Hello From The Market!

Chef Gary Shopping the Webster Farmer's Market

Hello All,

I got the chance to visit the Flea & Farmer's Market in Webster, FL on Monday morning. It's the largest market in the state. The fresh produce was abundant and beautiful.

Plant City strawberries are now at their peak and they are delicious!!

Sweet onions, melons and lots of citrus are all available right now. We sure are enjoying them all at the inn.

If you're ever in central Florida and looking for a Monday adventure, get up at the crack of dawn and put Webster in your GPS. You're in for an experience!

Enjoy!

Chef Gary

Philadelphia Chocolate, Ancient and Contemporary

On my way to San Francisco in December, I got bumped off my connecting flight and waylaid in Philadelphia overnight. Though it left me in below-freezing weather without a coat, the stopover opened up a couple of new routes in my chocolate travels.

First, in the midst of all the mayhem, USAir gave me a voucher which I just used to cover the flight for my upcoming trip to Mexico City.

Second, I found out that the commuter train that stops at the Philadelphia Airport also stops directly across the street from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The permanent collection contains exactingly and respectfully curated carvings and sculptures from towns and sites I've visited in Central America, like Guatemala's Chocolá and Belize's Caracol. And a special exhibit of Mayan vases factors in a slew of anecdotal information about chocolate. Among the American Mayanists profiled in this "Painted Metaphors" exhibit are M. Louise Baker (whom the Penn Museum stationed in Mexico and Guatemala between 1908 and 1935 to paint water colors of artifacts and who commented about the Harvard-trained archaeologist Robert J. Burkitt that "I liked him very much and he was very kind to me--fed me chocolate drops from a little canvas sack whenever he met me") and W. Jeffrey Hurst (the Hershey Company's resident scientist whose 20th- and 21st-century work to find traces of the chocolate chemical theobroma in ancient vessels has been extensively chronicled in Sophie and Michael Coe's The True History of Chocolate, among other places).

One stop I didn't get to make on my impromptu trip to Philadelphia was the John & Kira's store. But I've always liked getting the socially-responsible chocolate company's lavish calendar and I've long agreed with uppity magazine editors across the country that their chocolate fig pumpkins for Halloween are incredibly photogenic. Though I still haven't visited the store (and I'd like to wait for some of this snow to melt before driving across the state), I learned a lot about John & Kira's this month in my research for the talk I gave about chocolate and sustainability at Chatham University. Their confections are remarkably affordable considering how perfectly smooth the ganaches are and how graceful each bon bon is (with a subtle design drizzled in chocolate on top to indicate the flavor). The little wooden boxes of "ladybugs" and "bees" explode with the flavors of mint from a local school garden, raspberries from a local farm, and lavender honey from a local apiary. And the new "root" chocolates, made with a Pennsylvania-brewed alcoholic root beer, just generally kick ass.

I had a chance to talk about John & Kira's (along with the Grenada Chocolate Company, Amano, Tcho, Guittard, and Guatemalan cacao) recently on WYEP radio in Pittsburgh.

Chocolate Moulds- Part.2

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New Pricing: Effective from Now All Moulds are at RM13.00.

Code 248 : Square Filling at RM13.00 per pc
***Very limited stock, pls place ur orders via email or sms at 0147333758

Saint Patrick's Day Beer Dinner

Valentine's Day has come and gone and I, for one, and enjoying a much-needed vacay. Well, if you can call sitting around at home catching up on my personal life a vacation, then that is exactly what I am happiest doing at the moment! And for all of you who tried to get ahold of me during the big week, try again now... I'm fresh outta excuses as to why I can't answer the phone.

Rest assured, in between my long-overdue cat naps things are still on the up and up around the chocolate shop. Post Vday is one of my favorite times of year as it is both a time to look back on a completed season and look forward to the next one, and I promise there are great things a comin'!

But a girl has to keep some of her secrets, right? At the moment I'm only divulging one: the March Chocolate Tasting Dinner!

That's right... move over Saint Valentine, its time for Saint Patrick to wiggle his bum, because comin' up next is the Saint Patrick's Day Beer and Chocolate Dinner!

Leave the shamrock sweaters and metallic necklaces at home and join us to indulge in all things indulgent. And who needs virtue when you've got vice, cause we're servin' up all the chocolate and beer you can take. Take a look:

Exclusively March 13th at 2, 4, 6, and 8pm, for $30 a person, we're showcasing 3 courses of Irish faire drenched in chocolatey brew. Guests to enjoy:

Mussels with Garlic and Stout (optional starter)

Potato-Leek & Beer Cheese Soup with Cocoa-glazed Bacon Crumble

Shepard's Pie (beef and lamb OR all veggie), with Roasted Root Veggies & Mashed Potato-Parsnip Crust, served with Cocoa-Brown Sugar Gravy and White Chocolate-Chive Irish Soda Bread

Chocolate-Stout Torte with Ginger Vanilla Bean Cream

Meal comes complete drenched in plenty of beer, but if thats not enough (and when is enough, enough?) we will be featuring an optional 3-course beer flight matched with the dinner for an extra $12.

RSVP ASAP by calling the cafe at 619.578.2984. Space is limited!

Until then, here's what we enjoyed last time for Vday:

Appetizer: Baked Bacon and Crab Dip with Herbed Flatbreads.

First Course: Roasted Beet and Green Apple Salad with Candied Cocoa Nibs and Lavender-herbed Grey Sea Salt.

Soup Course: Charred Tomato Bisque with White Chocolate Poached Lobster and Tarragon.

Entree: Beef Wellington with Cocoa-Mushroom Pate and Cocoa-Balsamic Jus served with Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes.

Dessert Course: Tasting Flight of Four Limited Edition Truffles Infused with Artisan Cheeses- Salted Gjetost, Gorgonzola Cherry, Apricot and Brie, Tarragon Goat Cheese.

Matanzas Mud Cake

Ingredients:

1 (20 ounce) can pineapple tidbits, with juice 1 (21 ounce) can cherry pie filling 1 (18.25 ounce) package Triple chocolate cake mix

1 cup chopped pecans 6oz white chocolate chips 1/2 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2.	Pour pineapple with juice into prepared pan, spreading evenly to make the first layer. Spread cherry pie filling over the pineapple layer, then spread the cake mix over the cherry pie filling. Sprinkle the cake mix layer with pecans and white chocolate chips, then drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top.
3.	Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool. *Recipe adapted from AllRecipes.com

Chocolate Moulds

**click to enlarge pics

PVC Choc Moulds:130mm x 180mm
Codes :Y101 till Y109

Price: RM8.50 per piece
***Ketupat Y107 mould is Out Of Stock

Chocolates- Semi Finish

Sicao Chocolate: Couverture
Milk Choc 1.5 KG
Price : RM55.00
Dark Choc 1.5 KG
Price : RM53.00
White Choc 1.5 KG
Price : RM58.00
Sicao Chocolate:Compound
Milk Choc 2.5 KG
Price : RM51.00
Dark Choc 1.5 KG
Price : RM50.00
White Choc 1.5 KG
Price : RM53.00

Beryl's' Gourmet Chocolate:
White Compound 1KG
Price : RM20.00
Milk Couverture 2 KG
Price: RM45.00
Others:
Strawberry Chips:
Price: RM18.50 1Kg