Sunday, February 17, 2013

Macarons!

Lately I have become obsessed with macarons. Not the consumption aspect of it but rather in trying to master a technique for making these little treats. Unfortunately I do not have the time or resources to enroll in one of the pastry chef programs available here in New York but I did get around to going to a class at Sur La Table which was terrific (although you wind up in teams of four so you don't really wind up having a lot of hands on time). In any case as I try to hone in on my macaron making skills I have also been playing around with flavor combinations. Here are a few of those flavor combinations I have tried.

 Chocolate with Blood Orange Curd 

 Chocolate Vanilla Butter Cream

 Orange with Vanilla Butter Cream - AKA Creamsicle

 Root Beer with Vanilla Butter Cream - AKA Root Beer Float

Blood Orange with Blood Orange Curd

I am really loving making these little treats and coming up with new flavor combinations. I guess that is what I love about making them, that the possibilities are endless. For those of you with gluten allergies, these little treats are absolutely 100% gluten free.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Valentines Day Simple Idea

It seems that much like New Year's, Valentines Day is another day when restaurants charge up the whazoo for a meager meal. Aside from that most often said meal winds up being a disappointment because restauranteurs want to rush you in and out to maximize their profits, so the quality of the food is usually not very good. I say if you want to tell your special someone you love them, make them a delicious home made meal. If you are not a master chef fret not. You can always make a small gesture that is not too complicated by making or buying some pizza dough and shape it into heart shapes to make a very lovely and delicious love gesture. Top it with your loved one's favorites and you are set. Hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

Mast Brothers - Never Again


It is not often that I write a disgruntled post about food, but here is one for you. I am not the type to complain about the price of a meal or anything food related when I feel I have obtained that value for the quality of the product and taste of it. I must say that my experience with Mast Brothers chocolate has been a great disappointment. I had been looking forward to trying one of their chocolate creations for so long because everywhere I looked people were touting their chocolate as something like the next coming of Christ. I guess it just goes to show that sometimes all the great reviews can only amount to a great pile of disappointment when the product just does not live up to the hype. The bar my husband and I tried was the one mixed with Sumptown Coffee (which both my husband and I love), so we thought it was a win win. Oh boy were we wrong. The chocolate was more a waxy, bitter mess than anything resembling chocolate. The picture above shows the chocolate bar and what was actually consumed before we dumped it into the trash. I have to say that paying $9 dollars per bar would have been a bit excessive, but at least acceptable if the product had been good in any way. At this point I feel absolutely ripped off and saddened by the fact that I had such high hopes for these chocolatiers and feel bad that I have to write what I am writing today. Sorry Mast Brothers.