The Art of Tasting Chocolate

Chocolate and Cheese Cooking Class!!!!

A FEAST OF CHEESE AND CHOCOLATE!

Just say the word ‘chocolate’ or ‘cheese’ and people get a big smile on their face. How about a party devoted to the enjoyment of both? Parties that Cook is pleased to present A Feast of Cheese and Chocolate, a one of a kind culinary experience. Join Wil Edwards, Cheese Maker and Karletta Moniz, Cocoa Tutor, as they help you navigate the ins and outs of making cheese and tasting chocolate. The party begins with a glass of wine (please bring a bottle to share with the group) and a special cheese platter featuring artisan cheeses. Wil will talk about the origins, styles and tasting profiles of cheese from around the world followed by a cheese making demonstration. Karletta will lead you through a multi-sensory tasting of two different chocolates while explaining the difference between single origin and single variety cacao and what the words Forastero, Trinitario and Criollo relate to.

Then it’s your turn to create tapas-style appetizers and desserts using chocolate and cheese in delicious pairings. Our professional chefs will divide everyone into teams to prepare our original recipes which feature dishes like Tartines of Goat Cheese with Melted Manjari Chocolate and Chicken Taquitos with Chocolate Mole and Melted Queso Fresco.

When:

Sunday, August 5, 2007 6:00-9:00pm

77 Maiden Lane (off Union Square)

Sur La Table, San Francisco

Guests don’t need cooking experience to attend. Tickets are $75 per person. The price includes cooking instruction by Wil, Karletta and the Parties That Cook chefs, tapas using the freshest ingredients, and the camaraderie of cooking with new friends! After the event, digital photos and the recipe packets are emailed to the group. Please bring a bottle of wine to share with your group. 

A Feast of Cheese and Chocolate

is not only about great food. It is a chance for you and your guests to be part of a unique, cutting edge culinary event.

For information, visit PARTIES THAT COOK.

To REGISTER for this event, click here.

Today is the last day.....

As Mort Rosenblum reminds us in THE NEW YORK TIMES this morning, today is the last day to let the FDA know how you feel about their proposed changes of what can be added to chocolate manufactured in the US and still officially be called 'chocolate'.  Visit Gary Guittard's website DON'T MESS WITH OUR CHOCOLATE to learn what you can do to help NOW!  As Mr. Rosenblum points out, if this change is passed it will greatly harm not only the flavor of chocolate but also the already poor farmers because there will be less demand for cacao beans from the Big Chocolate Guys. 

Good chocolate at reasonable prices is our right.  Sure, we enjoy a truly fine, $100 a pound chocolate as much as you do.  But, just like wine, I can't afford to consume a $100 bottle of wine with dinner every night.  But I can afford a $15 bottle of wine a few times a week. 

Help us keep chocolate quality and demand high.  Don't let them dumb down our chocolate.

Chocolate King, David Lebovitz, In Person!

Our friend, David Lebovitz, author of The Great Book of Chocolate, will be in town tomorrow, June 22.  He is on a book signing tour for his new cookbook, THE PERFECT SCOOP.  Fog City News, 455 Market Street, Noon to 1 pm.  Check out David's website for a complete list of his Bay Area appearances and classes.

CHOCOLATE CIGAR, ANYONE?

It's tough to sell chocolate in the summertime.  There are not any holidays that scream chocolate.  No Valentine's Day, no Easter, no Mother's Day.  In a last ditch effort to squeeze out a few chocolate sales before it gets meltingly hot, many chocolatiers have been marketing chocolate for Dad. 

RECCHIUTI CONFECTIONS has a full page of gift ideas including a SHARING BOX for $100.00.  Nice Dad. 

The wacky award goes to the French.  JEAN-PAUL HEVIN CHOCOLATIER  is selling a chocolate cigar.  Or rather, chocolate shaped to look like a cigar.  His DADDY'S GIFT BOX includes not only chocolate confections but also a bottle of our favorite champagne, Billecart Salmon.  Our heart could easily belong to that Daddy.  And why do I think that the word 'Daddy' may not refer to your Father?????

Okay, if a chocolate cigar isn't funny enough for you check out another French chocolatier, MICHEL CLUIZEL'S chocolate golf balls. 

LIKE CAB FARE FOR CHOCOLATE

I thought I would walk to my Chocolate Tasting class last Friday night. I wanted the exercise and it was a cool evening. But after about two blocks I realized that this was foolhardy. I would arrive sweating. Not pretty when mascara is involved. What was I trying to prove, anyway? At a stop light I saw an empty cab, mouthed the words ‘are you free?’. The cab driver nodded ‘yes’. I jumped in.

Tossing in my canvas bag full of chocolate I said to the cab driver ‘Great, now I’ll get to my gig in plenty of time’.

‘So what’s your gig?’ he asked.

‘I’m teaching a class on how to taste chocolate tonight at THE CHEESE SCHOOL OF SAN FRANCISCO.’

This usually results in a big pause in the conversation. After all, this is a lot of information to process. A class to learn how to taste chocolate? A school for cheese? ‘Only in San Francisco’ you can imagine most people thinking ‘how precious’. But this was a cabby and cabbies are never at a loss for words.

‘I was listening to this program on NPR a couple months ago about some French chocolate maker and some Italian guy...

‘Ah, yes. I bet I know what you’re talking about’, I replied and then told him the story about Amedei of Tuscany chocolate and Valrhona.

‘Yeah. That’s the story. They said this Italian guy now made the world’s best chocolate. Have you ever tasted it?"

‘Sure. In fact, I have some in my bag. Do you want to try a piece?’

‘Really? You do? Yeah, I’ll try a piece. Where did you get it?’

‘At BIONDIVINO on Green Street between Polk and Van Ness. Tell Ceri, the owner, that Karletta sent you.’

I reached into my wallet for the money to pay for my ride.

‘No,’ he waved away my $20 bill. ‘No charge. You have been really pleasant. And thanks for the chocolate.....’

Only in San Francisco...