xanawu » chocolate

food lessons from paris

xanawu — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 18:03:37 +0000

had a nice visit to Paris with my parents, and was surprised to learn a few things about food in France:

as expected, the food at most of the random French restaurants we tried was delicious. unexpected: the portions were huge.
any dessert that even mentions chocolate is swimming in it. and chocolate shops are everywhere.
moules frites: our waitress was so distressed to see me eating mussels with a fork, that she insisted on teaching me the correct method (“it’s so ugly to see you eating it that way, and your mussels are getting cold!”) and literally hand-fed me to show me how (yes, she was manic and more than a bit embarrassing). FYI: you’re supposed to use a mussel as pincers to pull out the flesh from another. and then you’re supposed to nestle the empty shells within each other into an orderly pile on the side of your plate.
foie gras: not a big fan.
pâtisseries: big fan, and happily you can find plenty of bakeries on every street.
can’t decide what to have for dessert? no problem: café gourmand includes a mini-portion of 3-4 of the restaurant’s desserts, accompanied by a cup of espresso.
macarons are expensive.

5-kg containers of nutella (I saw a woman buying two)

fancy chocolates at galeries lafayette

our successful search for tarte tatin (flambée & à la mode)

looking forward to our next visit!

hobby chocolate

xanawu — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 08:39:19 +0000

break time! I needed a snack, so I thought I’d try something new–and what better than a retro-looking chocolate bar?

the Hobby

oh the excitement…

Hobby revealed

too bad it’s kinda gross. Chocolate covered fake-banana flavoured thing on a layer of marshmallow. ew…

fudge cake

xanawu — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:05:36 +0000

I made a cake yesterday that was so good I had to share the recipe. It’s from Joy of Cooking. I pared down the amount of sugar (as I usually do with this book) and it turned out great! Here is my edited version:

1 3/4 cup flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup sour cream

6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) margarine, softened

3 ounces chocolate, melted (over double boiler or with microwave)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup coffee

Sift together in a large bowl the flour, sugar, baking soda & salt. Add the sour cream and margarine, and beat for 2 minutes. Add the melted chocolate, eggs, vanilla and coffee–beat again for 2 minutes.

Pour into a 13 x 9-inch round pan (or two 8×8 pans or two 9×2 round pans). Bake in 350° F oven until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean–about 25-30 minutes (20-25 min if using two pans).

Enjoy a yummy, chocolatey death.