oakapple, I agree that the double foie gras was better - but the weiner schnitzel was definitely the best I've had on this side of the Atlantic! I mean, it's still weiner schnitzel, but it's GOOD weiner schnitzel.

Well...there is something to be said for salty and sweet! BTW, just tried one of the strawberry-thyme creations, and it was excellent. I'm going to a friend's house for dinner tonight...I have to stop...oy.

I think they're just chocolates shaped like sardines - not sardines coated in chocolate!!!! How gross would that be, though? I don't know, though - I tried to talk to the guy manning the booth about them (en francais, oui!), but he was distracted talking to someone else for ages...

So, I have lived in NYC for more than four years now, but this is the first time I've gotten my butt to the Chocolate Show - and I am so glad that I did! Yes, it was crowded (I went this morning, right at 10:00 AM), yes, people were ridiculous about the samples (one lady in a red barn jacket mowed me down multiple times to get to the truffles on offer), but it's worth it. Thanks to my friend Lisa, who is new to the city this year and is a bonafide chocolate addict, I bought my ticket way in advance, which meant I got to walk right in. (Though I should note that when Lisa and I left around 12:30, even the ticketholders were having to wait to enter.) We decided to hightail it for the far end of the room, reasoning that we might beat the crowds for at least a few minutes. Our first stop was the fashion show display. A blue silk and chocolate number... A chocolate vampire lady? Note her fabulous shoes.. A white chocolate wedding gown: And, finally, an Egyptian thing. From there, we went to the Trois Crepes booth. Trois Crepes is a French patisserie that works primarily through mail order on this side of the pond. Lisa and I both bought sets of three Weiss bars tied together with a vintage postcard on top, and I bought a large bag of dark chocolate granules - good for eating or as chocolate chip substitutes. They should be good for snacking - just one or two are needed to satisfy that choco-craving - they melt and cover your whole tongue. Yummmm... After Trois Crepes, we meandered around a bit, passing numerous chocolate fountains (hmmmm...). We also checked out Dagoba, who specialize in organic chocolate - they had a small booth near Trois Crepes. Lisa and I agreed that the name made us think immediately (NERD ALERT!) of Star Wars. The chocolate was pretty good, though. We needed something to cleanse our palates at this point, so we decided to check out the samples from the Serendipitea booth. They were dishing out their "Buccaneer" tea, which had strong vanilla notes. It tasted smooth and round, and definitely did the trick - we were ready for more chocolate... We passed by Neuhaus and Payard, sampling at both (the almond cookies dipped in milk chocolate at Payard were particularly good), and I also tried some organic jams along the way at Lillie Bell Farms' booth, where Lisa tried a truffle and some cocoa nib toffee - which she LOVED. Next up was some chocolate frosting at Bressinger. I don't normally buy frosting (I prefer to make my own), but this stuff was wicked good. We had decided to sit in on the 11:00 AM demo (more on that below), but first we stopped to watch a demo by a pastry chef from the Institute of Culinary Education. We missed the beginning, so I'm not sure exactly what she was making, but it looked like some filled dark chocolates. She demonstrated tempering, among other things, and then shared the final product with the crowd, along with some decadent brownies After whetting our appetite for the ineractive with ICE, we sat down in the "Viking Theatre" for a demo - Sue Torres of Suenos making chocolate atole. She made an all-water version, but the one we were eventually served was half milk, half water. Essentially, it's a corn flour slurry mixed into boiling milk (with cassia cinnamon in it - stick form) with shaved Mexican chocolate mixed in at the end. Yummy - a lot more body than your average European or American hot chocolate, and a unique savory/sweet flavor from the corn, the very sugary chocolate and the cinammon. From the demo we made our way to a booth for a winemaker from outside of Fresno, CA (Where my mom lives!) called Quady. They specialize in dessert wines, and we tasted two - the first was an orange muscat called Essensia. I liked it quite a bit - very sweet, though without the musky background of a Sauternes. It would be a good replacement for dessert, though I don't know what you could pair it with! The second was a lighter wine, and it resembled a moscato d'asti - it was fresher, and slightly carbonated. This one was called Electra. I ended up buying two bottles of the latter at the Gotham Wines booth, and they gave me this nifty wine tote! On the way to the Gotham booth, we signed up to win this truffle tree from a Chicago-based chocolatier (I can't remember the name!) - the winner will receive the same kind of tree, though minus the gold dust (which is not edible, apparently?). After Gotham, we looked briefly (it was one of the most crowded moments of the day) at the Mary's Chocolate booth. These were Japanese chocolates, and Lisa and I both sampled what I think were green tea white chocolate truffles. I did not like these very much...the seasonal flower flavored truffles looked neat, but I really couldn't even get near the counter (I took the pic between two people's legs!). Around the corner of their booth, we saw some folks piping the decoration on to the tops of some filled chocolates... After Mary's, we found ourselves at a small booth for Knipschildt Chocolatier, where we bought filled chocolates in the following flavors: tangerine-chili, lemon-strawberry-thyme, caramel-sea salt (I'm most excited about that one!) and apricot basil. I just tried the apricot one, and the basil comes through with its most licorice-y notes, which I did not like. The filling is delectable texture-wise, though. I bought a raspberry jam filled dark chocolate bar at Chocolate Bar, and tried a raspberry creme (below) at Ethel M., where there were also some delicious-looking caramel apples on display. Finally, we circled back around and hit the Jacques Torres booth. Jacques himself was absent, but we did like the looks of his Big Daddy bars and of the chocolate bark! On our way out, we hit the few booths in the annex, which included a display put together by chefs and students from the French Culinary institute. I was very impressed, as I always am when I see what people can do with chocolate! Heading for the door, we saw the following... Chocolate sardines at Michel Cluizel... A huge pyramid of chocolate from all over the world at Pralus... And a chef making molds at Weiss... All in all, an amazing day. After all that chocolate, though, we really needed food. So, we walked a few blocks north and east and hit the Shake Shack! For Lisa, a 'Shroom Burger. For me, a Shack Burger (no cheese) and fries. Perfection on a gorgeous fall day.

I've been doing a bit of searching, and thought you might find this link re: Indian food helpful. It mentions a restaurant in Darien, about 15-20 minutes north (well, east, really, but on 95-N) of Greenwich on I-95... Great Indian Food in CT?

That's funny - I mentioned this thread to my mom (a former smoker) the other day, and she said the same thing, that smoking after a meal was uniquely satisfying. Maybe it's an oral fixation thing?

Le Figaro is good, especially for brunch. A little lower on the scale (food-wise, price-wise, formality) than Jean-Louis, but still good. It's located at the bottom of Greenwich Avenue, just above the Railroad Avenue intersection (on the right as you go toward the water). Also good is Applausi, on Sound Beach Avenue in Old Greenwich (about 10 minutes' drive from the Avenue - except during rush hour). It's Italian, and, as I recall (I grew up in O.G. but haven't eaten there in a few years), very good. ETA: Here's a link to a 2004 review of Le Figaro, a link to Jean-Louis' website, and a link to Applausi's website. Have a good trip!

I think the level of support is kind of surprising. I really don't think the sign is a good idea. ← Tess, can I ask why? Is it the idea of the sign, its wording? I'm just curious! ETA: Oops, just read upthread and saw your original post re: cell phone users, etc. I agree - they can be just as obnoxious, if not more so. I wonder if this cafe has problems with them, too? If so, yes, it would be a bit hypocritical not to call them out as well. That said, I think the "children of all ages" thing is supposed to be a coy way of asking even loud cellphone talkers to keep it down...

Oops. Sorry, Jackal - and thank you!

Sauvignon Blanc, Verdejo, and Viura (for those keeping score). And it's a great crowd pleaser under $10. ← Thanks Brad! I too like Remelluri Rioja I have also been enjoying the 2001 Muga Riserva (it is a bit less expensive than the Remelluri). Sparkling is a good recommendation--Cava and also a good Prosecco! ← Yes, sparkling may have to make an appearance! As Brad noted, it's a wedding - plus, I'm a bonafide sparkling wine addict. And, as noted above, this is all about what I want, dammit!

A faster version of coq au vin - delicious, quick, and feels like something that cooked all day. Also, many quick pastas are exceedingly yummy and full of intense, different flavors - carbonara comes to mind...

They may not care, but I sure do! I know, I know. This menu is a camel - a horse built by committee. And that's all I'll say. I'm trying my best to be diplomatic (and enthusiastic) about the whooooole thing. Thanks for the suggestions, guys!!!

I am co-hosting a rehearsal dinner for my mother's wedding on the Friday after Thanksgiving. For the food, it looks like we're going for a sort of "incredibly adulterated southwestern meets seafood" theme - the wedding is in Florida (where my mom's parents live), and the groom is from Texas. So, here's the menu! Any thoughts on pairing? I don't know that we'll be able to do different wines with each course, so things that will be generally good would be helpful. Also, I think we are aiming for wines that would be around $15-25/bottle. Passed Hors d'Ouevres: - Smoked chicken and corn fritters - Ancho-rubbed brisket crostados - Shrimp cocktail - Crudites - Artichoke and spinach dip Salad: - Baby greens with crumbled bleu cheese, candied walnuts and an asparagus vinaigrette Main: - Jumbo lump crab cake and Bourbon-glazed pork medallions with sauteed string beans and a potato gratin Dessert: - "Killer" chocolate cake - Petits fours Thoughts?

And yet, it's such an advantage - it tastes better, and it's cheaper! It's one of the last great bargains in food.

Here's a link to an interesting article on marketing opportunities around the US's tendency to treat dark meat as a by-product of light meat...and kind of a gross idea of how to turn dark meat into light. Ew.

I agree that availability is certainly part of it (especially as to why recipes call more frequently for boneless breasts). My follow-up question would be this: If boneless chicken thighs were more widely available in the States, would people really start eating as much dark meat as light? My gut says no (since, even when bones are involved, people typically aim for the white meat), but I'd love to hear what others think!

Klary, those are gorgeous! I think I'll try that this year in lieu of the traditional American gingerbread! Mmmmm...

That's a good idea, Karen...maybe I'll try this the next time I do chicken milanese.