Get The Sensation

Everything you love about York Peppermint Patties AND everything you love about ice cream treats, all in one yummy package.

Too Much Of A Good Thing

Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and semi-sweet morsels. 

It's been cold outside so I got my bake on.  One problem: I don't just have cupcakes, Gentle Readers, I have a situation.

A Delightful Surprise

The Foodie called me on Tuesday to ask if I might be free around teatime to sample the Laduree macarons and Angelina hot chocolate mix that had recently arrived from Paris.

Might I be free?  Why yes.  Yes, I was.

I decided to fancy up the table as much as I could at short notice with an embroidered table runner and napkins.  The Foodie didn't mind waiting to have our treats until pictures were taken.  In fact, he helped to style the photo shoot.  I think the pictures look better than usual, and that's all him.

Even the packaging is elegant and pretty.  I've got to hand it to the French: they know how to make a simple box of cookies just a bit more elegant.  You know there is something special inside.

And there is: eight impossibly perfect and pretty macaron cookies.  My favorite was the pistachio cookie in the upper-left-hand corner.  It had a delicious marshmallow filling that resisted just a little when I bit into it.

The hot chocolate from Angelina perfectly complemented the macarons because it's slightly bitter and has a savory quality.  We made it with lowfat milk and felt very virtuous about that.

It was a lovely treat at the end of the day -- not just the delectable sweets, but spending some time with The Foodie who has been busy with career-minded things of late.  I hadn't seen him in a while, and it was nice to chat and catch up.  But even if we don't get together as often as we'd like, we'll always have Paris.

A Little R&R

Now that the weather is finally cold in Little Rhody, I thought we ought to review the necessary items for winter illness first aid (you can read about them in more detail here).  I've been availing myself of these remedies for the past week or so due to non-stop headaches.  I'm not quite sure what is causing them, but I have it narrowed down to allergies, rapid weather changes, dry heat, forgetting to wear my tinfoil hat to keep the aliens from accessing my brain, or a combination of those factors.

Regarding the shameless self-promotion: just because when I'm feeling rotten I don't post much new material, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be reading when you're feeling rotten.  Just sayin'.

Chocolate Fountain

During these hot summer days when maiden aunts are subsisting mostly on smoothies and sandwiches, our thoughts naturally turn to food tales of yore.

Picture it: my mother's kitchen, 1985. My youngest sister Rachel (age 8 at the time) asked me to help her make a milkshake. Since I was fully grown and much taller, she stood in front of me while we loaded the blender with ice cream, milk, and Nestle's Quik. As I reached out to pick up the blender's lid off the counter, Rachel pushed a button and started the blender.

Have you ever noticed how, in moments like this, time seems to slow way down? I saw her push the button. I heard myself say "NOOOOOOOOO." I saw the blender's contents fly high into the air, and then splash down upon us. I was still reaching for the lid while flailing toward the off switch.

I surveyed the wreckage. There were chunks of ice cream and splashes of milk everywhere. I was spattered from the chest up and completely clean from there down since Rachel had made a very effective human shield. She was drenched from head to toe, her hair dripping chocolate milk onto the floor. I ran across the kitchen and unspooled a roll of paper towels to mop us off, and then sent her to take a shower and change. I cleaned the kitchen, although I suspect my mother is finding bits of chocolate in odd places to this day.

When I got back from my turn in the shower, believe it or not, the kid still wanted a milkshake.

Culinary Quote: The Army Dude

If there's no chocolate in outer space, I'm not going.

Angelina

Here's something I love about The Foodie: not only will he sit with me at an impossibly tiny table and drink hot chocolate out of delicate china cups, he will actually suggest it. I love a man who is not afraid of a place with cloth napkins.

In the middle of an afternoon filled with sightseeing and browsing in food shops, we stopped at Angelina, a teahouse on the Rue de Rivoli which is decorated in the belle epoque style and staffed by waiters in coat and tie. We ordered L'Africain, which is an incredibly rich hot chocolate served with a big bowl of whipped cream on the side so you can add as much or as little as you like. We also ordered toast with jam. We were served big, thick slices of bread that had been generously buttered and grilled, with little pots of butter, jam, and honey to accompany them.

I sipped my hot chocolate, looked around at the lovely, old-fashioned decor, and said to The Foodie "I am so happy right now."