Life by Chocolate

Rising Tide Natural Foods has joined our family

2008-10-03T11:25:00.013-04:00

Rising Tide Natural Foods already has great hand made confections and candies. This is a beautiful store made even more beautiful with Life by Chocolate. This is our first Maine store.

Rising Tide Natural Foods
165 State Road
Kittery, ME 03904
Phone: 207-439-8898

Visit soon and often. Please buy your chocolate, especially your Life by Chocolate there.

Cobbler & Company is welcome

2008-10-02T13:48:00.003-04:00

Cobbler & Company is a charming store that just got more charming because it now carries Life by Chocolate.

Cobbler & Company
189 Historic Main St.
Sharon Springs, NY
518-284-2067

Please go buy your chocolate, especially Life by Chocolate, at this store in historic Sharon Springs and have a wonderful time. It's a great gift and antique store. Don't forget to stop at the cobbler museum when you go visit. You'll enjoy this charming little store and the candies, gifts, and chocolates they carry, especially Life by Chocolate. Sorry no pictures.

Where am I? How am I feeling? How did the surgery go?

2008-09-30T11:22:00.009-04:00

I had shoulder surgery on the 25th of September. So, I cannot type as fast with one arm but not to worry, i'll be posting. I'm hoping Kim will be taking over some of my responsibilities on this blog. My staff will continue making chocolates and cooking so no worries there. I'll be only out of writing commission not chocolate making and cooking. So, fewer posts for a little while. More pictures. ;-)

I recommend you hit the recipe links, try the recipes out and post comments. That way, when I'm up to fast typing again, and that may be in a week, I'll have comments to reply to.

Thanks for reading the blog and I'm sure I'm now down to a 44 Buzz on FoodBuzz. ;-)

Whole Donuts

2008-09-28T12:25:00.002-04:00

My Mom bought donuts the other day. She was railing against Dunkin' Donuts and she was right. These were much better. I'll have to go and investigate. Plus after 4:00 pm, they give them at 1/2 price.

Hickory Smoked Peanut Butter source

2008-09-26T10:50:00.000-04:00

This has been on my foodbuzz chalkboard for quite some time and I've been meaning to repost it for weeks now.

Ah, the hickory smoked peanut butter is a funny story. I was ordering it from Sysco, their pastry department, and it was just labeled hickory smoked peanut butter. No other designation. Then, as I was looking on the web, I came across Peanut Better, and they had Sunland Organic Hickory Smoked Peanut butter. I got in direct contact with Sunland, and had them ship me the Organic Hickory Smoked Peanut butter and lo and behold it was the same packaging that Sysco had. So, Sysco was not marking it as organic, even though it was.

You can search for it on the web or just follow those links. It’s a great product and I use it extensively. Hickory smoke and peanut butter, what a combination. Now, put that with chocolate and you have Life by Chocolate. Yummer.

What? You didn't Swoon (Kitchenbar)? Another review

2008-09-25T14:54:00.000-04:00

Again, what is this with the wait staff? Let me stop, take a breath and begin at the beginning of this tale of two reviews.

As you know, Gregg, my old friend from California, wanted to take me and my mother out to dinner. He was staying with us at the Inn and eating there as well. I have known Gregg for years. We worked together at Divicom back in the '90s. It does feel strange to say that, "back" and "90's" in the same sentence but that's what it was and back in the 90's it was what it was. So say I.

I hired Gregg a number of times as a consultant and director to do release management and run not only configuration management, release management but quality assurance as well. We have a long working history and have developed a strong friendship. One of the hardest parts of leaving California was leaving our friends. Gregg and his wife Karen were certainly two of our best friends.

Gregg.

Mom.

Well, if you read this blog, you know that someone suggested I eat at Food Sing. We were going to go there for coffee but that didn't work out.

Since Kim is visiting our daughter and having a mother daughter week in Washington state and Montana, Gregg decided to take me and my mom out to dinner. Gregg suggested Swoon Kitchenbar where we'd had coffee the other day. Now, Gregg isn't a fake LA friend but rather a real LA friend, if that is possible, since he was born in LA but early on moved to the Bay Area and Santa Clara. In any case, he and Karen are real Californian friends. And thus, in honor of his visit, which was too short by far, I am doing one more review of Swoon.

Rather than wine, I decided on a nice Sidecar. I love my Sidecars. The Swoon bar didn't have Hennessy. I use the VS because I don't like using good cognac for a Sidecar. However, they didn't have it so they upgraded me. As my readers know, if a restaurant, such as Bolo, cannot make a good drink, it isn't worth the time. At Bolo, they served me sewer swill. I had to send it back. Sorry Bobby but Bolo isn't worth it.

This Sidecar was OK. Too much Quantro not enough cognac or lemon. Remember the ratio is 3:1.5:1, cognac:Quantro:lemon. I don't like Grand Marnier in my Sidecars.

They didn't have the steak tartare, not even on the dinner menu and had run out of it after lunch, and when I ordered the Rabbit Rillettes, they were out of that, too. I wound up with the Country Pork Pate. A distant third.

I had the only appetizer. Yes, my mother asked for soup but they didn't have any, forget about her favorite soup.

My mother had the duck breast. She rated it a 5 out of 10. I agreed. Not bad but not great.

Gregg played it safe with hanger steak and enjoyed it. I had a little, I'd give it an 8. I think he did, too.

I had the Rabbit Cannelloni. It was stuffed with shredded rabbit and was surprisingly good. I found it a little vinegary but palatable.

I decided on the Pannacotta and was happy. They served me the raspberry sorbet by mistake rather than the passion fruit, which was also on the zeppoli that my mother had, but I liked the raspberry better than the passion fruit.

The passion fruit.

Gregg had the dense chocolate mousse. Not bad.

The famous zeppoli. Not as good as when we had lunch but still tasty. And that's the nut of it. I think as a lunch place they are much better than as a dinner place.

On my last blog post, it was suggested that they showed better at dinner. That that was their strength. Remember, I had issues with the wait service falling apart. So, we went back for dinner. And what happened but in the middle of dinner, our waiter went home. We didn't have a late seating. We had 7:00 reservations and were out of there by 9:00ish. So, what happened? We got a nice waitress. She was much more enthusiastic than our waiter. Still, not what I would expect from a strong restaurant.

On top of that, they didn't seat us in the white tablecloth section. We were in the bar section while other people taking up half a table were in the white table cloth section? I wondered about that. All in all, dinner or lunch or just drinks, you wont go wrong with Swoon Kitchenbar. This was my third time this month and I was happy, mostly. It was also the only place open on Sunday. It seems that in Hudson, so many places close down at night. So, Swoon is reliable.

Thanks again, Gregg for taking us out to dinner and thanks as well for coming to visit. You'll have to come back soon and bring Karen with you.

Kim's Mother Daughter Day

2008-09-24T12:14:00.002-04:00

BTW, if you want to follow Kim's adventure, go over to Crazy by Design. She may also be posting on Innsane.

A small delay. New chocolate orders, as of today

2008-09-24T11:26:00.004-04:00

Will be shipping out on Monday. Sorry for the delay.

Thanks for buying Life by Chocolate. Wholesale accounts, Delores will be calling. Feel free to call us if you need anything.

Now that's interesting

2008-09-23T14:25:00.007-04:00

My foodbuzz profile went down to 94 from 98 because I haven't been posting. Gregg, my friend from California, was here visiting. We went out to Olana and had a great time there. He took us out to Swoon Kitchenbar for dinner. I was hankering to get back there and give dinner a try. The review is coming.

Later: How do you like that? Now I'm back up to 98. Post a little. Get a couple of comments and voila, 4 points. ;-)

ChocoVision Marketing, just like their Product, the wheel has turned

2008-09-23T13:51:00.008-04:00

O ChocoVision, why am I on this list of pain? When will it end? Why did it begin? Is that marketeer still working there?

Here's something interesting. I received almost 100 emails saying remove me from this list and one person suggesting a class action suit. All in the name of tempered chocolate. Why? ChocoVision sent out a promotion to a list of people who were not asked to be on the list. And because people replied to the list, asking to be taken off the list and because the sales and promotions list weren't properly constructed to be a no reply list, every time someone replied, and to my knowledge replies, we all get it.

What will ChocoVision do? I emailed Ian, the CEO of ChocoVision, directly and told him to shut down the list. ChocoVision has remained silent during this fiasco. It sort of reminds me of the Delta release. I still wont touch that machine. Last time I used one, it tried to kill me. Christine, my Revolation Delta, is safely, I hope, back in ChocoVision hands. And I equally hope that man-eater is locked up in chains. My Rev X, after a few iterations, is still working reasonably though I am going through baffles like popcorn. I don't think a baffle should be a consumable. I think it should last.

I would have to conclude that their marketing has finally caught up with their engineering. Now the marketing is as hit and miss(guided) as the engineering. And here I was finally getting over the scares of the Rev Delta. Now those scars have been reopened, twice. First, I ordered the wrong baffle, returned them and still have not been credited and now I've been emailed to death. Some of the people on the list have had their mboxes flooded. One person is suggesting a class action suit. O! Joy. More ChocoVision fun and games.

Ian, O! Ian, where is thy management? Discipline. Goals. Basic bidness. Your (ex-)customer long for some courtesy and respect and products that work as spec'ed.

And to all you people who have replied to the list, I have saved all of your replies. Let's get together for a party this Christmas. Who wants to host? I'll bring the chocolates.

Food Sing? Not what we thought it would be

2008-09-22T19:22:00.015-04:00

I haven't eaten there yet but since we do Chinese food at the inn, I hope it's great Chinese food or I will be put out. On this trip, we were in search of espresso and rest and had heard about Food Sing without knowing it was a Chinese Food restaurant. We went all the way up to Food Sing thinking it in the same milieu and league as Swoon, only to find this at the end of our walk. Food Sing review coming. I just can't say when. But I can say that we turned around and went back to Swoon for a drink, cappuccino and aperitifs. A good time was had by all.

We, my good friend Gregg from Northern California and I, also went out to dinner. The review is coming. Here's a little taste of that review.

"Once again, while we were dining, our waiter was changed out from underneath us. It felt strange and unexpected and yet somehow familiar. Can't I eat at this place and not have my waiter go home before I do?"

Balsamic Vinegar, the real stuff

2008-09-19T12:05:00.003-04:00

Don't forget people, those of you who are trying things like balsamic vinegar and strawberries or oranges or better tangerine, don't use the stuff you put in salad dressing. That balsamic vinegar isn't real. It is a combination of real balsamic vinegar, just a touch for taste, and plain ordinary table vinegar. Balsamic vinegar isn't vinegar at all but rather reduced wine or reduced grape pressings left to ferment. It's made the same way a fine sherry is made and costs just as much or more. If you are paying less than $25 for 4 ounces of 25 year old balsamic vinegar, it's fake. 100 year old costs about $150 for 4 oz. You need to use a good 25 year old balsamic vinegar. And just a little bit. Drops.

I make a confection with orange, cinnamon and 25 year old balsamic vinegar. Orange or better tangerine and balsamic vinegar is classic. Strawberries with balsamic vinegar, yum. Strawberries with salad dressing? Not as yum but it has potential in a salad but not in a dessert or a confection.

I make an orange cinnamon ice cream to which I add a touch of balsamic vinegar before plating.

How to make Spring Rolls

2008-09-18T06:48:00.005-04:00

First of all, you have to decide what the filling is. In these spring rolls, we are using a simple filing of mung bean sprouts, shredded carrots and egg plus seasoning. You will noticed that the egg is scrambled and mixed with the ingredients and yet the other ingredients are not overly cooked. This is important, no matter what you decide on what you want to use, make sure you have some crunch in the roll before you deep fry it.

The first thing is mis en place. You have to be prepared. Notice how Nancy is keeping the wrappers moist with a clean wet towel?

The next step is to place small amount of the filling on the corner of the wrapper.

Then rolls the spring rolls as tightly as you can without shredding the wrapper.

After you've started the roll, about two to two and a half turns, fold in the sides.

And roll..

And roll.

Until you have a nice even shape.

Beautiful.

You can now put these in a Tupperware and leave in the fridge for a day or two. However, you probably want to fry and eat these right away.

So, heat up your favorite frying oil. Make sure it is hot enough for deep frying. Nancy holds her hand above the oil, if it feels hot, it's done. Don't try this at home kids. Use a thermometer.

Gently put them in the oil. Always lay them away from you so that you don't splash yourself or your assistant. Fry until they are a light golden color. Drain them on paper towels and enjoy. Make sure they are cool before you put them in your mouth. They are HOT coming out of the oil. Obviously, you can lay them in by hand but use tongs when turning them or taking them out. Don't touch for at least 3-5 minutes. Let's not get burned!

Welcome, Welcome to New Morning Store

2008-09-17T15:02:00.000-04:00

Please join me in welcoming New Morning to the Life by Chocolate journey. This is a great store run by wonderful people who will help you. New Morning is a holistic retail center that is mission-driven and promotes naturally healthy living, one person at a time. And now, they have great chocolate. Great all natural, organic, fair trade and vegan chocolate from Life by Chocolate. Please buy your chocolate at New Morning and don't forget, make it your Life's work, Life by Chocolate work that is.

New Morning Store
738 Main Street South
Middle Quarter Mall
Woodbury, CT 06798
P: 203.263.4868
F: 203.263.2408

Store Hours:
Mon-Sat 8-7 pm
Sun 10-5 pm

It's sad to say but I don't seem to have pictures. I'll have to get some soonest. In the meantime, please enjoy this great store.

A plain stick? Since when?

2008-09-17T12:47:00.000-04:00

Since when has a nice French cruller become a plain stick? I ask you? Is nothing sacred? I had to go to Dunkin' Donuts while I was in Maine and I longed for a French cruller but all they had were plain sticks. Now, crullers are fluted, ring-shaped doughnuts made form pate choux and is usually in a ring but I grew up with the oblong version, so for me a cruller is always stick like.

However, it just doesn't taste the same, plain or glazed, when you call it a stick. I don't think that Dunkin' Donuts used pate choux but rather donut dough. Anyway, I wasn't not as happy with my coffee or my stick as I was with my cruller.

The Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker

2008-09-17T12:16:00.003-04:00

I just want to go on record saying, that many pastry chefs I know use the dinky Cuisinart ice cream maker in their restaurant kitchens. So, though I'm glad I got a Lello by Muso, I'm also here to tell you that I have used the Cuisinart for many years with great results.

Welcome Black Horse Farms

2008-09-16T17:57:00.005-04:00

I'd like to welcome Black Horse Farms to the Life by Chocolate family. Their historic and remodeled 1864 is now home to Gourmet Foods, Bakery, Gifts and our Fresh Produce Farm Market. They also have greenhouses and grow very beautiful flowers, herbs and vegetables. This is a great store run by helpful people. Enjoy your visit.

Black Horse Farms
Route 9w
Coxsackie, NY 12091
Phone: (518) 943-9324

So, please buy your chocolate, especially your Life by Chocolate, at Black Horse Farms.

The Broadway Inn, Machias Maine

2008-09-16T15:50:00.000-04:00

Machias was lovely if somewhat remote, a great get-away place. I stayed at the Broadway Inn. The room I had didn't have it's own bathroom but that didn't matter because I was the only person there. I think they opened the inn especially for me to stay there. After all, I went to Maine in-between seasons.

The room was large and had a nice desk in it.

True Story but funny, too

2008-09-15T21:14:00.003-04:00

My family has been in the restaurant business on all sides, front men, waiters, waitresses, bartenders, chefs, restaurateurs, you name it. One day, my mother was waiting on a business man who was telling her how wonderful it was to eat off of plates with real silverware.

Curious, my mother asked him, "How do you normally eat at home?" And he replied,

"At home, it's just me. So, I eat everything off of a napkin that I put on top of the table. If I make a quick egg, I put it on some bread for an egg sandwich. If I have a steak, or veggies, I just double up on the napkin, use a placemat, and don't bother with plates. For breakfast, lunch and dinner, if I'm eating at home, I just use my napkin method. It saves on washing up."

He looked at my mother and then said with a straight face, "It's kind of tough when I have soup, but I manage."

True story. The Lobster Place Mat blog reminded me of this story because Rose eats everything off of placemats. Hey, it saves on dishes but it's hell when she serves soup. ;-)

Azure Cafe, Freeport Maine

2008-09-15T14:02:00.006-04:00

Kim and I have eaten at some pretty good restaurants in Maine, specifically in Bar Harbor. On this trip, the best place I ate was the Azure Cafe in Freeport. It was delightful.

Azure Cafe
123 Main Street
Freeport, Maine
Phone: (207) 865-1237

They have their own bubbly water. How cute is that?

These were some great fish cakes. On a fish cake you can either go with the barely held together cake crammed with crab or fish or you can go with the fried to golden crisp cake crammed with cake and fish. These were like round, flat croquettes and very pleasing.

When they say house salad, they really mean house. This was a very beautiful and small salad but I was glad it wasn't that large because after the fish cakes and my first sidecar, I was full. The lounge waitress and bartender was very good at listening to direction. My first sidecar was good but my second was great.

For the main(e) course, I had risotto. Now, as you know, I like my risotto creamy. I don't know why but this risotto was extremely al dente. I do like my risotto al dente and make it that way but I do not like it dry. The top part of this risotto verged on dry. I do like my risotto all'onda and it has to be made with arborio rice. The flavor was good though and this looks fine.

Finally, I had a good cannoli with pistachio sprinkled on top. As you can see, the ricotta cheese is homemade and it is very loose. However, loose or no, this tasted very good. It didn't taste like the traditional ricotta I grew up with or made but it was still good.

Love in a Mist

2008-09-15T13:19:00.002-04:00

While I was in Kittery, Maine, I visited a store and met the woman who makes Love in a Mist. It's a very nice spray. What's interesting about this spray is that it has shells and gems in it. Now that's unique. The one that I have is Emerge-n-see with king helmet conch and pink calcite in it, besides other ingredients. Very nice. I sprayed some in the office, basically on Kim, and it has added a lovely smell to the office.

LOVE IN A MIST
PO BOX 4222
PORTSMOUTH NH 03802
Phone: 603-431-1355

It has a rosewater base. I love rosewater and this has inspired me to get food grade rosewater and make not only ice cream but confections with it. I may even make a bar.

I'll be getting to the reviews and techniques in a few minutes.

The James Place Inn

2008-09-14T13:29:00.007-04:00

The James Place Inn is a lovely inn that I stayed at in Freeport. I stayed there twice. Once when I got to Maine on Sunday, I had a very large room with a double jacuzzi and later a smaller room with a great claw foot tub.

A great knitting corner for Kim.

A nice double Jacuzzi.

Bed, very comfortable.

Large bathroom.

And breakfast seating.

Room two, on the second night I stayed there after touring Maine, was also very comfortable. It didn't have a knitting nook but it had a desk, something I needed for my computer and my route planning.

A claw foot tub, or is it.

It's a jacuzzi tub, extra deep. Yippee!

A great bed.

A desk, very important but this replaces the knitting nook. Sigh. I guess we'll just have to go form the larger room when we stay there. The bathroom in this room was cramp but serviceable.

I had a lovely stay there.

Soy Dracula delivers Wire to CMJ

2008-09-14T12:35:00.001-04:00

Once again, Soy Dracula, of Rubbish in Romania fame, creates a fantastic single released only on wire recorder and submitted this to CMJ. Good luck Soy Dracula. What is the CMJ Music Marathon in New York? What's a wire recording? They played the Halloween Parade in Brooklyn.

Just made some nougat: Montelimar and Honey Nougat

2008-09-13T14:56:00.005-04:00

Interested? Go get some on Life by Chocolate. We use expensive Mexican vanilla bean and everything is made by hand. So, enjoy your nougat and live a little.

Still to come: restaurant reviews, inn reviews and recipes

2008-09-12T14:13:00.003-04:00

Indeed, since I've been back from Maine and Rhode Island, both beautiful places in very different ways, I have been ultra busy with special chocolate orders, making bars, making bark, making confections, toffee, you name it. I have a camera full of pictures. I have some great pictures of Nancy making spring rolls. Yes indeed. As soon as things settle down, I'll be posting a bunch of pictures and how-tos.