Katie's Chocolate Club: January

As my lovely hand written note says, this month's chocolate club was to help keep me motivated while I continue my job hunt :) I don't remember exactly how I stumbled across the New Jersey based Sciascia Confections (pronounced sha-sha), but I sure am glad that I did! I keep a list of interesting chocolate places to consider for my club each month and Sciascia's website happened to tickle my fancy in January!

The smooth brown box arrived secured with a well formed golden bow (my time at Sucre will always cause me to take note of ribbon/bows...something I'll have to live with forever). I always appreciate a hand-written note as I know that requires an extra personal step in the fulfillment process. All of the truffles were in perfect condition, not that I would expect much melting to occur up and down the east coast with the current winter weather!

 

ROW #1

S'more: Campfire memories rolled into one neat bite: fresh marshmallow is covered in dark chocolate and coated in crushed organic graham cracker crumbs.

La Vie en Rose: A candied rose petal adorns a creamy dark chocolate ganache truffle splashed with a whisper of rose water, organic raspberries and raspberry liqueur.

The Holy Grail (milk): The ultimate caramel: silky and soft, infused with Tahitian vanilla bean and accented with a  touch of sea salt crystals harvested in the Camargue region near Provence, France.

Nuts about Nutella: A pure hazelnut and chocolate truffle cream center is surrounded by a rich dark chocolate, studded with chocolate-covered caramelized hazelnuts.

Chariots of Fire: Ancho chili pepper-together with a touch of cinnamon and vanilla- brings a warm heat to this dark chocolate truffle rolled in pure and intense Valrhona cocoa powder.

ROW #2

In the Limelight: Fresh lime zest is the star in this organic coconut, white chocolate truffle splashed with rum, an infusion of Madagascar vanilla, and cloaked in 70% dark chocolate with toasted organic coconut.

A Walk in the Rainforest: 100% Kallari Ecuadorian farmer-ownded, heirloom cacao, is used to make this 75% organic dark chocolate truffle infused with Tahitian vanilla bean. Kallari chocolate is rainforest alliance certified.

Monkey's Uncle: Early Spanish explorers called coconut "coco," because it resembled a monkey's face. Chomp on this: dark chocolate and creamy organic coconut ganache with a splash of rum.

The Holy Grail (dark): The ultimate caramel: silky and soft, infused with Tahitian vanilla bean and accented with a  touch of sea salt crystals harvested in the Camargue region near Provence, France.

Mad about Vanilla: A dark chocolate shell (topped with caramelized cocoa nibs) holds a fragrant Madagascar, Tahitian, and Mexican vanilla bean-infused white chocolate ganache.

ROW #3

Portrait of Aunt Hazel (the nut): A milk chocolate exterior with caramelized hazelnuts hugs a pure hazelnut praline and caramelized coconut center, with a touch of sea salt. A National Award-Winning Confection.

Mad about Vanilla: A dark chocolate shell (topped with caramelized cocoa nibs) holds a fragrant Madagascar, Tahitian, and Mexican vanilla bean-infused white chocolate ganache.

Duke of Earl Grey Tea: Creamy dark chocolate truffle infused with fragrant earl grey tea, honey, and topped with local bee pollen (a superfood containing nearly all the nutrients required by humans).

"Honey, I'm Home!": Times have changed, but simple pleasures remain, like this dark chocolate truffle with hazelnut praline, orange blossom honey and a candied violet petal. "Welcome home dear."

In the Limelight: Fresh lime zest is the star in this organic coconut, white chocolate truffle splashed with rum, an infusion of Madagascar vanilla, and cloaked in 70% dark chocolate with toasted organic coconut.

ROW #4

Lemonade Stand: In support of Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation for Childhood Cancer, we created this organic lemon zest-infused dark chocolate truffle. Sciascia Confections supports alexslemonade.org.

Chariots of Fire: Ancho chili pepper-together with a touch of cinnamon and vanilla- brings a warm heat to this dark chocolate truffle rolled in pure and intense Valrhona cocoa powder.

Romeo & Juliet:  The classic pair: dark chocolate and raspberries, united once again in this star-cross'd truffle swirled in raspberry liqueur and blanketed with pure organic raspberry dust.

The Holy Grail (milk): The ultimate caramel: silky and soft, infused with Tahitian vanilla bean and accented with a  touch of sea salt crystals harvested in the Camargue region near Provence, France.

S'more: Campfire memories rolled into one neat bite: fresh marshmallow is covered in dark chocolate and coated in crushed organic graham cracker crumbs.

Holy cow these were awesome! I don't know that I could name my favorite if I had to. The S'more was fun with its semi-liquid marshmallow center. Nuts about Nutella was like a Ferrero Rocher without the crispy wafer part: I love chocolate and hazelnut together! Perhaps it is the combination of three types of vanilla, not that I could tell you the difference between them, but the Mad About Vanilla was killer. If I had to pick one that I was not as wild about it would be the Chariots of Fire but that is only because I am not a fan of spice. The heat was not overwhelming by any means, but again, if I had to pick my least favorite, that would be it for me. 

I will be keeping Sciascia Confections in mind should I get a hankering again and want to repeat a chocolatier. Or if I am ever in New Jersey I would love to stop by their retail location. Yum yum yum!

*all names/descriptions were copied directly from the guides provided with the collection.

NOLA Winter

It is cold and windy in the Big Easy today. A drastic change from the 70 degree day we had not 24 hours ago. Granted it was warm and rainy, but still, the weather flip flops a lot in these parts. The wind chill did not stop from me leaving the comfort of my warm bed though. Instead I travelled to Metairie where I had a new Mardi Gras shirt on hold for me! How exciting! And I felt the pull of Whole Foods luring me in so I stopped by for some turkey loaf... yum!! 

The shirt I bought on display at NOLA Boo: I did not purchase the tutu skirt!

Now I plan on staying in for the duration of the "freeze advisory" that is in place. I'll be doing laundry, working on a small painting project, and most likely  watching a few episodes of Justified (my latest binge show). I am thankful that I am not snowed in like my comrades in Virginia. While a snow day was always a celebrated event when I was a kid, being an adult and having to go out in that mess to run errands or go to work is the worst. 

Breakfast at Tiffany's

Another oldie to check off the must see list: Breakfast at Tiffany's. There was a crowd of about three dozen Wednesday morning at the Prytania to bare witness to Holly Golightly's gold digging ways and her eventual falling for a rather handsome Paul Varjak despite his financial short comings. Those gorgeous blue eyes are worth more than anything money can buy!

Right off the bat the fact that Mickey Rooney was cast as the Asian landlord was a huge PC red flag. Eeek! That would never float these days. However the film is over fifty years old, so I suppose things have progressed considerably in that arena. The time period also explains the heavy smoking by most characters. Yuck! Overall I enjoyed the film a great deal. There was fun and laughter and sadness and realization and adventure. All good things in a movie.

I loved Audrey Hepburn's apartment: it was the perfect size for a young woman living on her own in the big city. Her clawfoot tub couch with its bright cushions was too cool! My favorite character may have been Cat...reminded me of Hank, Roommate Sarah's orange cat from our time in Roanoke :)

Cochon Butcher

If you're ever in the notion for some good ol' meat on a sandwich, Cochon Butcher is the place to go. Sara and I had never been before so we sampled a good bit of items. She got the cold roast beef while I opted for smoked turkey. We split an order of duck pastrami sliders, potato salad and mac and cheese that had a bit of a kick to it!  I loved my sandwich with its avocado, sprouts, and basil aioli! I took half home to enjoy the next day. 

Due to a mix up with order numbers, we were comped a slice of chocolate, peanut, caramel pie. It was chunky and hard to eat with a fork, but overall very yummy!

They are known for their Elvis King Cake that is filled with peanut butter and bananas, covered in a marshmallow icing and topped with bacon, but that is not really my thing. I opted for one of their precious mini king cakes in the cream cheese variety to take home with me. Instead of a baby they provide a cute little pig! 

Gone with the Wind

There are many classic films I have not seen, but I can now remove Gone with the Wind from that list. The Prytania was playing this 1939 romance drama so Sara and I packed up some bourbon cocktails (they are BYOB) and settled in for the nearly four hour runtime!

The title of the movie runs across the screen instead of being plastered up there so I had to settle for a photo of the rolling credits instead!

My overall impression is that it is a very pretty movie. The costumes were gorgeous and the backgrounds so ornate. The sound editing was a bit off for me. Loud booms of cannons or girly shrieks (Prissy's voice the entire time!) were scratchy sounding. But I recognize that this movie is coming up on 80 years old, so all can be forgiven. There were more comedic moments than I expected, but I enjoyed that. Also, I did not realize that the iconic "frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn" line is the last thing Rhett says on screen.

As for the characters themselves: Scarlett was nearly unbearable. She was an impulsive, selfish brat and I don't blame Ashely one bit for choosing his much calmer, sincere cousin, Melanie. As for Rhett, his tanned skin distracted me almost as much as his sleazy mustache. I think he enjoyed the challenge of Miss O'Hara at first, but he should have come to terms with her style of crazy long before he did and hit the road! He may not have thought of himself as the marrying type, but his footloose, playboy ways were a different sort of wild from Scarlett's. They were an odd couple in my opinion.

I am glad that I was able to see this classic on the big screen!

Pine Leaf Boys @ dba

Shortly after making it back to NOLA I headed to Frenchmen Street with AV to see my favorite zydeco band, the Pine Leaf Boys. They put on a great show and had lots of folks dancing up a storm in dba's small space! Fun!

Moonshine Tasting

On my road trip back south I stopped off in Gatlinburg to do some moonshine tasting. We went to Dollywood years ago when I was a kid, but I have not been back into the Smoky Mountains since then. To get to the distilleries I drove through Pigeon Forge and through some adorable touristy areas! My first stop was Sugarlands Distilling Company where I gathered around a round bar with others to hear about and taste the many varieties of shine they produce. Once carded and stamped I was ready for my communion cup to runneth over (that isn't what they called it, but that is what they are--the same cups we use for communion at church!). Our guide had us sample the following: 

• Silver Cloud, 100 proof
• Appalachian Apple Pie, 50 proof
• Blockader's Blackberry, 40 proof
• Butterscotch Gold, 40 proof 
• Jim Tom Hendrick's Unaged Rye, 100 proof
• Mark Rogers American Peach, 80 proof
• Tickle's Dynamite Cinnamon, 70 proof
• Blueberry Muffin, 70 proof

They offer a few other flavors including PB&J, Sweet Tea and Lemonade, but those were not sampled out. I'm not sure I would want to drink a PB&J moonshine...sounds weird! 

After my initial sampling I made the trek further up the mountain (by foot, not car: all of these distilleries were among the hundreds of other shops and restaurants built for visitors along a main stretch of street) to the Ole Smoky Distillery. There they were sampling the following:

• Blue Flame, 100 proof
• White Lightnin', 100 proof
• Hunch Punch, 80 proof
• Margarita, 40 proof
• Pumpkin Pie, 40 proof
• Moonshine Peaches, 100 proof (actual chunks of peaches soaked in White Lightnin')
• Cinnamon, 80 proof
• Apple Pie, 70 proof
• Apple Pie, 40 proof (yes, they have 2 Apple Pies and one bites harder than the other!)
• Butterscotch, 40 proof
• Maple, 80 proof (I passed on this one)
• Shine Nog, 35 proof (described as "like Baileys")

After my hooch sampling I meandered up and down the street checking out all of the little shops along the way. Despite it being January, the town still had a ton of Christmas lights up. When you drove over one bridge it was covered with green and white lights. Very pretty. I'm glad that I made this pit stop on my drive back to New Orleans :)

New Years: Lexington Style

Who knew that little ol' Lexington has its own ball dropping ceremony to ring in the new year!? Perched atop the old Robert E. Lee Hotel building, the well-lit sphere could easily be seen by the couple hundred spectators that gathered in the blocked off street. Mom, dad and I got there about twenty minutes before the main event, joining an already decent size crowd. Closer to the main event townies started flooding the area. There were fireworks and a live band playing as 2016 officially began. I have never been to NYC for New Years, but I imagine that Lexington's version is more my speed :)

blurry selfie with the ball in the top left corner